The Most Famous
HISTORIANS from Austria
This page contains a list of the greatest Austrian Historians. The pantheon dataset contains 561 Historians, 9 of which were born in Austria. This makes Austria the birth place of the 11th most number of Historians behind Greece, and Egypt.
Top 9
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Austrian Historians of all time. This list of famous Austrian Historians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Ernst Gombrich (1909 - 2001)
With an HPI of 70.21, Ernst Gombrich is the most famous Austrian Historian. His biography has been translated into 36 different languages on wikipedia.
Sir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich (; German: [ˈgɔmbʁɪç]; 30 March 1909 – 3 November 2001) was an Austrian-born art historian who, after settling in England in 1936, became a naturalised British citizen in 1947 and spent most of his working life in the United Kingdom. Gombrich was the author of many works of cultural history and art history, most notably The Story of Art, a book widely regarded as one of the most accessible introductions to the visual arts, and Art and Illusion, a major work in the psychology of perception that influenced thinkers as diverse as Carlo Ginzburg, Nelson Goodman, Umberto Eco, and Thomas Kuhn.
2. Shlomo Sand (b. 1946)
With an HPI of 64.80, Shlomo Sand is the 2nd most famous Austrian Historian. His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.
Shlomo Sand (pronounced Zand; Hebrew: שלמה זנד; born 10 September 1946) is an Austrian-born Israeli post-Zionist historian and socialist. He has served as an emeritus Professor of History at Tel Aviv University since 2014. He is known for his book The Invention of the Jewish People, originally published in Hebrew as Matai ve’eich humtsa ha‘am hayehudi? (מתי ואיך הומצא העם היהודי? When and How Was the Jewish People Invented?) in 2008.
3. Alois Riegl (1858 - 1905)
With an HPI of 64.71, Alois Riegl is the 3rd most famous Austrian Historian. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.
Alois Riegl (14 January 1858 – 17 June 1905) was an Austrian art historian, and is considered a member of the Vienna School of Art History. He was one of the major figures in the establishment of art history as a self-sufficient academic discipline, and one of the most influential practitioners of formalism.
4. Egon Friedell (1878 - 1938)
With an HPI of 59.98, Egon Friedell is the 4th most famous Austrian Historian. His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.
Egon Friedell (born Egon Friedmann; 21 January 1878, in Vienna – 16 March 1938, in Vienna) was a prominent Austrian cultural historian, playwright, actor and Kabarett performer, journalist and theatre critic. Friedell has been described as a polymath. Before 1916, he was also known by his pen name Egon Friedländer.
5. İlber Ortaylı (b. 1947)
With an HPI of 59.04, İlber Ortaylı is the 5th most famous Austrian Historian. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.
İlber Ortaylı (Turkish: [ˈilbæɾ oɾˈtajɫɯ]; born 21 May 1947) is a Turkish historian and professor of history of Crimean Tatar origin at the MEF University, Galatasaray University in Istanbul and at Bilkent University in Ankara. In 2005, he was appointed as the director of the Topkapı Museum in Istanbul, until he retired in 2012.
6. Gerda Lerner (1920 - 2013)
With an HPI of 57.67, Gerda Lerner is the 6th most famous Austrian Historian. Her biography has been translated into 22 different languages.
Gerda Hedwig Lerner (née Kronstein; April 30, 1920 – January 2, 2013) was an Austrian-born American historian and woman's history author. In addition to her numerous scholarly publications, she wrote poetry, fiction, theatre pieces, screenplays, and an autobiography. She served as president of the Organization of American Historians from 1980 to 1981. In 1980, she was appointed Robinson Edwards Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she taught until retiring in 1991. Lerner was one of the founders of the academic field of women's history. In 1963, while still an undergraduate at the New School for Social Research, she taught "Great Women in American History", which is considered to be the first regular college course on women's history offered anywhere. She taught at Long Island University from 1965 to 1967. She played a key role in the development of women's history curricula and was involved in the development of degree programs in women's history at Sarah Lawrence College (where she taught from 1968 to 1979 and established the nation's first master's degree program in women's history) and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she launched the first Ph.D. program in women's history. She also worked at Duke University and Columbia University, where she was a co-founder of the Seminar on Women.
