Famous People

**Famous people** from history, from various lists:

**Time's 100 Most Significant Figures in History**

https://ideas.time.com/2013/12/10/whos-biggest-the-100-most-significant-figures-in-history/

1 Jesus

2 Napoleon

3 Muhammad

4 William Shakespeare

5 Abraham Lincoln

6 George Washington

7 Adolf Hitler

8 Aristotle

9 Alexander the Great

10 Thomas Jefferson

11 Henry VIII of England

12 Charles Darwin

13 Elizabeth I of England

14 Karl Marx

15 Julius Caesar

16 Queen Victoria

17 Martin Luther

18 Joseph Stalin

19 Albert Einstein

20 Christopher Columbus

21 Isaac Newton

22 Charlemagne

23 Theodore Roosevelt

24 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

25 Plato

26 Louis XIV of France

27 Ludwig van Beethoven

28 Ulysses S. Grant

29 Leonardo da Vinci

30 Augustus

31 Carl Linnaeus

32 Ronald Reagan

33 Charles Dickens

34 Paul the Apostle

35 Benjamin Franklin

36 George W. Bush

37 Winston Churchill

38 Genghis Khan

39 Charles I of England

40 Thomas Edison

41 James I of England

42 Friedrich Nietzsche

43 Franklin D. Roosevelt

44 Sigmund Freud

45 Alexander Hamilton

46 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

47 Woodrow Wilson

48 Johann Sebastian Bach

49 Galileo Galilei

50 Oliver Cromwell

51 James Madison

52 Gautama Buddha

53 Mark Twain

54 Edgar Allan Poe

55 Joseph Smith, Jr.

56 Adam Smith

57 David, King of Israel

58 George III of the United Kingdom

59 Immanuel Kant

60 James Cook

61 John Adams

62 Richard Wagner

63 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

64 Voltaire

65 Saint Peter

66 Andrew Jackson

67 Constantine the Great

68 Socrates

69 Elvis Presley

70 William the Conqueror

71 John F. Kennedy

72 Augustine of Hippo

73 Vincent van Gogh

74 Nicolaus Copernicus

75 Vladimir Lenin

76 Robert E. Lee

77 Oscar Wilde

78 Charles II of England

79 Cicero

80 Jean-Jacques Rousseau

81 Francis Bacon

82 Richard Nixon

83 Louis XVI of France

84 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

85 King Arthur

86 Michelangelo

87 Philip II of Spain

88 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

89 Ali, founder of Sufism

90 Thomas Aquinas

91 Pope John Paul II

92 René Descartes

93 Nikola Tesla

94 Harry S. Truman

95 Joan of Arc

96 Dante Alighieri

97 Otto von Bismarck

98 Grover Cleveland

99 John Calvin

100 John Locke

## Biography Online:

https://www.biographyonline.net/people/famous-100.html

1. Marilyn Monroe (1926 – 1962) American actress, singer, model
2. Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865) US President during American civil war
3. Mother Teresa (1910 – 1997) Macedonian Catholic missionary nun
4. John F. Kennedy (1917 – 1963) US President 1961 – 1963
5. Martin Luther King (1929 – 1968)  American civil rights campaigner
6. Nelson Mandela (1918 – 2013)  South African President anti-apartheid campaigner
7. Queen Elizabeth II (1926 – ) British monarch since 1954
8. Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965) British Prime Minister during WWII
9. Donald Trump (1946 – ) Businessman, politician
10. Bill Gates (1955 – ) American businessman, founder of Microsoft
11. Muhammad Ali (1942 – 2016) American Boxer and civil rights campaigner
12. Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – 1948) Leader of Indian independence movement
13. Margaret Thatcher (1925 – 2013) British Prime Minister 1979 – 1990
14. Christopher Columbus (1451 – 1506) Italian explorer
15. Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882) British scientist, theory of evolution
16. Elvis Presley (1935 – 1977) American musician
17. Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) German scientist, theory of relativity
18. Paul McCartney (1942 – ) British musician, member of Beatles
19. Queen Victoria ( 1819 – 1901) British monarch 1837 – 1901
20. Pope Francis (1936 – ) First pope from the Americas
21. Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 – 1964) Indian Prime Minister 1947 – 1964
22. Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) Italian, painter, scientist, polymath
23. Vincent Van Gogh (1853 – 1890) Dutch artist
24. Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 – 1945) US President 1932 – 1945
25. Pope John Paul II (1920 – 2005) Polish Pope
26. Thomas Edison ( 1847 – 1931) American inventor
27. Rosa Parks (1913 – 2005)  American civil rights activist
28. Aung San Suu Kyi (1945 – ) Burmese opposition leader
29. Lyndon Johnson (1908 – 1973) US President 1963 – 1969
30. Ludwig Beethoven (1770 – 1827) German composer
31. Oprah Winfrey (1954 – ) American TV presenter, actress, entrepreneur
32. Indira Gandhi (1917 – 1984) Prime Minister of India 1966 – 1977
33. Eva Peron (1919 – 1952) First Lady of Argentina 1946 – 1952
34. Benazir Bhutto (1953 – 2007) Prime Minister of Pakistan 1993 – 1996
35. George Orwell (1903 – 1950) British author
36. Desmond Tutu (1931 – ) South African Bishop and opponent of apartheid
37. Dalai Lama (1938 – ) Spiritual and political leader of Tibetans
38. Walt Disney (1901 – 1966) American film producer
39. Neil Armstrong (1930 – 2012) US astronaut
40. Peter Sellers (1925 – 1980) British actor and comedian
41. Barack Obama (1961 – ) US President 2008 – 2016
42. Malcolm X (1925 – 1965) American Black nationalist leader
43. J.K. Rowling (1965 – ) British author
44. Richard Branson (1950 – ) British entrepreneur
