| Rank | Name | Influence |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Muhammad (570–632) | The central human figure of Islam, regarded by Muslims as the messenger and last prophet of God. Active as a social reformer, diplomat, merchant, philosopher, orator, legislator, and military leader. |
| 2 | Isaac Newton (1643–1727) | English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian. His law of universal gravitation and three laws of motion laid the groundwork for classical mechanics. |
| 3 | Jesus Christ (7–2 BC – AD 26–36) | The central figure of Christianity, revered by Christians as the Son of God and the incarnation of God. Also regarded as a major prophet in the religion of Islam. |
| 4 | Gautama Buddha (563 BC–483 BC) | Spiritual teacher, prince and philosopher. Founder of Buddhism. |
| 5 | Confucius (551 BC–479 BC) | Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese thought and life. |
| 6 | St. Paul (5–67) | One of the most notable of early Christian missionaries. |
| 7 | Ts'ai Lun (50–121) | Widely regarded as the inventor of paper and the papermaking process. |
| 8 | Johannes Gutenberg (1398–1468) | German printer who invented the mechanical printing press. |
| 9 | Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) | Italian navigator, colonizer and explorer whose voyages led to general European awareness of the American continents. |
| 10 | Albert Einstein (1879–1955) | German theoretical physicist, best known for his theory of relativity and specifically mass–energy equivalence, expressed by the equation E = mc2. |
What mainly surprised readers was the first person on Hart's list.[citation needed] Hart decided to choose Muhammad over Jesus or Moses. Hart attributes this to the fact that Muhammad was "supremely successful" in both the religious and secular realms. He also writes that Muhammad's role in the development of Islam is far more influential than Jesus's collaboration in the development of Christianity. He attributes the development of Christianity to St. Paul, who played a pivotal role in the dissemination of Christianity.
In addition, Hart wrote a 'sequel' in 1999, entitled A View from the Year 3000, in which he writes from the perspective of a person from that year ranking the most influential people in history. Roughly half of those entries are fictitious people from 2000–
