The document discusses three lists that attempt to rank the most influential people in history: 1) Michael H. Hart's 1978 book "The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History" which names Muhammad as the most influential person. 2) A 1989 Swedish book called "The 50 Most Important people – A Ranking List of Mankind" produced by 57 Swedish experts. 3) A 1995 book "The 100 Most Influential Women of All Time" by Deborah G. Felder which was informed by surveys sent to women's studies department heads. The document goes on to present selections from each of the three ranking lists.

1. Who were the most influential persons in the history of mankind? by Henrik December 2007

2. Who were the most influential persons in the history of mankind? This question is of course impossible to answer! You may say that every person acts in a context, processes are more important than people, groups of ordinary people are also historical actors, and so on… But the question is thought-provoking and the discussion is more important than the actual list! There are three ranking lists we are going to look at. They come from the following three books:

3. Book 1 Michael H. Hart (born 1932) is an astrophysicist from the USA. His book The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History has caused many debates since it came out in 1978. The following list is from the new edition 1992.

4. Book 2 57 Swedish experts in different fields working with the encyclopaedia “Bra Böckers lexikon” made a list and it became a book in 1989. Several, in Sweden, well-known experts participated and the journalist Ulf Nilson (born 1933) wrote a short portrait of the 50 people on the list. The book got the title De 50 som betytt mest: en mänsklighetens ranking list . The book is not available in English. My translation of the title: The 50 Most Important people – A Ranking List of Mankind . As far as I know, this is the first time this list is published on the Internet.

5. Book 3 A customer wrote this review (at www.amazon.com ) about The 100 Most Influential Women of All Time: A Ranking Past and Present by Deborah G. Felder (1995): “ I have learned a great deal from reading this book. It is important for all women and men to know these influential women and what they did to affect our world. When read completely, this book can change how we as women perceive ourselves.” The author Deborah G. Felder has worked as a writer, editor and educator. She has taught courses in women’s biography and twentieth-century women’s history. The ranking list was formed by sending questionnaires to one hundred heads of college women’s studies departments.

6. AND NOW… ARE YOU READY TO LOOK AT THE LISTS?

7. 10. The Virgin Mary 10. Charles Darwin 10. Albert Einstein 9. Harriet Tubman 9. Galileo Galilei 9. Christopher Columbus 8. Elizabeth Cady Stanton 8. Aristotle 8. Johann Gutenberg 7. Susan B. Anthony 7. Karl Marx 7. Tsai Lun 6. Mary Wollstonecraft 6. Albert Einstein 6. St. Paul 5. Jane Addams 5. Johann Gutenberg 5. Confucius 4. Margaret Mead 4. Isaac Newton 4. Buddha 3. Margaret Sanger 3. Buddha 3. Jesus Christ 2. Marie Curie 2. Jesus Christ 2. Isaac Newton 1. Eleanor Roosevelt 1. Muhammed 1. Muhammed The 100 Most Influential Women of All Time: A Ranking Past and Present The 50 Most Important people – A Ranking List of Mankind The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History

8. 20. Sojourner Truth 20. Mao Zedong 20. Antoine Laurent Lavoisier 19. Anne Sullivan 19. James Watt 19. Nicolaus Copernicus 18. Helen Keller 18. St. Paul 18. Augustus Caesar 17. Rosa Parks 17. Nicolaus Copernicus 17. Shih Huang Ti 16. Queen Elizabeth I 16. Louis Pasteur 16. Charles Darwin 15. Simone de Beauvoir 15. Plato 15. Moses 14. Mary Harris "Mother" Jones 14. Lenin 14. Euclid 13. Jane Austen 13. Christopher Columbus 13. Aristotle 12. Frances Perkins 12. Martin Luther 12. Galileo Galilei 11. Georgia O'Keeffe 11. Confucius 11. Louis Pasteur The 100 Most Influential Women of All Time: A Ranking Past and Present The 50 Most Important people – A Ranking List of Mankind The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History

9. 30. Rachel Carson 30. Gregor Mendel 30. Adam Smith 29. Betty Friedan 29. Genghis Khan 29. Genghis Khan 28. Ida Bell Wells-Barnett 28. Thomas Alva Edison 28. Orville & Wilbur Wright 27. George Eliot 27. Tsai Lun 27. Karl Marx 26. Elizabeth Blackwell 26. Michael Faraday 26. George Washington 25. Sarah Moore Grimke 25. Adolf Hitler 25. Martin Luther 24. Angelina Grimke 24. Alexander the Great 24. James Clerk Maxwell 23. Karen Horney 23. Moses 23. Michael Faraday 22. Florence Nightingale 22. Napoleon Bonaparte 22. James Watt 21. Queen Isabella 21. Euclid 21. Constantine the Great The 100 Most Influential Women of All Time: A Ranking Past and Present The 50 Most Important people – A Ranking List of Mankind The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History

10. 40. Zora Neale Hurston 40. Julius Caesar 40. Plato 39. Martha Graham 39. Ludwig van Beethoven 39. Adolf Hitler 38. Queen Victoria 38. Alexander Fleming 38. Guglielmo Marconi 37. Virginia Woolf 37. Stalin 37. William T. G. Morton 36. Golda Meir 36. William Shakespeare 36. Antony van Leewenhoek 35. Emily Dickinson 35. Sigmund Freud 35. Thomas Edison 34. Melanie Klein 34. Wilbur & Orville Wright 34. Napoleon Bonaparte 33. Mother Teresa 33. Guglielmo Marconi 33. Alexander the Great 32. Hannah Arendt 32. George Washington 32. John Dalton 31. Ella Baker 31. Alexander Graham Bell 31. William Shakespeare The 100 Most Influential Women of All Time: A Ranking Past and Present The 50 Most Important people – A Ranking List of Mankind The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History

11. 50. Hillary Rodham Clinton 50. Constantine the Great 50. Michelangelo 49. Emma Goldman 49. James Clerk Maxwell 49. Rene Descartes 48. Jane Goodall 48. Archimedes 48. Simon Bolivar 47. Carrie Chapman Catt 47. Jean-Jacques Rousseau 47. Louis Daguerre 46. Catherine the Great 46. Edward Jenner 46. Werner Heisenberg 45. Emily Bronte 45. Johann Sebastian Bach 45. Ludwig van Beethoven 44. Charlotte Bronte 44. Adam Smith 44. John Locke 43. Mary McLeod Bethune 43. Charlemagne 43. Alexander Flemming 42. Rosa Luxemburg 42. Leonardo da Vinci 42. Alexander Graham Bell 41. Harriet Beecher Stowe 41. Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen 41. Oliver Cromwell The 100 Most Influential Women of All Time: A Ranking Past and Present The 50 Most Important people – A Ranking List of Mankind The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History

12. If you want to read what Michael H. Hart writes about the no. 1 person on his list, search for his book The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History at www.amazon.com , and look inside the book! If you are interested in reading number 51 – 100 on the lists, and if you are interested in more 100 lists, I found this website helpful: http://www.adherents.com/people/100_lists.html The end of this PowerPoint presentation – thanks for reading!