150 People

A while back, I came up with a list of the top 100 people in history - those who were most important. But of course that means certain omissions, some of which bothered me, and so I expanded the list to 150, which is a very solid number, and has no major omissions that I could think of. Here, alphabetically, is that list: 

Alexander. Macedonian. Spread Hellenic culture to India.

Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins. American. First people to travel to the moon.

Ali ibn Abi Talib. Arabian. Founder of Shia Islam.

Roald Amundsen. Norwegian. First explorer to reach South Pole.

Mary Anning. British. Pioneering paleontologist.

Archimedes. Greek. Developed quantification and inventions.

Aristotle. Greek. Developed logic and systematic ethics.

Louis Armstrong. American. Introduced improvisation to Western music, jazz pioneer.

Atahualpa. Inca. Incan Emperor during colonization.

Augustus. Roman. First Emperor of Rome, oversaw ‘Pax Romana’.

Leo Baekeland. Belgian. Plastics pioneer.

Matsuo Basho. Japanese. Haiku poetry and travelogue pioneer.

Cesare Beccaria. Italian. Pioneering criminologist and punishment reformer.

Kamal ud-Din Behzad. Persian. Miniature painting master.

Alexander Graham Bell. American. Invented the telephone.

Tim Berners-Lee. British. Invented the World Wide Web.

Daniel Bernoulli. Swiss. Developed probability and statistics.

Chuck Berry. American. Developed rock and roll.

Jeff Bezos. American. Internet commerce leader, founder of Amazon.

Nellie Bly. American. Developed investigative journalism.

Franz Boas. American. Developed anthropology.

Simon Bolivar. Venezuelan. Liberator of most of South America.

Brahmagupta. Indian. Developed zero and negative numbers.

Cai Lun. Chinese. Invented paper.

Willis Carrier. American. Invented air-conditioning.

Rachel Carson. American. Launched environmental movement and ecosystem awareness.

Catherine II. Russian. Expanded Russian empire to greatest extent.

Chakalte. Maya. Prototypical Mayan artist.

Cristopher Columbus. Italian. Launched colonization of the Americas.

Confucius. Chinese. Developed Confucian philosophy.

James Cook. British. Explored the Pacific and Australia.

Thomas Cook. British. Launched the modern tourist industry.

Hernan Cortes. Spanish. Conquered the Aztecs.

Jacques Cousteau. French. Developed scuba, pioneer of underwater research.

Francis Crick and James Watson. British and American. Developed DNA theory.

Marie Curie. Polish. Radiation pioneer.

Louis Daguerre. French. Photography pioneer.

Charles Darwin. British. Developed evolution.

David. Israeli. Made Jerusalem holiest site in Judaism.

Leonardo Da Vinci. Italian. Renaissance master painter and scientist.

Simone De Beauvoir. French. Launched second-wave feminism.

Rene Descartes. French. Developed coordinate geography, scientific method, and modern philosophy.

Thomas Edison. American. Invented audio recording, motion pictures, and commercial lightbulb.

Albert Einstein. German. Developed relativity physics.

Enheduanna. Akkadian. World’s first author and poet.

Euclid. Greek. Geometry pioneer.

Frantz Fanon. Algerian. Developed post-colonial theory.

Michael Faraday. British. Developed the motor, electromagnetism pioneer.

Philo Farnsworth. American. Developed television.

Alexander Fleming. British. Invented antibiotics.

Henry Ford. American. Developed modern assembly line for mass market cars.

Sigmund Freud. Austrian. Pioneer psychologist.

Fu Hao. Chinese. Pioneering female general and warrior.

Galileo Galilei. Italian. Developed modern physics and astronomy.

Mohandas Gandhi. Indian. Nonviolence pioneer and father of modern India.

Yuri Gagarin. Russian. First human in space.

Genghis Khan. Mongolian. Created largest land-based empire.

Amadeo Giannini. American. Developed modern banking.

Mikhail Gorbachev. Russian. Ended the cold war and dismantled the Soviet Union.

Johann Gutenberg. German. Developed printing press with moveable type.

Guo Xi. Chinese. Pioneering landscape painter.

Fritz Haber. German. Developed artificial fertilizer and chemical weapons.

Hammurabi. Babylonian. Pioneer of written law.

Hatshepsut. Egyptian. First female pharaoh/head of state.

Johann Hecker. German. Developed modern primary schooling.

Werner Heisenberg. German. Developed quantum physics.

Adolph Hitler. German. Launched World War II and the Holocaust.

Hokusai. Japanese. Ukiyo-e master.

Homer. Greek. Purported author of the Iliad and Odyssey.

Edwin Hubble. American. Proved cosmos extends beyond Milky Way galaxy.

Huineng. Chinese. Brought Buddhism to China.

Ibn Battuta. Berber. Premodern global explorer.

