Rank

Name

Religious Affiliation

Influence

1

Muhammad

Islam

Prophet of Islam; Hart recognized that ranking Muhammad first might be controversial, but felt that, from a secular historian's perspective, this was the correct choice because Muhammad is the only man to have been both a founder of a major world religion and a major military/political leader.

2

Isaac Newton

Anglican (rejected Trinitarianism, i.e.,
Athanasianism; believed in the Arianism
of the PrimitiveChurch)

Physicist; Theory of universal gravitation; Laws of Motion

3

Jesus Christ

Judaism; Islam

Prophet of Islam; Most revered figure amongst the Christians

4

Buddha

Hinduism; Buddhism

Founder of Buddhism

5

Confucius

Confucianism

Founder of Confucianism

6

St. Paul

Judaism; Christianity

Founder, proselytizer of Christianity

7

Ts'ai Lun

Chinese traditional religion

Inventor of paper

8

Johann Gutenberg

Catholic

Developed movable type; printed Bibles

9

Christopher Columbus

Catholic

Explorer; Led Europe to Americas

10

Albert Einstein

Jewish

Physicist; Relativity; Einsteinian Physics

11

Louis Pasteur

Catholic

scientist; pasteurization

12

Galileo Galilei

Catholic

Astronomer; Accurately described heliocentric solar system

13

Aristotle

Platonism / Greek philosophy

Influential Greek philosopher

14

Euclid

Platonism / Greek philosophy

Mathematician; Euclidian geometry

15

Moses

Judaism; Islam

Major prophet of Judaism; Christianity; Islam

16

Charles Darwin

Anglican (nominal); Unitarian

Biologist; Described Darwinian evolution, which had theological impact on many religions

17

Shih Huang Ti

Chinese traditional religion

Chinese emperor

18

Augustus Caesar

Roman state paganism

Ruler

19

Nicolaus Copernicus

Catholic (priest)

Astronomer; Taught Heliocentricity

20

Antoine Laurent Lavoisier

Catholic

Father of modern chemistry; Philosopher; Economist

21

Constantine the Great

Roman state paganism; Christianity

Roman emperor who completely legalized Christianity, leading to its status as state religion. Convened the First Council of Nicaea that produced the Nicene Creed, which rejected Arianism (one of two major strains of Christian thought) and established Athanasianism (Trinitarianism, the other strain) as "official doctrine."

22

James Watt

Presbyterian (lapsed)

developed steam engine

23

Michael Faraday

Sandemanian

Physicist; Chemist; Discovery of magneto-electricity

24

James Clerk Maxwell

Presbyterian; Anglican; Baptist

Physicist; electromagnetic spectrum

25

Martin Luther

Catholic; Lutheran

founder of Protestantism and Lutheranism

26

George Washington

Episcopalian (Deist)

First president of United States

27

Karl Marx

Jewish; Lutheran;
Atheist; Marxism/Communism

Founder of Marxism, Marxist Communism

28

Orville and Wilbur Wright

United Brethren

inventors of airplane

29

Genghis Khan

Mongolian shamanism

Mongol conqueror

30

Adam Smith

Liberal Protestant

economist; expositor of capitalism; religious philosopher

31

Edward de Vere
a.k.a. William Shakespeare

Catholic; Anglican

literature; also wrote 6 volumes about philosophy and religion

32

John Dalton

Quaker

chemist; physicist; atomic theory; law of partial pressures (Dalton's law)

33

Alexander the Great

Greek state paganism

conqueror

34

Napoleon Bonaparte

Catholic (nominal)

French conqueror

35

Thomas Edison

Congregationalist; agnostic

inventor of light bulb, phonograph, etc.

36

Antony van Leeuwenhoek

Dutch Reformed

microscopes; studied microscopic life

37

William T.G. Morton

-

pioneer in anesthesiology

38

Guglielmo Marconi

Catholic and Anglican

inventor of radio

39

Adolf Hitler

Nazism; born into but rejected Catholicism; allegedly a proponent of Germanic Neo-Paganism

conqueror; led Axis Powers in WWII

40

Plato

Platonism / Greek philosophy

founder of Platonism

41

Oliver Cromwell

Puritan (Protestant)

British political and military leader

42