Most Influential Mathematicians 2.0

Journey through time and see history's greatest mathematicians from 400 BC to 2021 AD.

Our Influence­Ranking™ Engine allows us to chart and measure the ebbs and flows of the influential scientists throughout history by calculating a numerical influence score for people, institutions, and disciplinary programs. In this case, this calculation is performed by drawing from billions of data points including Wikipedia/data, Crossref, and an ever growing body of data reflecting academic achievement and merit.

To prevent some of the greatest minds like Albert Einstein and Aristotle from overshadowing others well beyond their lifetime, we’ve chosen to omit each influential person in years soon after their death. While they are, of course, still very influential, omitting these prominent figures allows the timelines to display living influential people of each year, decade, or century.

And play with the tool here:

00:00 - 400 BC -- 0 AD
00:13- 100 AD -- 900 AD
00:38 - 1000 AD -- 1700 AD
01:00 - 1800 AD -- 1890 AD
01:27 - 1900 AD -- 1990 AD
01:56 - 2000 AD +

Images on thumbnail (left to right): Madhava of Sangamagrama, Liu Hui, Fibonacci, Thabit Ibn Qurra, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Terence Tao.

Music Attribution: Danse macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns (Wikimedia Commons)