← 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 English books during the 20th century, whenever they lived.
- 1
Jesus30 - 2
Aristotle7.1 - 3
Plato7.1 - 4
Homer7.1 - 5
Augustus4.9 - 6
Johns Hopkins4.4 - 7
Cicero4.0 - 8
George Washington3.8 - 9
Socrates3.4 - 10
Virgil3.3 - 11
Abraham Lincoln2.0 - 12
Euclid1.9 - 13
Thomas Jefferson1.6 - 14
Ovid1.6 - 15
Mark Twain1.5 - 16
Plutarch1.5 - 17
Cleopatra1.4 - 18
Theodore Roosevelt1.4 - 19
Woodrow Wilson1.4 - 20
William Henry1.3 - 21
Benjamin Franklin1.3 - 22
Herodotus1.3 - 23
Charlemagne1.3 - 24
Rembrandt1.3 - 25
Euripides1.2
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 20th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Mikhail Kalashnikov4 decades - 2
Sergei Korolev6 decades - 3
Andrei Sakharov5 decades - 4
Boris Nemtsov3 decades - 5
Lev Landau6 decades - 6
Vladimir Komarov7 decades - 7
Valery Legasovnot measured- - 8
Pyotr Kapitsa0 decades - 9
Mikhail Botvinnik7 decades - 10
Nikolai Vavilov8 decades - 11
Trofim Lysenko8 decades - 12
Zhores Alferov2 decades - 13
Vitaly Ginzburg3 decades - 14
Igor Tamm5 decades - 15
Pavel Cherenkov0 decades - 16
Gustav Ludwig Hertz7 decades - 17
Igor Kurchatov7 decades - 18
Naina Yeltsinanot measured- - 19
Nikolay Semyonovnot measured- - 20
Nikolay Gennadiyevich Basov1 decades - 21
Sergei Krikalevnot measured- - 22
Ilya Frank0 decades - 23
Andrei Tupolev6 decades - 24
Oleg Antonovnot measured- - 25
Artem Mikoyannot measured- - 26
Andrey Piontkovskynot measured- - 27
Paval Sukhinot measured- - 28
Yuri Oganessiannot measured- - 29
Mikhail Milnot measured- - 30
Yakov Zeldovich3 decades - 31
Vladislav Volkovnot measured- - 32
Mikhail Gurevichnot measured- - 33
Valentin Glushkonot measured- - 34
Dmitry Karbyshevnot measured- - 35
Valery Bykovskynot measured- - 36
Sergey Ilyushinnot measured- - 37Anatoli Bugorskinot measured-
- 38
Oleg Kononenkonot measured- - 39
Abram Ioffenot measured- - 40
Nikolai Kardashevnot measured- - 41
Konstantin Feoktistovnot measured- - 42
Georgy Grechkonot measured- - 43
Vasily Degtyaryovnot measured- - 44
Yulii Kharitonnot measured- - 45
Vladimir Chelomeynot measured- - 46
Anatoly Petrovich Alexandrovnot measured- - 47
Alexander Oparin0 decades - 48
Alexandr Yakovlevnot measured- - 49
Sergei Khrushchevnot measured- - 50
Mikhail Yangelnot measured- - 51
Viktor Patsayevnot measured- - 52
Valeri Kubasovnot measured- - 53Yury Kovalchuknot measured-
- 54
Yuri Kondratyuknot measured- - 55
Fedor Tokarevnot measured- - 56Evgeny Lifshitznot measured-
- 57
Boris Volynovnot measured- - 58
Vitaly Abalakovnot measured- - 59Yevgeny Dragunovnot measured-
- 60
Evgeny Patonnot measured- - 61
Fyodor Yurchikhinnot measured- - 62Leonid Toptunovnot measured-
- 63
Sergey Vavilovnot measured- - 64
Vladimir Pikalovnot measured- - 65
Valery Khodemchuknot measured- - 66Aleksei Sudaevnot measured-
- 67Grigory Rodchenkovnot measured-
- 68
Nikolay Kamovnot measured- - 69
Talgat Musabayevnot measured- - 70
Nikolay Dollezhalnot measured- - 71
Pyotr Lebedevnot measured- - 72
Isaak Kikoinnot measured- - 73
Friedrich Zandernot measured- - 74Grigori Grabovoinot measured-
- 75
Musa Manarovnot measured- - 76Leonid Mandelstamnot measured-
- 77
Georgy Flyorovnot measured- - 78
Andrei Lindenot measured- - 79
Semyon Lavochkinnot measured- - 80
Iosif Shklovskynot measured- - 81Rostislav Alexeyevnot measured-
- 82
Vladimir Focknot measured- - 83
Igor Volknot measured- - 84
Robert Ludvigovich Bartininot measured- - 85Alexei Tupolevnot measured-
- 86
Alexey Ekimovnot measured- - 87
Vladimir Petlyakovnot measured- - 88
Abraham Alikhanovnot measured- - 89
Nikolai Aleksandrovich Kozyrevnot measured- - 90
Boris Vilkitskynot measured- - 91
Mikhail Korniyenkonot measured- - 92
Danylo Zabolotnynot measured- - 93
Mikhail Tsvetnot measured- - 94
Yelena Kondakovanot measured- - 95
Aleksei Yeliseyevnot measured- - 96
Nadezhda Troyannot measured- - 97
Alexander Mikulinnot measured- - 98
Lev Artsimovichnot measured- - 99
Vladimir Grigoryevich Fyodorovnot measured- - 100
Mikhail Tyurinnot 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.