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