45. Pele (1940 – ) Brazilian footballer, considered greatest of 20th century.
46. Angelina Jolie (1975 – ) Actress, director, humanitarian
47. Jesse Owens (1913 – 1980) US track athlete, 1936 Olympics
48. Ernest Hemingway (1899 – 1961) American author
49. John Lennon (1940 – 1980) British musician, member of the Beatles
50. Henry Ford (1863 – 1947) US Industrialist
51. Haile Selassie (1892 – 1975) Emperor of Ethiopia 1930 – 1974
52. Joseph Stalin (1879 – 1953) Leader of Soviet Union 1924 – 1953
53. Lord Baden Powell (1857 – 1941) British Founder of scout movement
54. Michael Jordon (1963 – ) US Basketball star
55. George Bush Jr (1946 – ) US President 2000-2008
56. Vladimir Lenin (1870 – 1924) Leader of Russian Revolution 1917
57. Ingrid Bergman (1915 – 1982) Swedish actress
58. Fidel Castro (1926 – ) President of Cuba 1976 – 2008
59. Leo Tolstoy (1828 – 1910) Russian author and philosopher
60. Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973) Spanish modern artist
61. Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900) Irish author, poet, playwright
62. Coco Chanel (1883 – 1971) French fashion designer
63. Charles de Gaulle (1890 – 1970) French resistance leader and President 1959 – 1969
64. Amelia Earhart (1897 – 1937) Aviator
65. John M Keynes (1883 – 1946) British economist
66. Louis Pasteur (1822 – 1895) French chemist and microbiologist
67. Mikhail Gorbachev (1931 – ) Leader of Soviet Union 1985 – 1991
68. Plato (423 BC – 348 BC) Greek philosopher
69. Adolf Hitler (1889 – 1945) leader of Nazi Germany 1933 – 1945
70. Sting (1951 – ) British musician
71. Mary Magdalene (4 BCE – 40CE) devotee of Jesus Christ
72. Alfred Hitchcock (1899 – 1980) English / American film producer, director
73. Michael Jackson (1958 – 2009) American musician
74. Madonna (1958 – ) American musician, actress, author
75. Mata Hari (1876 – 1917) Dutch exotic dancer, executed as spy
76. Cleopatra (69 – 30 BCE) Queen of Egypt
77. Grace Kelly (1929 – 1982) American actress, Princess of Monaco
78. Steve Jobs (1955 – 2012) co-founder of Apple computers
79. Ronald Reagan (1911 – 2004) US President 1981-1989
80. Lionel Messi (1987 – ) Argentinian footballer
81. Babe Ruth (1895 – 1948) American baseball player
82. Bob Geldof (1951 – ) Irish musician, charity worker
83. Leon Trotsky (1879 – 1940) Russian Marxist revolutionary
84. Roger Federer (1981 – ) Swiss Tennis player
85. Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939) Austrian psychoanalyst
86. Woodrow Wilson (1856 – 1924) US president 1913 – 1921
87. Mao Zedong (1893 – 1976) Leader of Chinese Communist revolution
88. Katherine Hepburn (1907 – 2003) American actress
89. Audrey Hepburn (1929 – 1993) British actress and humanitarian
90. David Beckham (1975 – )  English footballer
91. Tiger Woods (1975 – ) American golfer
92. Usain Bolt (1986 – ) Jamaican athlete and Olympian
93. Carl Lewis (1961 – ) US athlete and Olympian
94. Prince Charles (1948 – )  Heir to British throne
95. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929 – 1994) American wife of JF Kennedy
96. C.S. Lewis (1898 – 1963) British author
97. Billie Holiday (1915 – 1959) American jazz singer
98. J.R.R. Tolkien (1892 – 1973) British author
99. Billie Jean King (1943 – ) American tennis player and human rights activist
100. Anne Frank (1929 – 1945) Dutch Jewish author who died in Holocaust

More famous people

1. Simon Bolivar (1783 – 1830) Venezuelan independence activist in South America.
2. Marie Antoinette (1755 – 1793) French Queen, executed during the French revolution
3. Cristiano Ronaldo (1985 – ) Portuguese footballer.
4. Emmeline Pankhurst  (1858 – 1928) English suffragette.
5. Emile Zatopek (1922 – 2000) Czech athlete
6. Lech Walesa (1943 – ) Polish leader of Solidarity movement
7. Julie Andrews (1935 – ) British singer, actress
8. Florence Nightingale (1820 – 1910) British nurse
9. Marie Curie (1867 – 1934) Polish / French scientist
10. Stephen Hawking (1942 – ) British scientist
11. Tim Berners Lee (1955 – ) English creator of World Wide Web
12. Lance Armstrong (1971 – ) American cyclist
13. Shakira (1977 – ) Colombian singer
14. Jon Stewart (1962 – ) American comedian
15. Wright Brothers  Orville (1871 – 1948) and Wilbur (1867 – 1912) American inventors, aviation pioneers
16. Roman Abramovich (1966 – ) Russian oligarch
17. Tom Cruise (1962 – ) American actor
18. Rupert Murdoch (1931 – ) Media owner of News Corporation
19. Al Gore (1948 – ) US presidential candidate and environmental campaigner
20. Sacha Baron Cohen (1971 – ) English comedian
21. George Clooney (1961 – ) American actor and political activist
22. Paul Krugman (1953 – ) American Nobel Prize winning economist
23. Jimmy Wales (1966 – ) American creator of Wikipedia
24. Brad Pitt (1963 – ) Actor
25. Kylie Minogue (1968 – ) Australian singer and actress
26. Malala Yousafzai (1997 – ) Pakistani human rights activist
27. Stephen King (1947 – ) American author

On This Day:
https://www.onthisday.com/people/most-popular.php

1 - Adolf Hitler

2 - Barack Obama

3 - Abraham Lincoln

4 - George Washington

5 - Donald Trump

6 - Galileo Galilei

7 - Christopher Columbus

8 - Napoléon Bonaparte

9 - Henry VIII

10 - Frances McDormand

11 - Harry Truman

12 - Michael Jackson

13 - Elizabeth II

14 - Julius Caesar

15 - Thomas Edison

16 - Martin Luther King Jr.

