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
Sofia Kovalevskaya1850–1891 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academics14 decades - 2
Rudolf Kjellén1864–1922 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academics0 decades - 3
Gösta Mittag-Leffler1846–1927 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academics0 decades - 4
Knut Wicksell1851–1926 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academics7 decades
- 5
Oscar Montelius1843–1921 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academics0 decades - 6
Carl Jakob Sundevall1801–1875 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 7
Artur Hazelius1833–1901 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 8
Tamerlan Thorell1830–1901 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 9
Gustaf Retzius1842–1919 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 10
Gustaf Dalman1855–1941 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 11
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Sven Nilsson1787–1883 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 12
Hans Hildebrand1842–1913 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 13
Salomon Eberhard Henschen1847–1930 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 14
Ivar Otto Bendixson1861–1935 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 15
Magnus Blix1849–1904 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 16
Carl Johan Fahlcrantz1774–1861 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 17
Christopher Jacob Boström1797–1866 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 18
Albert Victor Bäcklund1845–1922 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 19
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Pontus Wikner1837–1888 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 20
Carl Georg Brunius1792–1869 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 21
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Gustaf Eneström1852–1923 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 22
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Henrik Reuterdahl1795–1870 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 23
Carl August Hagberg1810–1864 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 24
Carl Gustaf Thomson1824–1899 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 25
Johan Wilhelm Dalman1787–1828 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 26
Gabriel Gustafson1853–1915 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 27
Bror Emil Hildebrand1806–1884 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 28
Elsa Eschelsson1861–1911 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured—
- 29
Sven Ludvig Lovén1809–1895 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 30
Carl Johan Malmsten1814–1886 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 31
Lars Edvard Phragmén1863–1937 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 32
Hugo Hildebrand Hildebrandsson1838–1925 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 33
Adolf Appellöf1857–1921 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 34
Bernhard Salin1861–1931 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 35
Carl von Rosenstein1766–1836 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 36
Tycho Tullberg1842–1920 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 37
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Anders Lindstedt1854–1939 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 38
Bengt Fredrik Fries1799–1839 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 39
David Davidson1854–1942 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 40
Carl Vilhelm Hartman1862–1941 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 41
Anders Gustaf Dahlbom1806–1859 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 42
Israel Hwasser1790–1860 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 43
Johan August Lundell1851–1940 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 44
Hjalmar Stolpe1841–1905 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 45
Carl W. S. Aurivillius1854–1899 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 46
Hjalmar Théel1848–1937 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 47
Gustaf Fredrik Steffen1864–1929 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 48
Arvid Högbom1857–1940 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 49
Georg F.L. Sarauw1862–1928 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 50
Edvard Lidforss1833–1910 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 51
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Hjalmar Kinberg1820–1908 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 52
Carl Johan Hill1793–1875 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 53
Sten Anders Hjalmar Sjögren1856–1922 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 54
August Hjalmar Edgren1840–1903 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 55
Johan Bergman1864–1951 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 56
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Carl Johan Tornberg1807–1877 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 57
Alfred Elis Törnebohm1838–1911 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 58
Knut Fredrik Söderwall1842–1924 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 59
Johan Erik Rydqvist1800–1877 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 60
Carl Säve1812–1876 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Academicsnot measured— - 61
Isidor Heckscher1848–1923 · 🇸🇪 Sweden · 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.