Top 20 Most Influential People in World History - AnyRank - AnyRank

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Top 20Updated 2026年3月3日

Top 20 Most Influential People in World History

This ranking evaluates historical figures based on their profound impact on global politics, science, culture, religion, and social transformation. It covers individuals who decisively shaped human civilization, considering scope of influence, institutional innovation, technological revolution contributions, and lasting historical legacy.

Top 3

1Isaac Newton
2

Interesting Facts & Summary

In this ranking of history’s greatest minds, Isaac Newton secures the top spot—not merely for establishing the cornerstones of modern physics, but for igniting the 'Age of Enlightenment' in human reasoning.

Data Contrast: Nearly 340 years after the publication of Principia Mathematica, Newton’s principles continue to underpin every engineering feat from skyscrapers to international space stations. While modern tech titans have altered how we live, Newton fundamentally reconstructed the logic by which the universe operates.
A Moment of Trivia: It is a historical irony that Newton spent more time obsessed with alchemy than with mechanics; yet, it was this relentless curiosity about the essence of matter that allowed him to connect the fall of an apple to the gravitational laws governing the Moon’s orbit.
Legacy: Even in 2026, amidst the rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence, Newton’s laws remain the unshakable physical constraints governing all computational models.

Rank	Name	Influence Index	Primary Field & Contribution
1	Isaac Newton	10	Founder of classical mechanics; author of Principia; formulated laws of universal gravitation and three laws of motion
2	Charles Darwin	9.8

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1

Isaac Newton

Influence Index: 10
Primary Field & Contribution: Founder of classical mechanics; author of Principia; formulated laws of universal gravitation and three laws of motion

2

Charles Darwin

Influence Index: 9.8
Primary Field & Contribution: Founder of evolutionary theory; On the Origin of Species revolutionized human understanding of life's origins

3

Jesus Christ

Influence Index: 9.7
Primary Field & Contribution: Founder of Christianity; spiritual center of world's largest religion; cornerstone of Western civilization

4

Muhammad

Influence Index: 9.6
Primary Field & Contribution: Prophet of Islam; unified Arabian Peninsula; established civilization spanning three continents

5

Albert Einstein

Influence Index: 9.5
Primary Field & Contribution: Creator of relativity theory; E=mc²; one of two pillars of modern physics

6

Confucius

Influence Index: 9.4
Primary Field & Contribution: Founder of Confucianism; established core value system of East Asian civilization; influenced China for over 2,000 years

7

Johannes Gutenberg

Influence Index: 9.3
Primary Field & Contribution: Inventor of movable-type printing press; enabled mass dissemination of knowledge; technological foundation of Renaissance and Reformation

8

Aristotle

Influence Index: 9.2
Primary Field & Contribution: Synthesizer of ancient Greek philosophy; founder of logic, ethics, political science, biology and multiple disciplines

9

Galileo Galilei

Influence Index: 9.1
Primary Field & Contribution: Father of modern scientific method; improved astronomical telescope; key empirical supporter of heliocentrism

10

Nikola Tesla

Influence Index: 9
Primary Field & Contribution: Inventor of AC electrical system; father of modern electric power industry; pioneer of radio technology

11

Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)

Influence Index: 8.9
Primary Field & Contribution: Founder of Buddhism; world's fourth-largest religion; source of Eastern philosophy and meditation traditions

12

Karl Marx

Influence Index: 8.8
Primary Field & Contribution: Founder of Marxism; author of Das Kapital; intellectual source of 20th-century socialist movements

13

Louis Pasteur

Influence Index: 8.7
Primary Field & Contribution: Father of microbiology; inventor of pasteurization; founder of germ theory and vaccination

14

James Watt

Influence Index: 8.6
Primary Field & Contribution: Improved steam engine; core power source of Industrial Revolution; symbol of humanity's entry into machine age

15

Alexander Fleming

Influence Index: 8.5
Primary Field & Contribution: Discoverer of penicillin; launched antibiotic era; medical revolution saving hundreds of millions of lives

16

Leonardo da Vinci

Influence Index: 8.4
Primary Field & Contribution: Renaissance polymath; Mona Lisa, The Last Supper; pioneer in anatomy, engineering, and aviation

17

Euclid

Influence Index: 8.3
Primary Field & Contribution: Father of geometry; Elements established deductive reasoning; mathematical education standard for 2,000+ years

18

Martin Luther

Influence Index: 8.2
Primary Field & Contribution: Initiator of Protestant Reformation; founder of Protestantism; challenged papal authority; reshaped European religious landscape

19

Qin Shi Huang

Influence Index: 8.1
Primary Field & Contribution: First Emperor of China; unified six states; established centralized autocracy; standardized writing and measurements; influenced East Asia for 2,000 years

20

Alan Turing

Influence Index: 8
Primary Field & Contribution: Father of computer science and AI; Turing machine theoretical model; cracked Enigma code during WWII