Thomas Aquinas

About Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) stands as one of the most significant philosophers and theologians of the medieval era. As a Dominican friar, his monumental work, the Summa Theologica, synthesized Aristotelian philosophy with Christian doctrine, creating the foundation for much of subsequent Catholic theology. His profound influence across theology, metaphysics, and ethics secures his high historical ranking at #166 in MIT's Pantheon project.

Despite this deep historical importance, Aquinas’s modern online attention is relatively modest. He garnered 1.4 million annualized Wikipedia views in 2025, which translates to an "overattention" gap of +3x when measured against his HPI rank-suggesting internet users are paying slightly more attention to him than his historical placement might predict. However, his attention remains dwarfed by popular figures; for comparison, William the Conqueror (#934 importance) received 3.0M views in the same year, despite being ranked significantly lower in overall historical influence.

Looking at trends, Aquinas shows a positive year-over-year growth of +12.7% in pageviews, indicating sustained or growing interest. Yet, his short-term momentum is concerning, dropping by -19% between Q1 and Q3 of 2025, suggesting that while the long-term trend is up, recent interest has notably waned.