This is a list of 100 people who have changed the world (for better or worse). Also see: People who made a difference and changed the world for the better.
People who changed the world
1. Jesus of Nazareth (circa 5 BCE –30 CE) Spiritual Teacher, central figure of Christianity.
2. Thomas Jefferson (1743 –1826) American President 1801 – 1809. Author of Declaration of Independence
3. Mikhail Gorbachev (1931 – 2022) Leader of Soviet Union 1985 – 1991, oversaw the transition from Communism to democracy in Eastern Europe.
4. Lord Buddha (circa 563 BCE –483 BCE) Spiritual teacher and founder of Buddhism
5. Winston Churchill (1874 –1965) Prime Minister of Great Britain during Second World War
6. William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English poet and playwright
8. Martin Luther King (1929 –1968) Civil Rights leader
9. Abraham Lincoln (1809 –1865) American Presidentduring civil war, helped end slavery
10. Nelson Mandela (1918 –2013) Anti-apartheid leader, first President of democratic South Africa in 1994
- St Paul (5 BCE –67 CE) Christian missionary
- Adolf Hitler (1889 –1945) Dictator of Nazi Germany
- Augustus Caesar (63 BCE – AD 14) First Roman Emperor.
- George Washington (1732 –1799) First President of USA
- Sri Krishna (circa 2-3000 BCE) Spiritual teacher, prominent figure inHinduism
- Emperor Constantine (272 – 337) First Roman Emperor to embrace Christianity
- Martin Luther (1483 –1546) Key figure in Protestant Reformation
- Socrates (469 BCE –399 BCE) Greek philosopher
- Mahatma Gandhi (1869 –1948) Indian nationalist and politician
- Karl Marx (1818 – 1883) German philosopher, founder of Marxism
- Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 –1821) French military and political leader
- Simon Bolivar (1783 –1830) Liberator of SouthAmerican countries
- Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 –1945) US President 1932-1945
- Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882) Developed theory of evolution
- Sir Isaac Newton (1642 –1727) English mathematician and scientist
- Confucius (551 BCE –479 BCE) Chinese philosopher
- Akbar (1542 – 1605) Mughal Emperor
- Queen Victoria (1819 – 1901)British monarch 1837 – 1901
- Konrad Adenauer (1876 –1967) German Chancellor post WWII
- Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 –1964) First Prime Minister of India
- Ramses II (1279 BCE –1213 BCE) EgyptianPharoah
- Alexander the Great (356 BCE – 323 BCE) King of Macedonia
- Moses (1391 – 1271 BC) Jewish prophet of Old Testament.
- Woodrow Wilson (1856 – 1924) American president during WWI
- Christopher Columbus (1451 – 1506) Italian explorer
- Marcus Aurelius (121 – 180) Roman emperor and philosopher
- Galileo Galilei (1564 –1642) Astronomer and physicist
- Plato (424 BCE – 348 BCE) Philosopher
- Joan of Arc (1412 –1431) French saint
- Charlemagne (742 –814) King of Franks and Emperor of the Romans
- Aristotle (384BCE – 322BCE) Greek philosopher
- Saladin (1138 – 1193) Leader of Arabs during Crusades
- Babur (1483 –1531) Founder of Mughal Empire
- Sir Walter Raleigh (1552 – 1618) English explorer
- Voltaire (1694 –1778) French philosopher
- Catherine the Great (1729 – 1796) Empress of all the Russias 1762 – 1796
- Mozart (1756 – 1791) Austrian composer
- Guru Nanak (1469 – 1539) Spiritual teacher, founder of Sikhism
- Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) Italian scientist, artist, polymath
- Louis Pasteur (1822 –1895) French chemist and Biologist
- Leo Tolstoy (1828 – 1910) Russian writer and philosopher
- Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) German physicist
- Ataturk (1881–1938) Founder of the Turkish Republic
- Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish painter and sculptor
- Pope John Paul II (1920 –2005) Polish Pope from 1978-2005
- Margaret Thatcher (1925 – 2013) British Prime Minister 1979 – 1990
- Muhammed Ali (1942 – 2016) American boxer and human rights activist
- John F. Kennedy (1917 – 1963) AmericanPresident 1961 – 1963
- Boris Yeltsin (1931 – 2007) FirstPresident of Russia 1991 – 1999
- Indira Gandhi (1917 – 1984) Prime Minister of India 1980 – 1984
- William Tyndale (1494 – 1536) Translated Bible into English
- Tim Berners Lee (1955 –) Inventor ofWorld Wide Web
- Rosa Parks (1913–2005) Civil Rights activist
- Benazir Bhutto (1953 – 2007) Prime Minister of Pakistan 1993 – 1996
