Claim profile
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.

CountryAll🇫🇷 France🇩🇪 Germany🇬🇧 United Kingdom🇯🇵 Japan🇹🇷 Turkey🇳🇱 Netherlands🇪🇸 Spain🇮🇹 Italy🇸🇪 Sweden🇮🇳 India
FieldAllWritersPoliticiansHistorical FiguresArtistsAcademicsScientistsMusiciansReligious FiguresActorsModels
  1. 1Gerardus VossiusGerardus Vossius1577–1649 · 🇳🇱 Netherlands · Actors0 decades
  2. 2Romeyn de HoogheRomeyn de Hooghe1645–1708 · 🇳🇱 Netherlands · Actors0 decades
  3. 3Cornelis VisscherCornelis Visscher1628–1658 · 🇳🇱 Netherlands · Actors0 decades
  4. 4GCGeorgius Candidius1597–1647 · 🇳🇱 Netherlands · Actorsnot measured—
  5. 5Johannes LutmaJohannes Lutma1584–1669 · 🇳🇱 Netherlands · Actorsnot measured—
  6. 6Salomon SaverySalomon Savery1594–1683 · 🇳🇱 Netherlands · Actorsnot measured—
  7. 7Thieleman J. van BraghtThieleman J. van Braght1625–1664 · 🇳🇱 Netherlands · Actorsnot measured—
  8. 8Jacob van MeursJacob van Meurs1610–1679 · 🇳🇱 Netherlands · Actorsnot measured—
  9. 9Constantijn à RenesseConstantijn à Renesse1626–1670 · 🇳🇱 Netherlands · Actorsnot measured—
  10. 10Frederik BloemaertFrederik Bloemaert1616–1690 · 🇳🇱 Netherlands · Actorsnot measured—
  11. 11Salomon van TilSalomon van Til1643–1713 · 🇳🇱 Netherlands · Actorsnot measured—
  12. 12Johannes AcroniusJohannes Acronius1565–1627 · 🇳🇱 Netherlands · Actorsnot 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.