The Most Influential Women in History
Across every era and field, these women shaped history despite the barriers of their times — as rulers, scientists, scholars and pioneers whose influence endures.
- 1 90
Cleopatra VII
Ruler · 69 BC – 30 BC
Cleopatra VII was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, a shrewd and learned monarch whose alliances with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony placed her at the center of Roman politics.
- 2 89
Elizabeth I
Queen · 1533 – 1603
Elizabeth I was Queen of England from 1558 to 1603, whose long and stable reign — the Elizabethan era — saw a golden age of culture, the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and England's rise as a sea power.
- 3 88
Jane Austen
Novelist · 1775 – 1817
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose witty, incisive novels of manners, including Pride and Prejudice and Emma, are masterpieces of English literature and remain enduringly popular.
- 4 87
Catherine II of Russia
Empress · 1729 – 1796
Catherine the Great was Empress of Russia for more than three decades, an enlightened despot who expanded the empire, modernized its administration, and made her court a brilliant centre of art and learning.
- 5 86
Florence Nightingale
Nurse · 1820 – 1910
Florence Nightingale was an English social reformer and statistician, the founder of modern nursing, whose work in the Crimean War and pioneering use of data transformed hospital care and public health.
- 6 85
Joan of Arc
Military Leader · 1412 – 1431
Joan of Arc was a peasant girl who, believing herself guided by divine visions, led French forces to crucial victories in the Hundred Years' War before being captured, tried and burned at the stake — and later made a saint.
- 7 85
Mary Wollstonecraft
Writer · 1759 – 1797
Mary Wollstonecraft was an English Enlightenment writer and philosopher, a pioneer of feminist thought whose A Vindication of the Rights of Woman argued for the education and equality of women.
- 8 85
Rosalind Franklin
Chemist · 1920 – 1958
Rosalind Franklin was an English chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose images of DNA were crucial to discovering its double-helix structure, a contribution long under-recognized.
- 9 84
Ada Lovelace
Mathematician · 1815 – 1852
Ada Lovelace was an English mathematician widely regarded as the first computer programmer, who saw that Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine could go beyond calculation to manipulate symbols of any kind.
- 10 84
Hildegard of Bingen
Composer · 1098 – 1179
Hildegard of Bingen was a German Benedictine abbess and one of the most remarkable polymaths of the Middle Ages — a visionary, composer, writer, healer and natural philosopher.
- 11 84
Hypatia
Mathematician · 360 – 415
Hypatia was a mathematician, astronomer and Neoplatonist philosopher of late-antique Alexandria, the most prominent woman scholar of the ancient world, whose brutal murder came to symbolize the end of classical learning.
- 12 83
Hatshepsut
Pharaoh · 1507 BC – 1458 BC
Hatshepsut was one of the few women to rule ancient Egypt as pharaoh in her own right, a peaceful and prosperous reign marked by ambitious building projects and far-reaching trade.