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
Adam Opel1837–1895 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Founders12 decades - 2
August Oetker1862–1918 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 3
Henry E. Steinway1797–1871 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 4
Maximilian Karl, 6th Prince of Thurn and Taxis1802–1871 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 5
Nathan Straus1848–1931 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 6
Carl Heinrich von Siemens1829–1906 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 7
Carl Walther1858–1915 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 8
Georg Wilhelm von Siemens1855–1919 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 9
Gustav Becker1819–1885 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 10
Theodor Bergmann1850–1931 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 11
Carl Heinrich Theodor Knorr1800–1875 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 12
Rudolf Mosse1843–1920 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 13
Friedrich Soennecken1848–1919 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 14
Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck1830–1916 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 15
James Simon1851–1932 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 16
Friedrich Weyerhäuser1834–1914 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 17
Hermann Tietz1837–1907 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 18
Arnold von Siemens1853–1918 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 19
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John Jacob Bausch1830–1926 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 20
Conrad Dietrich Magirus1824–1895 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 21
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Friedrich Siemens1826–1904 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 22
Georg Krauss1826–1906 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 23
Victor Mayer1857–1946 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured—
- 24
Ludwig Knoop1821–1894 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 25KGKarl Godulla1781–1848 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured—
- 26
Margarethe Krupp1854–1931 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 27
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Friedrich Eduard Bilz1842–1922 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 28
Sophie Opel1840–1913 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 29
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Reinhard Mannesmann1856–1922 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 30HBHermann Blohm1848–1930 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured—
- 31
Julius Pintsch1815–1884 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 32
Hermann Einstein1847–1902 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 33EBEdwin Bechstein1859–1934 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured—
- 34
Otto Gerstenberg1848–1935 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 35
Ernst Leitz senior1843–1920 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 36
Johann Sigmund Schuckert1846–1895 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 37EVErnst Voss1842–1920 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured—
- 38
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C.F. Theodore Steinway1825–1889 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 39
Adolph Friedländer1851–1904 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 40FHFriedrich Heine1863–1929 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured—
- 41RPRudolf Pringsheim1821–1906 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured—
- 42
Josef Rodenstock1846–1932 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 43CFCarl Friedrich Alexander Bosch1843–1904 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured—
- 44GLGeorg Liebermann1844–1926 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured—
- 45CCCarl Canaris1852–1904 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured—
- 46HSHans Siemens1818–1867 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured—
- 47
Chris von der Ahe1851–1913 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured— - 48HAHugo Adolph von Steinheil1832–1893 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured—
- 49WBWunibald Braun1839–1912 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured—
- 50AMAdam May1855–1936 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot measured—
- 51EHEduard Hermann Schwitters1857–1931 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Foundersnot 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.