17 - Elvis Presley

18 - Albert Einstein

19 - Elizabeth I

20 John F. Kennedy

21 - James Cook

22 - Mahatma Gandhi

23 - Al Capone

24 - Diocletian

25 - Thomas Jefferson

26 - Babe Ruth

27 - Franklin D. Roosevelt

28 - Martin Luther

29 - Fidel Castro

30 - Alexander Graham Bell

31 - Winston Churchill

32 - Bill Clinton

33 - Ronald Reagan

34 - Charles Darwin

35 - Muhammad Ali

36 - Dwight D. Eisenhower

37 - Benito Mussolini

38 - John Lennon

39 - Charles V

40 - Charles I

41 - Jesse James

42 - Richard Nixon

43 - Lyndon B. Johnson

44 - Carrie Underwood

45 - Isaac Newton

46 - Justinian I

47 - Nelson Mandela

48 - Ferdinand Magellan

49 - Augustus Caesar

50 - Vladimir Lenin

Google Books:

https://nypost.com/2013/12/07/can-you-identify-the-most-famous-people-in-modern-history/

1800: George Bancroft
1801: Brigham Young
1802: Victor Hugo
1803: Ralph Waldo Emerson
1804: George Sand
1805: William Lloyd Garrison
1806: John Stuart Mill
1807: Louis Agassiz
1808: Napoleon III
1809: Abraham Lincoln
1810: Leo XIII
1811: Horace Greeley
1812: Charles Dickens
1813: Henry Ward Beecher
1814: Charles Reade
1815: Anthony Trollope
1816: Russell Sage
1817: Henry David Thoreau
1818: Karl Marx
1819: George Eliot
1820: Herbert Spencer
1821: Mary Baker Eddy
1822: Matthew Arnold
1823: Goldwin Smith
1824: Stonewall Jackson
1825: Bayard Taylor
1826: Walter Bagehot
1827: Charles Eliot Norton
1828: George Meredith
1829: Carl Schurz
1830: Emily Dickinson
1831: Sitting Bull
1832: Leslie Stephen
1833: Edwin Booth
1834: William Morris
1835: Mark Twain
1836: Bret Harte
1837: Grover Cleveland
1838: John Morley
1839: Henry George
1840: Crazy Horse
1841: Edward VII
1842: Alfred Marshall
1843: Henry James
1844: Anatole France
1845: Elihu Root
1846: Buffalo Bill
1847: Ellen Terry
1848: Grant Allen
1849: Edmund Gosse
1850: Robert Louis Stevenson
1851: Oliver Lodge
1852: Brander Matthews
1853: Cecil Rhodes
1854: Oscar Wilde
1855: Josiah Royce
1856: Woodrow Wilson
1857: Pius XI
1858: Theodore Roosevelt
1859: John Dewey
1860: Jane Addams
1861: Rabindranath Tagore
1862: Edward Grey
1863: David Lloyd George
1864: Max Weber
1865: Rudyard Kipling
1866: Ramsay MacDonald
1867: Arnold Bennett
1868: William Allen White
1869: Andre Gide
1870: Frank Norris
1871: Cordell Hull
1872: Sri Aurobindo
1873: Al Smith
1874: Winston Churchill
1875: Thomas Mann
1876: Piux XII
1877: Isadora Duncan
1878: Carl Sandburg
1879: Albert Einstein
1880: Douglas MacArthur
1881: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
1882: Virginia Woolf
1883: William Carlos Williams
1884: Harry Truman
1885: Ezra Pound
1886: Van Wyck Brooks
1887: Rupert Brooke
1888: John Foster Dulles
1889: Jawaharlal Nehru
1890: Ho Chi Minh
1891: Hu Shih
1892: Reinhold Niebuhr
1893: Mao Zedong
1894: Aldous Huxley
1895: George VI
1896: John Dos Passos
1897: William Faulkner
1898: Gunnar Myrdal
1899: Ernest Hemingway
1900: Adlai Stevenson
1901: Margaret Mead
1902: Talcott Parsons
1903: George Orwell
1904: Deng Xiaoping
1905: Jean-Paul Sartre
1906: Hannah Arendt
1907: Laurence Olivier
1908: Lyndon Johnson1909: Barry Goldwater
1910: Mother Teresa
1911: Ronald Reagan
1912: Milton Friedman
1913: Richard Nixon
1914: Dylan Thomas
1915: Roland Barthes
1916: C. Wright Mills
1917: Indira Gandhi
1918: Billy Graham
1919: Daniel Bell
1920: Irving Howe
1921: Raymond Williams
1922: George McGovern
1923: Henry Kissinger
1924: Jimmy Carter
1925: Robert Kennedy
1926: Fidel Castro
1927: Gabriel Garcia Marquez
1928: Che Guevara
1929: Martin Luther King Jr.
1930: Jacques Derrida
1931: Mikhail Gorbachev
1932: Sylvia Plath
1933: Susan Sontag
1934: Ralph Nader
1935: Elvis Presley
1936: Carol Gilligan
1937: Saddam Hussein
1938: Anthony Giddens
1939: Lee Harvey Oswald
1940: John Lennon
1941: Bob Dylan
1942: Barbra Streisand
1943: Terry Eagleton
1944: Rajiv Gandhi
1945: Daniel Ortega
1946: Bill Clinton
1947: Salman Rushdie
1948: Clarence Thomas
1949: Nawaz Sharif

Famous Historical Figures
​​​​​​​https://www.biographyonline.net/people/famous/historical-figures.html

Sri Ramachandra (c. 5114 BCE) Rama was a model king of Ayodhya who lived according to the dharma. He went to Sri Lanka to fight Ravana who had captured his wife, Sita. Rama is considered an incarnation of Vishnu in Hindu mythology.

