Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/3

Overview
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Vital articles is a list of basic subjects for which Wikipedia should have a corresponding high-quality article, and ideally a featured article. It also serves as a centralized watchlist and tracks the status of some of Wikipedia's most essential articles. Featured articles are marked with (), A-class articles with (), Good articles with (), B-class articles with (), C-class articles with (), Start-class articles with (), and Stub-class articles with (). These symbols are updated manually and may be out of date; you are encouraged to fix any errors you discover.

This page lists 1,000 of the most vital Wikipedia articles (Level 3 vital articles) — actually 989, with final additions to be made later. An expanded version, eventually to number 10,000 articles, is available at Wikipedia:Vital articles/Expanded (Level 4). There is also a shorter list of 100 articles at Wikipedia:Vital 100 (Level 2), and the "top 10" at Wikipedia:Vital 10 (Level 1).

This list is tailored to the English Wikipedia. For another list of 1,000 articles considered important for inclusion in Wikipedias of all languages, see m:List of articles every Wikipedia should have.

For more information on this list and the process for adding articles, please see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page.

People (124 articles)

Artists

1. Claude Monet
2. Diego Velázquez
3. El Greco
4. Hokusai
5. Leonardo da Vinci
6. Michelangelo
7. Pablo Picasso
8. Rembrandt
9. Salvador Dalí
10. Vincent van Gogh

Authors

1. Homer
2. Sophocles
3. Virgil
4. Li Bai
5. Rumi
6. Dante Alighieri
7. William Shakespeare
8. Miguel de Cervantes
9. Molière
10. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
11. Edgar Allan Poe
12. Fyodor Dostoyevsky
13. Leo Tolstoy
14. James Joyce
15. Franz Kafka
16. Pablo Neruda

Composers and musicians

1. Johann Sebastian Bach
2. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
3. Ludwig van Beethoven
4. Frédéric Chopin
5. Giuseppe Verdi
6. Richard Wagner
7. Igor Stravinsky
8. Bing Crosby
9. Elvis Presley
10. The Beatles
11. Michael Jackson

Explorers

1. Roald Amundsen
2. Jacques Cartier
3. Christopher Columbus
4. James Cook
5. Ferdinand Magellan
6. Marco Polo
7. Ibn Battuta
8. Zheng He
9. Vasco da Gama

Inventors and scientists

1. Nicolaus Copernicus
2. Charles Darwin
3. Thomas Edison
4. Albert Einstein
5. Michael Faraday
6. Galileo Galilei
7. Jābir ibn Hayyān
8. Antoine Lavoisier
9. Carl Linnaeus
10. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
11. Isaac Newton
12. Benjamin Franklin
13. John Dalton
14. Nikola Tesla
15. Sigmund Freud
16. Niels Bohr
17. Marie Curie
18. Dmitri Mendeleev

Mathematicians

1. Archimedes
2. Euclid
3. Leonhard Euler
4. Carl Friedrich Gauss
5. Kurt Gödel
6. David Hilbert
7. Gottfried Leibniz
8. Blaise Pascal
9. Henri Poincaré
10. Pythagoras
11. Alan Turing
12. Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī

Philosophers and social scientists

1. Confucius
2. Socrates
3. Plato
4. Aristotle
5. Adi Shankara
6. Nagarjuna
7. Avicenna
8. Thomas Aquinas
9. Ibn Khaldun
10. René Descartes
11. John Locke
12. Immanuel Kant
13. Karl Marx
14. Friedrich Nietzsche
15. Max Weber

Religious figures

1. Abraham
2. Moses
3. Gautama Buddha
4. Guru Nanak Dev
5. Zoroaster
6. Laozi
7. Jesus
8. Mary (mother of Jesus)
9. Muhammad
10. Ali
11. Martin Luther

Politicians and leaders

1. Hammurabi
2. Ramesses II
3. Cyrus the Great
4. Pericles
5. Alexander the Great
6. Qin Shi Huang
7. Julius Caesar
8. Augustus
9. Constantine the Great
10. Attila
11. Charlemagne
12. Genghis Khan
13. Joan of Arc
14. Suleiman the Magnificent
15. Elizabeth I of England
16. Napoleon
17. Abraham Lincoln
18. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
19. Joseph Stalin
20. Adolf Hitler
21. Mao Zedong
22. Nelson Mandela

