← Fame through time1800-1899
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 English books during the 19th century, whenever they lived.
- 1
Jesus94 - 2
Homer15 - 3
Cicero13 - 4
Augustus13 - 5
Plato10 - 6
Virgil9.6 - 7
Aristotle9.4 - 8
Socrates6.4 - 9
Herodotus6.2 - 10
Plutarch5.6 - 11
Ovid4.2 - 12
Strabo4.1 - 13
Charlemagne3.9 - 14
Demosthenes3.8 - 15
Lord Byron3.6 - 16
Livy3.4 - 17
Origen3.1 - 18
Cleopatra3.0 - 19
Xenophon3.0 - 20
Walter Scott3.0 - 21
Tertullian2.7 - 22
James II, Count of Urgell2.6 - 23
Robert Peel2.6 - 24
Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor2.6 - 25
Pericles2.5
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 19th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Max Planck14 decades - 2
Wilhelm Röntgen11 decades - 3
Ernst Haeckel16 decades - 4
Karl Benz11 decades - 5
Gottlieb Daimler11 decades - 6
Hermann von Helmholtz14 decades - 7
Justus von Liebig17 decades - 8
Otto Lilienthal13 decades - 9
Georg Ohm12 decades - 10
Werner von Siemens13 decades - 11
Ferdinand von Zeppelin5 decades - 12
Philipp Lenard11 decades - 13
Robert Bosch13 decades - 14
Carl Zeiss13 decades - 15
Robert Bunsen9 decades - 16
August Kekulé4 decades - 17
Joseph von Fraunhofer4 decades - 18
Wilhelm Ostwald13 decades - 19
Hugo Junkers11 decades - 20
Ernst Abbe12 decades - 21
Walther Nernst12 decades - 22
Friedrich Wöhler17 decades - 23
Adolf von Baeyer12 decades - 24
Karl Ferdinand Braun12 decades - 25
Wilhelm Maybach8 decades - 26
Emil Fischer15 decades - 27
Karl Drais0 decades - 28
Nikolaus Ottonot measured- - 29
Wilhelm Wien9 decades - 30
Friedrich Bessel8 decades - 31
Wilhelm Eduard Weber2 decades - 32
Wladimir Köppen0 decades - 33
Carl von Linde7 decades - 34
Johann Gottfried Galle0 decades - 35
Philipp Franz von Siebold6 decades - 36
Eduard Buchner4 decades - 37
Albrecht Kossel0 decades - 38
Julius von Mayer15 decades - 39
Otto Wallach4 decades - 40
Max Wolf14 decades - 41
Friedrich Sertürner0 decades - 42
Julius Richard Petrinot measured- - 43
Julius von Payer2 decades - 44Eugen Goldstein1 decades
- 45
Eduard Strasburger5 decades - 46
Otto Schott14 decades - 47
Emil Warburgnot measured- - 48
Princess Theresa of Bavarianot measured- - 49
Adolf Engler7 decades - 50
Hermann Schlegel1 decades - 51
Max Skladanowsky3 decades - 52
Carl Correns4 decades - 53
Hans Meyernot measured- - 54
Otto Warburgnot measured- - 55
Albrecht Penck14 decades - 56
Carl Duisbergnot measured- - 57
Agnes Pockels0 decades - 58
Curt von Françoisnot measured- - 59
Ulrich Jasper Seetzennot measured- - 60
Otto Bütschlinot measured- - 61
Friedrich Kohlrausch14 decades - 62
Arthur Schusternot measured- - 63
Fanny Hessenot measured- - 64
Franz Xaver Gabelsbergernot measured- - 65
Ludwig Knorrnot measured- - 66
Franz von Soxhletnot measured- - 67Louis Schmeissernot measured-
- 68
Hugo Borchardtnot measured- - 69
Richard Pfeiffernot measured- - 70
Paul Walden3 decades - 71
Julius Neubronnernot measured- - 72
Wilhelm Roux14 decades - 73
August Toeplernot measured- - 74
Hugo von Seeligernot measured- - 75
Adolf von Schlagintweitnot measured- - 76
Richard Molliernot measured- - 77
Otto Lehmannnot measured- - 78
Wilhelm Mausernot measured- - 79
Andreas Franz Wilhelm Schimpernot measured- - 80
Wilhelm Julius Foerster13 decades - 81
Max Eythnot measured- - 82
Victor Hensennot measured- - 83
Oswald Schmiedebergnot measured- - 84
Adolf Martensnot measured- - 85
Ernst Georg Ravensteinnot measured- - 86
Theodor Wolfnot measured- - 87
Karl Alfred von Zittel0 decades - 88
Heinrich Ehrhardtnot measured- - 89
Arthur Rudolf Hantzschnot measured- - 90
Theodor Curtius4 decades - 91
Georg Friedrich von Reichenbachnot measured- - 92
Rainer Ludwig Claisennot measured- - 93
Hermann von Barthnot measured- - 94
Wilhelm Hallwachsnot measured- - 95
Henry Frederick Conrad Sandernot measured- - 96
Paul Gerson Unnanot measured- - 97
Carl Gräbenot measured- - 98
Ernst Otto Beckmann0 decades - 99
Hermann von Schlagintweitnot measured- - 100
Paul Mendelssohn Bartholdynot measured-
How to read these rankings
- Attention, not reputation. A place on these lists reflects the attention a person still draws in the public record. It is not a judgement on the life.
- Fame in print. The curves show how often a name appeared in the books of each decade from 1800 to 2019, drawn from the Google Books Ngram corpus.
- Gaps are left as gaps. Where the record is too thin to be fair, we would rather show nothing than guess.