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 4 Mathematics 8 Medicine & Health 7 Technology & Engineering 6 Psychology 2
Philosophy 42 History 9 Literature 33 Language & Linguistics 5 Arts 5
Anthropology & Culture 6 Sociology 7 Religion 9 Education 7 Politics 19
Law 10 Economics 7 Business & Management 7
204 thinkers
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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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Politics
Mary Parker Follett
1868-1933 · United States
Mary Parker Follett (1868-1933) was an American political philosopher and management thinker whose ideas about authority, conflict, and organisation anticipated much of the later twentieth…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Creative expression +1
"Power is with, not power over."
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Literature
Mary Shelley
1797-1851 · England
Mary Shelley (1797-1851) was an English novelist whose Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, written when she was eighteen years old, is widely regarded as the…
Creative expression Ethical thinking Critical thinking Scientific thinking +1
"Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge."
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Literature
Mary Wollstonecraft
1759–1797 · England, Britain
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) was a British writer, philosopher, and early advocate for women's rights. She grew up in poverty and educated herself by reading widely…
Critical thinking Critical literacy Intercultural competence Resilience
"I do not wish women to have power over men, but over themselves."
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Philosophy
María Lugones
1944-2020 · Argentina / United States
María Lugones (1944-2020) was an Argentine-American philosopher. She was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and moved to the United States as a young woman, where…
Cultural heritage and identity Relationships and communication Ethical thinking Citizenship +1
"I am a being in multiple worlds and I travel among them, feeling at ease in some of them, not…"
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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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Philosophy
Mencius
c. 371-289 BCE · China
Mencius was a Chinese philosopher. His Chinese name was Meng Ke, which means 'Master Meng'. Later Chinese tradition called him the 'Second Sage', meaning second…
Ethical thinking Critical thinking Emotional intelligence Cultural heritage and identity +1
"The feeling of pity is the beginning of kindness. The feeling of shame is the beginning of doing right. The…"
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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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Philosophy
Michel Foucault
1926-1984 · France
Michel Foucault was a French philosopher and historian. He was one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. He was born on 15…
Critical thinking Research skills Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity +1
"Where there is power, there is resistance."
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Politics
Millicent Fawcett
1847-1929 · United Kingdom
Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett was an English political activist and writer. She led the largest peaceful campaign for British women's right to vote for over…
Ethical thinking Critical thinking Problem solving Cultural heritage and identity +1
"Courage calls to courage everywhere, and its voice cannot be denied."
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Literature
Mirabai
c. 1498-c. 1547 · India (Rajasthan)
Mirabai was a sixteenth-century Indian poet and saint. She is one of the most loved figures in the bhakti movement, a Hindu devotional tradition that…
Creative expression Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Emotional intelligence +1
"Mira's lord is the clever Mountain Lifter; she is his slave forever, at the dust of his lotus feet."
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Philosophy
Mogobe Ramose
1944-present · South Africa, Southern Africa
Mogobe Ramose (born 1944) is a South African philosopher. He was born in the North West Province of South Africa and grew up under the…
Ethical thinking Citizenship Cultural heritage and identity Leadership +1
"Ubuntu is the basis of African philosophy. The Nguni Bantu expression umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu means that to be human is…"
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Religion
Moses Maimonides
1138-1204 · Al-Andalus / Egypt (Sephardic Jewish)
Moses ben Maimon (1138-1204), a religious figure known in Hebrew as Rambam and in Arabic as Musa ibn Maymun, was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher, legal…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Research skills +1
"The truth does not become more true by virtue of the fact that the entire world agrees with it, nor…"
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Literature
Murasaki Shikibu
c. 973-c. 1014 · Japan
Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese writer and lady of the imperial court. She is the author of The Tale of Genji, often called the world's…
Creative expression Cultural heritage and identity Emotional intelligence Critical thinking +1
"At the court of an emperor (he lived it matters not when), there was among the many gentlewomen of the…"
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Politics
Nadia Murad
born 1993 · Iraq
Nadia Murad (born 1993) is a Yazidi human rights activist from the Sinjar region of northern Iraq. In 2014, when she was twenty-one years old,…
Critical thinking Resilience Intercultural competence Critical literacy
"I want to be the last girl in the world with a story like mine."
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Philosophy
Nagarjuna
c. 150-250 CE · India, South Asia
Nagarjuna (approximately 150-250 CE) was an Indian Buddhist philosopher, widely considered one of the most important and influential thinkers in the entire history of Asian…
Metacognition Ethical thinking Scientific thinking Critical thinking +1
"Whatever is dependently arisen, that is explained to be emptiness. That, being a dependent designation, is itself the middle way."
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Physics
Narges Mohammadi
born 1972 · Iran
Narges Mohammadi (born 1972) is an Iranian physicist, journalist, and human rights activist. She is one of Iran's most prominent advocates for the abolition of…
Critical thinking Critical literacy Resilience Intercultural competence
"I will not stop. My voice will not be silenced."
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History
Natalie Zemon Davis
1928-present · United States / Canada
Natalie Zemon Davis (born 1928) is an American-Canadian historian. She was born in Detroit, Michigan, into a Jewish family, and studied history at Smith College,…
Research skills Critical thinking Storytelling and narrative Cultural heritage and identity +1
"What I offer you is in part my invention, but held tightly in check by the voices of the past."
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Law
Nelson Mandela
1918-2013 · South Africa
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African lawyer, freedom fighter, and statesman. He led the long struggle to end apartheid, the racist system that ruled…
Ethical thinking Critical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Emotional intelligence +1
"I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and…"
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Literature
Ngugi wa Thiong'o
1938-present · Kenya, East Africa
Ngugi wa Thiong'o (born 1938) is a Kenyan writer, novelist, and thinker. He grew up during British colonial rule in Kenya and lived through the…
Cultural heritage and identity Storytelling and narrative Critical literacy Media literacy +1
"Language carries culture, and culture carries, particularly through orature and literature, the entire body of values by which we come…"
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Technology & Engineering
Nikola Tesla
1856-1943 · Serbian, Austrian Empire / United States
Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) was an electrical engineer and inventor whose work on alternating current, induction motors, and wireless power transmission helped shape the modern electrical…
Scientific thinking Creative expression Research skills Critical thinking +1
"The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine."
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Language & Linguistics
Noam Chomsky
b. 1928 · United States
Avram Noam Chomsky (born 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, and political commentator whose work has changed the study of language and who has also…
Critical thinking Scientific thinking Ethical thinking Research skills +1
"Colorless green ideas sleep furiously."
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