Timeline: Nostradamus, 1503–1566

Though Michel de Nostredame (better known as Nostradamus) is most famous to the modern world for his poetic prophecies, his "real job" was as a medical doctor.

Believers and skeptics disagree about the accuracy of his predictions – and whether his predictions were in fact predictions or simply veiled commentary on current events. But whether one believes that his predictions about Hitler and others are accurate, the "prophecy" widely published after 9-11, which supposedly foresaw the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers, has since been shown to have been created by a university student writing an essay about Nostradamus in 1997.

Nostradamus studied medicine at the famous University of Montpellier, but his studies were interrupted by an outbreak of plague. Unlike many people – and doctors – who fled, Nostradamus worked to cure the sick. But the practices he recommended probably helped more than any treatments he could have provided: He advised fresh air and improved sanitation – clean streets, clean water, and clean bedding. After earning his medical degree in 1529, he continued working with plague victims. Unfortunately, his (first) wife and children were killed by the plague in 1537.

Sources say that Nostradamus took more of an interest in mystical and occult matters after the deaths of his wife and children, and by the 1550s, he was spending more time predicting the future than practicing medicine. Of course, the move to prognostication is not really unusual, considering that a proper education during this time included study of astronomy and astrology.

Using a combination of astrology, meditation (usually practiced by gazing into fire or water), and inspiration, Nostradamus began to write his predictions, based on visions of events in the near and distant future. His predictions took the form of quatrains (four-line poems) grouped into "centuries" (sets of 100).

Though his first book of poetic, prognosticating quatrains wasn't a smash hit at the time, it is still known (and available) today as The Centuries. Nonetheless, Nostradamus did gain popularity with the nobility, eventually becoming Counselor and Physician in Ordinary to Catherine de Medici, queen consort of Henry II of France. And some say that one of Nostradamus' accurate predictions is that of Henry's death in 1559!

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