Sri Krishna (c. BC) – Spiritual Teacher of Hinduism. Sri Krishna gave many discourses to his disciple Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. These discourses were written down in the Bhagavad Gita.

Ramses II (1303 BC – 1213 BC) – Ramses or Ramesses was the third Egyptian Pharaoh, ruling between 1279 BC – 1213 BC. Ramses the Great consolidated Egyptian power, through military conquest and extensive building.

Homer (8th Century BC) Homer is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Two classics of Greek literature. His writings form a significant influence on Western literature.

Lord Buddha (c 563 – 483 BC) Spiritual Teacher and founder of Buddhism. Siddhartha was born in prince in northern India. He gave up the comforts of the palace to seek enlightenment. After attaining Nirvana, he spent the remainder of his years teaching.

Confucius (551 – 479 BC) – Chinese politician, statesman, teacher and philosopher. His writings on justice, life and society became the prevailing teachings of the Chinese state and developed into Confucianism.

Socrates (469 BC–399 BC) – Greek philosopher. Socrates developed the ‘Socratic’ method of self-enquiry. He had a significant influence on his disciples, such as Plato and contributed to the development of Western philosophy and political thought.

Plato (424 – 348 BC) – Greek philosopher. A student of Socrates, Plato founded the Academy in Athens – one of the earliest seats of learning. His writings, such as ‘The Republic’ form a basis of early Western philosophy. He also wrote on religion, politics and mathematics.

Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) – Greek philosopher and teacher of Alexander the Great. Aristotle was a student of Plato, but he branched out into empirical research into the physical sciences. His philosophy of metaphysics had an important influence on Western thought.

Alexander the Great (356 – 323 BC) – King of Macedonia. He established an Empire stretching from Greece to the Himalayas. He was a supreme military commander and helped diffuse Greek culture throughout Asia and northern Africa.

Archimedes (287 B.C – 212) Mathematician, scientist and inventor. Archimedes made many contributions to mathematics. He explained many scientific principles, such as levers and invented several contraptions, such as the Archimedes screw.

Julius Caesar (100 – 44 BC) As military commander, Caesar conquered Gaul and England extending the Roman Empire to its furthest limits. Used his military strength to become Emperor (dictator) of Rome from 49 BC, until his assassination in 44BC.

Cleopatra (69 -30 BC) The last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt. Cleopatra sought to defend Egypt from the expanding Roman Empire. In doing so, she formed relationships with two of Rome’s most powerful leaders Marc Anthony and Julius Caesar.

### AD

Jesus Christ (c.5BC – 30AD), Jesus of Nazareth, was a spiritual teacher, and the central figure of Christianity. By Christians, he is considered to be the Messiah predicted in the Old Testament.

St Paul (5 – AD 67) – Christian missionary. St Paul was Jewish and a Roman citizen who converted to Christianity. His writings and teachings did much to define and help the spread of Christianity.

Marcus Aurelius (121 – 180) – Roman Emperor and philosopher. He is considered the last of the five good Emperors. His Meditations are a classic account of Stoic philosophy.

Emperor Constantine (272 – 337) First Roman Emperor to embrace Christianity. He called the First Council of Nicaea in 325 which clarified the Nicene Creed of Christianity.

Muhammad (570 – 632) Prophet of Islam. Muhammad received revelations which form the verses of the Qur’an. His new religion unified Arabia under the new Muslim religion.

Attila the Hun (5th Century) Ruler of the Huns who swept across Europe in the Fifth Century. He attacked provinces within the Roman Empire and was Rome’s most feared opponent.

Charlemagne (742 – 814) – King of Franks and Emperor of the Romans. Charlemagne unified Western Europe for the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire. He provided protection for the Pope in Rome.

Genghis Khan (1162 – 1227) – Leader of the Mongol Empire stretching from China to Europe. Genghis Khan was a fierce nomadic warrior who united the Mongol tribes before conquering Asia and Europe.

Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204) – The first Queen of France. Eleanor influenced the politics of western Europe through her alliances and her sons Richard and John – who became Kings of England.

Saladin (1138 – 1193) – Leader of the Arabs during the Crusades. He unified Muslim provinces and provided effective military opposition to the Christian crusades.

Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274) Influential Roman Catholic priest, philosopher and theologian.

Marco Polo (1254 – 1324) Venetian traveller and explorer who made ground-breaking journeys to Asia and China, helping to open up the Far East to Europe.

Johann Gutenberg (1395 – 1468) – German inventor of the printing press. Gutenberg’s invention of movable type started a printing revolution which was influential in the Reformation.

Joan of Arc – (1412-1431) – French saint. Jean d’Arc was a young peasant girl who inspired the Dauphin of France to renew the fight against the English. She led French forces into battle.

Christopher Columbus (1451 – 1506) – Italian explorer who landed in America. He wasn’t the first to land in America, but his voyages were influential in opening up the new continent to Europe.

