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
Samuel Hahnemann1755–1843 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctors20 decades - 2
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Franz Mesmer1734–1815 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctors9 decades - 3
Johann Friedrich Blumenbach1752–1840 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctors11 decades - 4
Dorothea Christiane Erxleben1715–1762 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctors1 decades - 5
Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers1758–1840 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctors0 decades - 6
Marcus Elieser Bloch1723–1799 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured— - 7JBJohann Beringer1667–1738 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctors0 decades
- 8
Justus Christian Loder1753–1832 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctors6 decades - 9
Johann Nathanael Lieberkühn1711–1756 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctors0 decades - 10
Philippe Curtius1737–1794 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured— - 11
Franz Leopold Lafontaine1756–1812 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured— - 12
Karl Kaspar von Siebold1736–1807 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured— - 13
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August Gottlieb Richter1742–1812 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured— - 14
Johann Ernst Hebenstreit1703–1757 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured— - 15
Paul Gottlieb Werlhof1699–1767 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured— - 16
Melchior Adam Weikard1742–1803 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured— - 17WHWilhelm Heinrich Kramer1724–1765 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured—
- 18
Johan Jacob Döbelius1674–1743 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured— - 19
Johann Adam Kulmus1689–1745 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured— - 20
Johann Adam Schmidt1759–1809 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured— - 21
Johann Christian Gottlieb Ackermann1756–1801 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured— - 22
Friedrich Heinrich Wilhelm Martini1729–1778 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured— - 23
Maximilian Stoll1742–1787 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured— - 24
Ernst Anton Nicolai1722–1802 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured— - 25
Johann Lucas Boër1751–1835 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured— - 26
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Ferdinand Christoph Oetinger1719–1772 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured— - 27
Joachim Dietrich Brandis1762–1845 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured— - 28GCGeorg Christian Füchsel1722–1773 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured—
- 29
Johann Carl Gehler1732–1796 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured— - 30
Franz Ernst Brückmann1697–1753 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured— - 31AVAndreas von Gundelsheimer1668–1715 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured—
- 32CFChristian Friedrich Michaelis1754–1814 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured—
- 33JBJohann Bernhard Fischer1685–1772 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured—
- 34
Joachim Friedrich Henckel1712–1779 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured— - 35DGDaniel Georg Balk1764–1826 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot measured—
- 36
Elias Rudolph Camerarius, Jr.1673–1734 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Doctorsnot 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.