The 100 Most Important People In History

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Jesus, the most important person in history, according to the book.

It was only a matter of time before the tech world tried to rewrite history.

Stony Brook University computer science professorSteven Skiena and Google software engineerCharles B. Ward take on this ambitious task in a book published this fall: "Who's Bigger: Where Historical Figures Really Rank."

Just as Google ranks web pages, the researchers created an algorithm that ranks historical figures by Wikipedia PageRank, article length, and readership, as well as achievement and celebrity.

Their conclusions have not come without controversy. The top 100 significant figures are overwhelming white and male. For example, Nelson Mandela, who helped end Apartheid in South Africa, ranked only 356. And just three women broke the top 100.

Cass Sunstein of "The New Republic" wrote a sprawling analysis of their findings. She questions not only if we can measure historical significance, but whether we should and certainly why the authors relied solely on the English-language version of Wikipedia. On that note, perhaps we could call these the most important figures in Western history.