Adam Weishaupt

Johann Adam Weishaupt was born in Bavaria on 6 February 1748 and became a professor of civil law, later canon law. In 1776 he founded the Bavarian Illuminati, a secret society that aimed to promote Enlightenment ideals. The order was banned within a decade, but its brief existence spawned centuries of conspiracy theories that far outlived the organization itself. Weishaupt spent his later years as an academic, far removed from the shadow legend growing around his name. He died on 18 November 1830.