Great Thinkers

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

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Biology 5 Chemistry 6 Physics 5 Mathematics 14 Medicine & Health 7 Technology & Engineering 7 Psychology 2
Philosophy 46 History 11 Literature 37 Language & Linguistics 5 Arts 11
Anthropology & Culture 7 Sociology 7 Religion 11 Education 8 Politics 19
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141 thinkers
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Biology
Gregor Mendel
1822-1884 · Moravia, Austrian Empire (now Czech Republic)
Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) was an Augustinian friar, botanist, and the founder of genetics. He was born Johann Mendel in what is now the Czech Republic,…
Scientific thinking Research skills Numeracy and mathematical thinking Critical thinking +1
"My scientific work has brought me a great deal of satisfaction, and I am convinced that it will be appreciated…"
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Literature
Harriet Martineau
1802-1876 · United Kingdom
Harriet Martineau was an English writer and social theorist. Many scholars now call her the first woman sociologist. She was born on 12 June 1802…
Critical thinking Research skills Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity +1
"Readers are plentiful: thinkers are rare."
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Literature
Herodotus
c. 484-425 BCE · Halicarnassus, Asia Minor (now Turkey)
Herodotus (c.484-425 BCE) was an ancient Greek writer, born in Halicarnassus, a city on the southwestern coast of what is now Turkey. He lived during…
Research skills Critical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Storytelling and narrative +1
"Herodotus of Halicarnassus here presents his research so that human events do not fade with time, and that great and…"
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Medicine & Health
Hippocrates
c. 460-370 BCE · Cos, Ancient Greece
Hippocrates (c. 460-370 BCE) was an ancient Greek physician, born on the island of Cos. He is one of the most important figures in the…
Health literacy Scientific thinking Ethical thinking Research skills +1
"Life is short, the art long, opportunity fleeting, experience treacherous, judgment difficult."
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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…"
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Law
Hugo Grotius
1583-1645 · Dutch Republic (Netherlands)
Hugo Grotius was a Dutch jurist, philosopher, and diplomat. He is often called the father of international law. He was born on 10 April 1583…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Research skills Problem solving +1
"I observed in the whole Christian world a license of fighting at which even barbarous nations might blush."
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Mathematics
Hypatia of Alexandria
c.350-415 CE · Alexandria, Roman Egypt
Hypatia of Alexandria (c.350-415 CE) was a mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who taught in the Egyptian city of Alexandria during the late Roman Empire. She…
Scientific thinking Critical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Research skills +1
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all."
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Literature
Ibn Battuta
1304 - c. 1369 · Morocco
Ibn Battuta was a Moroccan traveller, scholar, and writer. He travelled more widely than almost anyone else in the medieval world. Over about 30 years,…
Research skills Cultural heritage and identity Creative expression Critical thinking +1
"Travelling: it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller."
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History
Ibn Khaldun
1332-1406 · Tunisia, North Africa
Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) was a North African Muslim scholar, historian, and thinker. He was born in Tunis, in what is now Tunisia, to a family…
Systems thinking Critical thinking Research skills Civic media and democracy +1
"History is information about human social organisation, which itself is identical with world civilisation. It deals with such conditions affecting…"
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Philosophy
Ibn Rushd (Averroes)
1126-1198 · Al-Andalus (modern Spain)
Ibn Rushd (1126-1198), known in Latin Europe as Averroes, was a philosopher, jurist, physician, and astronomer from Al-Andalus, the Muslim-ruled region of the Iberian Peninsula.…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Research skills +1
"Truth does not oppose truth but accords with it and bears witness to it."
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Philosophy
Ibn Sina
980-1037 CE · Persia and Central Asia (present-day Uzbekistan and Iran)
Ibn Sina (980-1037 CE), known in the Western world as Avicenna, was a Persian Muslim philosopher and physician. He was born near Bukhara in what…
Scientific thinking Health literacy Critical thinking Research skills +1
"The knowledge of anything, since all things have causes, is not acquired or complete unless it is known by its…"
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Medicine & Health
Ignaz Semmelweis
1818-1865 · Hungary / Austria
Ignaz Semmelweis (1818-1865) was a Hungarian physician working in Vienna. He was born in Buda, in what is now Budapest, and studied medicine at the…
Scientific thinking Health literacy Critical thinking Research skills +1
"God only knows the number of patients who have gone prematurely to their graves because of me."
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Business & Management
Ikujiro Nonaka
b. 1935 · Japan
Ikujiro Nonaka (born 1935) is a Japanese organisational theorist whose work on knowledge creation in organisations has made him one of the most influential management…
Creative expression Critical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Research skills +1
"The knowledge-creating company is as much about ideas as it is about ideals."
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Arts
Imhotep
c. 2650 BCE - c. 2600 BCE · Ancient Egypt (probably Memphis area)
Imhotep was an ancient Egyptian architect, doctor, and high official. He lived around 2,650 BCE, more than 4,500 years ago. This makes him one of…
Scientific thinking Creative expression Problem solving Cultural heritage and identity +1
"Imhotep, son of Ptah, the great chief of artists."
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Philosophy
Immanuel Kant
1724-1804 · Prussia (Germany)
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher. He is one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Western philosophy. He was born on 22…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Problem solving Research skills +1
"Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity."
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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."
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Mathematics
Isaac Newton
1643-1727 · England, United Kingdom
Isaac Newton (1643-1727) was an English mathematician, physicist, and natural philosopher. He was born prematurely in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, and his father died before he was…
Scientific thinking Research skills Numeracy and mathematical thinking Critical thinking +1
"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."
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Chemistry
Jabir ibn Hayyan
c.721-815 CE · Persia / Iraq (Abbasid Caliphate)
Jabir ibn Hayyan (c.721-815 CE), known in medieval Europe as Geber, was a scholar of the early Islamic world whose writings on alchemy, chemistry, pharmacy,…
Scientific thinking Research skills Critical thinking Cultural heritage and identity +1
"He who experiments not, attains nothing."
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Philosophy
Jacques Derrida
1930-2004 · France (born in French Algeria)
Jacques Derrida was a French philosopher. He is best known for a way of reading texts called deconstruction. He was born on 15 July 1930…
Critical thinking Creative expression Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity +1
"There is nothing outside the text."
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Sociology
Jane Addams
1860-1935 · United States
Jane Addams was an American sociologist, social reformer, and peace activist. She is one of the founders of American sociology, though she was left out…
Ethical thinking Emotional intelligence Critical thinking Research skills +1
"The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated…"
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Philosophy
Jeremy Bentham
1748-1832 · England
Jeremy Bentham was an English philosopher and legal reformer. He was the founder of modern utilitarianism. He was born on 15 February 1748 in London,…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Problem solving Research skills +1
"It is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong."
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Economics
Joan Robinson
1903 - 1983 · United Kingdom
Joan Robinson was a British economist. She was one of the most important economists of the 20th century. Many people think she should have won…
Critical thinking Scientific thinking Research skills Ethical thinking +1
"The misery of being exploited by capitalists is nothing compared to the misery of not being exploited at all."
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Philosophy
John Locke
1632-1704 · England
John Locke was an English philosopher. He is one of the most influential political thinkers in world history. He was born on 29 August 1632…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Research skills Scientific thinking +1
"All mankind... being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions."
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Politics
John Rawls
1921-2002 · United States
John Rawls (1921-2002) was an American political philosopher, widely regarded as the most important political philosopher of the twentieth century. He was born in Baltimore,…
Ethical thinking Citizenship Critical thinking Systems thinking +1
"Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought."
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