by Jonathan Hobratsch, with suggestions by Pauly Deathwish
I had recently published my preliminary list for the Top 100 Most Influential People in World History. The dilemma was that I found 25 figures that were guaranteed inclusion, and this left me with 162 people who had to battle it out for the final 75 slots.
Part 1: Pauly Deathwish’s Suggestions
My friend Pauly Deathwish, who is well versed in human history offered some suggestions, which I will consider here.
Deathwish’s list of 75 figures include the following:
Homer
Pythagoras
Socrates
Gautama Buddha
Alexander the Great
Julius Caesar
Augustus Caesar
Charlemagne
Genghis Khan
Petrarch
Machiavelli
Elizabeth I
Cervantes
Galileo
Shakespeare
Kepler
Hobbes
Descartes
Pascal
Locke
Leibniz
Bach
Adam Smith
Kant
Washington
Napoleon
Bolivar
Lincoln
Marx
Whitman
Pasteur
Le Prince
Edison
Planck
Marie Curie
Lenin
Stalin
Atatürk
Picasso
FDR
Keynes
Mao
Fermi
Heisenberg
Hammurabi
Cortes
Palladio
Calvin
Robespierre
Babbage
Dickens
Roentgen
Becquerel
Gandhi
MLK
John Lennon
Sargon
Thales
Archimedes
Constantine
Saladin
Giotto
Magellan
Suleiman
Bacon
Boyle
Leeuwenhoek
Watt
Volta
Niepce
Rutherford
Marconi
Fleming
Ashoka
This being the case, I’ll first argue for the inclusion of 26 people (or groups of people) he omitted. If I cannot make a strong argument for their inclusion against Deathwish’s suggestions, then they will not be listed here. Here is my list:
Cicero, Umar ibn-Al-Khattab, Pizarro, William Harvey, Edward Jenner, Hamilton, Wollstonecraft, Dalton, Gauss, Goodyear, Bessemer, Bazalgette, James Maxwell Clerk, Otto, Pankhurst, Willis Carrier, Sykes and Picot, Goddard, Truman, Farnsworth, Korolev, Perotto, Hill, Wilmut and Campbell, Collins and Venter, Brin and Page.
Part 2: Preparation for the gauntlet
I’ll now force select figures from Deathwish’s list through the gauntlet of the 26 people he omitted, but that I resurrected. If the person emerges mostly unscathed through the gauntlet, then they will most likely survive for the top 100 list. If not, then it is likely one of the people from this list of 26 will be added to the 75 open spots.
I’ve determined the following people as candidates to go through the gauntlet: Ashoka, Niepce, Suleiman, Giotto, Saladin, Archimedes, Sargon, the Beatles, MLK, Gandhi, Dickens, Robespierre, Calvin, Palladio, Hammurabi, Mao, Keynes, FDR, Picasso, Ataturk, Stalin, Lenin, Le Prince, Whitman, Marx, Lincoln, Bolivar, Napoleon, Washington, Adam Smith, Bach, Leibniz, Shakespeare, Elizabeth I, Machiavelli, Petrarch, Charlemagne, Julius Caesar, Augustus Caesar, Buddha, Socrates, Homer.
Part 3: More join the original 25 inductees
This obviously means that the following will be added to the 25 individuals guaranteed inclusion into the top 100. We now have 56 people included. The guantlet is a fight over the remaining 44 slots: Pythagoras, Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Galileo, Kepler, Hobbes, Descartes, Pascal, Locke, Kant, Pasteur, Edison, Planck, Marie Curie, Fermi, Heisenberg, Cortes, Babbage, Roentgen, Becquerel, Thales, Constantine, Magellan, Bacon, Boyle, Leeuwenhoek, Watt, Volta, Rutherford, Marconi, Fleming
HistoryMonocle 