100 People who changed the world

This is a list of 100 people who have changed the world (for better or worse). Also see: People who made a difference and changed the world for the better.

People who changed the world

christ1. Jesus of Nazareth (circa 5 BCE – 30 CE) Spiritual Teacher, central figure of Christianity.

2. Thomas JeffersonJefferson (1743 – 1826) American President 1801 – 1809. Author of Declaration of Independence

3. Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev(1931 – 2022) Leader of Soviet Union 1985 – 1991, oversaw the transition from Communism to democracy in Eastern Europe.

4. Lord Buddha buddha (circa 563 BCE – 483 BCE) Spiritual teacher and founder of Buddhism

5. Winston Churchill Churchill(1874 – 1965) Prime Minister of Great Britain during Second World War

6. William Shakespeare Shakespeare(1564 – 1616) English poet and playwright

Muhammad_Salat 7. Muhammad  (570 – 632) Founder of Islam.

8. Martin Luther King christ (1929 – 1968) Civil Rights leader

9. Abraham Lincoln Lincoln (1809 – 1865) American President during civil war, helped end slavery

mandela10. Nelson Mandela (1918 – 2013) Anti-apartheid leader, first President of democratic South Africa in 1994

  1. St Paul (5 BCE – 67 CE) Christian missionary
  2. Adolf Hitler (1889 – 1945) Dictator of Nazi Germany
  3. Augustus Caesar (63 BCE – AD 14) First Roman Emperor.
  4. George Washington (1732 – 1799) First President of USA
  5. Sri Krishna (circa 2-3000 BCE) Spiritual teacher, prominent figure in Hinduism
  6. Emperor Constantine (272 – 337) First Roman Emperor to embrace Christianity
  7. Martin Luther (1483 – – 1546) Key figure in Protestant Reformation
  8. Socrates (469 BCE – 399 BCE) Greek philosopher
  9. Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – 1948) Indian nationalist and politician
  10. Karl Marx (1818 –– 1883) German philosopher, founder of Marxism
  11. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 –– 1821) French military and political leader
  12. Simon Bolivar (1783 – 1830) Liberator of South American countries
  13. Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 – 1945) US President 1932-1945
  14. Charles Darwin (1809 –– 1882) Developed theory of evolution
  15. Sir Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727) English mathematician and scientist
  16. Confucius (551 BCE– – 479 BCE) Chinese philosopher
  17. Akbar (1542 – 1605) Mughal Emperor
  18. Queen Victoria (1819 –– 1901) British monarch 1837 – 1901
  19. Konrad Adenauer (1876 – 1967) German Chancellor post WWII
  20. Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 – 1964) First Prime Minister of India
  21. Ramses II (1279 BCE – 1213 BCE) Egyptian Pharoah
  22. Alexander the Great (356 BCE –– 323 BCE) King of Macedonia
  23. Moses (1391 – 1271 BC) Jewish prophet of Old Testament.
  24. Woodrow Wilson (1856 – 1924) American president during WWI
  25. Christopher Columbus (1451 – 1506) Italian explorer
  26. Marcus Aurelius (121 –– 180) Roman emperor and philosopher
  27. Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642) Astronomer and physicist
  28. Plato (424 BCE –– 348 BCE) Philosopher
  29. Joan of Arc (1412 – 1431) French saint
  30. Charlemagne (742 – 814) King of Franks and Emperor of the Romans
  31. Aristotle (384BCE –– 322BCE) Greek philosopher
  32. Saladin (1138 –– 1193) Leader of Arabs during Crusades
  33. Babur (1483 – 1531) Founder of Mughal Empire
  34. Sir Walter Raleigh (1552 –– 1618) English explorer
  35. Voltaire (1694 – – 1778) French philosopher
  36. Catherine the Great (1729 –– 1796) Empress of all the Russias 1762 – 1796
  37. Mozart (1756 –– 1791) Austrian composer
  38. Guru Nanak (1469 – 1539) Spiritual teacher, founder of Sikhism
  39. Leonardo da Vinci (1452 –– 1519) Italian scientist, artist, polymath
  40. Louis Pasteur (1822 – 1895) French chemist and Biologist
  41. Leo Tolstoy (1828 –– 1910) Russian writer and philosopher
  42. Albert Einstein (1879 –– 1955) German physicist
  43. Ataturk (1881 – 1938) Founder of the Turkish Republic
  44. Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973) Spanish painter and sculptor
  45. Pope John Paul II (1920 – 2005) Polish Pope from 1978-2005
  46. Margaret Thatcher (1925 – 2013) British Prime Minister 1979 – 1990
  47. Muhammed Ali (1942 – 2016) American boxer and human rights activist
  48. John F. Kennedy (1917 –– 1963) American President 1961 – 1963
  49. Boris Yeltsin (1931 –– 2007) First President of Russia 1991 – 1999
  50. Indira Gandhi (1917 –– 1984) Prime Minister of India 1980 – 1984
  51. William Tyndale (1494 – 1536)  Translated Bible into English
  52. Tim Berners Lee (1955 – ) Inventor of World Wide Web
  53. Rosa Parks (1913 – 2005) Civil Rights activist
  54. Benazir Bhutto (1953 – 2007) Prime Minister of Pakistan 1993 – 1996
  55. J.S. Bach (1685 – 1750) German composer
  56. 14th Dalai Lama (1938 – ) Spiritual and political leader of Tibetans
  57. Malcolm X (1925 – 1965) Black Civil Rights activist
  58. Lech Walesa (1943 – ) Leader of Polish solidarity movement
  59. Charles de Gaulle (1890 – 1970) French politician
  60. Joseph Stalin (1879 – 1953) Leader of the Soviet Union 1922 – 1952
  61. Marie Curie (1867 – 1934) Chemist and physicist
  62. Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807 – 1882) Independence leader in Italy and South America
  63. Johann Gutenberg (1395 – 1468 Inventor of the printing press
  64. Oliver Cromwell (1599 – 1658) British Parliamentarian
  65. Vladimir Lenin (1870 – 1924) Leader of Russian Revolution in 1917
  66. Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939) Austrian neurologist, psychoanalyst
  67. Mother Teresa (1910 – 1997) Macedonian Catholic nun and missionary
  68. Bill Gates (1955 – ) Founder of Microsoft
  69. Ernest Hemingway ( 1899 – 1961) American author
  70. John Lennon (1940 – 1980) British musician and member of the Beatles
  71. Genghis Kahn (1162 – 1227) Ruler of Mongol Empire
  72. Haile Selassie (1892 – 1975) Emperor of Ethiopia 1930 – 1974
  73. John M Keynes (1883 – 1946) Influential economist
  74. Michael Faraday (1791 – 1867) English scientist who enabled  electricity to become a viable source of power.
  75. George Orwell (1903 – 1950) English author of ‘Animal Farm’ and ‘1984’
  76. Thomas Edison (1847 – 1931) Inventor and businessman
  77. Dwight Eisenhower (1890 – 1969) Supreme Allied Commander WWII
  78. Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 – 1962) helped to draft UN declaration of human rights
  79. Dr B.R. Ambedkar (1891 – 1956) Indian political activist and social reformer who drafted Indian constitution
  80. Lyndon Johnson (1908 – 1973) US President 1963 – 1969
  81. William Wilberforce (1759 – 1833) Campaigner against slavery
  82. Nikola Tesla (1856 – 1943) Scientist, inventor
  83. Alexander Fleming (1881–1955) Scottish biologist who discovered antibiotics
  84. Lao Tzu (6th Century BC – ) Author of Tao Te Ching and founder of Taoism
  85. Eva Peron (1919 – 1952) First Lady of Argentina 1946 – 1952
  86. Henry Ford (1864 – 1947) American industrialist
  87. Princess Diana (1961 –– 1997) Humanitarian
  88. Steve Jobs (1955 – 2011) Entrepreneur who led digital revolution
  89. Beethoven (1770 – 1827) German composer
  90. Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790) American writer and polymath

