1700–1799
The 18th century
Whose working lives fell in the 18th 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 18th century, ranked where Wikipedia coverage and readership agree.
#PersonIn print, 1800–2019Echoed
- 1
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Voltaire1694–1778 · 🇫🇷 France · Writers22 decades - 2
Marie Antoinette1755–1793 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures22 decades - 3
Louis XVI of France1754–1793 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures22 decades - 4
Maximilien Robespierre1758–1794 · 🇫🇷 France · Activists14 decades - 5
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Louis XV of France1710–1774 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures22 decades - 6
Montesquieu1689–1755 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics22 decades - 7
Marquis de Sade1740–1814 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics12 decades - 8
Louis XVIII of France1755–1824 · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians22 decades - 9
Denis Diderot1713–1784 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics21 decades - 10
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Antoine Lavoisier1743–1794 · 🇫🇷 France · Scientists2 decades - 11
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord1754–1839 · 🇫🇷 France · Politiciansnot measured— - 12
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Charles X of France1757–1836 · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians22 decades - 13
Olympe de Gouges1748–1793 · 🇫🇷 France · Writers22 decades - 14
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Georges Danton1759–1794 · 🇫🇷 France · Activists0 decades - 15
Jacques-Louis David1748–1825 · 🇫🇷 France · Artists7 decades - 16
Joséphine de Beauharnais1763–1814 · 🇫🇷 France · Designers17 decades - 17
Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette1757–1834 · 🇫🇷 France · Politiciansnot measured— - 18
Jean-Paul Marat1743–1793 · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians19 decades - 19
Philip V of Spain1683–1746 · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians22 decades - 20
Charles XIV John of Sweden1763–1844 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figuresnot measured— - 21
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Pierre Beaumarchais1732–1799 · 🇫🇷 France · Writersnot measured— - 22
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Pierre-Simon Laplace1749–1827 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics2 decades - 23
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Madame de Pompadour1721–1764 · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians22 decades - 24
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon1707–1788 · 🇫🇷 France · Writersnot measured— - 25
Marquis de Condorcet1743–1794 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics1 decades - 26
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck1744–1829 · 🇫🇷 France · Scientists2 decades - 27
Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau1749–1791 · 🇫🇷 France · Writersnot measured— - 28
Louis XVII of France1785–1795 · 🇫🇷 France22 decades - 29
Jean le Rond d'Alembert1717–1783 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics7 decades - 30
Madame du Barry1743–1793 · 🇫🇷 France · Musicians22 decades - 31
Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun1755–1842 · 🇫🇷 France · Artists1 decades - 32
Joseph Fouché1759–1820 · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians10 decades - 33
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Jean-Philippe Rameau1683–1764 · 🇫🇷 France · Musicians11 decades - 34
Louis Antoine de Saint-Just1767–1794 · 🇫🇷 France · Politiciansnot measured— - 35
Pierre de Marivaux1688–1763 · 🇫🇷 France · Writers22 decades - 36
Joseph-Louis Lagrange1736–1813 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 37
Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle1760–1836 · 🇫🇷 France · Musicians20 decades - 38
Antoine François Prévost1697–1763 · 🇫🇷 France · Writers12 decades - 39
Charlotte Corday1768–1793 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures22 decades - 40
Henri de Saint-Simon1760–1825 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 41
Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès1748–1836 · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians0 decades - 42
Stanisław Leszczyński1677–1766 · 🇫🇷 France0 decades - 43
Joseph de Maistre1753–1821 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics21 decades - 44
Jean-Honoré Fragonard1732–1806 · 🇫🇷 France · Artists6 decades - 45
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Marie Leszczyńska1703–1768 · 🇫🇷 France · Writers13 decades - 46
Lazare Carnot1753–1823 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics14 decades - 47
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos1741–1803 · 🇫🇷 France · Writers2 decades - 48
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Jean-Antoine Watteau1684–1721 · 🇫🇷 France · Artists18 decades - 49
Louis Antoine de Bougainville1729–1811 · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians4 decades - 50
Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse1741–1788 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figuresnot measured— - 51
