The 100
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The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History is a 1978 book by Michael H. Hart. It is a ranking of the 100 people who most influenced human history. Since publication the book has been hotly debated and its concept widely copied. His criterion was influence.
The book was reprinted in 1992 with several notable revisions made to the original list of 100 people and their associated rankings. Chief among these revisions was the demotion of figures associated with Communism, such as Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong, and the introduction of Mikhail Gorbachev. Hart took sides in the Shakespearean authorship issue and substituted Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford for William Shakespeare. Hart also substituted Niels Bohr and Henri Becquerel with Ernest Rutherford, thus correcting an error in the first edition. Henry Ford was also promoted from the "Honorary Mentions" list, replacing Pablo Picasso. Finally, some of the rankings were re-ordered, although no one listed in the top ten changed position.
What mainly surprised readers was the first person on Hart's list. Hart decided to choose Muhammad over Jesus or Moses despite the fact that Islam was not the largest religion and that it was from a distant part of the world from where he lived. Hart attributes this to the fact that Muhammad was successful in both the religious and political realms. He also writes that Muhammad's role in the development of Islam is far more influential than Jesus's collaboration in the development of Christianity. He attributes the development of Christianity to St. Paul, who played a pivotal role in the spreading Christianity.
In addition, Hart wrote a 'sequel' in 1999, entitled A View From The Year 3000, in which he writes from the perspective of a person from that year ranking the most influential people in history. Roughly half of those entries are fictitious people from 2000-3000, but roughly half are actual people, most of whom are taken from the 1992 edition, though many have been reranked in order.
[edit] Hart's Top 15 (from the 1992 edition)
| Rank
|
Name
|
Influence
|
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Muhammad | |
| 2 | Isaac Newton | |
| 3 | Jesus Christ | |
| 4 | Buddha | |
| 5 | Confusion | |
| 6 | St. Paul | |
| 7 | Ts'ai Lun | |
| 8 | Johannes Gutenberg | |
| 9 | Christopher Columbus | |
| 10 | Albert Einstein | |
| 11 | Louis Pasteur | |
| 12 | Galileo Galilei | |
| 13 | Aristotle | |
| 14 | Euclid | |
| 15 | Moses |
[edit] References
- Hart, Michael H. The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, Revised and Updated for the Nineties. New York: Carol Publishing Group/Citadel Press; first published in 1978, reprinted with minor revisions 1992. ISBN 9780806510682