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan. “People who changed the world”, Oxford, UK. www.biographyonline.net, First published Jan 2008. Last updated 1 March 2018.

Related pages

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un-logo Quotes that changed the world: Inspiring quotes that changed the world from some of the world’s leading minds, including Einstein, Buddha, Darwin, and Galileo

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Inventions that changed the world: Famous inventions that made a great difference to the progress of the world, including aluminium, the telephone and the printing press

Related

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100 Most influential people in the world by Michael H. Hart (Author) at Amazon.com

Books about people who changed the World

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Other lists of people who changed the world

Note: It is hard to select a ‘top 100’. It is also even harder to rank people in terms of influence. I agree there could easily be a different order and ranking. But, hopefully, this will be of help for researching some of the famous people who have made a big difference to the world.

78 Comments

  • Where is the greatest serbian Nikola Tesla?!

    • did you actually read it?

  • Toussaint Louverture

  • great post and inspiring

  • you forgot stalin

    • steve jobs should be on the top of the list

  • Nice. Thanks, this was very helpful.

  • What picture is that for Jesus of Nazareth? Also Mansa Musa I should be top 3

  • you missed gandhi and joseph smith

    • #18 ghandi

  • Ernesto “Che” Guevara

  • Why isn’t Gandhi on the Top 10. I am pretty sure he was very influential to MLK

  • what ’bout the greatest kings of persua? like cyrus the great, daruis ….