Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), a famous German writer, was more than a poet and the creator of Faust.  He was also a scientist who studied phenomenon like colors of the spectrum.  During a long series of conversations with Johann Eckermann, he observed:

As to what I have done as a poet ... I take no pride in it ... But that in my century I am the only person who knows the truth in the difficult science of colours - of that, I say, I am not a little proud, and here I have a consciousness of a superiority to many.

He also said:

Science and art belong to the whole world, and before them vanish the barriers of nationality.

Goethe was, reportedly, a member of the Illuminati who valued the pursuit of scientific study even when resulting theories and discoveries seemed at odds with teachings of the Catholic Church.

Credits

Portrait of Goethe, at age 70, painted in 1828 by Joseph Karl Stieler - online, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Quoted passage from Conversations with Goethe (also known, in German, as Gespräche mit Goethe), by Johann Eckermann - published, 1836.