karl
December 20th, 2013, 12:47 PM
Just one Spaniard rates among the 100 most important people in history, according to a new software programme which ranks millions of online pages.
The rankings point to Jesus Christ as the most important man in history, while French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte came second and the Prophet Mohammed was third.
Also in the top ten are Adolf Hitler — at number seven — and Abraham Lincoln who nabbed the fifth spot.
But only one Spaniard in the top 100: is 16th century King Phillip II of Spain in 87th place.
Under Philip II Spain, reached the height of its imperial power, with its empire stretching across Europe and the Americas and into south-east Asia. The Philippines are named after the king.
Philip II— who married Mary I of England and served as King of England, Ireland and Portugal at various points — was given the rating in a table created by Google engineer Charles Ward and Steven Skiena.
The ranking of influential people uses new software to collate millions of online opinions using the same method as Google’s ranking of web pages, the Washington Post reported.
The programme trawls the web for opinions expressed about famous people and then uses a special 'reputation decay algorithm' to determine the significance of the world’s most important figures and how it would change after 200 years. They published their findings in a new book entitled "Who's Bigger".
For Ward and his team it was not important the reason why the figures were famous just that their fame stands the test of time.
Critics have pointed to the authors' use of English-language only Wikipedia and Google ngrams as the basis of their research. The use of the error-prone Wikipedia where only 15 percent of editors are women has also been criticized.
Full story here: http://www.thelocal.es/20131217/named-the-most-influential-spaniard-ever
The rankings point to Jesus Christ as the most important man in history, while French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte came second and the Prophet Mohammed was third.
Also in the top ten are Adolf Hitler — at number seven — and Abraham Lincoln who nabbed the fifth spot.
But only one Spaniard in the top 100: is 16th century King Phillip II of Spain in 87th place.
Under Philip II Spain, reached the height of its imperial power, with its empire stretching across Europe and the Americas and into south-east Asia. The Philippines are named after the king.
Philip II— who married Mary I of England and served as King of England, Ireland and Portugal at various points — was given the rating in a table created by Google engineer Charles Ward and Steven Skiena.
The ranking of influential people uses new software to collate millions of online opinions using the same method as Google’s ranking of web pages, the Washington Post reported.
The programme trawls the web for opinions expressed about famous people and then uses a special 'reputation decay algorithm' to determine the significance of the world’s most important figures and how it would change after 200 years. They published their findings in a new book entitled "Who's Bigger".
For Ward and his team it was not important the reason why the figures were famous just that their fame stands the test of time.
Critics have pointed to the authors' use of English-language only Wikipedia and Google ngrams as the basis of their research. The use of the error-prone Wikipedia where only 15 percent of editors are women has also been criticized.
Full story here: http://www.thelocal.es/20131217/named-the-most-influential-spaniard-ever