Great Thinkers

Meet the great minds whose ideas have shaped the world — philosophers, scientists, artists, leaders, and revolutionaries whose thinking still matters today.

Filter by subject area
Biology 3 Chemistry 3 Physics 3 Mathematics 7 Medicine & Health 1 Technology & Engineering 4 Psychology 1
Philosophy 17 History 7 Literature 27 Arts 6
Anthropology & Culture 8 Sociology 3 Religion 4 Education 5 Politics 13
Law 6 Economics 11 Business & Management 3
132 thinkers
Clear all filters
Era: Contemporary × Page 2 of 6
History
E.P. Thompson
1924-1993 · England, United Kingdom
E.P. Thompson (1924-1993) was a British historian, socialist activist, and peace campaigner. His full name was Edward Palmer Thompson. He was born in Oxford into…
Research skills Critical thinking Citizenship Cultural heritage and identity +1
"I am seeking to rescue the poor stockinger, the Luddite cropper, the obsolete hand-loom weaver, the utopian artisan and even…"
Meet this Thinker →
Anthropology & Culture
Eduardo Mondlane
1920-1969 · Mozambique (Portuguese East Africa)
Eduardo Chivambo Mondlane was a Mozambican anthropologist and revolutionary who founded FRELIMO, the movement that led Mozambique's independence struggle against Portugal. He was born in…
Ethical thinking Critical thinking Research skills Cultural heritage and identity +1
"We must build a society that is free from the exploitation of man by man."
Meet this Thinker →
Literature
Edward Said
1935-2003 · Palestine / United States
Edward Wadie Said was a Palestinian-American literary critic, public intellectual, and music critic. He was one of the founders of postcolonial studies. He was born…
Critical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Ethical thinking Research skills +1
"The Orient was almost a European invention, and had been since antiquity a place of romance, exotic beings, haunting memories…"
Meet this Thinker →
Politics
Elinor Ostrom
1933-2012 · United States
Elinor Ostrom (1933-2012) was an American political economist. She was born in Los Angeles and grew up during the Great Depression, a period of severe…
Environmental thinking Citizenship Systems thinking Financial literacy +1
"A lot of models in economics assume that human beings are fundamentally selfish. But the evidence shows that many people…"
Meet this Thinker →
History
Eric Hobsbawm
1917 - 2012 · Egypt / Austria / United Kingdom
Eric Hobsbawm was a British historian and one of the most influential historians of the 20th century. He wrote about the rise of capitalism, the…
Research skills Critical thinking Creative expression Ethical thinking +1
"The dustbin of history is humanity's largest receptacle."
Meet this Thinker →
Economics
Esther Duflo
1972-present · France / United States
Esther Duflo is a French-American economist. In 2019 she became, at age 46, the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic…
Scientific thinking Ethical thinking Research skills Problem solving +1
"It is not the magnitude of the problem that determines whether we can do something about it."
Meet this Thinker →
Literature
Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim
c. 1933-2017 · Sudan
Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim was a Sudanese feminist, socialist, writer, and political leader. She was the first woman elected to the Sudanese parliament and, according to…
Ethical thinking Critical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Problem solving +1
"We did not want to become another copy of the Western woman. We wanted to be free as Sudanese women,…"
Meet this Thinker →
Technology & Engineering
Fazlur Rahman Khan
1929-1982 · Bangladesh / United States
Fazlur Rahman Khan (1929-1982) was a Bangladeshi-American structural engineer whose innovations transformed how tall buildings are designed and made the modern generation of skyscrapers possible.…
Scientific thinking Creative expression Research skills Critical thinking +1
"The technical man must not be lost in his own technology. He must be able to appreciate life, and life…"
Meet this Thinker →
Arts
Fela Kuti
1938-1997 · Nigeria
Fela Kuti was a Nigerian musician, bandleader, and political activist. He was born in 1938 in Abeokuta, a city in southwest Nigeria. He died in…
Creative expression Ethical thinking Critical thinking Cultural heritage and identity +1
"Music is the weapon of the future."
Meet this Thinker →
Arts
Frida Kahlo
1907-1954 · Mexico
Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (1907-1954) was a Mexican painter whose intensely personal and politically engaged work has made her one of the most…
Creative expression Cultural heritage and identity Ethical thinking Critical thinking +1
"I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best."