7. Andreas Maislinger (b. 1955)
With an HPI of 54.62, Andreas Maislinger is the 7th most famous Austrian Historian. His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.
Andreas Maislinger (born 26 February 1955 in St. Georgen near Salzburg, Austria) is an Austrian historian and political scientist and founder and former chairman of the Austrian Service Abroad. He also is the founder of the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Award, the Braunau Contemporary History Days and the inventor of the idea of the House of Responsibility.
8. Riane Eisler (b. 1931)
With an HPI of 54.30, Riane Eisler is the 8th most famous Austrian Historian. Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.
Riane Tennenhaus Eisler (born July 22, 1931) is an Austrian-born American systems scientist, futurist, attorney, and author who writes about the effect of gender and family politics historically on societies, and vice versa. She is best known for her 1987 book, The Chalice and the Blade, in which she coined the terms "partnership" and "dominator". She has written and been interviewed in over 500 articles. Her work is covered in publications ranging from Scientific American, Behavioral Science, Futures, Political Psychology, The Christian Science Monitor, Challenge, and UNESCO Courier to Brain and Mind, Human Rights Quarterly, International Journal of Women's Studies, and World Encyclopedia of Peace, as well as chapters for books published by trade and university presses (e.g., Cambridge, Stanford, and Oxford University). Eisler pioneered the expansion of human rights theory and action to include the majority of humanity: women and children. Her research provides a new perspective on our past, present, and possibilities for the future, including a new social and political agenda for building a more humane and environmentally sustainable world. Her newest works draw from social and biological science, especially neuroscience, showing the interconnection between childhood/families, gender, economics, and story/language as cornerstones of either partnership-oriented or domination-oriented social systems. Eisler’s multi-disciplinary whole-systems analysis highlights how traditions of domination underlie current crises, as well as how to move to a more equitable, sustainable, and caring world.
9. Herwig Wolfram (b. 1934)
With an HPI of 54.14, Herwig Wolfram is the 9th most famous Austrian Historian. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.
Herwig Wolfram (born 14 February 1934) is an Austrian historian who is Professor Emeritus of Medieval History and Auxiliary Sciences of History at the University of Vienna and the former Director of the Institute of Austrian Historical Research. He is a leading member of the Vienna School of History, and internationally known for his authoritative works on the history of Austria, the Goths, and relationships between the Germanic peoples and the Roman Empire.
People
Pantheon has 9 people classified as Austrian historians born between 1858 and 1955. Of these 9, 5 (55.56%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Austrian historians include Shlomo Sand, İlber Ortaylı, and Andreas Maislinger. The most famous deceased Austrian historians include Ernst Gombrich, Alois Riegl, and Egon Friedell. As of April 2024, 1 new Austrian historians have been added to Pantheon including Herwig Wolfram.
Living Austrian Historians
Go to all Rankings
Shlomo Sand
1946 - Present
HPI: 64.80
İlber Ortaylı
1947 - Present
HPI: 59.04
Andreas Maislinger
1955 - Present
HPI: 54.62
Riane Eisler
1931 - Present
HPI: 54.30
Herwig Wolfram
1934 - Present
HPI: 54.14
Deceased Austrian Historians
Go to all RankingsErnst Gombrich
1909 - 2001
HPI: 70.21
Alois Riegl
1858 - 1905
HPI: 64.71
Egon Friedell
1878 - 1938
HPI: 59.98
Gerda Lerner
1920 - 2013
HPI: 57.67
Newly Added Austrian Historians (2024)
Go to all RankingsOverlapping Lives
Which Historians were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 4 most globally memorable Historians since 1700.
