Friday, March 4, 2011

The 100 Personalities

Rank Name Religious Affiliation Influence

1 Muhammad Islam Prophet of Islam; conqueror of Arabia; Hart recognized that ranking Muhammad first might be controversial, but felt that, from a secular historian's perspective, this was the correct choice because Muhammad is the only man to have been both a founder of a major world religion and a major military/political leader.

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2 Isaac Newton Anglican (rejected Trinitarianism, i.e.,Athanasianism; believed in the Arianismof the Primitive Church)physicist; theory of universal gravitation; laws of motion

3 Jesus Christ *Judaism; Christianity founder of Christianity

4 Buddha Hinduism; Buddhism founder of Buddhism5 Confucius Confucianism founder of Confucianism
6 St. Paul Judaism; Christianity proselytizer of Christianity
7 Ts'ai Lun Chinese traditional religion inventor of paper
8 Johann Gutenberg Catholic developed movable type; printed Bibles
9 Christopher Columbus Catholic explorer; led Europe to Americas
10 Albert Einstein Jewishphysicist; relativity; Einsteinian physics
11 Louis Pasteur Catholic scientist; pasteurization
12 Galileo Galilei Catholicastronomer; accurately described heliocentric solar system
13 Aristotle Platonism / Greek philosophyinfluential Greek philosopher
14 Euclid Platonism / Greek philosophy mathematician; Euclidian geometry
15 Moses Judaism major prophet of Judaism
16 Charles Darwin Anglican (nominal); Unitarianbiologist; described Darwinian evolution, which had theological impact on many religions
17 Shih Huang Ti Chinese traditional religion Chinese emperor
18 Augustus Caesar Roman state paganism ruler
19 Nicolaus Copernicus Catholic (priest)astronomer; taught heliocentricity
20 Antoine Laurent Lavoisier Catholicfather of modern chemistry; philosopher; economist
21 Constantine the Great Roman state paganism; Christianity Roman emperor who completely legalized Christianity, leading to its status as state religion. Convened the First Council of Nicaea that produced the Nicene Creed, which rejected Arianism (one of two major strains of Christian thought) and established Athanasianism (Trinitarianism, the other strain) as "official doctrine."
22 James Watt Presbyterian (lapsed)developed steam engine
23 Michael Faraday Sandemanianphysicist; chemist; discovery of magneto-electricity
24 James Clerk Maxwell Presbyterian; Anglican; Baptistphysicist; electromagnetic spectrum
25 Martin Luther Catholic; Lutheran founder of Protestantism and Lutheranism
26 George Washington Episcopalianfirst president of United States
27 Karl Marx Jewish; Lutheran;Atheist; Marxism/Communismfounder of Marxism, Marxist Communism
28 Orville and Wilbur Wright United Brethreninventors of airplane
29 Genghis Khan Mongolian shamanism Mongol conqueror
30 Adam Smith Liberal Protestant economist; philosopher; expositor of capitalism; author: The Theory of Moral Sentiments
31 Edward de Verea.k.a. William Shakespeare Catholic; Anglicanliterature; also wrote 6 volumes about philosophy and religion
32 John Dalton Quakerchemist; physicist; atomic theory; law of partial pressures (Dalton's law)
33 Alexander the Great Greek state paganism conqueror
34 Napoleon Bonaparte Catholic (nominal)French conqueror
35 Thomas Edison Congregationalist; agnosticinventor of light bulb, phonograph, etc.
36 Antony van Leeuwenhoek Dutch Reformedmicroscopes; studied microscopic life
37 William T.G. Morton ?? pioneer in anesthesiology
38 Guglielmo Marconi Catholic and Anglicaninventor of radio
39 Adolf Hitler Nazism; born/raised in, but rejected Catholicismconqueror; led Axis Powers in WWII
40 Plato Platonism / Greek philosophyfounder of Platonism
41 Oliver Cromwell Puritan (Protestant) British political and military leader
42 Alexander Graham Bell Unitarian/Universalist inventor of telephone *

