1861 - 1939
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. Read more on Wikipedia
Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of James Naismith has received more than 4,540,057 page views. His biography is available in 52 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 49 in 2019). James Naismith is the 27th most popular inventor, the 6th most popular biography from Canada (up from 7th in 2019) and the most popular Canadian Inventor.
James Naismith invented the game of basketball in 1891.
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Historical Popularity Index (HPI)
Languages Editions (L)
Effective Languages (L*)
Coefficient of Variation (CV)
Among inventors, James Naismith ranks 27 out of 354. Before him are Karl Ferdinand Braun, Samuel Colt, Charles K. Kao, Thomas Newcomen, Antonio Meucci, and Werner von Siemens. After him are Steve Wozniak, Denis Papin, Ernő Rubik, Bartolomeo Cristofori, George Westinghouse, and Robert Fulton.
1850 - 1918
HPI: 72.08
Rank: 21
1814 - 1862
HPI: 72.01
Rank: 22
1933 - 2018
HPI: 71.90
Rank: 23
1663 - 1729
HPI: 71.14
Rank: 24
1808 - 1889
HPI: 71.10
Rank: 25
1816 - 1892
HPI: 70.93
Rank: 26
1861 - 1939
HPI: 70.68
Rank: 27
1950 - Present
HPI: 70.31
Rank: 28
1647 - 1712
HPI: 70.25
Rank: 29
1944 - Present
HPI: 70.08
Rank: 30
1655 - 1731
HPI: 70.07
Rank: 31
1846 - 1914
HPI: 70.02
Rank: 32
1765 - 1815
HPI: 69.85
Rank: 33
Among people born in 1861, James Naismith ranks 8. Before him are Mehmed VI, Rudolf Steiner, Fridtjof Nansen, Georges Méliès, Lou Andreas-Salomé, and Ferdinand I of Bulgaria. After him are Victor Horta, Erich von Falkenhayn, Charles Édouard Guillaume, Alfred North Whitehead, Robert Bosch, and Halford Mackinder. Among people deceased in 1939, James Naismith ranks 5. Before him are Sigmund Freud, Pope Pius XI, Alphonse Mucha, and Howard Carter. After him are Nadezhda Krupskaya, Joseph Roth, W. B. Yeats, Eugen Bleuler, Werner von Fritsch, Edward Sapir, and Anton Makarenko.
1861 - 1926
HPI: 77.68
Rank: 2
1861 - 1925
HPI: 76.82
Rank: 3
1861 - 1930
HPI: 75.22
Rank: 4
1861 - 1938
HPI: 73.44
Rank: 5
1861 - 1937
HPI: 72.62
Rank: 6
1861 - 1948
HPI: 70.75
Rank: 7
1861 - 1939
HPI: 70.68
Rank: 8
1861 - 1947
HPI: 69.73
Rank: 9
1861 - 1922
HPI: 69.24
Rank: 10
1861 - 1938
HPI: 68.46
Rank: 11
1861 - 1947
HPI: 68.32
Rank: 12
1861 - 1942
HPI: 68.04
Rank: 13
1861 - 1947
HPI: 68.04
Rank: 14
1856 - 1939
HPI: 89.62
Rank: 1
1857 - 1939
HPI: 78.59
Rank: 2
1860 - 1939
HPI: 73.43
Rank: 3
1874 - 1939
HPI: 71.79
Rank: 4
1861 - 1939
HPI: 70.68
Rank: 5
1869 - 1939
HPI: 69.74
Rank: 6
1894 - 1939
HPI: 68.52
Rank: 7
1865 - 1939
HPI: 67.85
Rank: 8
1857 - 1939
HPI: 66.84
Rank: 9
1880 - 1939
HPI: 65.90
Rank: 10
1884 - 1939
HPI: 64.94
Rank: 11
1888 - 1939
HPI: 64.92
Rank: 12
Among people born in Canada, James Naismith ranks 6 out of 1,350. Before him are Leonard Cohen (1934), Albert Bandura (1925), Leslie Nielsen (1926), Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874), and Donald Sutherland (1935). After him are Justin Trudeau (1971), Erving Goffman (1922), Jim Carrey (1962), Frank Gehry (1929), Alice Munro (1931), and Marshall McLuhan (1911).
1934 - 2016
HPI: 75.78
Rank: 1
1925 - 2021
HPI: 73.02
Rank: 2
1926 - 2010
HPI: 71.90
Rank: 3
1874 - 1942
HPI: 71.02
Rank: 4
1935 - Present
HPI: 70.99
Rank: 5
1861 - 1939
HPI: 70.68
Rank: 6
1971 - Present
HPI: 70.56
Rank: 7
1922 - 1982
HPI: 70.53
Rank: 8
1962 - Present
HPI: 70.14
Rank: 9
1929 - Present
HPI: 70.07
Rank: 10
1931 - Present
HPI: 69.97
Rank: 11
1911 - 1980
HPI: 69.83
Rank: 12
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).
1861 - 1939
HPI: 70.68
Rank: 1
1866 - 1932
HPI: 57.36
Rank: 2
1928 - 1990
HPI: 54.85
Rank: 3
1907 - 1964
HPI: 50.81
Rank: 4
1924 - 2013
HPI: 44.90
Rank: 5