PHILOSOPHER

Herbert Spencer

1820 - 1903

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Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English polymath active as a philosopher, psychologist, biologist, sociologist, and anthropologist. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest", which he coined in Principles of Biology (1864) after reading Charles Darwin's 1859 book On the Origin of Species. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Herbert Spencer has received more than 3,324,348 page views. His biography is available in 75 different languages on Wikipedia. Herbert Spencer is the 60th most popular philosopher (down from 59th in 2019), the 59th most popular biography from United Kingdom (up from 60th in 2019) and the 6th most popular British Philosopher.

Herbert Spencer is most famous for his theory of evolution.

Memorability Metrics

  • 3.3M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 77.31

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 75

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 13.70

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.10

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among PHILOSOPHERS

Among philosophers, Herbert Spencer ranks 60 out of 1,267Before him are Thomas More, Henri Bergson, Karl Popper, Zeno of Elea, Mikhail Bakunin, and Epictetus. After him are Michel de Montaigne, Ibn Arabi, Pliny the Elder, Gorgias, Edmund Husserl, and Al-Kindi.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1820, Herbert Spencer ranks 3Before him are Friedrich Engels, and Florence Nightingale. After him are Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, Anne Brontë, Nadar, Henri, Count of Chambord, Jenny Lind, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Multatuli, Harriet Tubman, and Susan B. Anthony. Among people deceased in 1903, Herbert Spencer ranks 3Before him are Paul Gauguin, and Pope Leo XIII. After him are Theodor Mommsen, Camille Pissarro, Alois Hitler, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, Sir George Stokes, 1st Baronet, Alexander I of Serbia, Josiah Willard Gibbs, Otto Weininger, and Hugo Wolf.

Others Born in 1820

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Others Deceased in 1903

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In United Kingdom

Among people born in United Kingdom, Herbert Spencer ranks 59 out of 8,785Before him are Thomas More (1478), Daniel Defoe (1660), Charles Babbage (1791), Olav V of Norway (1903), Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (1900), and Emily Brontë (1818). After him are Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (1930), William Wallace (1270), Edward Jenner (1749), Virginia Woolf (1882), Charles, Prince of Wales (1948), and Harold Harefoot (1016).

Among PHILOSOPHERS In United Kingdom

Among philosophers born in United Kingdom, Herbert Spencer ranks 6Before him are Francis Bacon (1561), John Locke (1632), Thomas Hobbes (1588), David Hume (1711), and Thomas More (1478). After him are Jeremy Bentham (1748), Roger Bacon (1220), William of Ockham (1285), John Venn (1834), Joseph Priestley (1733), and Duns Scotus (1265).