Imhotep. Egyptian. Built the first pyramids.

Juana Ines de la Cruz. Mexican. Pioneering protofeminist.

Ishi. Yahi. Last ‘wild Indian’ of North America.

Jasaw Chan K’awiil I. Maya. Ruler of Tikal at its height.

Edward Jenner. British. Developed vaccines.

Jesus. Judean. Prophet, founder of Christianity.

James Joyce. Irish. Developed modern literature.

Frida Kahlo. Mexican. Iconic modern artist.

Kalidasa. Indian. Master Sanskrit author.

Al-Khwarizmi. Persian. Developed algebra.

John Maynard Keynes. British. Developed modern economics.

Lao Tzu. Chinese. Founded Daoism.

Louis and Mary Leakey. British. Traced human origins.

Abraham Lincoln. American. Leader during the American Civil War, abolished slavery in U.S.

Edward Lloyd. British. Insurance pioneer.

Louis XIV. French. Influential monarch, built Versailles.

Toussaint Louverture. Haitian. Led successful slavery revolution.

Martin Luther. German. Founder of Protestant Christianity.

Nelson Mandela. South African. Global civil rights revolutionary.

Mao Zedong. Chinese. Turned China communist, mass murder of the Great Leap Forward.

Karl Marx. German. Developed communism.

Catherine de Medici. Italian. Spread Renaissance outside Italy, developed ballet.

Gregor Mendel. German. Pioneer geneticist.

Michelangelo. Italian. Master Renaissance artist and architect.

Thomas Midgley Jr. American. Poisoned tens of millions with lead, destroyed ozone layer.

Claudio Monteverdi. Italian. Developed opera.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Austrian. Master western classical composer.

Muhammad. Arabian. Prophet, founder of Islam.

Murasaki Shikibu. Japanese. Developed the novel.

Mansa Musa. Malian. Mali Emperor, exposed West African wealth to Europe and Asia.

Guru Nanak. Indian. Founder of Sikhism.

Napoleon. French. Attempted to unify European empire.

Isaac Newton. British. Physics pioneer, developed calculus.

Florence Nightingale. British. Developed modern nursing and hospital practices.

Robert Noyce. American. Developed silicon chips for modern computing.

Louis Pasteur. French. Developed pasteurization.

Patanjali. Indian. Purported developer of Yoga.

Pablo Picasso. Spanish. Master modern artist.

Paul. Roman. Founder of Christianity.

Plato. Greek. Founder of western philosophy.

Qin Shi Huangdi. Chinese. Emperor, oversaw the Great Wall and Terracotta Army.

Ramses II. Egyptian. Extended Egyptian empire to height, made first peace treaty.

Maximilian Robespierre. French. Leader of the French Revolution.

John D. Rockefeller. American. Developed oil business.

Rumi. Persian. Master poet.

Andrei Sakharov. Russian. Developed nuclear weapons, campaigned against their use.

Margaret Sanger. American. Birth control advocate, helped developed birth control pill.

Sarngadeva. Indian. Developed Indian classical music.

William Shakespeare. British. Master playwright.

Shen Kuo. Chinese. Polymath, developed the compass.

Siddhartha. Indian. Founder of Buddhism.

Adam Smith. British. Developed capitalism.

Socrates. Greek. Founded the Socratic philosophical method.

Solon. Greek. Developed democracy.

Sophocles. Greek. Developed drama.

Joseph Stalin. Russian. Killed millions, started the Cold War.

Sun Tzu. Chinese. Developed military and political strategy.

Suryavarman II. Cambodian. Oversaw Angkor Wat.

Marie Tharp. American. Proved the theory of plate tectonics.

Thucydides. Greek. Developed historical writing.

Tokugawa Ieyasu. Japanese. Founder of the Shogunate Era.

Alan Turing. British. Developed the computer.

Pope Urban II. French. Started the Crusades.

Valmiki. Indian. Author of the Ramayana.

Mies Van der Rohe. German. Developed modern architecture.

Andreas Vesalius. Belgian. Pioneer of human anatomy.

Victoria. British. Oversaw British Empire during global expansion.

Vyasa. Indian. Purported author of the Mahabharata.

Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. Arabian. Founder of fundamentalist Wahhabi movement.

George Washington. American. Founder of the United States of America.

Frank Whittle. British. Developed the jet engine.

Orville and Wilbur Wright. Americans. Developed flight.

Mary Wollstonecraft. British. Developed modern feminism.

Wu Cheng’en. Chinese. Author of Journey to the West.

Yuwen Kai. Chinese. Engineered the Grand Canal.

Zhang Qian. Chinese. Developed the silk road.

Zheng He. Chinese. Explored the Indian Ocean and beyond.

Zoroaster. Persian. Developed monotheism, founder of Zoroastrianism.