- J.S. Bach (1685 – 1750)German composer
- 14th Dalai Lama (1938 –) Spiritual and political leader of Tibetans
- Malcolm X (1925 – 1965) Black Civil Rightsactivist
- Lech Walesa (1943 –) Leader of Polish solidarity movement
- Charles de Gaulle (1890 –1970) French politician
- Joseph Stalin (1879 – 1953) Leader of the Soviet Union 1922 – 1952
- Marie Curie (1867 – 1934) Chemist and physicist
- Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807 –1882) Independence leader in Italy and SouthAmerica
- Johann Gutenberg (1395 – 1468 Inventor of the printing press
- Oliver Cromwell (1599 – 1658) British Parliamentarian
- VladimirLenin (1870 –1924) Leader of Russian Revolution in 1917
- Sigmund Freud (1856 –1939) Austrian neurologist, psychoanalyst
- Mother Teresa(1910–1997) Macedonian Catholic nun and missionary
- Bill Gates (1955 –) Founder of Microsoft
- Ernest Hemingway ( 1899 – 1961)American author
- John Lennon (1940 – 1980) British musicianand member of the Beatles
- Genghis Kahn (1162 – 1227) Rulerof Mongol Empire
- Haile Selassie (1892 – 1975)Emperor of Ethiopia 1930 – 1974
- John M Keynes (1883 – 1946) Influential economist
- Michael Faraday (1791 – 1867) English scientist who enabled electricity to become a viable source of power.
- George Orwell (1903 – 1950) English author of ‘Animal Farm’ and ‘1984’
- Thomas Edison (1847 – 1931) Inventor and businessman
- Dwight Eisenhower (1890 – 1969) Supreme Allied Commander WWII
- Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) helped to draft UN declaration of human rights
- DrB.R. Ambedkar (1891 – 1956) Indian political activist and social reformer who drafted Indian constitution
- Lyndon Johnson (1908 –1973) US President 1963– 1969
- William Wilberforce (1759 – 1833) Campaigner against slavery
- Nikola Tesla (1856 – 1943) Scientist, inventor
- Alexander Fleming (1881–1955) Scottish biologistwho discoveredantibiotics
- Lao Tzu (6th Century BC – ) Author of Tao Te Ching and founder of Taoism
- Eva Peron (1919 –1952) First Lady of Argentina 1946 – 1952
- Henry Ford (1864–1947) Americanindustrialist
- Princess Diana (1961 – 1997) Humanitarian
- Steve Jobs(1955 – 2011) Entrepreneur who led digital revolution
- Beethoven (1770 – 1827) German composer
- Benjamin Franklin (1706 –1790) Americanwriter and polymath
Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan. “People who changed the world”, Oxford, UK.www.biographyonline.net, First published Jan 2008. Last updated 1 March 2018.
Related pages
Books that changed the world:Important books which influenced and changed society and the world. Including The Republic, The Iliad, The Communist Manifesto and The King James Bible
Inspirational people:People who made a difference in a positive way and left the world a better place
Women who changed the world:Famous women who changed the world, including Sappho, Marie Curie, Queen Victoria, and Catherine the Great
Quotes that changed the world:Inspiring quotes that changed the world from some of the world’s leading minds, including Einstein, Buddha, Darwin, and Galileo
Ideas that changed the world:Scientific, political, religious and technological ideas that transformed the world, including democracy, feminism, human rights and relativity
Inventions that changed the world:Famous inventions that made a great difference to the progress of the world, including aluminium, the telephone and the printing press
Related
Book of 100 Most Influential People 
100 Most influential people in the world by Michael H. Hart (Author) at Amazon.com
Books about people who changed the World
- Paths to Peace: People Who Changed the World at Amazon.com
- Artists, Writers, and Musicians: An Encyclopedia of People Who Changed the World
- 101 World Heroes by Simon Montefiore
Related pages on events that changed the world
- Events that changed the world
- Quotes that changed the world
- Speeches that changed the world
Other lists of people who changed the world
- People who shaped democracy
- Young people who helped change the world
Note: It is hard to select a ‘top 100’. It is also even harder to rank people in terms of influence. I agree there could easily be a different order and ranking. But, hopefully, this will be of help for researching some of the famous people who have made a big difference to the world.
