Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Writer

Date of birth : 01/21/1729

Date of death : 02/14/1781

City of birth : Kamenz, Upper Lusatia, Holy Roman Empire [now Saxony, Germany]

Son of a vicar. Studied theology, philosophy and medicine. First writings 1747 (poems, stories and first dramas). Moved to Berlin 1748 to live as a critic for the Berlinische Privelegierte Zeitung. Writer of famous plays including Nathan, der Weise (1779) and Minna von Barnhelm (1767).