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. 1Benjamin RushBenjamin Rush1746–1813 · 🇺🇸 United States · Doctors22 decades
  2. 2Joseph WarrenJoseph Warren1741–1775 · 🇺🇸 United States · Doctors22 decades
  3. 3Josiah BartlettJosiah Bartlett1729–1795 · 🇺🇸 United States · Doctors19 decades
  4. 4Philip MazzeiPhilip Mazzei1730–1816 · 🇺🇸 United States · Doctors4 decades
  5. 5John JeffriesJohn Jeffries1744–1819 · 🇺🇸 United States · Doctors17 decades
  6. 6Samuel PrescottSamuel Prescott1751–1777 · 🇺🇸 United States · Doctorsnot measured—
  7. 7Edward BancroftEdward Bancroft1745–1821 · 🇺🇸 United States · Doctorsnot measured—
  8. 8James McClurgJames McClurg1746–1823 · 🇺🇸 United States · Doctorsnot measured—
  9. 9James CraikJames Craik1730–1814 · 🇺🇸 United States · Doctorsnot measured—
  10. 10Mason Fitch CogswellMason Fitch Cogswell1761–1830 · 🇺🇸 United States · Doctorsnot measured—
  11. 11Edward Augustus HolyokeEdward Augustus Holyoke1728–1829 · 🇺🇸 United States · Doctorsnot measured—
  12. 12Elisha PerkinsElisha Perkins1741–1799 · 🇺🇸 United States · Doctorsnot measured—
  13. 13Adam KuhnAdam Kuhn1741–1817 · 🇺🇸 United States · Doctorsnot measured—
  14. 14NANathaniel Alexander1756–1808 · 🇺🇸 United States · Doctorsnot measured—
  15. 15Richard BayleyRichard Bayley1745–1801 · 🇺🇸 United States · Doctorsnot measured—
  16. 16Nathaniel AmesNathaniel Ames1708–1764 · 🇺🇸 United States · Doctorsnot measured—
  17. 17ABAbsalom Bainbridge1742–1807 · 🇺🇸 United States · 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.