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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Systems thinking × Citizenship ×
Economics
Amartya Sen
1933-present · India / United Kingdom
Amartya Sen (born 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher. He was born in West Bengal, India, and grew up during a period of great…
Financial literacy Citizenship Ethical thinking Systems thinking +1
"Development can be seen as a process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy."
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Law
B.R. Ambedkar
1891-1956 · India, South Asia
B.R. Ambedkar (1891-1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer, and philosopher. His full name was Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. He was born into a Dalit…
Citizenship Ethical thinking Critical thinking Systems thinking +1
"I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved."
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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…"
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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…"
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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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Politics
Kwame Nkrumah
1909-1972 · Ghana, West Africa
Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972) was the first president of independent Ghana and one of the most important political thinkers and leaders of the twentieth century. He…
Citizenship Systems thinking Civic media and democracy Financial literacy +1
"The independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent."
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Medicine & Health
Paul Farmer
1959-2022 · United States / Haiti / Rwanda
Paul Farmer (1959-2022) was an American physician, anthropologist, and global health activist. He was born in North Adams, Massachusetts, and grew up in modest and…
Health literacy Citizenship Ethical thinking Systems thinking +1
"The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world."
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Medicine & Health
Rudolf Virchow
1821-1902 · Germany
Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902) was a German physician, pathologist, anthropologist, and politician. He was born in Schivelbein in Pomerania, now part of Poland, and studied medicine…
Health literacy Scientific thinking Citizenship Systems thinking +1
"Medicine is a social science, and politics is nothing but medicine on a large scale."
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Physics
Vandana Shiva
1952-present · India, South Asia
Vandana Shiva (born 1952) is an Indian physicist, environmental activist, and philosopher. She was born in Dehradun in the foothills of the Himalayas, into a…
Nutrition and food systems Environmental thinking Citizenship Systems thinking +1
"Seed is the source of life and the first link in the food chain. Control over seed means control over…"
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History
Walter Rodney
1942-1980 · Guyana, Caribbean / South America
Walter Rodney (1942-1980) was a Guyanese historian, political thinker, and activist. He was born in Georgetown, Guyana, then a British colony in South America, and…
Systems thinking Citizenship Civic media and democracy Financial literacy +1
"African development is possible only on the basis of a radical break with the international capitalist system, which has been…"
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