Michael HartEdit

Michael S. Hart (1952–2011) was an American computer scientist and the founder of Project Gutenberg, one of the earliest and most influential efforts to digitize and freely share literary and scholarly works. By creating a freely accessible online library in the 1970s, Hart helped pioneer the idea that knowledge could be distributed without gatekeeping, a concept that anticipates today’s open access and digital-library movements. His work established a model for private initiative and volunteer effort to expand public access to information.

Hart is also known for The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History (1978), a provocative book that assembled a list of historical figures across culture, religion, science, and politics and sparked broad discussion about how influence should be measured. The book remains controversial, in part because readers debate what counts as “influence,” how to weigh religious, scientific, and political impact, and whether the ranking reflects a particular set of judgments or biases. The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History

Hart’s work and writings reflect a strong belief in individual liberty, limited government, and the importance of public access to information. He framed public-domain works and freely distributed texts as a social good that accelerates learning and innovation. In this sense, his project and his writings sit at the crossroads of information freedom, private initiative, and the question of how best to reward authors and producers of culture while keeping knowledge within reach of ordinary people. His views resonate with a classical liberal emphasis on voluntary associations, low barriers to entry, and the idea that communities can organize to solve problems without heavy centralized control. Open access Public domain Libertarianism Free speech

Life and work

Early life and education Hart was born in 1952 and spent formative years in the United States. He attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where he began experimenting with computing and text processing, laying the groundwork for what would become Project Gutenberg. The impulse to make texts freely available grew out of a belief that information should be accessible to anyone with a computer and a connection to the network. The idea of using computing power to democratize reading found fertile ground in the university environment and among like-minded volunteers.

Project Gutenberg In 1971, Hart launched what would become Project Gutenberg as a volunteer-driven effort to digitize and distribute public-domain works. The project began with the goal of creating a freely accessible library that could be shared widely, free of price barriers and formal gatekeeping. The first text distributed on the project was the U.S. Declaration of Independence, distributed using a university computer terminal, a symbolic moment that illustrated the potential of digital distribution. The name “Project Gutenberg” evokes the work of Johannes Gutenberg and the broader tradition of making print knowledge more broadly available.

Over time, Project Gutenberg grew from a single-terminal undertaking into a worldwide initiative that leveraged volunteers and partnerships to expand the catalog and support multiple formats and languages. The project helped popularize the concept of a digital library—an organized collection of literature and reference works that relies on the internet to reach readers far beyond the confines of physical libraries. The model also highlighted the tension between open access and traditional publishing economics, a discussion that continues in the broader debates about open access and the public domain today. Declaration of Independence Digital library

The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History Hart’s The 100 presented a long-form argument about influence that drew on a broad range of historical phenomena—religion, science, politics, and culture. The compendium sought to provoke readers into reconsidering who truly shapes human civilizations and through what kinds of contributions. The choice to place certain figures at the top of the list—especially those who inspired massive social and religious movements—was controversial and prompted extensive commentary. Critics questioned the book’s methodology, its criteria for “influence,” and the potential biases that any single author brings to such a sweeping assessment. Proponents argued that the work served as a starting point for nimble discussion about the nature of influence, rather than a final, objective ranking. The debate continues in discussions of the work as a historical artifact and as a cultural artifact. Muhammad Isaac Newton Jesus Buddha The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History

Views, controversies, and reception Hart’s public stance on information freedom and the distribution of texts intersected with broader debates about copyright, compensation for authors, and the role of government in protecting or restricting access to knowledge. Supporters of Hart’s approach argued that voluntary, nonprofit digitization lowers barriers to education and accelerates discovery, especially in fields that depend on broad access to foundational texts. Critics—from some quarters of the publishing, library, and policy communities—have argued that widespread free distribution can undermine authors’ rights or the incentives for new, funded content creation. Proponents of Hart’s approach often respond by pointing to the existence of public-domain works, licensing frameworks, and the reality that much of Project Gutenberg’s catalog consists of texts no longer under copyright. The debate about the proper balance between access and compensation remains a live issue in discussions of copyright and open access.

Legacy Hart’s influence endures in the ongoing evolution of digital libraries and the open-access ethos that shapes contemporary scholarship and education. Project Gutenberg remains a landmark example of how private initiative and volunteer energy can seed a cultural infrastructure that many institutions later adopt or expand. The legacy also includes a broader cultural conversation about how to honor authors, reward labor, and structure incentives in a world where information can spread rapidly and freely. The conversations sparked by The 100 continue to inform discussions about how to evaluate historical influence and how to frame debates about the drivers of civilization. Project Gutenberg Public domain Open access

See also - Project Gutenberg - The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History - Muhammad - Jesus - Isaac Newton - Buddha - Open access - Public domain - Copyright - Digital library - Libertarianism - Free speech