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INVENTOR

Eli Whitney

1765 - 1825

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Icon of person Eli Whitney

Eli Whitney Jr. (December 8, 1765 – January 8, 1825) was an American inventor, widely known for inventing the cotton gin in 1793, one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution that shaped the economy of the Antebellum South.Whitney's invention made upland short cotton into a profitable crop, which strengthened the economic foundation of slavery in the United States and prolonged the institution. Despite the social and economic impact of his invention, Whitney lost much of his profits in legal battles over patent infringement for the cotton gin. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Eli Whitney has received more than 2,297,504 page views. His biography is available in 40 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 39 in 2019). Eli Whitney is the 207th most popular inventor (down from 187th in 2019), the 3,013th most popular biography from United States (down from 2,632nd in 2019) and the 48th most popular American Inventor.

Memorability Metrics

  • 2.3M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 53.91

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 40

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 2.57

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 5.13

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Eli Whitneys by language


Among INVENTORS

Among inventors, Eli Whitney ranks 207 out of 354. Before him are Lou Ottens, Wan Hu, Georges Hébert, Oliver Lodge, Hans von Ohain, and John Wesley Hyatt. After him are Helmut Gröttrup, Max Skladanowsky, Robert Cornelius, Henry Maudslay, George de Mestral, and Larry Sanger.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1765, Eli Whitney ranks 22. Before him are Franz Xaver von Baader, Pierre Dupont de l'Étang, Nguyễn Du, Duchess Frederica of Württemberg, Charles Hatchett, and Jean-Baptiste Drouet, Comte d'Erlon. After him are Joseph Leopold Eybler, Johann Friedrich Pfaff, Daniel Steibelt, James Smithson, Petrobey Mavromichalis, and Sylvestre François Lacroix. Among people deceased in 1825, Eli Whitney ranks 17. Before him are Laskarina Bouboulina, Vivant Denon, Bernard Germain de Lacépède, Franz-Joseph Müller von Reichenstein, Mikhail Miloradovich, and Vladimir Borovikovsky. After him are Karl Mollweide, Princess Louise of Saxe-Hildburghausen, Pierre Charles L'Enfant, Daniel D. Tompkins, Jan Václav Voříšek, and Peter Winter.

Others Born in 1765

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Others Deceased in 1825

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Eli Whitney ranks 3,013 out of 18,182. Before him are Eric Stoltz (1961), Candy Darling (1944), P. J. Kennedy (1858), Edith Roosevelt (1861), Yvette Mimieux (1942), and James F. Byrnes (1882). After him are Eric Hoffer (1898), Charles Barkley (1963), Chad Smith (1961), Ronald Evans (1933), John Ritter (1948), and John Basilone (1916).

Others born in United States

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Among INVENTORS In United States

Among inventors born in United States, Eli Whitney ranks 48. Before him are George Pullman (1831), Royal Rife (1888), J. Presper Eckert (1919), Samuel Pierpont Langley (1834), Philo Farnsworth (1906), and John Wesley Hyatt (1837). After him are Robert Cornelius (1809), Larry Sanger (1968), Raymond Damadian (1936), Laurens Hammond (1895), Marcian Hoff (1937), and Ruth Handler (1916).

American born Inventors

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