Wired’s November 2012 article came with an infographic that showed off Wikipedia’s most searched influential people. Most of these people are dead, sadly. The graphic requires that all the people in question were born prior to 1950. Let’s take a look at the graphic and the list.
And the number one must researched person in all of Wikipedia is… Jesus Christ.
Which, well, duh. Y’know, the reason why Christmas, Christians and Christianity exist? I would imagine that people would be searching his Wikipedia page quite a bit.
Surprisingly, though, the second is that of Confucious. The ancient Chinese philosopher that is often misquoted (in humorous form, and intentionally misquoted, but still) took the second spot, with Sir Isaac Newton coming up third. Which, it’s nice to get a scientist in there. I would’ve guessed Galileo getting higher billing, but apparently I was wrong.
Here’s the infographic:
You might notice that Nelson Mandela made the list. Dude’s 94, and is the only person on this ranking chart to still be alive.
Anyway, if you want to take a look at the graphic in better detail, you can check out Wired’s November edition or check it out here.