Leonardo da Vinci ( 1452 – 1519) – Italian scientist, artist, and polymath. Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper. His scientific investigations covered all branches of human knowledge.

Guru Nanak (1469  1539) Indian spiritual teacher who founded the Sikh religion. Guru Nanak was the first of the 10 Sikh Gurus. He travelled widely disseminating a spiritual teaching of God in everyone.

Martin Luther (1483 – 1546) – A key figure in the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther opposed papal indulgences and the power of the Pope, sparking off the Protestant Reformation.

Babur (1483 – 1531) – Founder of the Moghul Empire on the Indian subcontinent. A descendant of Genghis Khan, he brought a Persian influence to India.

William Tyndale (1494 – 1536) – A key figure in the Protestant Reformation. Tyndale translated the Bible into English. It’s wide dissemination changed English society. He was executed for heresy.

Akbar (1542 – 1605) – Moghul Emperor who consolidated and expanded the Moghul Empire. Akbar also was a supporter of the arts, culture and noted for his religious tolerance.

Sir Walter Raleigh (1552 – 1618) – English explorer who made several journeys to the Americas, including a search for the lost ‘Eldorado.’

Galileo Galilei (1564 -1642) – Astronomer and physicist. Galileo developed the modern telescope and, challenging the teachings of the church, helped to prove the earth revolved around the sun.

William Shakespeare (1564- 1616) English poet and playwright. Shakespeare’s plays, such as Hamlet, Macbeth and Othello have strongly influenced English literature and Western civilisation.

Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650) Dubbed the father of modern philosophy, Descartes was influential in a new rationalist movement, which sought to question basic presumptions with reason.

Oliver Cromwell (1599 – 1658) – British Parliamentarian. Cromwell led his new model army in defeating King Charles I and creating a new model of government.

Voltaire (1694 – 1778) – French philosopher. Voltaire’s biting satire helped to create dissent in the lead up to the French revolution.

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) – English mathematician and scientist. Newton laid the foundations of modern physics, with his laws of motion and gravity. He made extensive scientific investigations.

### Eighteenth Century

Catherine the Great (1729 – 1796) – Russian Queen during the Eighteenth Century. During her reign, Russia was revitalised becoming a major European power. She also began reforms to help the poor.

George Washington (1732 – 1799) – 1st President of US. George Washington led the American forces of independence and became the first elected President.

Tom Paine (1737- 1809) English-American author and philosopher. Paine wrote‘Common Sense‘ (1776) and the Rights of Man (1791), which supported principles of the American and French revolutions.

Thomas Jefferson (1743- 1826) 3rd President of US. Author of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson passed laws on religious tolerance in his state of Virginia and founded the University of Virginia.

Mozart (1756 – 1791) – Austrian Music composer. Mozart’s compositions ranged from waltzes to Requiem. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest musical geniuses of all time.

### Nineteenth Century

William Wilberforce (1759 – 1833) – British MP and campaigner against slavery. Wilberforce was a key figure in influencing British public opinion and helping to abolish slavery in 1833.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 – 1821) – French military and political leader. Napoleon made France a major European power and meant his Napoleonic code was widely disseminated across Europe.

Simon Bolivar (1783 – 1830) – Liberator of Latin American countries. Bolivar was responsible for the liberation of Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela and Colombia.

Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865) 16th President of US. Lincoln led the northern Union forces during the civil war to protect the Union of the US. During the civil war, Lincoln also promised to end slavery.

Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882) – Developed theory of evolution. His book ‘The Origin of Species’ (1859) laid the framework for evolutionary biology and changed many people’s view of life on the planet.

Karl Marx (1818 – 1883) Principle Marxist philosopher. Author of Das Kapitaland The Communist Manifesto. (with F.Engels) Marx believed that Capitalist society would be overthrown by Communist revolution.

Queen Victoria (1819 – 1901) – Queen of Great Britain during the Nineteenth Century. She oversaw the industrial revolution and the growth of the British Empire.

Louis Pasteur (1822 – 1895) – French chemist and Biologist. Pasteur developed many vaccines, such as for rabies and anthrax. He also developed the process of pasteurisation, making milk safer.

Leo Tolstoy (1828 – 1910) – Russian writer and philosopher. Tolstoy wrote the epic ‘War and Peace’ Tolstoy was also a social activist – advocating non-violence and greater equality in society.

Thomas Edison (1847 – 1931) – Inventor and businessman. Edison developed the electric light bulb and formed a company to make electricity available to ordinary homes.

### Twentieth Century

Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900) – Irish writer. Wilde’s plays included biting social satire. He was noted for his wit and charm. However, after a sensational trial, he was sent to jail for homosexuality.

Woodrow Wilson (1856 – 1924) – President of US during WWI. Towards the end of the war, Wilson developed his 14 points for a fair peace, which included forming a League of Nations.

Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – 1948) – Indian nationalist and politician. Gandhi believed in non-violent resistance to British rule. He sought to help the ‘untouchable’ caste and also reconcile Hindu and Muslims.

The Wright Brothers (Orville, 1871  1948) – developed first powered aircraft. In 1901, they made the first successful powered air flight, ushering in a new era of air flight.

Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965) Prime Minister of Great Britain during Second World War. Churchill played a key role in strengthening British resolve in the dark days of 1940.

Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) – West German Chancellor post world war II. Adenauer had been an anti-nazi before the war. He played a key role in reintegrating West Germany into world affairs.

Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) – German / American physicist. Einstein made groundbreaking discoveries in the field of relativity. Einstein was also a noted humanitarian and peace activist.

Ataturk (1881-1938) – founder of the Turkish Republic. From the ruins of the Ottoman Empire, Ataturk forged a modern secular Turkish republic.

