Jean le Rond d'Alembert

About Jean le Rond d'Alembert

Jean le Rond d'Alembert (1717–1783) was a towering figure of the French Enlightenment, primarily celebrated as a mathematician and philosopher. His importance is cemented by his foundational work on calculus and, most notably, his role as the co-editor-alongside Denis Diderot-of the monumental Encyclopédie, a project that sought to compile and systematize all human knowledge, fundamentally challenging established authority. This intellectual effort places him highly in historical rankings, achieving an HPI Rank of #988 in MIT's Pantheon project.

Despite his significant historical role, d'Alembert’s modern internet attention is notably low. In 2025, his Wikipedia page garnered only 79K views, resulting in an Attention Gap of -4x, indicating severe underattention relative to his historical importance. To contextualize this, he receives roughly four times fewer annual views than a figure ranked significantly higher in historical importance, such as Huang Xianfan (#130 importance, 19K views) [Correction: Huang Xianfan received fewer views than d'Alembert, use Theodora for contrast], or a figure like Theodora (#599 importance, 17K views) who receives far less traffic. D'Alembert's attention is notably meager when benchmarked against figures with comparable influence in physics and mathematics; for example, a figure whose work underpins much of modern physics is Isaac Newton's laws of motion.

His attention level shows a slight decline, with a year-over-year change of -10.6%, although his recent quarterly momentum has remained stable, suggesting a persistent, yet low, baseline of public interest.