Karl Popper

About Karl Popper

Karl Popper (1902-1994) was an immensely influential 20th-century philosopher, best known for developing the concept of falsifiability as a criterion for demarcating science from non-science. This key contribution to the philosophy of science, alongside his critical stance on historicism and his defense of the 'Open Society' against totalitarianism, secures his position as a highly ranked figure, earning him the #919 spot in MIT's Historical Popularity Index.

Despite his profound historical importance, Popper’s online attention in 2025 appears relatively modest. He garnered 446K Wikipedia views, indicating a near-perfect alignment with his historical significance, with an Attention Gap of approximately $1 ext{x}$ when compared to the Pantheon project's benchmark. This stability contrasts sharply with figures like Evangelista Torricelli (#495 importance, only $60 ext{K}$ views), who ranks significantly higher historically but receives substantially less modern attention.

Looking closer at recent trends, Popper shows slight positive growth, with his 2025 pageviews up by $7.0\%$ year-over-year. However, a recent dip of $-7\%$ between Q1 and Q3 suggests that, while his profile is holding steady, the intellectual momentum around his key ideas may be subtly waning in the immediate digital sphere.