A Brief History
This article presents a table of the most influential people in history with links to our recommended articles, books, and video biographies of these people. The table is organized in chronological order as best as we can as the exact dates of some ancient people’s lives remain unknown. It is our belief that every educated person of high school level or higher should be familiar with the lives of these influential people.
Digging Deeper
| Name | Dates | Ethnicity/Nationality | Biographics video biography | Great Lives (Simply Charly) book | Wikipedia article |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moses | 1391–1271 BC | Hebrew | “Moses” | ||
| Gautama Buddha | c. 6th to 5th century BC or c. 5th to 4th century BC | Indian | “The Buddha: The Spiritual Journey that Became a Religion” | “Gautama Buddha” | |
| Confucius | 551–479 BC | Chinese | “Confucius” | ||
| Aristotle | 384–322 BC | Greek | “Aristotle: History's Most Influential Thinker” | “Aristotle” | |
| Euclid | fl. 300 BC | Greek | “Euclid” | ||
| Qin Shi Huang | 18 February 259 BC – 10 September 210 BC | Chinese | “Qin Shi Huang: The First Emperor of China” | “Qin Shi Huang” | |
| Augustus | 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14 | Roman | “Augustus: Rome’s Greatest Emperor” | “Augustus” | |
| Jesus | c. 4 BC – AD 30 / 33 | Jewish | “Jesus” | ||
| Paul the Apostle | c. 5 – c. 64/67 AD | Christian | “Paul the Apostle” | ||
| Cai Lun | c. 50–62 – 121 AD | Chinese | “Cai Lun” | ||
| Muhammad | c. 570 AD – 8 June 632 AD | Arab | “Muhammad” | ||
| Johannes Gutenberg | c. 1400 – 3 February 1468 | German | “Johannes Gutenberg” | ||
| Christopher Columbus | born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506 | Italian | “Christopher Columbus: Bad Explorer, Great Conman” | “Christopher Columbus” | |
| Nicolaus Copernicus | 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543 | Polish | “Copernicus: A Revolution of Astronomical Proportions” | “Nicolaus Copernicus” | |
| Galileo Galilei | 15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642 | Italian | “Galileo Galilei: Father of Modern Science” | “Galileo Galilei” | |
| Isaac Newton | 25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27 | English | “Isaac Newton: The Man and his Hidden Life” | “Isaac Newton” | |
| Antoine Lavoisier | 26 August 1743 – 8 May 1794 | French | “Antoine Lavoisier” | ||
| Charles Darwin | 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882 | English | “Charles Darwin: Evolution and Religion” | Simply Darwin | “Charles Darwin” |
| Louis Pasteur | 27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895 | French | “Louis Pasteur: The Man Who Saved Billions of Lives” | “Louis Pasteur” | |
| Albert Einstein | 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955 | German | “Albert Einstein: A Pillar of Modern Physics” | Simply Einstein | “Albert Einstein” |
Question for students (and subscribers): Who do you think is the most influential person in history and why? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Hart, Michael H. The 100: A Ranking Of The Most Influential Persons In History. Citadel, 2000.
The featured image in this article, a picture by QWerk of Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilei, and Albert Einstein, has been released into the public domain worldwide by the copyright holder of this work.
