In order to reply to the question of who is the most famous person in history, we’ve got to first set out to rank the significance of historical figures. But then, we must decided to not approach the project the way historians might, through a principled assessment of their individual achievements. Instead, we will evaluate each person by aggregating millions of traces of opinions into a computational data-centric analysis.
Historically significant figures leave statistical evidence of their presence behind, if one knows where to look for it, and we used several data sources to fuel our ranking algorithms.
To fairly compare contemporary figures like Britney Spears against the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, we adjusted for the fact that today’s stars will fade from living memory over the next several generations. Intuitively it is clear that Britney Spears’ mindshare will decline substantially over the next 100 years, as people who grew up hearing her are replaced by new generations.
But Aristotle’s reputation will be much more stable because this transition occurred long ago. The reputation he has now is presumably destined to endure. By analyzing traces left in millions of scanned books, we can measure just how fast this decay occurs, and correct for it.
However, the search is long and the list too. That is why, significantly, we shall be letting you understand that there are like 100 (hundred) heroes of the world who had during their lifetime at least changed the course of history and moved the human existence into a whole new culture of ease and comfort in the best way they could!
100 of the Most Famous Persons in History
Here is the long list of 100 most popularly great men around us from the past few years. We will be doing this before you come to grips with the most popular out of all of them:
- Jesus
- Napoleon
- Muhammad
- William Shakespeare
- Abraham Lincoln
- George Washington
- Adolf Hitler
- Aristotle
- Alexander the Great
- Thomas Jefferson
- Henry VIII of England
- Charles Darwin
- Elizabeth I of England
- Karl Marx
- Julius Caesar
- Queen Victoria
- Martin Luther
- Joseph Stalin
- Albert Einstein
- Christopher Columbus
- Isaac Newton
- Charlemagne
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Plato
- Louis XIV of France
- Ludwig van Beethoven
- Ulysses S. Grant
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Augustus
- Carl Linnaeus
- Ronald Reagan
- Charles Dickens
- Paul the Apostle
- Benjamin Franklin
- George W. Bush
- Winston Churchill
- Genghis Khan
- Charles I of England
- Thomas Edison
- James I of England
- Friedrich Nietzsche
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Sigmund Freud
- Alexander Hamilton
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
- Woodrow Wilson
- Johann Sebastian Bach
- Galileo Galilei
- Oliver Cromwell
- James Madison
- Gautama Buddha
- Mark Twain
- Edgar Allan Poe
- Joseph Smith, Jr.
- Adam Smith
- David, King of Israel
- George III of the United Kingdom
- Immanuel Kant
- James Cook
- John Adams
- Richard Wagner
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Voltaire
- Saint Peter
- Andrew Jackson
- Constantine the Great
- Socrates
- Elvis Presley
- William the Conqueror
- John F. Kennedy
- Augustine of Hippo
- Vincent van Gogh
- Nicolaus Copernicus
- Vladimir Lenin
- Robert E. Lee
- Oscar Wilde
- Charles II of England
- Cicero
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- Francis Bacon
- Richard Nixon
- Louis XVI of France
- Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
- King Arthur
- Michelangelo
- Philip II of Spain
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Ali, founder of Sufism
- Thomas Aquinas
- Pope John Paul II
- René Descartes
- Nikola Tesla
- Harry S. Truman
- Joan of Arc
- Dante Alighieri
- Otto von Bismarck
- Grover Cleveland
- John Calvin
- John Locke
Who is the Most Famous Person in History
Having given you the long list of at least hundred most famous persons in the history of the world, it is time we identified who is the most famous person in history since man became a living being.
Isaac Newton
He was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author who was described in his time as a natural philosopher. He was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment that followed.
His pioneering book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), first published in 1687, consolidated many previous results and established classical mechanics.
Newton also made seminal contributions to optics, and shares credit with German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz for developing infinitesimal calculus.
Jesus
He’s also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the central figure of Christianity, the world’s largest religion.
Most Christians believe he is the incarnation of God the Son and the awaited Messiah (the Christ) prophesied in the Hebrew Bible. Virtually all modern scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed historically.
Albert Einstein
As another answer to the question of who is the most famous person in history, Albert Einstein captures our interest. He was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time.
Einstein is best known for developing the theory of relativity, but he also made important contributions to the development of the theory of quantum mechanics. Relativity and quantum mechanics are the two pillars of modern physics.
His mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2, which arises from relativity theory, has been dubbed “the world’s most famous equation“. His work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics
Mohammad
He was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monotheistic teachings of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets.
He is believed to be the Seal of the Prophets within Islam. Muhammad united Arabia into a single Muslim polity, with the Quran as well as his teachings and practices forming the basis of Islamic religious belief.
Christopher Columbus
He was an Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, opening the way for the widespread European exploration and European colonization of the Americas.
His expeditions were the first known European contact with the Caribbean and Central and South America.
