← Fame through time1600-1699
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 coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Baruch Spinoza16 decades - 2
Christiaan Huygens7 decades - 3
Hugo Grotius22 decades - 4
Johan de Witt0 decades - 5
Uriel da Costa0 decades - 6
Menasseh Ben Israel22 decades - 7
Albert Girard19 decades - 8Isaac Beeckman0 decades
- 9
Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn0 decades - 10
Jacobus Golius0 decades
- 11
Claudius Salmasius1 decades - 12
Thomas van Erpe0 decades - 13
Frans van Schooten0 decades - 14
Johannes Hudde0 decades - 15
Henricus Regius0 decades - 16Adriaan Koerbagh0 decades
- 17
André Tacquet0 decades - 18
Pieter de la Courtnot measured- - 19
Johannes Bogerman0 decades - 20
Johannes Voetnot measured- - 21
Adriaan Vlacqnot measured- - 22
Aernout van Buchelnot measured- - 23
Bernard Nieuwentytnot measured- - 24
Jan Jansz de Jonge Stampioennot measured- - 25Burchard de Voldernot measured-
- 26
Gerhard Noodt0 decades
- 27
Franco Burgersdijknot measured- - 28
Arnold Vinniusnot measured- - 29
Johann Heinrich Altingnot measured- - 30
Antonius Walaeusnot measured- - 31
Johannes van Neercasselnot measured- - 32
Friedrich Spanheim the Youngernot measured- - 33
Francis Lodwicknot measured- - 34
Sixtinus Amamanot measured- - 35
Hendrik van Heuraet0 decades - 36
Petrus Serrariusnot measured- - 37Willem van Blijenberghnot measured-
- 38
Johannes de Raeynot measured- - 39
Antonius Thysius the Eldernot measured- - 40
Samuel Maroloisnot measured- - 41Adriaen Verwernot measured-
How to read these rankings
- Attention, not reputation. A place on these lists reflects the attention a person still draws in the public record. It is not a judgement on the life.
- Fame in print. The curves show how often a name appeared in the books of each decade from 1800 to 2019, drawn from the Google Books Ngram corpus.
- Gaps are left as gaps. Where the record is too thin to be fair, we would rather show nothing than guess.