David Ben-Gurion

About David Ben-Gurion

David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973) was the preeminent political leader of the Zionist movement and is recognized as the first Prime Minister of Israel. His singular historical importance stems from his role in declaring the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, effectively translating decades of political effort into a sovereign nation. MIT's Pantheon project ranks this foundational modern statesman as #986 in global historical importance across time and culture.

Despite this high historical ranking, Ben-Gurion's modern internet attention shows a degree of relative overattention. With 965K annualized Wikipedia views in 2025, his attention is over 3x what would be expected based on his HPI score, earning him an "Attention Gap" score of +3x. This contrasts sharply with figures of similar historical weight; for example, P. J. Abdul Kalam, ranked just slightly lower at #990, attracts 2.4 million views, suggesting a significantly stronger contemporary digital presence within the political sphere.

Furthermore, interest in Ben-Gurion is not static, as evidenced by a substantial surge in digital engagement: his 2025 momentum shows a +41% increase when comparing Q1 to Q3 traffic, accompanied by a healthy year-over-year view change of +9.1%.