Henry Dunant

About Henry Dunant

Henry Dunant (1828–1910) was a Swiss humanitarian whose life's work led to the foundation of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the establishment of the Geneva Conventions. His tireless advocacy for neutral protection for the wounded on battlefields stemmed from his experience witnessing the aftermath of the Battle of Solferino in 1859. This profound contribution to international law and human rights efforts secures his ranking as the #636 most historically important figure according to MIT’s Pantheon project.

Despite this high historical standing, Dunant currently experiences a significant **Attention Gap**, registering an "underattention" factor of -3x. In 2025, his Wikipedia page views tallied approximately 131K. This level of modern online engagement is notably lower than that of figures like Helen Keller, another social activist, who garnered 2.6 million views, despite Keller ranking lower at #917 in historical importance. The data suggests a substantial disconnect between Dunant’s recognized historical influence and contemporary internet curiosity.

Furthermore, the current trajectory indicates declining interest, with his Year-over-Year change at -1.4% and momentum between Q1 and Q3 of 2025 dropping by -3%, suggesting his legacy continues to fade from the forefront of online awareness.