Excerpts from Michael Hart's book "The 100"

"This book is solely involved with the question of who were the 100 persons who had the greatest effect on history and on the course of the world. I have ranked these 100 persons in order of importance: that is, according to the total amount of influence that each of them had on human history and on the everyday lives of other human beings. Such a group of exceptional people, whether noble or reprehensible, famous or obscure, flamboyant or modest, cannot fail to be interesting; they are the people who have shaped our lives and formed our world."

"In composing this list, I have not simply selected the most famous or prestigious figures in history. Neither fame, nor talent, nor nobility of character is the same thing as influence. Thus, Benjamin Franklin, Martin Luther King, Jr., Babe Ruth, and even Leonardo da Vinci are omitted from this list -although some find a place among the Honorable Mentions that follow the One Hundred. On the other hand, influence is not always exerted benevolently; thus, an evil genius such as Hitler meets the criteria for inclusion."

"I have not confined my list to persons who have affected the present situation of mankind. Influence on past generations was taken equally into account. "

"... I considered the influence that their accomplishments may have on future generations and events."

"...my ranking Muhammad higher than Jesus, in large part because of my belief that Muhammad had a much greater personal influence on the formulation of the Moslem religion than Jesus had on the formulation of the Christian religion. This does not imply, of course, that I think Muhammad was a greater man than Jesus."

"The influence of women on human affairs, as well as the contributions that females have made to human civilization, is obviously far greater than might be indicated by their numbers in this list. But a galaxy of influential figures will naturally be composed of individuals who had both the talent and the opportunity to exert a great influence. Throughout history, women have generally been denied such opportunities, and my inclusion of only two females is simply a reflection of that regrettable truth. I see no point in trying to cover up the disagreeable fact of discrimination by adding a few token women to my list. This book is based on what actually did occur in the past; not on what should have occurred, or on what might have occurred had human institutions been more equitable. Similar observations might be made concerning various racial or ethnic groups whose members have been disadvantaged in the past. "

"I have stressed that influence has been the sole criterion in ranking the individuals in this compendium. It would, of course, be possible to construct lists of "outstanding persons," based on other criteria, such as fame, prestige, talent, versatility, and nobility of character."

1.     Muhammad 
2.     Isaac Newton 
3.     Jesus Christ 
4.     Buddha 
5.     Confucius 
6.     St. Paul 
7.     Tsai Lun 
8.     Johann Gutenberg 
9.     Christopher Columbus 
10.   Albert Einstein 
11.   Karl Marx 
12.   Louis Pasteur 
13.   Galileo Galilei 
14.   Aristotle 
15.   Lenin 
16.   Moses 
17.   Charles Darwin 
18.   Shih Huang Ti 
19.   Augustus Caesar 
20.   Mao Tse-tung 
21.   Genghis Khan 
22.   Euclid 
23.   Martin Luther 
24.   Nicolaus Copernicus 
25.   James Watt 
26.   Constantine the Great 
27.   George Washington 
28.   Michael Faraday 
29.   James Clerk Maxwell 
30.   Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright 
31.   Antoine Laurent Lavoisier 
32.   Sigmund Freud 
33.   Alexander the Great 
34.   Napoleon Bonaparte 
35.   Adolf Hitler 
36.   William Shakespeare 
37.   Adam Smith 
38.   Thomas Edison 
39.   Antony van Leeuwenhoek 
40.   Plato 
41.   Guglielmo Marconi 
42.   Ludwig van Beethoven 
43.   Werner Heisenberg 
44.   Alexander Graham Bell 
45.   Alexander Fleming 
46.   Simon Bolivar 
47.   Oliver Cromwell 
48.   John Locke 
49.   Michelangelo 
50.   Pope Urban II 
51.   'Umar ibn al-Khattab 
52.   Asoka 
53.   St. Augustine 
54.   Max Planck 
55.   John Calvin 
56.   William T.G. Morton 
57.   William Harvey 
58.   Antoine Henri Becquerel 
59.   Gregor Mendel 
60.   Joseph Lister 
61.   Nikolaus August Otto 
62.   Louis Daguerre 
63.   Joseph Stalin 
64.   Rene Descartes 
65.   Julius Caesar 
66.   Francisco Pizarro 
67.   Hernando Cortes 
68.   Queen Isabella I 
69.   William the Conqueror 
70.   Thomas Jefferson 
71.   J ean- Jacques Rousseau 
72.   Edward Jenner 
73.   Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen 
74.   Johann Sebastian Bach 
75.   Lao Tzu 
76.   Enrico Fermi 
77.   Thomas Malthus 
78.   Francis Bacon 
79.   Voltaire 
80.   John F. Kennedy 
81.   Gregory Pincus 
82.   Sui Wen Ti 
83.   Mani 
84.   Vasco da Gama 
85.   Charlemagne 
86.   Cyrus the Great 
87.   Leonhard Euler 
88 .  Niccolo Machiavelli
89.   Zoroaster 
90.   Menes 
9l.    Peter the Great 
92.   Mencius 
93.   John Dalton 
94.   Homer 
95.   Queen Elizabeth 
96.   Justinian I 
97.   Johannes Kepler 
98.   Pablo Picasso 
99.   Mahavira 
100. Niels Bohr