215,950 profiles ranked

← Fame through time1900-1999

The 20th century

Whose names filled the books of the 20th 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 French books during the 20th century, whenever they lived.

  1. 1Voltaire1694-1778 · 18th century · France · Writers23
  2. 2Louis XIV of France1638-1715 · 17th century · France · Historical Figures15
  3. 3Molière1622-1673 · 17th century · France · Writers12
  4. 4Stendhal1783-1842 · 19th century · France · Writers10
  5. 5Victor Hugo1802-1885 · 19th century · France · Writers9.4
  6. 6Louis XVI of France1754-1793 · 18th century · France · Historical Figures7.0
  7. 7Montesquieu1689-1755 · 18th century · France · Academics6.4
  8. 8Louis XV of France1710-1774 · 18th century · France · Historical Figures6.2
  9. 9François Fénelon1651-1715 · 17th century · France · Religious Figures4.6
  10. 10Joan of Arc1412-1431 · 15th century · France4.0
  11. 11Napoleon III1808-1873 · 19th century · France · Politicians3.6
  12. 12George Sand1804-1876 · 19th century · France · Writers3.4
  13. 13Louis XVIII of France1755-1824 · 18th century · France · Politicians3.1
  14. 14François Mitterrand1916-1996 · 20th century · France · Politicians2.3
  15. 15Pierre de Marivaux1688-1763 · 18th century · France · Writers2.2
  16. 16Anatole France1844-1924 · 19th century · France · Writers2.2
  17. 17Marie Antoinette1755-1793 · 18th century · France · Historical Figures2.1
  18. 18Francis de Sales1567-1622 · 17th century · France · Religious Figures2.0
  19. 19André Gide1869-1951 · 20th century · France · Writers1.9
  20. 20Léon Blum1872-1950 · 20th century · France · Politicians1.9
  21. 21Jacques Chirac1932-2019 · 20th century · France · Politicians1.8
  22. 22Charles X of France1757-1836 · 18th century · France · Politicians1.8
  23. 23Paul Valéry1871-1945 · 20th century · France · Writers1.7
  24. 24Auguste Comte1798-1857 · 19th century · France · Academics1.7
  25. 25Marcel Proust1871-1922 · 20th century · France · Writers1.7
Show 75 more

Lived then

The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 20th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.

  1. 1Werner Heisenberg1901-1976 · Germany · Scientists10 decades
  2. 2Erwin Schrödinger1887-1961 · Germany · Scientists11 decades
  3. 3Fritz Haber1868-1934 · Germany · Scientists11 decades
  4. 4Ferdinand Porsche1875-1951 · Germany · Scientists9 decades
  5. 5Otto Hahn1879-1968 · Germany · Scientists14 decades
  6. 6Konrad Zuse1910-1995 · Germany · Scientists6 decades
  7. 7Leo Szilard1898-1964 · Germany · Scientists0 decades
  8. 8Maria Goeppert Mayer1906-1972 · Germany · Scientists0 decades
  9. 9Carl Bosch1874-1940 · Germany · Scientists10 decades
  10. 10Arnold Sommerfeld1868-1951 · Germany · Scientists11 decades
  11. 11Max von Laue1879-1960 · Germany · Scientists10 decades
  12. 12Fritz Todt1891-1942 · Germany · Scientistsnot measured-
  13. 13Johannes Stark1874-1957 · Germany · Scientists12 decades
  14. 14Otto Stern1888-1969 · Germany · Scientistsnot measured-
  15. 15Christiane Nüsslein-Volhardborn 1942 · Germany · Scientists2 decades
  16. 16Arno Allan Penzias1933-2024 · Germany · Scientists0 decades
  17. 17Walther Bothe1891-1957 · Germany · Scientists6 decades
  18. 18Ernst Ruska1906-1988 · Germany · Scientists4 decades
  19. 19Rudolf Mössbauer1929-2011 · Germany · Scientists0 decades
  20. 20Wolfgang Ketterleborn 1957 · Germany · Scientists0 decades
  21. 21Hermann Staudinger1881-1965 · Germany · Scientists9 decades
  22. 22Hermann Tilkeborn 1954 · Germany · Scientistsnot measured-
  23. 23Joachim Sauerborn 1949 · Germany · Scientistsnot measured-
  24. 24Peter Grünberg1939-2018 · Germany · Scientists0 decades
  25. 25Theodor W. Hänschborn 1941 · Germany · Scientists0 decades
Show 75 more

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.