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
Santiago Ramón y Cajal1852–1934 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientists13 decades - 2
Leonardo Torres Quevedo1852–1936 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientists11 decades - 3
Narcís Monturiol i Estarriol1819–1885 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientists8 decades - 4
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Isaac Peral1851–1895 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 5
Manuel Blanco Ramos1778–1845 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 6
Rafael Guastavino1842–1908 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 7
Faustino Míguez González1831–1925 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 8
Manuel Iradier y Bulfy1854–1911 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 9
Ramón de la Sagra1798–1871 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 10
Jaume Ferran i Clua1851–1929 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 11
Philip Barker Webb1793–1854 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 12
Julio Cervera Baviera1854–1927 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 13
Mariano Lagasca1776–1839 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 14
Carlos Ibáñez de Ibero1825–1891 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 15
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Mariano de la Paz Graells y de la Agüera1809–1898 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 16LNLonginos Navás1858–1938 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured—
- 17
José Arechavaleta1838–1912 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 18
Odón de Buen1863–1945 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 19
Simon de Roxas Clemente y Rubio1777–1827 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 20
Francisco de Paula Marín1774–1837 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 21
José María Algué1856–1930 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 22
Carlos Pau y Español1857–1937 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 23
Blanca Catalán de Ocón y Gayolá1860–1904 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured—
- 24
Sebastián Vidal y Soler1842–1889 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 25
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Miguel Colmeiro1816–1901 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 26
Casiano de Prado1797–1866 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 27
Francisco Coello1822–1898 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 28
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Fermina Orduña1801–1900 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 29
Tomás O'Ryan y Vázquez1821–1902 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 30
Benjamín Máximo Laguna y Villanueva1826–1902 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 31AGAnastasio Guzmán1800–1807 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured—
- 32JDJosé Demetrio Rodríguez1780–1846 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured—
- 33
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Joaquín Ezquerra del Bayo1793–1859 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 34DBDomingo Bello y Espinosa1817–1884 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured—
- 35
Claudio Boutelou1774–1842 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Scientistsnot measured— - 36
Francisco Fernández Iparraguirre1852–1889 · 🇪🇸 Spain · 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.