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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141 thinkers
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Literature
José Carlos Mariátegui
1894-1930 · Peru
José Carlos Mariátegui was a Peruvian thinker, journalist, and political activist. He was one of the most original political writers in Latin American history. He…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Research skills +1
"We certainly do not want socialism in Latin America to be a copy or an imitation. It must be a…"
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Philosophy
Judith Butler
1956-present · United States
Judith Butler is an American philosopher and gender theorist. They are one of the most influential thinkers in the humanities in recent decades. They were…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Emotional intelligence +1
"Gender is an identity tenuously constituted in time, instituted in an exterior space through a stylized repetition of acts."
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Economics
Karl Marx
1818-1883 · Germany / England
Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a German economist, philosopher, historian, and political thinker whose ideas have shaped the modern world more than almost any other thinker…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Research skills Cultural heritage and identity +1
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it."
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Mathematics
Katherine Johnson
1918 - 2020 · United States (African American)
Katherine Johnson was an American mathematician. She did the calculations that helped send the first American astronauts into space and to the Moon. She worked…
Scientific thinking Problem solving Critical thinking Ethical thinking +1
"We will always have STEM with us. Some things will drop out of the public eye and will go away,…"
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Arts
Katsushika Hokusai
1760-1849 · Japan (Edo / Tokyo)
Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) was a Japanese painter and printmaker of the Edo period, widely regarded as the greatest artist of the ukiyo-e tradition and one…
Creative expression Critical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Research skills +1
"From the age of six I had a mania for drawing the shapes of things."
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Religion
Khadija bint Khuwaylid
c. 555-619 · Arabia (Mecca)
Khadija bint Khuwaylid was a successful Arabian merchant in 6th- and 7th-century Mecca. She is honoured in Islamic tradition as the first Muslim and as…
Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Problem solving Emotional intelligence +1
"By God, God will never humiliate you. You maintain family ties, you help to carry the burdens of the weak,…"
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Law
Kimberlé Crenshaw
1959-present · United States
Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw is an American legal scholar and civil rights lawyer. She is one of the most influential thinkers on race, gender, and the…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Research skills +1
"The intersectional experience is greater than the sum of racism and sexism."
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Mathematics
Kurt Gödel
1906 - 1978 · Austria (later United States)
Kurt Gödel was an Austrian-American logician, mathematician, and philosopher. He is widely considered the greatest logician of the 20th century. His incompleteness theorems changed how…
Scientific thinking Critical thinking Problem solving Research skills +1
"Either mathematics is too big for the human mind, or the human mind is more than a machine."
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Arts
Leonardo da Vinci
1452 - 1519 · Florence and Milan, Italy
Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian artist, scientist, and inventor. He was born in 1452 in the small town of Vinci, near Florence, in what…
Creative expression Scientific thinking Problem solving Research skills +1
"Learning never exhausts the mind."
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Psychology
Lev Vygotsky
1896-1934 · Russia / Soviet Union
Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky (1896-1934) was a Russian psychologist whose ideas about how children learn and develop have become central to education and developmental psychology worldwide.…
Scientific thinking Research skills Critical thinking Ethical thinking +1
"What a child can do with assistance today she will be able to do by herself tomorrow."
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Education
Linda Tuhiwai Smith
1950-present · Aotearoa New Zealand
Linda Tuhiwai Smith is a Māori scholar from Aotearoa New Zealand. She is one of the most important Indigenous thinkers on research and education in…
Critical thinking Research skills Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity +1
"The word itself, 'research', is probably one of the dirtiest words in the Indigenous world's vocabulary."
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Philosophy
Ludwig Wittgenstein
1889-1951 · Austria-Hungary / United Kingdom
Ludwig Wittgenstein was an Austrian-British philosopher. Many consider him the greatest philosopher of the twentieth century. He was born on 26 April 1889 in Vienna,…
Critical thinking Creative expression Research skills Ethical thinking +1
"The limits of my language mean the limits of my world."
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Biology
Lynn Margulis
1938-2011 · United States
Lynn Margulis (1938-2011) was an American biologist and theorist. She was born Lynn Alexander in Chicago, graduated from the University of Chicago at eighteen, and…
Scientific thinking Environmental thinking Critical thinking Systems thinking +1
"Life did not take over the globe by combat, but by networking."
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Education
Malala Yousafzai
1997-present · Pakistan
Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani education activist. She is the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She was born on 12 July…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Emotional intelligence +1
"One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world."
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Politics
Mao Zedong
1893-1976 · China
Mao Zedong was a Chinese revolutionary and political leader. He founded the People's Republic of China in 1949 and ruled it until his death in…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Problem solving +1
"The Chinese people have stood up."
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Anthropology & Culture
Margaret Mead
1901-1978 · United States
Margaret Mead (1901-1978) was an American cultural anthropologist who became the most publicly prominent and widely read anthropologist of the twentieth century. She was born…
Critical thinking Research skills Cultural heritage and identity Scientific thinking +1
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing…"
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Education
Maria Montessori
1870-1952 · Italy
Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was an Italian educator and doctor whose method of teaching young children has spread to thousands of schools around the world. She…
Scientific thinking Ethical thinking Research skills Creative expression +1
"Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed."
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Religion
Martin Luther
1483-1546 · Germany (Lutheran / Protestant Reformer)
Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a German friar, theologian, and biblical scholar whose objections to Catholic practice became the catalyst for the Protestant Reformation — a…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Creative expression +1
"Here I stand; I can do no other."
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Philosophy
Mary Anning
1799-1847 · England
Mary Anning (1799-1847) was an English fossil collector and self-taught palaeontologist whose discoveries on the cliffs of Lyme Regis in Dorset transformed scientific understanding of…
Scientific thinking Research skills Critical thinking Cultural heritage and identity +1
"The world has used me so unkindly, I fear it has made me suspicious of everyone."
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Philosophy
Mary Midgley
1919 - 2018 · United Kingdom
Mary Midgley was a British moral philosopher. She is one of the most original ethical thinkers of the 20th century. She is best known for…
Ethical thinking Critical thinking Scientific thinking Creative expression +1
"Philosophy is like plumbing. It is something nobody notices until it goes wrong."
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Mathematics
Maryam Mirzakhani
1977 - 2017 · Iran (later United States)
Maryam Mirzakhani was an Iranian mathematician. She was the first woman ever to win the Fields Medal, the highest prize in mathematics. She was born…
Scientific thinking Problem solving Creative expression Critical thinking +1
"I don't think that everyone should become a mathematician, but I do believe that many students don't give mathematics a…"
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Sociology
Max Weber
1864-1920 · Germany
Max Weber (1864-1920) was a German sociologist who wrote about religion, politics, economics, and the nature of modern society. He was born in Erfurt, in…
Critical thinking Scientific thinking Research skills Ethical thinking +1
"The fate of our times is characterised by rationalisation and intellectualisation, and, above all, by the disenchantment of the world."
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Literature
Maya Angelou
1928-2014 · United States
Maya Angelou (1928-2014) was an American poet, memoirist, essayist, and public figure whose seven-volume autobiography and body of poetry made her one of the most…
Creative expression Ethical thinking Critical thinking Cultural heritage and identity +1
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget…"
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Economics
Michael Porter
b. 1947 · United States
Michael Eugene Porter (born 1947) is an American academic whose work on competitive strategy, national competitiveness, and the economic analysis of healthcare and social problems…
Critical thinking Scientific thinking Research skills Problem solving +1
"The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do."
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