If you are wondering why the world's foremost psychic is making an appearance on this website, it turns out that his father was Jewish, but forced to convert to Catholicism.

That out of the way, Nostradamus has gotten a bad rap over the years. Of course, when one is most known for predicting the end of the world time after time, what kind of a good rap can one expect?

To be fair, there is much more to Nostradamus than his prophecies. He was a renowned apothecary and physician. But then, if he stayed only an apothecary and physician, would he be profiled on this website, 500 years after his birth? Not likely. Medieval doctors are dime a dozen (although if you eliminate those whose sole means of healing was draining blood, the numbers dwindle drastically). However, someone whose prophecies, no matter how vague, have stood the test of centuries? Whose words are repeated year after year by kooky followers? Well, you have Nostradamus, and that's more than enough.

It's just sad that Nostradamus spewed doom and gloom. How hard would it have been to be a bit more positive and predict world peace instead?