PHYSICIAN

Joseph-Ignace Guillotin

1738 - 1814

Photo of Joseph-Ignace Guillotin

Icon of person Joseph-Ignace Guillotin

Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (French: [ʒozɛf iɲas ɡijɔtɛ̃]; 28 May 1738 – 26 March 1814) was a French physician, politician, and freemason who proposed on 10 October 1789 the use of a device to carry out executions in France, as a less painful method of execution than existing methods. Although he did not invent the guillotine and opposed the death penalty, his name became an eponym for it. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Joseph-Ignace Guillotin has received more than 763,176 page views. His biography is available in 42 different languages on Wikipedia. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin is the 19th most popular physician (up from 24th in 2019), the 286th most popular biography from France (up from 304th in 2019) and the 2nd most popular French Physician.

Joseph-Ignace Guillotin was a French physician and politician. He invented the guillotine, a device which became the standard method of execution in France.

Memorability Metrics

  • 760k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 71.62

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 42

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 11.52

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.22

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among PHYSICIANS

Among physicians, Joseph-Ignace Guillotin ranks 19 out of 726Before him are William Harvey, Ignaz Semmelweis, Michael Servetus, Cesare Lombroso, Cyril of Alexandria, and Alois Alzheimer. After him are Nestorius, Pedanius Dioscorides, Georgius Agricola, Li Ching-Yuen, Rudolf Virchow, and Emil von Behring.

Most Popular Physicians in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1738, Joseph-Ignace Guillotin ranks 3Before him are George III of the United Kingdom, and William Herschel. After him are Cesare Beccaria, Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, Túpac Amaru II, Albert Casimir, Duke of Teschen, Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, Ethan Allen, Thomas Abbt, Arthur Phillip, and Jacques François Dugommier. Among people deceased in 1814, Joseph-Ignace Guillotin ranks 4Before him are Empress Joséphine, Marquis de Sade, and Johann Gottlieb Fichte. After him are Maria Carolina of Austria, Benjamin Thompson, Marie-Louise O'Murphy, Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Charles-Joseph, 7th Prince of Ligne, Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt, Frederick Christian II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, and Louis-Sébastien Mercier.

Others Born in 1738

Go to all Rankings

Others Deceased in 1814

Go to all Rankings

In France

Among people born in France, Joseph-Ignace Guillotin ranks 286 out of 6,770Before him are Charlotte Corday (1768), Gilles de Rais (1405), Baldwin I of Jerusalem (1058), Frédéric Mistral (1830), Désirée Clary (1777), and Pope Sylvester II (938). After him are Francis de Sales (1567), Mireille Mathieu (1946), Louis Antoine de Saint-Just (1767), Roger Vadim (1928), François Quesnay (1694), and Gabriel Fauré (1845).

Among PHYSICIANS In France

Among physicians born in France, Joseph-Ignace Guillotin ranks 2Before him are Albert Schweitzer (1875). After him are Claude Bernard (1813), Jean-Martin Charcot (1825), Alexis Carrel (1873), Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran (1845), Ambroise Paré (1510), Hilary of Poitiers (315), René Laennec (1781), Philippe Pinel (1745), Karl Brandt (1904), and Louis Auguste Blanqui (1805).