1800–1899
The 19th century
Whose names filled the books of the 19th century — anyone at all, however long dead — counted as mentions per million words printed, so a period that simply published more does not inflate anyone.
Talked about then
Whose names appeared most in Chinese books during the 19th century — whenever they lived.
In books written inEnglish18,114German3,599French3,347Italian1,787Spanish1,162Russian325Hebrew105Chinese9
#PersonIn print, 1800–2019Per million words
- 1
Zhu Xi1130–1200 · 12th century · 🇨🇳 China · Writers870 - 2
Li Hongzhang1823–1901 · 19th century · 🇨🇳 China · Politicians149 - 3
Zhang Zhidong1837–1909 · 19th century · Politicians86 - 4
Zuo Zongtang1812–1885 · 19th century · 🇨🇳 China · Politicians43 - 5
Ban Gu32–92 · 1st century · Writers40 - 6
Ge Hong284–364 · 4th century · Academics40 - 7CSChen Shou233–297 · 3rd century · Writers14
- 8
Mao Zedong1893–1976 · 20th century · 🇨🇳 China · Politicians12 - 9
Lu Xun1881–1936 · 20th century · 🇨🇳 China · Writers11
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 19th century, ranked where Wikipedia coverage and readership agree.
#PersonIn print, 1800–2019Echoed
- 1
Henri Bergson1859–1941 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics12 decades - 2
Émile Durkheim1858–1917 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics11 decades - 3
Thérèse of Lisieux1873–1897 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics10 decades - 4
Henri Poincaré1854–1912 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics13 decades - 5
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Auguste Comte1798–1857 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics22 decades - 6
Jean-François Champollion1790–1832 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics6 decades - 7
Évariste Galois1811–1832 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics6 decades - 8
Joseph Fourier1768–1830 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics11 decades - 9
Ernest Renan1823–1892 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics17 decades - 10
Gustave Le Bon1841–1931 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics15 decades - 11
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Sophie Germain1776–1831 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics18 decades - 12
Vilfredo Pareto1848–1923 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics13 decades - 13
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Charles Fourier1772–1837 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics19 decades - 14
François Arago1786–1853 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics18 decades - 15
Augustin-Louis Cauchy1789–1857 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 16
Frédéric Bastiat1801–1850 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics18 decades - 17
Allan Kardec1804–1869 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics16 decades - 18
Louis Auguste Blanqui1805–1881 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics19 decades - 19
Georges Sorel1847–1922 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics12 decades - 20
Henri Fayol1841–1925 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics11 decades - 21
Jean-Baptiste Say1767–1832 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics21 decades - 22
Léon Walras1834–1910 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics16 decades - 23
Alphonse Bertillon1853–1914 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics11 decades - 24
Charles Hermite1822–1901 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics7 decades - 25
Émile Coué1857–1926 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics1 decades - 26
Paul Painlevé1863–1933 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics13 decades - 27
Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis1792–1843 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 28
Joseph Liouville1809–1882 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 29
Camille Jordan1838–1922 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics19 decades - 30
Pierre Janet1859–1947 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics14 decades - 31
Gabriel Tarde1843–1904 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics14 decades - 32
Frédéric Passy1822–1912 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics17 decades - 33
Lucien Lévy-Bruhl1857–1939 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics9 decades - 34
Gaston Maspero1846–1916 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics12 decades - 35
Auguste Mariette1821–1881 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics11 decades - 36
Charles Émile Picard1856–1941 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics9 decades - 37
Victor Cousin1792–1867 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics20 decades - 38
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Étienne Cabet1788–1856 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics3 decades - 39
Józef Maria Hoene-Wroński1776–1853 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 40
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Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi1773–1842 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 41
Michel Chasles1793–1880 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics15 decades - 42
Maurice Blondel1861–1949 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics13 decades - 43
Antoine Augustin Cournot1801–1877 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 44
Michel Bréal1832–1915 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics16 decades - 45
Jean Gaston Darboux1842–1917 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics10 decades - 46
Édouard Lucas1842–1891 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics2 decades - 47
Pierre Guillaume Frédéric le Play1806–1882 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics14 decades - 48
Émile Littré1801–1881 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics7 decades - 49
Jean-Victor Poncelet1788–1867 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 50
Alfred Loisy1857–1940 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics12 decades - 51
Pierre Larousse1817–1875 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics16 decades - 52
Charles Lavigerie1825–1892 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics2 decades - 53
Gabriel Lamé1795–1870 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 54
Pierre Leroux1797–1871 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics22 decades - 55
Théodule-Armand Ribot1839–1916 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics13 decades - 56
Étienne-Louis Malus1775–1812 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 57
Charles Bernard Renouvier1815–1903 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics13 decades - 58
Jules Barthélemy-Saint-Hilaire1805–1895 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 59
Émile Boutroux1845–1921 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics10 decades - 60
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Georges Vacher de Lapouge1854–1936 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 61
François Magendie1783–1855 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics4 decades - 62
Jacques Boucher de Crèvecœur de Perthes1788–1868 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics2 decades - 63
Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard1817–1894 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 64
Joseph Bertrand1822–1900 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics19 decades - 65
Jacques de Morgan1857–1924 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics14 decades - 66
Jane Dieulafoy1851–1916 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 67
Thomas Joannes Stieltjes1856–1894 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 68
Jean-Jacques Ampère1800–1864 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics16 decades - 69
Louis Billot1846–1931 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 70
Édouard Schuré1841–1929 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 71
Charles Gide1847–1932 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 72
Julie-Victoire Daubié1824–1874 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 73
Félix Ravaisson-Mollien1813–1900 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 74
Léon Duguit1859–1928 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics13 decades - 75
Achille Valenciennes1794–1865 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 76
Victor Basch1863–1944 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 77
Barthélemy-Prosper Enfantin1796–1864 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 78
Antonin Sertillanges1863–1948 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 79
Paul Appell1855–1930 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics13 decades - 80
Jacques Philippe Marie Binet1786–1856 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 81
Michel Chevalier1806–1879 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 82
Henri Milne-Edwards1800–1885 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics3 decades - 83
Louis Poinsot1777–1859 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 84
Jacques-Joseph Champollion1778–1867 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 85
Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat1788–1832 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 86
Victor Prosper Considerant1808–1893 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 87
Paul Janet1823–1899 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 88
Joseph Valentin Boussinesq1842–1929 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics1 decades - 89
Paul Gervais1816–1879 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics14 decades - 90
Pierre Alphonse Laurent1813–1854 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 91
Paul-Émile Botta1802–1870 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 92
Nicolas Théodore de Saussure1767–1845 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0 decades - 93
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Émile Étienne Guimet1836–1918 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 94PWPierre Wantzel1814–1848 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured—
- 95
Charles Dupin1784–1873 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics21 decades - 96
Alexandre Saint-Yves d'Alveydre1842–1909 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 97
Adhémar Jean Claude Barré de Saint-Venant1797–1886 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 98
Alphonse Pénaud1850–1880 · 🇫🇷 France · Academicsnot measured— - 99
Clémence Royer1830–1902 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics15 decades - 100PFPierre Frédéric Sarrus1798–1861 · 🇫🇷 France · 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.