Sigmund Freud

About Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud, the Austrian neurologist who lived from 1856 to 1939, remains a towering figure in modern thought, earning him an Historical Popularity Index (HPI) rank of #76 among global historical figures. His lasting legacy stems primarily from developing psychoanalysis, a clinical method for treating mental illness through dialogue and the exploration of the unconscious mind, which fundamentally reshaped psychology, psychiatry, and Western culture.

Despite this high historical significance, Freud’s modern digital footprint shows a relative decline in immediate interest, with 2.2 million annualized Wikipedia views in 2025. This level of attention places him in an interesting spot, as his attention gap is calculated at +3x, indicating an *overattention* relative to his importance rank (#76). For context, he receives significantly fewer views than contemporaries like Elvis Presley (#224 importance, 6.1M views) or even an individual ranked much lower historically like Benjamin Netanyahu (#744 importance, 6.9M views).

While he commands more attention than his historical standing might predict based on the HPI model, his online interest is not without fluctuation. The annualized view count shows a year-over-year decrease of 14.2%, suggesting a gradual fading, though his recent Q1 versus Q3 momentum suggests a small rebound of +8% in the latest tracked period.