Originally by Walter GravesList RulesVote up the individuals who you think had the most influential ideas throughout history.
List of the Greatest Minds of All Time, throughout history. This list represents the most influential thinkers across various disciplines, ranked in a way that represents the power of their ideas and their impact on the world. The wisest men and women include top philosophers, physicists, famous poets, thinkers, teachers, physiologists, artists, inventors, engineers, the most irreplaceable CEOs in the world, economists and politicians and those whose talents span across many fields of study.
This list takes a historic perspective, so the greatest thinkers who are included on this list come from many different eras. The greatest minds of the 21st century may be quite different from great geniuses from the distant past, but each person should be judged within the context of the time that they were living. For example, inventing a new type of telephone in 2013 would not qualify one as "the most brilliant mind of all time," but in 1876 when Alexander Graham Bell first patented the telephone, it was an act of genius not seen before.
See Also: The Most Influential People of All Time.1
18,1984,716Leonardo da Vinci
Dec. at 67 (1452-1519)Birthplace: Vinci, Italy
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath, painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. He is... more2
8,7772,649Marie Curie
Dec. at 66 (1867-1934)Birthplace: Warsaw, Second Polish Republic
Marie Skłodowska Curie ( KEWR-ee, French: [kyʁi], Polish: [kʲiˈri]; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who... more- 310,0303,543
Galileo Galilei
Dec. at 77 (1564-1642)Birthplace: Pisa, Italy
Galileo Galilei ( GAL-il-AY-oh, also US: -EE-oh, Italian: [ɡaliˈlɛːo ɡaliˈlɛi]; 15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath from... more - 414,5565,193
Isaac Newton
Dec. at 84 (1643-1727)Birthplace: Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, United Kingdom
Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, and author (described in his own day as a "natural philosopher") who is widely... more - 515,8782,938
Nikola Tesla
Dec. at 86 (1856-1943)Birthplace: Smiljan, Croatia
Nikola Tesla was a Serbian American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current... more - 66,7172,340Archimedes of Syracuse (; Greek: Ἀρχιμήδης; c. 287 – c. 212 BC) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded... more
- 75,1811,785Pythagoras of Samos (c. 570 – c. 495 BC) was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His political and religious teachings were well known in Magna Graecia... more
- 816,5935,953
Albert Einstein
Dec. at 76 (1879-1955)Birthplace: Ulm, Germany
Albert Einstein ( EYEN-styne; German: [ˈalbɛɐ̯t ˈʔaɪnʃtaɪn] (listen); 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity, one of the two... more - 96,4162,270Socrates (; Ancient Greek: Σωκρᾰ́της, romanized: Sōkrátēs, [sɔːkrátɛːs]; c. 470 – 399 BC) was a classical Greek (Athenian) philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, and as... more
- 103,9761,354
Nicolaus Copernicus
Dec. at 70 (1473-1543)Birthplace: Toruń, Second Polish Republic
Nicolaus Copernicus (; Polish: Mikołaj Kopernik; German: Nikolaus Kopernikus; Niklas Koppernigk; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance-era mathematician and astronomer, who formulated a... more - 118,7213,183
Aristotle
Dec. at 62 (383 BC-321 BC)Birthplace: Stagira, Greece
Aristotle (; Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης Aristotélēs, pronounced [aristotélɛːs]; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher during the Classical period in Ancient Greece, the founder of the Lyceum and the... more - 123,9571,332
Alan Turing
Dec. at 41 (1912-1954)Birthplace: Maida Vale, London, United Kingdom
Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in... more - 138,3363,225Plato (; PLAY-toe Greek: Πλάτων Plátōn, pronounced [plá.tɔːn] in Classical Attic; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was an Athenian philosopher during the Classical period in Ancient Greece, founder... more
- 145,7602,197
Michelangelo
Dec. at 88 (1475-1564)Birthplace: Caprese Michelangelo, Italy
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer of the High Renaissance who exerted an unparalleled... more - 155,4221,912
Ludwig van Beethoven
Dec. at 57 (1770-1827)Birthplace: Bonn, Germany
Ludwig van Beethoven ( (listen); German: [ˈluːtvɪç fan ˈbeːthoːfn̩] (listen); baptised 17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between... more - 161,880601Euclid (; Ancient Greek: Εὐκλείδης – Eukleídēs, pronounced [eu̯.kleː.dɛːs]; fl. 300 BC), sometimes called Euclid of Alexandria to distinguish him from Euclid of Megara, was a Greek mathematician,... more
- 174,5301,565
Johannes Kepler
Dec. at 58 (1571-1630)Birthplace: Weil der Stadt, Germany
Johannes Kepler (; German: [joˈhanəs ˈkɛplɐ, -nɛs -]; December 27, 1571 – November 15, 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer. He is a key figure in the 17th-century scientific... more - 182,481817
Michael Faraday
Dec. at 75 (1791-1867)Birthplace: Newington Butts, United Kingdom
Michael Faraday FRS (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the principles... more - 193,1551,073
Carl Friedrich Gauss
Dec. at 77 (1777-1855)Birthplace: Braunschweig, Germany
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (; German: Gauß [ˈkaɐ̯l ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈɡaʊs] (listen); Latin: Carolus Fridericus Gauss; (30 April 1777 – 23 February 1855) was a German mathematician and physicist who made... more - 201,448424
Wilhelm Röntgen
Dec. at 77 (1845-1923)Birthplace: Remscheid, Germany
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (; German: [ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈʁœntɡən]; 27 March 1845 – 10 February 1923) was a German mechanical engineer and physicist, who, on 8 November 1895, produced and detected electromagnetic... more - 215,2282,156
Johann Sebastian Bach
Dec. at 65 (1685-1750)Birthplace: Eisenach, Germany
Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March [O.S. 21 March] 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He is known for instrumental compositions such as the Art of Fugue, the... more - 223,2481,205
Max Planck
Dec. at 89 (1858-1947)Birthplace: Kiel, Germany
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck, ForMemRS (German: [ˈplaŋk]; English: ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in... more - 232,5221,009
Johannes Gutenberg
Dec. at 70 (1398-1468)Birthplace: Mainz, Germany
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (; c. 1400 – February 3, 1468) was a German blacksmith, goldsmith, inventor, printer, and publisher who introduced printing to Europe with the printing... more - 243,0931,286
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz
Dec. at 70 (1646-1716)Birthplace: Leipzig, Germany
Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz (sometimes spelled Leibnitz) (; German: [ˈɡɔtfʁiːt ˈvɪlhɛlm fɔn ˈlaɪbnɪts] or [ˈlaɪpnɪts]; French: Godefroi Guillaume Leibnitz; 1 July 1646 [O.S. 21 June] – 14... more - 252,5321,049
René Descartes
Dec. at 53 (1596-1650)Birthplace: Descartes, Indre-et-Loire, France
René Descartes ( day-KART, also UK: DAY-kart, French: [ʁəne dekaʁt] (listen); Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; adjectival form: Cartesian ; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher,... more
