← 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
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek7 decades - 2
Edmond Halley6 decades - 3
Feodor II of Russianot measured- - 4
Maria Sibylla Merian9 decades - 5
Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban2 decades - 6
Evangelista Torricelli22 decades - 7
Prince Rupert of the Rhinenot measured- - 8
Otto von Guericke10 decades - 9
Denis Papin19 decades - 10
Thomas Newcomen15 decades - 11
Bartolomeo Cristofori0 decades - 12
Johannes Hevelius3 decades - 13
Hans Sloane22 decades - 14
Thomas Savery5 decades - 15
Cornelis Drebbelnot measured- - 16
Jan Baptist van Helmont0 decades - 17
John Flamsteed7 decades - 18
John Ray22 decades - 19
Matthäus Merian18 decades - 20
Willebrord Snellius1 decades - 21
Engelbert Kaempfer7 decades - 22
Hennig Brand0 decades - 23
Johann Adam Schall von Bell5 decades - 24
Eusebio Kino12 decades - 25
Nicolas Fatio de Duillier0 decades - 26
Edme Mariotte0 decades - 27
Hezârfen Ahmet Çelebinot measured- - 28
Johann Bayer8 decades - 29Giulia Tofana0 decades
- 30
Hans Lippershey1 decades - 31
Joseph Pitton de Tournefort5 decades - 32
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville6 decades - 33
Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peirescnot measured- - 34
Olaus Rudbeck4 decades - 35
Jean Picard22 decades - 36
Jeremiah Horrocks1 decades - 37
Johann Rudolf Glauber0 decades - 38
Lagâri Hasan Çelebinot measured- - 39
Guillaume Amontons0 decades - 40
Maria Cunitz2 decades - 41
Johann Weikhard von Valvasor0 decades - 42
Joan Blaeu0 decades - 43
Martino Martini19 decades - 44
Johann Joachim Becher16 decades - 45
Willem Blaeu0 decades - 46
Francesco Maria Grimaldi0 decades - 47
Frederik Ruysch0 decades - 48
Christoph Scheiner0 decades - 49
Christopher Polhem0 decades - 50
Vincenzo Coronelli6 decades - 51
Robert Dudleynot measured- - 52
Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora21 decades - 53
Edward Lhuyd4 decades - 54
Menno van Coehoorn0 decades - 55
Frederick de Houtman0 decades - 56
Jean de Thévenot0 decades - 57
Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli19 decades - 58
Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan0 decades - 59
Nicolae Milescu0 decades - 60
Princess Anna of Sweden0 decades - 61
Charles Plumier3 decades - 62
Francis Willughby1 decades - 63
Nehemiah Grew7 decades - 64
Nicolas Sanson19 decades - 65
Erik Dahlbergh0 decades - 66
Johann Homann4 decades - 67
Andreas Cellarius0 decades - 68
Johann Christoph Denner2 decades - 69
Pierre Magnol1 decades - 70
Georg Eberhard Rumphius0 decades - 71
John Parkinson22 decades - 72
Hendrik Brouwer0 decades - 73
Michał Boymnot measured- - 74
Georg Joseph Kamel0 decades - 75
Philippe de La Hire4 decades - 76
Jan Janssonius0 decades - 77
Francis Hauksbee0 decades - 78
Elisabeth Heveliusnot measured- - 79
Gottfried Kirch9 decades - 80
Herman Moll1 decades - 81
Katerina Vitalenot measured- - 82
Ismaël Bullialdusnot measured- - 83
Giovan Battista Hodierna1 decades - 84
Nicolas Lemery11 decades - 85
Johannes Fabricius13 decades - 86
Claes Janszoon Visscher IInot measured- - 87Laurent Cassegrainnot measured-
- 88
Kazimierz Siemienowicz0 decades - 89
Guy-Crescent Fagon0 decades - 90Martine Bertereau1 decades
- 91
Jean Richer21 decades - 92
Georg Marcgrave0 decades - 93
Jacobus Sinapiusnot measured- - 94
Marie Meurdrac0 decades - 95
Pieter van der Aa0 decades - 96Joseph Sauveur5 decades
- 97
Johann von Löwenstern-Kunckel0 decades - 98
John Tradescant the Younger0 decades - 99
Hendrik van Rheede0 decades - 100
Diego Fernández de Córdoba, Marquis of Guadalcázarnot 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.