History (63 articles)

1. History
2. Civilization
3. History of the world
4. History of Africa
5. History of the Americas
6. History of China
7. History of Europe
8. History of India
9. History of Japan
10. History of the Middle East

Prehistory to Middle Ages

1. Prehistory
2. Ancient history
3. Stone Age
   1. Mesopotamia
   2. Neolithic Revolution
   3. Sumer
4. Bronze Age
   1. Ancient Egypt
   2. Assyria
   3. Indus Valley Civilization
5. Iron Age
   1. Ancient Greece
   2. Ancient Rome
   3. Achaemenid Empire
6. Middle Ages
   1. Black Death
   2. Byzantine Empire
   3. Crusades
   4. East–West Schism
   5. Holy Roman Empire
   6. Islamic Golden Age
   7. Mongol Empire
   8. Ottoman Empire
   9. Viking Age

Renaissance to present

1. Renaissance
2. Protestant Reformation
3. Age of Discovery
4. European colonization of the Americas
5. Scientific revolution
6. Age of Enlightenment
7. History of the United States
8. Industrial Revolution
9. French Revolution
10. Napoleonic Wars
11. Abolitionism
12. Scramble for Africa
13. British Empire
14. Russian Empire
15. Soviet Union
16. Women's suffrage
17. World War I
18. Great Depression
19. World War II
20. Nazi Germany
21. Cold War
22. Arab–Israeli conflict
23. Islamism
24. Korean War
25. Civil rights movement
26. Cultural Revolution
27. Space exploration
28. Revolutions of 1989
29. September 11 attacks

Geography (82 articles)

1. Geography
2. Forest
3. Glacier

Bodies of water

1. Ocean
   1. Arctic Ocean
   2. Atlantic Ocean
   3. Indian Ocean
   4. Pacific Ocean
   5. Southern Ocean
2. Sea
   1. Caribbean Sea
   2. Mediterranean Sea
3. Lake
   1. Caspian Sea
   2. Great Lakes
   3. Lake Baikal
   4. Lake Victoria
4. River
   1. Amazon River
   2. Mississippi River
   3. Nile
   4. Yangtze River
5. Great Barrier Reef

Cities

1. City
   1. Beijing
   2. Cairo
   3. Delhi
   4. Istanbul
   5. Jakarta
   6. Jerusalem
   7. London
   8. Mexico City
   9. Moscow
   10. New York City
   11. Paris
   12. Rome
   13. São Paulo
   14. Singapore
   15. Tokyo

Continents and regions

1. Continent
   1. Africa
   2. Antarctica
   3. Asia
   4. Europe
   5. North America
   6. South America
2. Latin America
3. Oceania
4. Middle East
5. Arctic

Countries

1. Country
   1. Australia
   2. Bangladesh
   3. Brazil
   4. Canada
   5. China
   6. Egypt
   7. France
   8. Germany
   9. India
   10. Indonesia
   11. Italy
   12. Japan
   13. Mexico
   14. Nigeria
   15. Pakistan
   16. Philippines
   17. Russia
   18. South Africa
   19. Spain
   20. Turkey
   21. United Kingdom
   22. United States

Mountains, valleys and deserts

1. Desert
   1. Sahara
2. Mountain
   1. Alps
   2. Andes
   3. Himalayas
      1. Mount Everest
   4. Rocky Mountains
3. Grand Canyon

Arts and culture (62 articles)

1. Art
2. History of art
3. Aesthetics
4. Library
5. Museum

Artistic movements

1. Gothic art
2. Baroque
3. Romanticism
4. Modernism
5. Postmodernism
6. Popular culture

Literature

1. Literature
2. History of literature
3. Book
4. Fiction
5. Poetry
6. Prose
   1. Novel
   2. Short story
7. Works
   1. Don Quixote
   2. Epic of Gilgamesh
   3. Iliad
   4. Mahabharata
   5. Shahnameh