John M Keynes (1883 – 1946) Influential economist. Keynes developed a new field of macroeconomics in response to the great depression of the 1930s.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 – 1945) US President (1932-1945) Roosevelt led the US through its most turbulent time of the great depression and World War II.

Adolf Hitler (1889 – 1945) Dictator of Nazi Germany. Hitler sought to conquer Europe and Russia, starting World War Two. Also responsible for the Holocaust, in which Jews and other ‘non-Aryans’ were killed.

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) – First Indian Prime Minister. Nehru came to power in 1947 and ruled until his death in 1964. He forged a modern democratic India, not aligned to either US or the Soviet Union.

Dwight Eisenhower (1890 – 1969) – Supreme Allied Commander during the Normandy landings of World War II. Eisenhower also became President from 1953-1961.

Charles de Gaulle (1890- 1970) French politician. De Gaulle became leader of the ‘Free French’ after the fall of France in 1940. Became President after the war, writing the constitution of the 5th Republic.

Chairman Mao (1893 – 1976) Mao led the Chinese Communist party to power during the long march and fight against the nationalists. Mao ruled through the ‘cultural revolution’ until his death in 1976.

Mother Teresa (1910-1997) – Catholic nun from Albania who went to India to serve the poor. Became a symbol of charity and humanitarian sacrifice. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

John F. Kennedy (1917 – 1963) – US President 1961-1963. J. F.Kennedy helped to avert nuclear war during the Cuban missile crisis. He also began to support the civil rights movement before his assassination in Dallas, November 1963.

Nelson Mandela (1918 – ) The first President of democratic South Africa in 1994. Mandela was imprisoned by the apartheid regime for 27 years, but on his release helped to heal the wounds of apartheid through forgiveness and reconciliation.

Pope John Paul II (1920 – 2005) – Polish Pope from 1978-2005. Pope John Paul is credited with bringing together different religions and playing a role at the end of Communism in Eastern Europe.

Queen Elizabeth II (1926 – ) British Queen from 1952. The second longest serving monarch in history, Elizabeth saw six decades of social and political change.

Martin Luther King (1929 – 1968) Martin Luther King was a powerful leader of the non-violent civil rights movement. His 1963 speech ‘I have a dream’ being a pinnacle moment.

14th Dalai Lama (1938 – ) Spiritual and political leader of Tibetans. The Dalai Lama was forced into exile by the invading Chinese. He is a leading figure for non-violence and spirituality.

Mikhail Gorbachev (1931 – ) Leader of the Soviet Union. Oversaw transition from Communism in Eastern Europe to democracy. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.

Muhammad Ali (1942- ) American boxer. Muhammad Ali had his boxing license removed for refusal to fight in Vietnam. He became a leading figure in the civil rights movement.

# 100 most influential people in the world

https://www.biographyonline.net/people/100-most-influential.html
From Michael H. Hart's  ‘100 most influential people in the world‘.

