WRITER

William Kamkwamba

1987 - Today

Photo of William Kamkwamba

Icon of person William Kamkwamba

William Kamkwamba (born August 5, 1987, in Kasungu, Malawi), is a Malawian inventor, engineer, and author. He gained renown in his country in 2001 when he built a wind turbine to power multiple electrical appliances in his family's house in Wimbe, 23 kilometres (14 mi) east of Kasungu, using blue gum trees, bicycle parts, and materials collected in a local scrapyard. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of William Kamkwamba has received more than 1,698,834 page views. Her biography is available in 22 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 18 in 2019). William Kamkwamba is the 6,908th most popular writer (down from 6,118th in 2019), the 11th most popular biography from Malawi and the 2nd most popular Malawian Writer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 1.7M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 36.64

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 22

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 4.06

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.89

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
2012
The boy who harnessed the wind
Irrigation, JUVENILE NONFICTION / Science & Nature / Experiments & Projects, Windmills
"When 14-year-old William Kamkwamba's Malawi village was hit by a drought in 2001, everyone's crops began to fail. His family didn't have enough money for food, let alone school, so William spent his days in the library. He came across a book on windmills and figured out how to build a windmill that could bring electricity to his village. Everyone thought he was crazy but William persevered and managed to create a functioning windmill out of junkyard scraps. Several years later he figured out how to use the windmill for irrigation purposes"--
2009
El chico que puso hélices al viento
2013

Page views of William Kamkwambas by language

Over the past year William Kamkwamba has had the most page views in the with 204,415 views, followed by Spanish (43,285), and Portuguese (19,305). In terms of yearly growth of page views the top 3 wikpedia editions are Persian (120.17%), Malagasy (94.08%), and Burmese (92.45%)

Among WRITERS

Among writers, William Kamkwamba ranks 6,908 out of 7,302. Before her are Robert B. Spencer, François Bégaudeau, Alice Dunbar Nelson, Paul Attanasio, Stephen Thomas Erlewine, and David Nicholls. After her are Laurent Gaudé, Natalya Vorozhbyt, Mark Manson, Alexey Dreev, Vicenç Pagès, and Sidney Lanier.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1987, William Kamkwamba ranks 376. Before her are Jessica Rothe, Tsvetana Pironkova, Samantha Bentley, Beat Feuz, Tigran Hamasyan, and Ronan Farrow. After her are Guram Kashia, Michael Kiwanuka, Reza Ghoochannejhad, Yi Jianlian, The Korean Zombie, and Robin Haase.

Others Born in 1987

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In Malawi

Among people born in Malawi, William Kamkwamba ranks 11 out of 15. Before her are Peter Mutharika (1940), Bakili Muluzi (1941), Abeid Karume (1905), Theresa Kachindamoto (1950), Michelle Paver (1960), and Anthea Stewart (1944). After her are Cate Campbell (1992), Russell Mwafulirwa (1983), Jabulani Linje (1994), and Bronte Campbell (1994).

Others born in Malawi

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Among WRITERS In Malawi

Among writers born in Malawi, William Kamkwamba ranks 2. Before her are Michelle Paver (1960).

Malawian born Writers

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