We can start at the beginning...
Federico Cesi
An Address to the Lincean Academy, 1616
If there has arisen in any man the natural desire for knowledge, fed by the nobility and dignity of its aim, enhanced by the joy it offers, and encouraged by its usefulness and the perfection which it confers on men of every rank and profession, it will be known to him that learning is peculiar to man among all living creatures, and that for this purpose he is endowed with reason, for which there is no other or higher use than understanding...