1. Muhammad (570 – 632 AD) Prophet of Islam.
2. Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727) – British mathematician and scientist.
3. Jesus Christ (c.5BC – 30 AD) Spiritual teacher and central figure of Christianity.
4. Buddha (c 563 – 483 BC) Spiritual Teacher and founder of Buddhism.
5. Confucius (551 – 479 BC) – Chinese philosopher.
6. St. Paul (5 – AD 67) – Christian missionary and one of the main writers of New Testament.
7. Ts’ai Lun (AD 50 – 121) Inventor of paper.
8. Johann Gutenberg (1395 – 1468) – Inventor of the printing press.
9. Christopher Columbus (1451 – 1506) – Italian explorer landed in America.
10. Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) German/ US scientist discovered Theory of Relativity.
11. Louis Pasteur (1822 – 1895) French biologist. Developed a cure for rabies and other infectious diseases.
12. Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642) Italian scientist – confirmed the heliocentric view of the universe.
13. Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) – Greek philosopher and polymath
14. Euclid (c. 325 – 265 BC) – Greek mathematician
15. Moses (c 1391 – 1271 BC) A key figure of Jewish / Christian history gave 10 Commandments of Old Testament
16. Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882) –Scientist who proposed and popularised theory of evolution.
17. Shih Huang Ti (259 – 210 BC) – King of the state of Qin who conquered and united different regions of China in 221 BC.
18. Augustus Caesar (63 BC-AD 14) – First Emperor of Rome
19. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) Renaissance mathematician and astronomer who believed Sun was the centre of Universe – rather than earth.
20. Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743 – 1794) French chemist and biologist who had leading impact on the chemical revolution.
21. Constantine the Great (272 AD – 337) Roman Emperor who accepted Christian religion.
22. James Watt (1736 – 1819) Scottish engineer. Watt improved the Newcome steam engine creating an efficient steam engine
23. Michael Faraday (1791 – 1867) – English scientist who contributed in fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry.
24. James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) Scottish physicist. Maxwell made a significant contribution to understanding electromagnetism
25. Martin Luther (1483-1546) Sought to reform the Roman Catholic Church – starting the Protestant Reformation.
26. George Washington (1732 – 1799) – Leader of US forces during American Revolution and 1st President of US.
27. Karl Marx (1818 - 1883) – German Communist philosopher.
28. Orville Wright (1871 – 1948) and Wilbur Wright  (1867 – 1912) – Created and flew the first aeroplane.
29. Genghis Kahn (1162 – 1227) – Military and political leader of the Mongols.
30. Adam Smith (1723-1790) Scottish social philosopher and pioneer of classical economics.
31. William Shakespeare (1564- 1616) English poet and playwright.
32. John Dalton (1766 – 1844) English chemist and physicist. Made contributions to atomic theory.
33. Alexander the Great (356 - 323 BC) – King of Macedonia and military leader.
34. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 - 1821) – French military and political leader.
35. Thomas Edison (1847 – 1931) – Inventor and businessman helped introduce electricity and electric light bulbs.
36. Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) Dutch chemist – founder of microbiology.
37. William T.G. Morton (1819 – 1868) American dentist who pioneered the use of anaesthetic.
38. Guglielmo Marconi (1874 – 1937) Italian engineer who helped develop radio transmission.
39. Adolf Hitler (1889 – 1945) – Dictator of Nazi Germany.
40. Plato (424 - 348 BC) – Greek philosopher.
41. Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) – Leader of Parliamentarians in English civil war.
42. Alexander Graham Bell (1847 – 1922) – Scottish inventor of the telephone.
43. Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) Scottish biologist who discovered penicillin.
44. John Locke (1632-1704) English political philosopher. Locke promoted a theory of liberal democracy and a social contract.
45. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) German composer of the classical and romantic period.
46. Werner Heisenberg (1901–1976) German theoretical physicist – one of the pioneers of Quantum mechanics
47. Louis Daguerre (1787–1851) French artist and photographer, who is credited with the invention of the camera.
48. Simon Bolivar (1783 – 1830) – Liberator of Latin American countries
49. Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650) French philosopher and mathematician. “I think, therefore I am
50. Michelangelo (1475 – 1564) Renaissance sculptor, painter and architect
51. Pope Urban II (1042 – 29 July 1099) Influential Pope who ordered the first Crusade to the Holy Land and set up the Papal Court
52. Umar ibn al-Khattab (584 CE –  644 CE) Powerful Muslim Caliphate and senior companion of Muhammad. Influential figure in Sunni Islam.
53. Asoka (c. 260 – 232 BC) Powerful Indian King who established large empire by conquest before converting to Buddhism and pursuing a peaceful approach
54. St. Augustine (354 – 430) Influential Christian saint and writer, who shaped much of Western Christian thought.
55. William Harvey (1578 – 3 June 1657) English physician who made contributions to understanding how blood circulated in the body.
56. Ernest Rutherford (1871 –  1937) NZ born British physicist who made discoveries in atomic physics. His work on splitting the atom was influential for the development of atomic science.
57. John Calvin (1509 – 27 May 1564) Christian theologian who developed a strict brand of Protestant Christianity which stressed doctrine of predestination.
58. Gregor Mendel (1822 –  1884) Czech/Austrian scientist and friar – who founded modern science of genetics.
59. Max Planck (1858 – 1947) German theoretical physicist who developed a theory of Quantum physics and discovered energy quanta.
60. Joseph Lister (1827 – 1912) British surgeon who pioneered the use of sterilisation and antiseptic surgery.
61. Nikolaus August Otto (1832 – 1891) German engineer who developed compressed charge internal combustion engine to run on petrol
62. Francisco Pizarro (1471 – 1541) Spanish Conquistador who claimed Inca lands for Spain.
63. Hernando Cortes (1485 – 1547) Spanish Conquistador who conquered the Aztec lands of modern-day Mexico.
64. Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826) 3rd President of US. Principle author of the US Declaration of Independence.
65. Queen Isabella I (1451 – 1504) Queen of Castille, who helped create a powerful and unified state of Spain whose influence spread to the Americas.
66. Joseph Stalin (1878 – 1953) Absolute ruler of the Soviet Union from 1924 to his death. Led the Soviet Union in WWII.
67. Julius Caesar (100 BC – 44 BC) Roman ruler who oversaw the demise of Roman Republic to be replaced with a Roman Emperor. Militarily strengthened the power of Rome.
68. William the Conqueror (1028 – 1087) First Norman king of England
69. Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939) An Austrian neurologist who founded psychoanalysis, which involved the investigation of the subconscious, dreams and human mind.
70. Edward Jenner (1749 – 1823) Developed world’s first vaccine (the smallpox vaccine). Known as the father of immunology.
71. Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen  (1845 – 1923) German physicist who discovered electromagnetic waves or X-rays.
72. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) Composer and organist who created some of the world’s most beautiful music.
73. Lao Tzu (6th Century BC – ) Author of Tao Te Ching and founder of Taoism
74. Voltaire (1694 –  1778). A key figure of European Enlightenment. His satirical writings played a role in the French Revolution.
75. Johannes Kepler (1571 – 1630) German mathematician and astronomer who created laws of planetary motion.
76. Enrico Fermi (1901 – 1954) Italian-American physicist who created the first nuclear reactor
77. Leonhard Euler (1707 – 1783) Swiss mathematician who made prolific discoveries in calculus and graph theory.
78. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) – French philosopher, author of Social Contract
79. Nicoli Machiavelli (1469 –  1527) Italian diplomat and Renaissance writer considered the father of political science.
80. Thomas Malthus (1766 – 1834) English scholar who raised concern over growing population.
81. John F. Kennedy (1917 – 1963) 38th President of the US. Served at the height of the Cold War and helped defuse Cuban Missile Crisis.
82. Gregory Pincus (1903 – 1967) American biologist who created the oral contraceptive pill.
83. Mani (216 – ) Iranian founder of Manichaeism, a gnostic religion which for a time was a rival to Christianity.
84. Lenin (1870 – 1924) Leader of the Russian Revolution and new Communist regime from 1917 to 1924.
85. Sui Wen Ti (541 –  604) Founder of China’s Sui Dynasty and reunifying China in 589
86. Vasco da Gama (1460s –1524) Portuguese explorer, first European to reach India and establish a route for imperialism.
87. Cyrus the Great  (600 – 530 BC) Founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian Empire. Relatively enlightened ruler.
88. Peter the Great (1721 – 1725) Russian Emperor who expanded Tsarist Empire to make Russia European power.
89. Mao Zedong (1893 – 1976) Leader of the Communist Revolution and dictator of China from 1949-1974.
90. Francis Bacon (1561 –  1626) Creator of the scientific method and key figure in Scientific Revolution of the Enlightenment.
91. Henry Ford (1863 – 1947) Owner of Ford Motor Company. Revolutionised mass-production techniques
92. Mencius (385–303BC) Chinese philosopher one of principal interpreters of Confucianism.
93. Zoroaster (c. 1200 BC)  Iranian prophet who founded the religion of Zoroastrianism.
94. Queen Elizabeth I (1533 – 1603) Queen of England from 1558 to her death in 1603. Cemented England as Protestant country, defeated Spanish Armada.
95. Mikhail Gorbachev (1931 – ) Leader of Soviet Communist Party who pursued reform – perestroika and glasnost to open Eastern Europe to democracy.
96. Menes c. 3000 BC Egyptian pharaoh who united Upper and Lower Egypt to found the First Dynasty.
97. Charlemagne (742 – 814) United Europe to form Carolingian Empire. First western Emperor since fall of Rome.
98. Homer Greek poet who wrote Iliad and Odyssey
99. Justinian I  (482 –   565) Emperor of Eastern Roman Empire
100. Mahavira (6th century BC)  Principal figure of Jainism.

