The Most Influential People of All Time
List Criteria: Vote on humans who have had the most influence on the history of the world--good or bad. They can be from any period of time.
What makes an individual worthy of a spot on a list of the most influential people ever? Certainly, some of the greatest minds of all time deserve to be ranked highly. Examples include Leonardo da Vinci, Sir Isaac Newton, and certainly Albert Einstein. Each one of these incredible people used the power of their minds to change the world. Not surprisingly, several names on this list are also among the most famous role models we'd like to meet in person.
And modern-era figures also deserve to be listed here. Can anyone argue that Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg aren't among the most influential contemporary Americans? It's time to add your opinions on who you believe are the most influential people who ever lived, with your votes and your rankings.
- 71 ReRanks
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- Women
- Men
- Age
- Region
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- 1Up 14396Down 10692
the people's #1 Jesus Christ 7-2 BC
- 2Up 8978Down 6864
Isaac Newton 1643
- 3Up 13969Down 11444
Muhammad c. 570
- 4Up 8301Down 6502
Albert Einstein 1879
- 5Up 7310Down 5632
Leonardo da Vinci 1452
- 6Up 6050Down 5727
Aristotle 384 BC
- 7Up 15795Down 17269
alert! Adolf Hitler 1889
- 8Up 5367Down 5528
Charles Darwin 1809
- 9Up 5894Down 4819
ranked low on reranks Galileo Galilei 1564
- 10Up 4806Down 4911
Plato 428-423 BC
- 11Up 4128Down 4705
Alexander the Great 356 BC
- 12Up 5179Down 5013
Mahatma Gandhi 1869
- 13Up 3995Down 4833
often listed & ranked high on reranks Gautama Buddha 563-483 BC
- 14Up 4478Down 4282
Socrates c. 470 BC
- 15Up 4558Down 3854
- 16Up 4146Down 3864
Abraham Lincoln 1809
- 17Up 3668Down 3858
William Shakespeare 1564
- 18Up 3646Down 4114
Julius Caesar 100 BC
- 19Up 3263Down 3446
Thomas Edison 1847
- 20Up 3230Down 3779
George Washington 1732
- 21Up 1633Down 1227
ranked low on reranks Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756
- 22Up 3299Down 4175
Karl Marx 1818
- 23Up 2705Down 2395
Paul the Apostle c. 5
- 24Up 3174Down 3450
Napoleon Bonaparte 1769
- 25Up 3823Down 4361
Nikola Tesla 1856
- 26Up 2340Down 2978
- 27Up 1923Down 1586
ranked low on reranks Michelangelo 1475
- 28Up 2643Down 2865
Thomas Jefferson 1743
- 29Up 2893Down 3840
Confucius 551 BC
- 30Up 1015Down 771
ranked low on reranks Ludwig van Beethoven 1770
- 31Up 2279Down 2087
Pythagoras c. 570 BC
- 32Up 2106Down 2384
Martin Luther 1483
- 33Up 2565Down 2829
Genghis Khan c. 1162
- 34Up 3326Down 3250
- 35Up 2724Down 2646
Benjamin Franklin 1706
- 36Up 2029Down 1904
- 37Up 2441Down 2144
Wright brothers 1871
- 38Up 777Down 625
Marie Curie 1867
- 39Up 2106Down 2824
often listed & ranked high on reranks Vladimir Lenin 1870
- 40Up 2433Down 2222
Henry Ford 1863
- 41Up 1528Down 1252
Nelson Mandela 1918
- 42Up 1842Down 2161
Sigmund Freud 1856
- 43Up 2136Down 2507
Nicolaus Copernicus 1473
- 44Up 2054Down 2008
Winston Churchill 1874
- 45Up 1888Down 2086
Homer c. 8th century BC
- 46Up 731Down 701
added by EnriqueSanchez Johann Sebastian Bach 1685
- 47Up 1099Down 1072
Augustus 63 BC
- 48Up 2102Down 2693
often listed & ranked high on reranks Christopher Columbus 1451
- 49Up 891Down 682
ranked low on reranks & added by jhggins Ron Paul 1935
- 50Up 1321Down 1740
often listed & ranked high on reranks Charlemagne 742-748
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