The Most Famous
HISTORIANS from Poland
This page contains a list of the greatest Polish Historians. The pantheon dataset contains 561 Historians, 17 of which were born in Poland. This makes Poland the birth place of the 7th most number of Historians behind Turkey, and Italy.
Top 10
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Polish Historians of all time. This list of famous Polish Historians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Polish Historians.
1. Johann Gustav Droysen (1808 - 1884)
With an HPI of 64.59, Johann Gustav Droysen is the most famous Polish Historian. His biography has been translated into 34 different languages on wikipedia.
Johann Gustav Bernhard Droysen (; German: [ˈdʁɔʏzn̩]; 6 July 1808 – 19 June 1884) was a German historian. His history of Alexander the Great was the first work representing a new school of German historical thought that idealized power held by so-called "great" men.
2. Benzion Netanyahu (1910 - 2012)
With an HPI of 63.03, Benzion Netanyahu is the 2nd most famous Polish Historian. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.
Benzion Netanyahu (Hebrew: בֶּנְצִיּוֹן נְתַנְיָהוּ, IPA: [bentsiˈjon netaˈnjahu]; born Benzion Mileikowsky; March 25, 1910 – April 30, 2012) was an Israeli encyclopedist, historian, and medievalist. He served as a professor of history at Cornell University. A scholar of Judaic history, he was also an activist in the Revisionist Zionism movement, who lobbied in the United States to support the creation of the Jewish state. His field of expertise was the history of the Jews in Spain. He was an editor of the Hebrew Encyclopedia and assistant to Benjamin Azkin, Ze'ev Jabotinsky's personal secretary. Netanyahu was the father of current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; Yonatan Netanyahu, ex-commander of Sayeret Matkal; and Iddo Netanyahu, a physician, author and playwright.
3. Richard Pipes (1923 - 2018)
With an HPI of 58.05, Richard Pipes is the 3rd most famous Polish Historian. His biography has been translated into 30 different languages.
Richard Edgar Pipes (Yiddish: ריכארד פּיִפּעץ Rikhard Pipets; Polish: Ryszard Pipes; July 11, 1923 – May 17, 2018) was an American historian who specialized in Russian and Soviet history. Pipes was a frequent interviewee in the press on the matters of Soviet history and foreign affairs. His writings also appear in Commentary, The New York Times, and The Times Literary Supplement. At Harvard University, Pipes taught large courses on Imperial Russia as well as the Russian Revolution and guided over 80 graduate students to their PhDs. In 1976, he headed Team B, a team of analysts organized by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) who analyzed the strategic capacities and goals of the Soviet military and political leadership. Pipes is the father of American historian Daniel Pipes.
4. Gottfried Achenwall (1719 - 1772)
With an HPI of 56.07, Gottfried Achenwall is the 4th most famous Polish Historian. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.
Gottfried Achenwall (20 October 1719 – 1 May 1772) was a German philosopher, historian, economist, jurist and statistician. He is counted among the inventors of statistics.
5. Ernst Kantorowicz (1895 - 1963)
With an HPI of 55.25, Ernst Kantorowicz is the 5th most famous Polish Historian. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Ernst Hartwig Kantorowicz (May 3, 1895 – September 9, 1963) was a German historian of medieval political and intellectual history and art, known for his 1927 book Kaiser Friedrich der Zweite on Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, and The King's Two Bodies (1957) on medieval and early modern ideologies of monarchy and the state. He was an elected member of both the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
6. Ferdinand Gregorovius (1821 - 1891)
With an HPI of 54.89, Ferdinand Gregorovius is the 6th most famous Polish Historian. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Ferdinand Gregorovius (German: [ˈfɛʁdinant ɡʁeɡoˈʁoːvi̯ʊs]; 19 January 1821, Neidenburg, East Prussia, Kingdom of Prussia – 1 May 1891, Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria) was a German historian who specialized in the medieval history of Rome.
7. Otto von Gierke (1841 - 1921)
With an HPI of 54.85, Otto von Gierke is the 7th most famous Polish Historian. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Otto Friedrich von Gierke, born Otto Friedrich Gierke (11 January 1841 – 10 October 1921) was a German legal scholar and historian. He is considered today as one of the most influential and important legal scholars of the 19th and 20th century. In his four-volume magnum opus entitled Das deutsche Genossenschaftsrecht (German Law of Associations), he pioneered the study of social groups and the importance of associations in German life, which stood between the divide of private and public law. During his career at Berlin University's law department, Gierke was a leading critic of the first draft of a new Civil Code for Imperial Germany. Gierke argued that it had been molded in an individualistic frame that was inconsistent with German social traditions. Gierke became known as a vocal Germanist within the German Historical School of Jurisprudence. The draft was revised to remove Roman law influences and the German Civil Code came into effect in 1900.
8. Karl Otfried Müller (1797 - 1840)
With an HPI of 53.69, Karl Otfried Müller is the 8th most famous Polish Historian. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.
Karl Otfried Müller (Latin: Carolus Mullerus; 28 August 1797 – 1 August 1840) was a German professor, scholar of classical Greek studies and philodorian.
9. Walter Laqueur (1921 - 2018)
With an HPI of 53.69, Walter Laqueur is the 9th most famous Polish Historian. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.
Walter Ze'ev Laqueur (26 May 1921 – 30 September 2018) was a German-born American historian, journalist and political commentator. He was an influential scholar on the subjects of terrorism and political violence.
10. Zeev Sternhell (1935 - 2020)
With an HPI of 53.64, Zeev Sternhell is the 10th most famous Polish Historian. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Zeev Sternhell (Hebrew: זאב שטרנהל; 10 April 1935 – 21 June 2020) was a Polish-born Israeli historian, political scientist, commentator on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and writer. He was one of the world's leading theorists of the phenomenon of fascism. Sternhell headed the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and wrote for Haaretz newspaper.
People
Pantheon has 19 people classified as Polish historians born between 1719 and 1960. Of these 19, 1 (5.26%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Polish historians include Jan T. Gross. The most famous deceased Polish historians include Johann Gustav Droysen, Benzion Netanyahu, and Richard Pipes. As of April 2024, 2 new Polish historians have been added to Pantheon including Israel Gutman, and Franz Theodor Kugler.
Living Polish Historians
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Deceased Polish Historians
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Johann Gustav Droysen
1808 - 1884
HPI: 64.59
Benzion Netanyahu
1910 - 2012
HPI: 63.03
Richard Pipes
1923 - 2018
HPI: 58.05
Gottfried Achenwall
1719 - 1772
HPI: 56.07
Ernst Kantorowicz
1895 - 1963
HPI: 55.25
Ferdinand Gregorovius
1821 - 1891
HPI: 54.89
Otto von Gierke
1841 - 1921
HPI: 54.85
Karl Otfried Müller
1797 - 1840
HPI: 53.69
Walter Laqueur
1921 - 2018
HPI: 53.69
Zeev Sternhell
1935 - 2020
HPI: 53.64
Heinrich Graetz
1817 - 1891
HPI: 53.53
Israel Gutman
1923 - 2013
HPI: 50.22
Newly Added Polish Historians (2024)
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Overlapping Lives
Which Historians were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 17 most globally memorable Historians since 1700.