Ranker: Most Influential People

https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-most-influential-people-of-all-time

Jesus Christ ,

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Isaac Newton (1643-1727)

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

Leonardo da Vinci

Aristotle (383 BC-321 BC)

Muhammad

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

Plato

Alexander the Great (355 BC-322 BC),

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Socrates

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

George Washington (1732-1799)

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)

Moses

Nikola Tesla (1856-1943)Nikola Tesla was a Serbian American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current...more

Gautama Buddha,

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

Julius Caesar (99 BC-43 BC)

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and its associated wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from...more

Johannes Gutenberg (1398-1468)

Thomas Edison (1847-1931)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Genghis Khan

Marie Curie (1867-1934)

Nelson Mandela (1918-2013)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

Homer

Michelangelo (1475-1564)

Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)

Bill Gates

Henry Ford (1863-1947) was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production.

Confucius (550 BC-478 BC)

Pythagoras of Samos

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

Paul of Tarsus,

Charlemagne

Archimedes

Wright brothers The Wright brothers, Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright, were two American brothers, inventors, and aviation pioneers who are credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane

Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization.

Hippocrates (459 BC-376 BC)

Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924)

Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922)

Walt Disney (1901-1966) Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American entrepreneur, cartoonist, animator, voice actor, and film producer. As a prominent figure within the American animation industry and throughout the world, he...more

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Mother Teresa (1910-1997)

Alan Turing (1912-1954)

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) was a major Post-Impressionist painter. He was a Dutch artist whose work had a far-reaching influence on 20th-century art.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

St Joan of Arc (1412-1431)

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was a German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer. A key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution, he is best known for his laws of planetary motion, based on his works

Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977)Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor and filmmaker who rose to fame in the silent film era. Chaplin became a worldwide icon through his screen persona "the Tramp"

Marco Polo (1254-1324)

Anne Frank (1929-1945) Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank was a diarist and writer. She is one of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Her wartime diary The Diary of a Young Girl has been the basis for several plays

Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

George Orwell (1903-1950)Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 21 January 1950), better known by his psuedonym George Orwell, was an English author. His work is marked by a profound conscientiousness of social injustice

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945)

J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor who is best known as the author of the classic high-fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rin...more

Voltaire (1694-1778)

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)

Joseph Stalin (1878-1953)

Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) was a conservative Prussian statesman who dominated German and European affairs from the 1860s until 1890.

Sun Tzu (543 BC-495 BC)

René Descartes (1596-1650) was a French philosopher, mathematician and writer who spent most of his life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the father of modern philosophy,

Sophocles

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

Neil Armstrong (1930-2012) was an American astronaut and the first person to walk on the Moon. He was also an aerospace engineer, naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor.

Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603)

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

Gregor Mendel (1822-1884)Gregor Johann Mendel was a German-speaking Moravian scientist and Augustinian friar who gained posthumous fame as the founder of the modern science of genetics. Though farmers had known for centuries ...more

Sitting Bull (1831-1890)

Alexander Fleming (1881-1955)Sir Alexander Fleming, FRSE, FRS, FRCS was a Scottish biologist, pharmacologist and botanist. He wrote many articles on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy.

Herodotus (483 BC-424 BC)

Euclid

Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Peter the Great (1672-1725)

Queen Victoria (1819-1901)

Rosa Parks (1913-2005)

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

Wernher von Braun (1912-1977)

Ronald Reagan (1911-2004)

Pope Francis

Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) was a Swedish chemist, engineer, innovator, and armaments manufacturer. He was the inventor of dynamite.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was a German writer and statesman. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of metres and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiograp...more

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) was a Florentine historian, politician, diplomat, philosopher, humanist, and writer during the Renaissance. He was for many years an official in the Florentine Repu...more

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy was a Greco-Egyptian writer of Alexandria, known as a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology.

Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) was a Portuguese explorer who organised the Spanish expedition to the East Indies from 1519 to 1522, resulting in the first circumnavigation of the Earth.

Adam Smith (1723-1790)

Rembrandt (1606-1669)

Thomas Paine (1737-1809) was an English-American political activist, philosopher, political theorist and revolutionary. One of the Founding Fathers of the United States, he authored the two most influential pamph[1]​​​​​​​