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
Karl Marx1818–1883 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics17 decades - 2
Friedrich Nietzsche1844–1900 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics15 decades - 3
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel1770–1831 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics21 decades - 4
Carl Friedrich Gauss1777–1855 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics11 decades - 5
Max Weber1864–1920 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics15 decades - 6
Friedrich Engels1820–1895 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics17 decades - 7
Ludwig Feuerbach1804–1872 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics19 decades - 8
Theodor Mommsen1817–1903 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics18 decades - 9
Wilhelm von Humboldt1767–1835 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics22 decades - 10
Bernhard Riemann1826–1866 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics12 decades - 11
Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling1775–1854 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics9 decades - 12
Jacob Grimm1785–1863 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics21 decades - 13
Heinrich Schliemann1822–1890 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics15 decades - 14
Gottlob Frege1848–1925 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics9 decades - 15
Wilhelm Wundt1832–1920 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics15 decades - 16
Karl Weierstrass1815–1897 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics8 decades - 17
Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet1805–1859 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics0 decades - 18
Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi1804–1851 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics1 decades - 19
Felix Klein1849–1925 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics15 decades - 20
Max Müller1823–1900 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics5 decades - 21
Houston Stewart Chamberlain1855–1927 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics13 decades - 22
August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben1798–1874 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics6 decades - 23
Emil Kraepelin1856–1926 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics14 decades - 24
Bruno Bauer1809–1882 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics19 decades - 25
August Ferdinand Möbius1790–1868 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics3 decades - 26
Werner Sombart1863–1941 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics13 decades - 27
Franz Brentano1838–1917 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics16 decades - 28
Richard Dedekind1831–1916 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics8 decades - 29
Moses Hess1812–1875 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics10 decades - 30
Hermann Ebbinghaus1850–1909 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics7 decades - 31
Ferdinand Tönnies1855–1936 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics13 decades - 32
Johann Friedrich Herbart1776–1841 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics17 decades - 33
Friedrich Ratzel1844–1904 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics15 decades - 34
Adolf von Harnack1851–1930 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics11 decades - 35
Silvio Gesell1862–1930 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics11 decades - 36
Rudolf Christoph Eucken1846–1926 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics15 decades - 37
Ferdinand von Lindemann1852–1939 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics0 decades - 38
Eugen Dühring1833–1921 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics14 decades - 39
Carl David Tolmé Runge1856–1927 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics6 decades - 40
Konrad Duden1829–1911 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics10 decades - 41
Rudolf von Jhering1818–1892 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics9 decades - 42
Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff1848–1931 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics13 decades - 43
Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen1818–1888 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics8 decades - 44
Hermann Schwarz1843–1921 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics2 decades - 45
Heinrich Rickert1863–1936 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics13 decades - 46
Hans Vaihinger1852–1933 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics13 decades - 47
Theodor Nöldeke1836–1930 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics16 decades - 48
Adolf Hurwitz1859–1919 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics4 decades - 49
Johann Friedrich Pfaff1765–1825 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics0 decades - 50
Oscar Hertwig1849–1922 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics10 decades - 51
Carl Stumpf1848–1936 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics13 decades - 52
Kurt Hensel1861–1941 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics2 decades - 53
Ernst Schröder1841–1902 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics13 decades - 54
Fritz Mauthner1849–1923 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics14 decades - 55
Max Noether1844–1921 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics2 decades
- 56
Wilhelm Killing1847–1923 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics0 decades - 57
Hermann Diels1848–1922 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics14 decades - 58
Carl Neumann1832–1925 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics0 decades - 59
Lujo Brentano1844–1931 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics15 decades - 60
Adolf Kußmaul1822–1902 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 61
Franz von Liszt1851–1919 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 62
Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer1801–1888 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 63
Friedrich von Esmarch1823–1908 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 64
Hermann Gunkel1862–1932 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics12 decades - 65
Georg Friedrich Knapp1842–1926 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 66
Moritz Cantor1829–1920 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics6 decades - 67
Otto Hirschfeld1843–1922 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 68
Heinrich Wilhelm Gottfried von Waldeyer-Hartz1836–1921 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 69
Karl Binding1841–1920 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured—
- 70
Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus1776–1837 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 71
Hermann Paul1846–1921 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics15 decades - 72
Franz Nissl1860–1919 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 73
Karl Mollweide1774–1825 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 74
Hans von Mangoldt1854–1925 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 75
Georg Dehio1850–1932 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 76
Arthur Moritz Schoenflies1853–1928 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 77
Philipp von Jolly1809–1884 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 78KBKarl Bücher1847–1930 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured—
- 79
Hermann Oldenberg1854–1920 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics12 decades - 80
Richard Semon1859–1918 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 81
Walther von Dyck1856–1934 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 82KGKarl Groos1861–1946 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured—
- 83
Rudolf Kittel1853–1929 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 84
Paul Gustav Heinrich Bachmann1837–1920 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 85
Princess Marie of Windisch-Graetz1856–1929 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 86
Fritz Hommel1854–1936 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 87
Henry Thode1857–1920 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 88
Georg Wissowa1859–1931 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 89
Hermann Wilhelm Vogel1834–1898 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 90
Heinrich Dressel1845–1920 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 91
Alexander von Brill1842–1935 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 92
Eduard Sachau1845–1930 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 93
Georg Meissner1829–1905 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 94
Leo Königsberger1837–1921 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 95
Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette1780–1849 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 96
Franz von Leydig1821–1908 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 97
Heinrich Pesch1854–1926 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 98
Otto Franke1863–1946 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 99
Friedrich Jodl1849–1914 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academicsnot measured— - 100
Rudolf Buchheim1820–1879 · 🇩🇪 Germany · 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.