Johann Amos Comenius

Johann Amos Comenius (1592–1670) was a Czech educator, philosopher and the last bishop of the Unity of the Brethren. Born in Moravia, he lost his home, library and family in the Thirty Years' War and spent most of his life in exile in Poland, Sweden, England and finally Amsterdam. He argued that all children, girls and boys, rich and poor, should be taught in their own language, by methods that followed nature and appealed to the senses. His Great Didactic set out these principles, his Gate of Languages Unlocked reformed the teaching of Latin, and his Orbis Pictus is often called the first picture book for children.