43 Alexander Fleming Catholic penicillin; advances in bacteriology, immunology and chemotherapy
44 John Locke raised Puritan (Anglican);Liberal Christianphilosopher and liberal theologian
45 Ludwig van Beethoven Catholiccomposer
46 Werner Heisenberg Lutherana founder of quantum mechanics; discovered principle of uncertainty; head of Nazi Germany's nuclear program.
47 Louis Daguerre ?? an inventor/pioneer of photography
48 Simon Bolivar Catholic (nominal); AtheistNational hero of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia
49 Rene Descartes CatholicRationalist philosopher and mathematician
50 Michelangelo Catholicpainter; sculptor; architect
51 Pope Urban II Catholic called for First Crusade
52 'Umar ibn al-Khattab Islam Second Caliph; expanded Muslim empire
53 Asoka Buddhism king of India who converted to and spread Buddhism
54 St. Augustine Greek state paganism; Manicheanism; CatholicEarly Christian theologian
55 William Harvey Anglican (nominal)described the circulation of blood; wrote Essays on the Generation of Animals, the basis for modern embryology
56 Ernest Rutherford ?? physicist; pioneer of subatomic physics
57 John Calvin Protestant; Calvinism Protestant reformer; founder of Calvinism
58 Gregor Mendel Catholic (Augustinian monk)Mendelian genetics
59 Max Planck Protestantphysicist; thermodynamics
60 Joseph Lister Quaker principal discoverer of antiseptics which greatly reduced surgical mortality
61 Nikolaus August Otto ?? built first four-stroke internal combustion engine
62 Francisco Pizarro Catholic Spanish conqueror in South America; defeated Incas
63 Hernando Cortes Catholic conquered Mexico for Spain; through war and introduction of new diseases he largely destroyed Aztec civilization
64 Thomas Jefferson Episcopalian; Deist3rd president of United States
65 Queen Isabella I Catholic Spanish ruler
66 Joseph Stalin Russian Orthodox; Atheist; Marxismrevolutionary and ruler of USSR
67 Julius Caesar Roman state paganism Roman emperor
68 William the Conqueror Catholic laid foundation of modern England
69 Sigmund Freud Jewish; atheist; Freudian psychology/psychoanalysisfounded Freudian school of psychology/psychoanalysis (i.e., the "religion of Freudianism")
70 Edward Jenner Anglicandiscoverer of the vaccination for smallpox
71 Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen ?? discovered X-rays
72 Johann Sebastian Bach Lutheran; Catholic composer
73 Lao Tzu Taoism founder of Taoism
74 Voltaire raised in Jansenism;later Deistwriter and philosopher; wrote Candide
75 Johannes Kepler Lutheranastronomer; planetary motions
76 Enrico Fermi Catholicinitiated the atomic age; father of atom bomb
77 Leonhard Euler Calvinistphysicist; mathematician; differential and integral calculus and algebra
78 Jean-Jacques Rousseau born Protestant; converted as a teen to Catholic; later Deist French deistic philosopher and author
79 Nicoli Machiavelli Catholic wrote The Prince (influential political treatise)
80 Thomas Malthus Anglican (cleric) economist; wrote Essay on the Principle of Population
81 John F. Kennedy CatholicU.S. President who led first successful effort by humans to travel to another "planet"
82 Gregory Pincus Jewishendocrinologist; developed birth-control pill
83 Mani Manicheanism founder of Manicheanism, once a world religion which rivaled Christianity in strength
84 Lenin Russian Orthodox;Atheist; Marxism/CommunismRussian ruler
85 Sui Wen Ti Chinese traditional religion unified China
86 Vasco da Gama Catholic navigator; discovered route from Europe to India around Cape Hood
87 Cyrus the Great Zoroastrianism founder of Persian empire
88 Peter the Great Russian Orthodox forged Russia into a great European nation
89 Mao Zedong Atheist; Communism; Maoism founder of Maoism, Chinese form of Communism
90 Francis Bacon Anglicanphilosopher; delineated inductive scientific method
91 Henry Ford Protestant developed automobile; achievement in manufacturing and assembly
92 Mencius Confucianism philosopher; founder of a school of Confucianism
93 Zoroaster Zoroastrianism founder of Zoroastrianism
94 Queen Elizabeth I Anglican British monarch; restored Church of England to power after Queen Mary
95 Mikhail Gorbachev Russian OrthodoxRussian premier who helped end Communism in USSR
96 Menes Egyptian paganism unified Upper and Lower Egypt
97 Charlemagne Catholic Holy Roman Empire created with his baptism in 800 AD
98 Homer Greek paganism epic poet
99 Justinian I Catholic Roman emperor; reconquered Mediterranean empire; accelerated Catholic-Monophysite schism
100 Mahavira Hinduism; Jainism founder of JainismSource of list of names: Hart, Michael H.
The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, Revised and Updated for the Nineties. New York: Carol Publishing Group/Citadel Press; first published in 1978, reprinted with minor revisions (reflected above) in 1992.

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