INVENTOR

James Naismith

1861 - 1939

Photo of James Naismith

Icon of person James Naismith

James Naismith (NAY-smith; November 6, 1861 – November 28, 1939) was a Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, and sports coach, best known as the inventor of the game of basketball. After moving to the United States, he wrote the original basketball rule book and founded the University of Kansas basketball program in 1898. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of James Naismith has received more than 4,695,291 page views. His biography is available in 55 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 52 in 2019). James Naismith is the 53rd most popular inventor (down from 27th in 2019), the 17th most popular biography from Canada (down from 6th in 2019) and the most popular Canadian Inventor.

James Naismith invented the game of basketball in 1891.

Memorability Metrics

  • 4.7M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 67.04

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 55

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 5.72

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.43

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among INVENTORS

Among inventors, James Naismith ranks 53 out of 426. Before him are Hans Lippershey, Willis Carrier, Herman Hollerith, Karl Drais, William G. Morgan, and Douglas Engelbart. After him are Emile Berliner, Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, Louis Renault, John Boyd Dunlop, Charles Goodyear, and Henry Fox Talbot.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1861, James Naismith ranks 14. Before him are Ferdinand I of Bulgaria, Victor Horta, Erich von Falkenhayn, Georgy Lvov, Alfred North Whitehead, and Halford Mackinder. After him are Robert Bosch, José Rizal, Aristide Maillol, Frederick Gowland Hopkins, Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, and Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby. Among people deceased in 1939, James Naismith ranks 9. Before him are Alphonse Mucha, Howard Carter, Nadezhda Krupskaya, Joseph Roth, Eugen Bleuler, and W. B. Yeats. After him are Werner von Fritsch, Philipp Scheidemann, Anton Makarenko, Karl Radek, Matthias Sindelar, and Douglas Fairbanks.

Others Born in 1861

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Others Deceased in 1939

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In Canada

Among people born in Canada, James Naismith ranks 17 out of 1,622. Before him are Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874), Alice Munro (1931), Christopher Plummer (1929), Marshall McLuhan (1911), Margaret Atwood (1939), and David Cronenberg (1943). After him are Glenn Gould (1932), Eric Berne (1910), Willard Boyle (1924), Frederick Banting (1891), Michael J. Fox (1961), and Gilles Villeneuve (1950).

Others born in Canada

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Among INVENTORS In Canada

Among inventors born in Canada, James Naismith ranks 1. After him are Reginald Fessenden (1866), Gerald Bull (1928), Joseph-Armand Bombardier (1907), and Yvonne Brill (1924).

Canadian born Inventors

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