Pasquale Paoli1725–1807 · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians22 decades - 52
Camille Desmoulins1760–1794 · 🇫🇷 France · Journalists22 decades - 53
François-Noël Babeuf1760–1797 · 🇫🇷 France · Journalists21 decades - 54
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Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin1755–1826 · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians0 decades - 55
Manon Roland1754–1793 · 🇫🇷 France · Writers10 decades - 56
André Chénier1762–1794 · 🇫🇷 France · Writers22 decades - 57
Carlo Buonaparte1746–1785 · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians20 decades - 58
Nicolas Appert1749–1841 · 🇫🇷 France · Scientists6 decades - 59
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Louis, Dauphin of France1729–1765 · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians22 decades - 60
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Philippe II, Duke of Orléans1674–1723 · 🇫🇷 France · Artists22 decades - 61
Gaspard Monge1746–1818 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics22 decades - 62
Louis, Duke of Burgundy1682–1712 · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians22 decades - 63
Anne Robert Jacques Turgot1727–1781 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics2 decades - 64
François Boucher1703–1770 · 🇫🇷 France · Artists21 decades - 65
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André Masséna1758–1817 · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians2 decades - 66
Charles-Augustin de Coulomb1736–1806 · 🇫🇷 France · Scientists0 decades - 67
François Couperin1668–1733 · 🇫🇷 France · Musicians14 decades - 68
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Letizia Ramolino1750–1836 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures3 decades - 69
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Joseph-Ignace Guillotin1738–1814 · 🇫🇷 France · Doctors0 decades - 70
Jacques Hébert1757–1794 · 🇫🇷 France · Journalists0 decades - 71
Henry Cavendish1731–1810 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics22 decades - 72
Nicolas Chamfort1740–1794 · 🇫🇷 France · Journalistsnot measured— - 73
Marie Tussaud1761–1850 · 🇫🇷 France · Artists0 decades - 74
Charles Messier1730–1817 · 🇫🇷 France · Scientists1 decades - 75
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Paul Barras1755–1829 · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians6 decades - 76
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Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans1747–1793 · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians22 decades - 77
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Louis-Alexandre Berthier1753–1815 · 🇫🇷 France · Artists1 decades - 78
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Alessandro Cagliostro1743–1795 · 🇫🇷 France · Doctors22 decades - 79
Jeanne Baret1740–1807 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures0 decades - 80
Julien Offray de La Mettrie1709–1751 · 🇫🇷 France · Doctors2 decades - 81
Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin1699–1779 · 🇫🇷 France · Artists0 decades - 82
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Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre1737–1814 · 🇫🇷 France · Writersnot measured— - 83
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Claude Adrien Helvétius1715–1771 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 84
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Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot1725–1804 · 🇫🇷 France · Scientists0 decades - 85
Jean-Baptiste Kléber1753–1800 · 🇫🇷 France · Architects0 decades
- 86
Luigi Cherubini1760–1842 · 🇫🇷 France · Musicians2 decades - 87
Jean Sylvain Bailly1736–1793 · 🇫🇷 France · Scientists0 decades - 88
François Quesnay1694–1774 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics14 decades - 89
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Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis1698–1759 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 90
Adrien-Marie Legendre1752–1833 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 91
Étienne Bonnot de Condillac1714–1780 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics1 decades - 92
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Antoine-Augustin Parmentier1737–1813 · 🇫🇷 France · Scientists0 decades - 93
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Jacques Pierre Brissot1754–1793 · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians0 decades - 94
Józef Poniatowski1763–1813 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures0 decades - 95
Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France1781–1789 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figuresnot measured— - 96
Johann Heinrich Lambert1728–1777 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics2 decades - 97
François-André Danican Philidor1726–1795 · 🇫🇷 France · Musicians0 decades - 98
Jean Victor Marie Moreau1763–1813 · 🇫🇷 Francenot measured— - 99
Alain-René Lesage1668–1747 · 🇫🇷 France · Writers2 decades - 100
Joseph Joubert1754–1824 · 🇫🇷 France · Writers14 decades
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.