1949 - Today
Philippe Petit (French pronunciation: [filip pəti]; born 13 August 1949) is a French highwire artist who gained fame for his unauthorized highwire walks between the towers of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris in 1971 and of Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1973, as well as between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City on the morning of 7 August 1974. For his unauthorized feat 400 metres (1,312 feet) above the ground – which he referred to as "le coup" – Petit had gathered together a team consisting of two of his closest, childhood friends from France (Jean-Louis Blondeau, and Jean Francois Heckel) joined by four recruited Americans (Alan Welner, David Forman, Barry Greenhouse, and Jim Moore) plus a seventh comrade of Petit's (Mark Lewis, hailing from Australia, had previously been instrumental in aiding Petit wire-walk across Australia's Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1973). The group spent many months collaborating in detailed preparation, travelling to the World Trade Center multiple times, building an "outdoor" scale model of the roofs of both buildings, brainstorming and theorizing ways to bypass security, how to transport the hundreds of pounds of necessary materials from the street level up 104 stairs, and subsequently rigging the wire Petit would ultimately need for his walk. Read more on Wikipedia
Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Philippe Petit has received more than 7,860,053 page views. His biography is available in 28 different languages on Wikipedia. Philippe Petit is the 17th most popular celebrity (up from 22nd in 2019), the 757th most popular biography from France (up from 871st in 2019) and the 2nd most popular French Celebrity.
Philippe Petit is most famous for walking on a wire between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in 1974.
Page Views (PV)
Historical Popularity Index (HPI)
Languages Editions (L)
Effective Languages (L*)
Coefficient of Variation (CV)
Among celebrities, Philippe Petit ranks 17 out of 181. Before him are Caitlyn Jenner, Empress Michiko, Jon Brower Minnoch, Millvina Dean, Joseph Merrick, and Monica Lewinsky. After him are Anna Anderson, Rosalia Lombardo, Margaret Brown, Dodi Fayed, Sarah Knauss, and Marie Duplessis.
1949 - Present
HPI: 67.73
Rank: 11
1934 - Present
HPI: 67.31
Rank: 12
1941 - 1983
HPI: 66.99
Rank: 13
1912 - 2009
HPI: 66.06
Rank: 14
1862 - 1890
HPI: 65.51
Rank: 15
1973 - Present
HPI: 64.57
Rank: 16
1949 - Present
HPI: 64.35
Rank: 17
1896 - 1984
HPI: 64.09
Rank: 18
1918 - 1920
HPI: 63.94
Rank: 19
1867 - 1932
HPI: 63.44
Rank: 20
1955 - 1997
HPI: 62.60
Rank: 21
1880 - 1999
HPI: 62.60
Rank: 22
1824 - 1847
HPI: 62.42
Rank: 23
Among people born in 1949, Philippe Petit ranks 40. Before him are Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Joan Enric Vives Sicília, Alla Pugacheva, Linda Lovelace, Don Johnson, and Amin Maalouf. After him are Jarosław Kaczyński, George Foreman, Ottmar Hitzfeld, John Belushi, Lionel Richie, and Bill Nighy.
1949 - Present
HPI: 65.22
Rank: 34
1949 - Present
HPI: 65.10
Rank: 35
1949 - Present
HPI: 65.08
Rank: 36
1949 - 2002
HPI: 64.82
Rank: 37
1949 - Present
HPI: 64.56
Rank: 38
1949 - Present
HPI: 64.38
Rank: 39
1949 - Present
HPI: 64.35
Rank: 40
1949 - Present
HPI: 64.01
Rank: 41
1949 - Present
HPI: 63.70
Rank: 42
1949 - Present
HPI: 63.67
Rank: 43
1949 - 1982
HPI: 63.63
Rank: 44
1949 - Present
HPI: 63.53
Rank: 45
1949 - Present
HPI: 62.96
Rank: 46
Among people born in France, Philippe Petit ranks 757 out of 6,011. Before him are Françoise Hardy (1944), Bourvil (1917), Sophie of France (1786), Edmond Rostand (1868), Samuel de Champlain (1567), and Hubert de Givenchy (1927). After him are Georges Rouault (1871), Robert Hossein (1927), Louis, Prince of Condé (1530), Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans (1709), Marina Vlady (1938), and Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755).
1944 - Present
HPI: 64.45
Rank: 751
1917 - 1970
HPI: 64.44
Rank: 752
1786 - 1787
HPI: 64.42
Rank: 753
1868 - 1918
HPI: 64.41
Rank: 754
1567 - 1635
HPI: 64.39
Rank: 755
1927 - 2018
HPI: 64.38
Rank: 756
1949 - Present
HPI: 64.35
Rank: 757
1871 - 1958
HPI: 64.34
Rank: 758
1927 - 2020
HPI: 64.34
Rank: 759
1530 - 1569
HPI: 64.32
Rank: 760
1709 - 1742
HPI: 64.31
Rank: 761
1938 - Present
HPI: 64.31
Rank: 762
1755 - 1826
HPI: 64.30
Rank: 763
Among celebrities born in France, Philippe Petit ranks 2. Before him are Jeanne Calment (1875). After him are Marie Duplessis (1824), Blanche Monnier (1849), Jean-Marie Loret (1918), Joseph Meister (1876), Denise Perrier (1935), Michel Lotito (1950), Sébastien Foucan (1974), Iris Mittenaere (1993), and Alexandra Rosenfeld (1986).
1875 - 1997
HPI: 74.46
Rank: 1
1949 - Present
HPI: 64.35
Rank: 2
1824 - 1847
HPI: 62.42
Rank: 3
1849 - 1913
HPI: 60.40
Rank: 4
1918 - 1985
HPI: 58.33
Rank: 5
1876 - 1940
HPI: 56.88
Rank: 6
1935 - Present
HPI: 52.37
Rank: 7
1950 - 2007
HPI: 51.97
Rank: 8
1974 - Present
HPI: 39.42
Rank: 9
1993 - Present
HPI: 36.11
Rank: 10
1986 - Present
HPI: 28.50
Rank: 11