Meet this Thinker →
Economics
Friedrich Hayek
1899-1992 · Austria
Friedrich Hayek was an economist and political thinker. He was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1899 and died in 1992. His full name was Friedrich…
Critical thinking Problem solving Ethical thinking Research skills +1
"The curious task of economics is to show men how little they really know about what they imagine they can…"
Meet this Thinker →
Philosophy
G.E.M. Anscombe
1919-2001 · England (born in Ireland)
Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe was a British philosopher. She was one of the most important philosophers writing in English in the 20th century. She was…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Research skills +1
"For men to choose to kill the innocent as a means to their ends is always murder."
Meet this Thinker →
Literature
George Orwell
1903-1950 · England
George Orwell was the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, an English writer, journalist, and essayist. He is one of the most quoted writers of…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Creative expression Research skills +1
"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
Meet this Thinker →
Anthropology & Culture
Gloria Anzaldúa
1942-2004 · Texas, United States / Mexico border
Gloria Anzaldúa (1942-2004) was a Chicana cultural theorist, poet, and writer. She was born in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas into a family…
Cultural heritage and identity Critical thinking Creative thinking Ethical thinking +1
"The US-Mexican border es una herida abierta where the Third World grates against the First and bleeds."
Meet this Thinker →
Mathematics
Grace Hopper
1906-1992 · United States
Grace Brewster Murray Hopper (1906-1992) was an American mathematician, computer scientist, and United States Navy rear admiral whose work on programming languages and compilers helped…
Scientific thinking Critical thinking Creative expression Research skills +1
"It is easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission."
Meet this Thinker →
Economics
Ha-Joon Chang
born 1963 · South Korea
Ha-Joon Chang is a South Korean economist. He was born in 1963 in Seoul, South Korea. He grew up during a remarkable period in his…
Critical thinking Creative expression Research skills Cultural heritage and identity +1
"The free market doesn't exist. Every market has some rules and boundaries that restrict freedom of choice."
Meet this Thinker →
Literature
Halide Edib Adıvar
1884-1964 · Ottoman Empire / Republic of Turkey
Halide Edib Adıvar was a Turkish novelist, feminist political leader, soldier, and public intellectual. She is widely regarded as the founding mother of the modern…
Creative expression Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Critical thinking +1
"We Turks have lost so much. We must not also lose our self-respect."
Meet this Thinker →
Literature
Han Kang
1970-present · South Korea
Han Kang is a South Korean writer. In 2024 she became the first Asian woman, and the first Korean writer of any gender, to win…
Creative expression Ethical thinking Emotional intelligence Cultural heritage and identity +1
"I have dreams sometimes. Dreams I cannot bear."
Meet this Thinker →
Politics
Hannah Arendt
1906-1975 · Germany / United States
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) was a German-American political philosopher. She was born into a Jewish family in Hanover, Germany, and studied philosophy under Martin Heidegger and…
Citizenship Ethical thinking Civic media and democracy Critical thinking +1
"The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good…"
Meet this Thinker →
Religion
Hans Küng
1928-2021 · Switzerland
Hans Küng was a Swiss Catholic priest and theologian. A theologian is a scholar who studies the meaning and history of religion. He was born…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Research skills Cultural heritage and identity +1
"Küng challenged the Catholic teaching that the Pope cannot be wrong on matters of faith and morals."
Meet this Thinker →
Law
Harriet McBryde Johnson
1957-2008 · United States
Harriet McBryde Johnson was an American lawyer, writer, and disability rights activist. She was one of the sharpest writers on disability in English. She was…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Creative expression Cultural heritage and identity +1
"He insists he doesn't want to kill me. He simply thinks it would have been better, all things considered, to…"
Meet this Thinker →
History
Howard Zinn
1922-2010 · United States
Howard Zinn (1922-2010) was an American historian, playwright, and activist. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish immigrant parents who worked in factories,…
Critical thinking Citizenship Research skills Critical literacy +1
"I thought it important to put back in the historical record the countless struggles of ordinary people who fought against…"
Meet this Thinker →
Business & Management
Indra Nooyi
b. 1955 · India / United States
Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi (born 1955) is an Indian-American businesswoman and former chief executive of PepsiCo, one of the world's largest food and beverage companies. She…
Ethical thinking Critical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Creative expression +1
"The biological clock and the career clock are in total conflict."
Meet this Thinker →
Philosophy
Iris Murdoch
1919 - 1999 · Ireland / United Kingdom
Iris Murdoch was an Irish-British philosopher and novelist. She is one of the most important moral philosophers of the 20th century. She was also one…
Ethical thinking Creative expression Critical thinking Emotional intelligence +1
"Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real."
Meet this Thinker →