1596 - 1650
René Descartes ( day-KART or UK: DAY-kart; French: [ʁəne dekaʁt] ; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650): 58 was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Mathematics was paramount to his method of inquiry, and he connected the previously separate fields of geometry and algebra into analytic geometry. Descartes spent much of his working life in the Dutch Republic, initially serving the Dutch States Army, later becoming a central intellectual of the Dutch Golden Age. Read more on Wikipedia
Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of René Descartes has received more than 10,378,416 page views. His biography is available in 165 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 154 in 2019). René Descartes is the 6th most popular philosopher (up from 7th in 2019), the 3rd most popular biography from France and the most popular French Philosopher.
René Descartes is most famous for his philosophical statement, "I think, therefore I am."
Page Views (PV)
Historical Popularity Index (HPI)
Languages Editions (L)
Effective Languages (L*)
Coefficient of Variation (CV)
Among philosophers, René Descartes ranks 6 out of 1,081. Before him are Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Confucius, and Pythagoras. After him are Gautama Buddha, Immanuel Kant, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Avicenna, John Locke, and Niccolò Machiavelli.
384 BC - 321 BC
HPI: 96.24
Rank: 1
427 BC - 347 BC
HPI: 95.54
Rank: 2
470 BC - 399 BC
HPI: 94.34
Rank: 3
551 BC - 479 BC
HPI: 91.76
Rank: 4
570 BC - 495 BC
HPI: 91.39
Rank: 5
1596 - 1650
HPI: 90.95
Rank: 6
566 BC - 452 BC
HPI: 90.82
Rank: 7
1724 - 1804
HPI: 90.76
Rank: 8
1712 - 1778
HPI: 89.83
Rank: 9
980 - 1037
HPI: 89.56
Rank: 10
1632 - 1704
HPI: 88.31
Rank: 11
1469 - 1527
HPI: 88.12
Rank: 12
Among people born in 1596, René Descartes ranks 1. After him are Michael of Russia, Frederick V of the Palatinate, Pietro da Cortona, Jan van Goyen, Pieter Claesz, Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia, Nicola Amati, Peter Mogila, Emperor Go-Mizunoo, Baldassare Longhena, and Joan Blaeu. Among people deceased in 1650, René Descartes ranks 1. After him are William II, Prince of Orange, Dorgon, Tukaram, Matthäus Merian, Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency, Christoph Scheiner, Bernhardus Varenius, Catalina de Erauso, Claude Favre de Vaugelas, İbrahim Peçevi, and Jean Rotrou.
1596 - 1650
HPI: 90.95
Rank: 1
1596 - 1645
HPI: 72.01
Rank: 2
1596 - 1632
HPI: 69.33
Rank: 3
1596 - 1669
HPI: 65.84
Rank: 4
1596 - 1656
HPI: 63.70
Rank: 5
1596 - 1660
HPI: 63.48
Rank: 6
1596 - 1662
HPI: 62.95
Rank: 7
1596 - 1684
HPI: 61.90
Rank: 8
1596 - 1647
HPI: 59.57
Rank: 9
1596 - 1680
HPI: 59.55
Rank: 10
1596 - 1682
HPI: 59.25
Rank: 11
1596 - 1673
HPI: 58.43
Rank: 12
1596 - 1650
HPI: 90.95
Rank: 1
1626 - 1650
HPI: 66.48
Rank: 2
1612 - 1650
HPI: 66.01
Rank: 3
1608 - 1650
HPI: 63.65
Rank: 4
1593 - 1650
HPI: 59.34
Rank: 5
1594 - 1650
HPI: 58.58
Rank: 6
1575 - 1650
HPI: 57.79
Rank: 7
1622 - 1650
HPI: 57.74
Rank: 8
1592 - 1650
HPI: 57.33
Rank: 9
1585 - 1650
HPI: 49.79
Rank: 10
1574 - 1650
HPI: 49.50
Rank: 11
1609 - 1650
HPI: 49.37
Rank: 12
Among people born in France, René Descartes ranks 3 out of 6,011. Before him are Napoleon (1769) and Louis XIV of France (1638). After him are Joan of Arc (1412), Blaise Pascal (1623), Louis Pasteur (1822), Voltaire (1694), Victor Hugo (1802), Claude Monet (1840), Montesquieu (1689), Louis XVI of France (1754), and Jules Verne (1828).
1769 - 1821
HPI: 94.47
Rank: 1
1638 - 1715
HPI: 91.31
Rank: 2
1596 - 1650
HPI: 90.95
Rank: 3
1412 - 1431
HPI: 89.59
Rank: 4
1623 - 1662
HPI: 88.71
Rank: 5
1822 - 1895
HPI: 87.59
Rank: 6
1694 - 1778
HPI: 87.55
Rank: 7
1802 - 1885
HPI: 86.03
Rank: 8
1840 - 1926
HPI: 85.77
Rank: 9
1689 - 1755
HPI: 85.71
Rank: 10
1754 - 1793
HPI: 85.12
Rank: 11
1828 - 1905
HPI: 84.74
Rank: 12
Among philosophers born in France, René Descartes ranks 1. After him are Montesquieu (1689), Auguste Comte (1798), Michel de Montaigne (1533), Michel Foucault (1926), Henri Bergson (1859), Peter Abelard (1079), Jean Bodin (1530), Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809), Roland Barthes (1915), Henri de Saint-Simon (1760), and Charles Fourier (1772).
1596 - 1650
HPI: 90.95
Rank: 1
1689 - 1755
HPI: 85.71
Rank: 2
1798 - 1857
HPI: 83.37
Rank: 3
1533 - 1592
HPI: 80.18
Rank: 4
1926 - 1984
HPI: 79.32
Rank: 5
1859 - 1941
HPI: 78.59
Rank: 6
1079 - 1142
HPI: 76.98
Rank: 7
1530 - 1596
HPI: 75.37
Rank: 8
1809 - 1865
HPI: 74.09
Rank: 9
1915 - 1980
HPI: 73.91
Rank: 10
1760 - 1825
HPI: 73.62
Rank: 11
1772 - 1837
HPI: 72.99
Rank: 12