← Fame through time1990
1990
Whose working lives fell in 1990. 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 1990, ranked where Wikipedia coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Steve Jobs4 decades - 2
Pope Leo XIV0 decades - 3
Bill Gates4 decades - 4
Nicolas Sarkozy5 decades - 5
Bruce Willis4 decades - 6
Rowan Atkinson3 decades - 7
Kevin Costner3 decades - 8
Friedrich Merz3 decades - 9
Jair Bolsonaro0 decades - 10
Tim Berners-Lee3 decades - 11
Whoopi Goldberg4 decades - 12
Willem Dafoe3 decades - 13
Michel Platini5 decades - 14
Mariano Rajoy3 decades - 15
Li Keqiang4 decades - 16
Isabelle Adjani5 decades - 17
Viktor Tsoi3 decades - 18
Gary Sinise2 decades - 19
Billy Bob Thornton2 decades - 20
Angus Young0 decades - 21
Bill Paxton2 decades - 22
J. K. Simmons0 decades - 23
Akira Toriyama0 decades - 24
Ornella Muti5 decades - 25
Asif Ali Zardari3 decades - 26
Sergei Shoigu3 decades - 27
John Grisham3 decades - 28
Eddie Van Halen2 decades - 29
Reba McEntire3 decades - 30
Alain Prost4 decades - 31
Gilbert Gottfried0 decades - 32
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge3 decades - 33
Brendan Gleeson0 decades - 34
Lindsey Graham2 decades - 35
Kelsey Grammer1 decades - 36
Roland Emmerich3 decades - 37
Mark David Chapman0 decades - 38
Imannot measured- - 39
Billy Idol3 decades - 40
Keith Haring4 decades - 41
John Roberts7 decades - 42
Debra Winger4 decades - 43
Donatella Versace3 decades - 44
Chow Yun-fat2 decades - 45
Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourgnot measured- - 46
Mamata Banerjee3 decades - 47
Kris Jenner0 decades - 48
Jeff Daniels3 decades - 49
Haitham bin Tariqnot measured- - 50
Nina Hagen5 decades - 51
Liu Xiaobo4 decades - 52
Shōkō Asaharanot measured- - 53
Yo-Yo Ma4 decades - 54
Marcelo Bielsa2 decades - 55
Valery Gerasimov0 decades - 56
Wayne Knightnot measured- - 57
Laurie Metcalfnot measured- - 58
Michael Rookernot measured- - 59
Eric Schmidt3 decades - 60
Miguel Ferrernot measured- - 61
Olga Korbut1 decades - 62
Lena Olinnot measured- - 63
Jorge Valdano3 decades - 64
Anupam Khernot measured- - 65
Ludovico Einaudinot measured- - 66
Alexey Pajitnovnot measured- - 67
Mike Huckabee2 decades - 68
Peter Gallaghernot measured- - 69
Israel Katznot measured- - 70
Catherine Connollynot measured- - 71
Bill Nyenot measured- - 72
Moses Malonenot measured- - 73
Kate Mulgrewnot measured- - 74
Maria Shrivernot measured- - 75
Zuccheronot measured- - 76
Christopher McDonaldnot measured- - 77
François Cluzetnot measured- - 78
Tommy Wiseaunot measured- - 79
Judy Davisnot measured- - 80
Mo Yan4 decades - 81
Binali Yıldırım0 decades - 82
Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saudnot measured- - 83
Dodi Fayednot measured- - 84
Jeff Koonsnot measured- - 85
Mani Ratnamnot measured- - 86
Griffin Dunnenot measured- - 87
Subrahmanyam Jaishankarnot measured- - 88
Jimmy Smitsnot measured- - 89
Dawood Ibrahimnot measured- - 90
Björn Andrésennot measured- - 91
Alessandro Altobellinot measured- - 92
Jigme Singye Wangchuck0 decades - 93
Anthony Horowitznot measured- - 94
Marina Sirtisnot measured- - 95
Jane Kaczmareknot measured- - 96
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud0 decades - 97
Pietro Parolin2 decades - 98
Siri Hustvedtnot measured- - 99
Anatoly Chubaisnot measured- - 100
Béla Tarrnot measured-
How to read these rankings
- People sit in their own time. Everyone is placed in the century their working life belongs to, and never in one that came after their death.
- Attention, not reputation. A place on these lists reflects the attention a person still draws in the public record, read across every language rather than one. It is not a judgement on the life.
- Fame in print. The curves show how often a name appeared in the books of each decade from 1800 to 2019, drawn from the Google Books Ngram corpus. Those decades are closed, so each curve is measured once and kept.
- Gaps are left as gaps. Where the record is too thin to be fair, or a name belongs to more than one notable person, we would rather show nothing than guess.