Claim profile
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.

CountryAll🇫🇷 France🇩🇪 Germany🇺🇸 United States🇬🇧 United Kingdom🇮🇹 Italy🇪🇸 Spain🇸🇪 Sweden🇯🇵 Japan🇹🇷 Turkey🇦🇹 Austria
FieldAllPoliticiansHistorical FiguresWritersScientistsMusiciansArtistsAcademicsArchitectsDoctorsReligious Figures
  1. 1Jean-Jacques RousseauJean-Jacques Rousseau1712–1778 · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · Academics22 decades
  2. 2Leonhard EulerLeonhard Euler1707–1783 · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · Academics22 decades
  3. 3Daniel BernoulliDaniel Bernoulli1700–1782 · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · Academics22 decades
  4. 4Johann BernoulliJohann Bernoulli1667–1748 · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · Academics22 decades
  5. 5Johann EulerJohann Euler1734–1800 · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · Academics0 decades
  6. 6Nicolaus II BernoulliNicolaus II Bernoulli1695–1726 · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · Academics7 decades
  7. 7Nicolaus I BernoulliNicolaus I Bernoulli1687–1759 · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · Academics0 decades
  8. 8Nicolas FussNicolas Fuss1755–1826 · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · Academics1 decades
  9. 9Johann III BernoulliJohann III Bernoulli1744–1807 · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · Academics0 decades
  10. 10Jakob HermannJakob Hermann1678–1733 · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · Academics0 decades
  11. 11KWKarl Weber1712–1764 · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · Academics16 decades
  12. 12Isaak IselinIsaak Iselin1728–1782 · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · Academicsnot measured—
  13. 13Daniel Albert WyttenbachDaniel Albert Wyttenbach1746–1820 · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · Academics0 decades
  14. 14Anna Barbara ReinhartAnna Barbara Reinhart1730–1796 · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · Academicsnot measured—
  15. 15Louis BourguetLouis Bourguet1678–1742 · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · Academicsnot measured—
  16. 16Élie Salomon François ReverdilÉlie Salomon François Reverdil1732–1808 · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · Academicsnot measured—
  17. 17Samuel EngelSamuel Engel1702–1784 · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · Academicsnot measured—
  18. 18FSFrancesco Soave1743–1806 · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · Academicsnot measured—
  19. 19Johann Rudolf TschiffeliJohann Rudolf Tschiffeli1716–1780 · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · Academicsnot 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.