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
Benjamin Thompson1753–1814 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientists22 decades - 2
Benjamin Banneker1731–1806 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientists7 decades
- 3
David Rittenhouse1732–1796 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientists22 decades - 4
William Bartram1739–1823 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientists22 decades - 5
John Bartram1699–1777 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientists22 decades - 6
David Bushnell1740–1824 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientists8 decades - 7
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Oliver Evans1755–1819 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientists22 decades - 8
Jane Colden1724–1766 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientists0 decades - 9
John Abbot1751–1840 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientists16 decades - 10MDMary Dixon Kies1752–1837 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientists0 decades
- 11
Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg1753–1815 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientists0 decades - 12PPPeter Pond1740–1807 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientistsnot measured—
- 13
John Armstrong1717–1795 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientistsnot measured— - 14
Catherine Littlefield Greene1755–1814 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientistsnot measured— - 15TWThomas Walter1740–1789 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientists21 decades
- 16
Simeon De Witt1756–1834 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientistsnot measured— - 17TGThomas Godfrey1704–1749 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientistsnot measured—
- 18HMHumphry Marshall1722–1801 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientists0 decades
- 19
Sybilla Masters1675–1720 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientists0 decades - 20
Joshua Humphreys1751–1838 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientistsnot measured— - 21
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Andrew Ellicott1754–1820 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientistsnot measured— - 22
Benjamin Waterhouse1754–1846 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientistsnot measured— - 23
Samuel Morey1762–1843 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientistsnot measured— - 24BRBernard Romans1741–1784 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientistsnot measured—
- 25
James Finley1756–1828 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientistsnot measured— - 26PJPeter Jefferson1708–1757 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientistsnot measured—
- 27GRGustavus Richard Brown1747–1804 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientistsnot measured—
- 28RGRichard Gridley1710–1796 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientistsnot measured—
- 29
William Dandridge Peck1763–1822 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientistsnot measured— - 30
Frances Montresor Buchanan Allen Penniman1760–1834 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientistsnot measured— - 31JBJohn Bartram Jr.1743–1812 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientistsnot 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.