WRITER

Voltaire

1694 - 1778

Photo of Voltaire

Icon of person Voltaire

François-Marie Arouet (French: [fʁɑ̃swa maʁi aʁwɛ]; 21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778), known by his nom de plume M. de Voltaire (, US also ; French: [vɔltɛːʁ]), was a French Enlightenment writer, philosopher (philosophe), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit and his criticism of Christianity (especially of the Roman Catholic Church) and of slavery, Voltaire was an advocate of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a versatile and prolific writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, histories, and even scientific expositions. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Voltaire has received more than 11,498,644 page views. His biography is available in 170 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 155 in 2019). Voltaire is the 9th most popular writer (down from 8th in 2019), the 6th most popular biography from France (up from 7th in 2019) and the most popular French Writer.

Voltaire is most famous for his wit and satire, as well as for his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state.

Memorability Metrics

  • 11M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 86.81

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 170

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 13.61

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.97

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Voltaire ranks 9 out of 7,302. Before him are William Shakespeare, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Edgar Allan Poe, Fyodor Dostoevsky, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Lord Byron. After him are Hans Christian Andersen, Leo Tolstoy, Victor Hugo, Sophocles, Franz Kafka, and Miguel de Cervantes.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1694, Voltaire ranks 1. After him are François Quesnay, Yeongjo of Joseon, Francis Hutcheson, Louis-Claude Daquin, Leonardo Leo, Charlotte Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Georg Brandt, Paul of the Cross, Hermann Samuel Reimarus, Theodore of Corsica, and Henry Pelham. Among people deceased in 1778, Voltaire ranks 3. Before him are Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Carl Linnaeus. After him are Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Laura Bassi, Anna Maria Mozart, James Hargreaves, Louis Victor, Prince of Carignano, William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, Étienne-Gabriel Morelly, Thomas Arne, and Alvise Giovanni Mocenigo.

Others Born in 1694

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Others Deceased in 1778

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In France

Among people born in France, Voltaire ranks 6 out of 6,770. Before him are Napoleon (1769), Louis XIV of France (1638), René Descartes (1596), Blaise Pascal (1623), and Joan of Arc (1412). After him are Victor Hugo (1802), Louis Pasteur (1822), Louis XVI of France (1754), Claude Monet (1840), Jules Verne (1828), and Montesquieu (1689).

Others born in France

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Among WRITERS In France

Among writers born in France, Voltaire ranks 1. After him are Victor Hugo (1802), Jules Verne (1828), Molière (1622), Honoré de Balzac (1799), Jean-Paul Sartre (1905), Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900), Denis Diderot (1713), Alexandre Dumas (1802), Charles Baudelaire (1821), Émile Zola (1840), and Stendhal (1783).

French born Writers

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