100 Most Influential People in the World

Source: biographyonline

100 Most influential people in the world by Michael H. Hast (Author)

This is a list chosen by Michael H. Hast, from the book ‘100 most influential people in the world‘. He chose people on a ranking of who had done the most to influence the world.

1. Muhammad (570 – 632 AD) Prophet of Islam.
2. Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727) – British mathematician and scientist.
3. Jesus Christ (c.5BC – 30 AD) Spiritual teacher and central figure of Christianity.
4. Buddha (c 563 – 483 BC) Spiritual Teacher and founder of Buddhism.
5. Confucius (551 – 479 BC) – Chinese philosopher.
6. St. Paul (5 – AD 67) – Christian missionary and one of main writers of New Testament.
7. Ts’ai Lun (AD 50 – 121) Inventor of paper.
8. Johann Gutenberg (1395 – 1468) – Inventor of printing press.
9. Christopher Columbus (1451 – 1506) – Italian explorer landed in America.
10. Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) German/ US scientist discovered Theory of Relativity.
11. Louis Pasteur (1822 – 1895) French biologist. Developed cure for rabies and other infectious diseases.
12. Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642) Italian scientist – confirmed heliocentric view of universe.
13. Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) – Greek philosopher and polymath
14. Euclid (c. 325 – 265 BC) – Greek mathematician
15. Moses (c 1391 – 1271 BC) A key figure of Jewish / Christian history gave 10 Commandments of Old Testament
16. Charles Darwin (1809 -– 1882) –Scientist who proposed and popularised theory of evolution.
17. Shih Huang Ti (259 – 210 BC) – King of the state of Qin who conquered and united different regions of China in 221 BC.
18. Augustus Caesar (63 BC – AD 14) – First Emperor of Rome
19. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) Renaissance mathematician and astronomer who believed Sun was centre of Universe – rather than earth.
20. Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743 – 1794) French chemist and biologist who had leading impact on the chemical revolution.
21. Constantine the Great (272 AD – 337) Roman Emperor who accepted Christian religion.
22. James Watt (1736 – 1819) Scottish engineer. Watt improved the Newcome steam engine creating an efficient steam engine
23. Michael Faraday (1791 – 1867) – English scientist who contributed in fields of electromagnetism and electro-chemistry.
24. James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) Scottish physicist. Maxwell made a significant contribution to understanding electro-magnetism
25. Martin Luther (1483-1546) Sought to reform the Roman Catholic Church – starting the Protestant Reformation.
26. George Washington (1732 – 1799) – Leader of US forces during American Revolution and 1st President of US.
27. Karl Marx (1818 -– 1883) – German Communist philosopher.
28. Orville and Wilbur Wright Orville (1871 – 1948) – Wilbur (1867 – 1912) – Created and flew first aeroplane.
29. Genghis Kahn (1162 – 1227) – Military and political leader of the Mongols.
30. Adam Smith (1723-1790) Scottish social philosopher and pioneer of classical economics.
31. William Shakespeare (1564- 1616) English poet and playwright.
32. John Dalton (1766 – 1844) English chemist and physicist. Made contributions to atomic theory.
33. Alexander the Great (356 -– 323 BC) – King of Macedonia and military leader.
34. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 –- 1821) – French military and political leader.
35. Thomas Edison (1847 – 1931) – Inventor and businessman helped introduce electricity and electric light bulbs.
36. Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) Dutch chemist – founder of micro-biology.
37. William T.G. Morton (1819 – 1868) American dentist who pioneered used of anesthetic.
38. Guglielmo Marconi (1874 – 1937) Italian engineer who helped develop radio transmission.
39. Adolf Hitler (1889 – 1945) – Dictator of Nazi Germany.
40. Plato (424 –- 348 BC) – Greek philosopher.
41. Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) – Leader of Parliamentarians in English civil war.
42. Alexander Graham Bell (1847 – 1922) – Scottish inventor of telephone.
43. Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) Scottish biologist who discovered penicillin.
44. John Locke (1632-1704) English political philosopher. Locke promoted theory of liberal democracy and a social contract.
45. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) German composer of the classical and romantic period.
46. Werner Heisenberg (1901–1976) German theoretical physicist – one of pioneers of Quantum mechanics
47. Louis Daguerre (1787–1851) French artist and photographer, who is credited with the invention of the camera.
48. Simon Bolivar (1783 – 1830) – Liberator of Latin American countries
49. Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650) French philosopher and mathematician. “I think, therefore I am
50. Michelangelo (1475 – 1564) Renaissance sculptor, painter and architect
51. Pope Urban II
52. ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
53. Asoka
54. St. Augustine
55. William Harvey
56. Ernest Rutherford
57. John Calvin
58. Gregor Mendel
59. Max Planck
60. Joseph Lister
61. Nikolaus August Otto
62. Francisco Pizarro
63. Hernando Cortes
64. Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826) 3rd President of US. Principle author of the US Declaration of Independence.
65. Queen Isabella I
66. Joseph Stalin
67. Julius Caesar
68. William the Conqueror
69. Sigmund Freud
70. Edward Jenner
71. Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen
72. Johann Sebastian Bach
73. Lao Tzu
74. Voltaire
75. Johannes Kepler
76. Enrico Fermi
77. Leonhard Euler
78. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) – French philosopher, author of Social Contract
79. Nicoli Machiavelli
80. Thomas Malthus
81. John F. Kennedy
82. Gregory Pincus
83. Mani
84. Lenin
85. Sui Wen Ti
86. Vasco da Gama
87. Cyrus the Great
88. Peter the Great
89. Mao Zedong
90. Francis Bacon
91. Henry Ford
92. Mencius
93. Zoroaster
94. Queen Elizabeth I
95. Mikhail Gorbachev
96. Menes
97. Charlemagne
98. Homer
99. Justinian I
100. Mahavira