| By Michael H Hart | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Muhammad (570–632) | The central human figure of Islam, regarded by Muslims as the messenger and last prophet of God. Active as a social reformer, diplomat, merchant, philosopher, orator, legislator, and military leader. |
| 2 | Isaac Newton (1643–1727) | English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian. His law of universal gravitation and three laws of motion laid the groundwork for classical mechanics. |
| 3 | Jesus Christ (7–2 BC – AD 26–36) | The central figure of Christianity, revered by Christians as the Son of God and the incarnation of God. Also regarded as a major prophet in the religion of Islam. |
| 4 | Gautama Buddha (563 BC–483 BC) | Spiritual teacher and philosopher. Founder of Buddhism. |
| 5 | Confucius (551 BC–479 BC) | Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese thought and life. |
| 6 | St. Paul (5–67) | One of the most notable of early Christian missionaries, credited with spreading Christianity outside of Israel . |
| 7 | Cai Lun (50–121) | Widely regarded as the inventor of paper and the papermaking process. |
| 8 | Johannes Gutenberg (1398–1468) | German printer who invented the mechanical printing press. |
| 9 | Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) | Italian navigator, colonizer and explorer whose voyages led to general European awareness of the American continents. |
| 10 | Albert Einstein (1879–1955) | German theoretical physicist, best known for his theory of relativity and specifically mass–energy equivalence, expressed by the equation E = mc2. |
