INVENTOR

Melvil Dewey

1851 - 1931

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Melville Louis Kossuth "Melvil" Dewey (December 10, 1851 – December 26, 1931) was an American librarian and educator who invented the Dewey Decimal system of library classification. He was a founder of the Lake Placid Club, a chief librarian at Columbia College, founder of what would later become the Columbia University School of Library Service, and a founding member of the American Library Association. Although Dewey's contributions to the modern library are widely recognized, his legacy is marred by his sexual harassment of female colleagues, as well as his racism and antisemitism. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Melvil Dewey is the 224th most popular inventor (down from 206th in 2019), the 3,938th most popular biography from United States (down from 3,038th in 2019) and the 58th most popular American Inventor.

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Among INVENTORS

Among inventors, Melvil Dewey ranks 224 out of 426. Before him are David Edward Hughes, Shigeo Shingo, Jethro Tull, Traian Vuia, Carl Wilhelm Siemens, and Oskar Barnack. After him are Elihu Thomson, Hubert Cecil Booth, Lillian Moller Gilbreth, Lars Magnus Ericsson, Laurens Hammond, and Thonmi Sambhota.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1851, Melvil Dewey ranks 50. Before him are Alois Jirásek, Luis Ricardo Falero, Taytu Betul, Roque Sáenz Peña, Edward Walter Maunder, and Émile Boirac. After him are Friedrich Sixt von Armin, David Starr Jordan, Charles Chamberland, Anton Haus, Alexandros Papadiamantis, and Viggo Johansen. Among people deceased in 1931, Melvil Dewey ranks 62. Before him are Felix Blumenfeld, Henri Mathias Berthelot, Louis Billot, Alexandre Darracq, Archduke Leopold Salvator of Austria, and Franz Schalk. After him are Gustaf Kossinna, Samad bey Mehmandarov, Xu Zhimo, Jean-Louis Forain, William Bates, and Wilson Bentley.

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Melvil Dewey ranks 3,938 out of 20,380. Before him are Kathy Baker (1950), Elizabeth McGovern (1961), Schuyler Colfax (1823), Samuel Little (1940), Donald E. Westlake (1933), and Randy Couture (1963). After him are Robert B. Anderson (1910), Susan Sullivan (1942), Dick Dale (1937), Christine Chubbuck (1944), Sandra Faber (1944), and Willy DeVille (1950).

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Among INVENTORS In United States

Among inventors born in United States, Melvil Dewey ranks 58. Before him are Larry Sanger (1968), Sequoyah (1770), Garrett Morgan (1877), J. Presper Eckert (1919), Eunice Newton Foote (1819), and Royal Rife (1888). After him are Lillian Moller Gilbreth (1878), Laurens Hammond (1895), John Wesley Hyatt (1837), Philo Farnsworth (1906), Charles Martin Hall (1863), and Marcian Hoff (1937).

American born Inventors

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