1600–1699
The 17th century
Whose working lives fell in the 17th century. Books are measured from 1800 and readers from 2015, so for this period we can say who lived then, not who was talked about then.
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 17th century, ranked where Wikipedia coverage and readership agree.
#PersonIn print, 1800–2019Echoed
- 1
René Descartes1596–1650 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics22 decades - 2
Blaise Pascal1623–1662 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics22 decades - 3
Pierre de Fermat1607–1665 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics8 decades - 4
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Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon1635–1719 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics22 decades - 5
Pierre Bayle1647–1706 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics22 decades - 6
Pierre Gassendi1592–1655 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics21 decades - 7
Nicolas Malebranche1638–1715 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics11 decades - 8
Marin Mersenne1588–1648 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics17 decades - 9
Michel Rolle1652–1719 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 10
Gilles de Roberval1602–1675 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 11
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Jean Hardouin1646–1729 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics11 decades - 12
Pierre Varignon1654–1722 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics2 decades - 13
François de La Mothe Le Vayer1588–1672 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 14
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Antoine de Montchrestien1575–1621 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics9 decades - 15
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Étienne Pascal1588–1651 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics18 decades - 16
Claude Gaspar Bachet de Méziriac1581–1638 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 17
Louis Cousin1627–1707 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics14 decades - 18
Jacques Ozanam1640–1718 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 19
Nicolas Andry1658–1742 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 20
Bernard Lamy1640–1715 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics13 decades - 21
Jacob Spon1647–1685 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics19 decades - 22
Jean Riolan the Younger1580–1657 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 23
Pierre Poiret1646–1719 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics8 decades - 24PHPierre Hérigone1580–1643 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades
- 25
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Guy Tachard1648–1712 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics1 decades - 26
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Honoré Fabri1608–1688 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 27
Jean-Baptiste du Hamel1624–1706 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 28CDClaude de Visdelou1656–1737 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured—
- 29
Pierre Carcavy1600–1684 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 30
Gabrielle Suchon1631–1703 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 31
Pierre Jurieu1637–1713 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 32
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Jean Claude1619–1687 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 33
Jean François Niceron1613–1646 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 34FDFlorimond de Beaune1601–1652 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics1 decades
- 35
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Sébastien Truchet1657–1729 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 36
Charles de Condren1588–1641 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 37
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Antoine Le Maistre1608–1658 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 38ALAntoine Le Grand1629–1699 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured—
- 39
Claude Mydorge1585–1647 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 40
Pierre-Sylvain Régis1632–1707 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 41FCFrançois Charpentier1620–1702 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics17 decades
- 42
Samuel de Sorbiere1615–1670 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 43
Jean-Baptiste-Henri de Valincour1653–1730 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 44
Jean Leurechon1591–1670 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 45
Nicolas de Malézieu1650–1727 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 46
Jean Crasset1618–1692 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 47JDJean de Silhon1596–1667 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured—
- 48
Claude-François Milliet Dechales1621–1678 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 49
Antoine de Laloubère1600–1664 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 50
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Théophile Raynaud1583–1663 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 51
Nicolas Coeffeteau1574–1623 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 52
Claude Clerselier1614–1684 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured—
- 53PBPierre Bardin1595–1635 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured—
- 54
Jean de Beaugrand1595–1640 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 55CHClaude Hardy1598–1678 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured—
- 56
Jean Gallois1632–1707 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 57GVGiovanni Veneroni1642–1708 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured—
- 58
Nicolas Bergier1567–1623 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 59
Denis Henrion1580–1632 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 60
Charles René Reyneau1656–1728 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 61GLGuillaume Lamy1644–1683 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured—
- 62
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Claude Guillermet de Bérigard1578–1663 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 63LSLouise-Anastasia Serment1642–1692 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured—
- 64
Clément Cyriaque de Mangin1570–1642 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured—
How this is measured
- Placing people in time. Each person belongs to the century in which they were most active — around age 35, and never after their death.
- Who ranks highest. Within a century, people are ranked where two independent signals agree: how many of the world’s Wikipedia language editions cover them, and how many people actually read about them. Article counts alone can be lifted by a person’s own circle; readers cannot.
- Fame in print. The curves count how often a name appears in Google Books from 1800 to 2019, as a share of all the words printed each year, in the person’s own language wherever that corpus exists. Those decades are over, so each measurement is made once and kept.
- What is left out. A lifetime is measured only from 1820, when there is enough print to judge; the five years after a death are skipped as obituaries; and a name shared with someone equally notable is credited to neither.