Music

1. Music
2. History of classical music traditions
3. Musical instrument
4. Singing
5. Genres
   1. Classical music
   2. Folk music
   3. Hip hop music
   4. Jazz
   5. Pop music
   6. Rock music

Performing arts

1. Performing arts
2. Dance
3. Film
4. Opera
   1. Orchestra
5. Theatre
   1. Comedy
   2. Tragedy
   3. Drama
   4. Musical theatre

Visual arts

1. Visual arts
2. Architecture
   1. Angkor Wat
   2. Colosseum
   3. Fallingwater
   4. Great Pyramid of Giza
   5. Great Wall of China
   6. Machu Picchu
   7. Parthenon
   8. Stonehenge
   9. Taj Mahal
3. History of painting
4. Comics
5. Drawing
6. Painting
7. Fine art
8. Mona Lisa
9. Photography
10. Pottery
11. Sculpture

Philosophy and religion (74 articles)

Philosophy

1. Philosophy
2. Philosophical branches
   1. Ethics
      1. The Golden Rule
      2. Good and evil
   2. Epistemology
      1. Belief
      2. Knowledge
      3. Reason
      4. Truth
   3. Logic
   4. Metaphysics
      1. Existence
      2. Ontology
      3. Free will
3. Philosophy by region and period
   1. Western philosophy
      1. Ancient Greek philosophy
      2. Medieval philosophy
      3. Contemporary philosophy
   2. Eastern philosophy
      1. Chinese philosophy
      2. Indian philosophy
      3. Islamic philosophy
4. Philosophical movements
   1. Confucianism
   2. Humanism
   3. Marxism

Religion

1. Religion
2. Afterlife
3. Deity
   1. God
   2. Goddess
4. Mythology
5. Mysticism
6. Soul
7. Spirituality
8. Meditation
9. Prayer
10. Worship
11. Theistic philosophies
    1. Theism
    2. Agnosticism
    3. Atheism
    4. Deism
    5. Gnosticism
    6. Pantheism
    7. Polytheism
    8. Shamanism

Specific religions

1. Bahá'í Faith
2. Buddhism
   1. Mahayana
   2. Theravada
   3. Vajrayana
3. Christianity
   1. Bible
   2. Catholic Church
   3. Eastern Orthodox Church
   4. Protestantism
4. Hinduism
   1. Vedas
   2. Upanishads
   3. Bhagavad Gita
   4. Shaktism
   5. Krishna
   6. Kali
5. Islam
   1. Five Pillars of Islam
   2. Islamic schools and branches
   3. Quran
6. Jainism
7. Judaism
   1. Tanakh
   2. Talmud
8. Shinto
9. Sikhism
   1. Guru Granth Sahib
10. Taoism

Everyday life (87 articles)

1. Clothing
2. Cooking
3. Color
4. Emotion
   1. Anger
   2. Fear
   3. Love
   4. Happiness
5. Family
   1. Adult
   2. Child
   3. Infant
   4. Marriage
6. Furniture
7. Gender
   1. Man
   2. Woman
8. Mind
   1. Consciousness
   2. Thought
9. Personal life
10. Sexuality
11. Sleep
    1. Dream

Food and drink

1. Food
   1. Bread
   2. Cereal
   3. Cheese
   4. Egg
   5. Fruit
   6. Maize
   7. Meat
   8. Nut
   9. Potato
   10. Rice
   11. Soybean
   12. Spice
   13. Vegetable
   14. Wheat
2. Drink
   1. Beer
   2. Coffee
   3. Drinking water
   4. Milk
   5. Tea
   6. Wine

Language

1. Language
2. Alphabet
   1. Letter
   2. Arabic alphabet
   3. Brahmic scripts
   4. Chinese characters
   5. Cyrillic alphabet
   6. Latin alphabet
   7. Greek alphabet
3. Grammar
4. Word
5. Writing
6. Specific languages
   1. Arabic language
   2. Bengali language
   3. Chinese language
   4. English language
   5. French language
   6. German language
   7. Greek language
   8. Hindustani language
   9. Japanese language
   10. Latin
   11. Portuguese language
   12. Russian language
   13. Spanish language
   14. Tamil language
7. Indo-European languages

Recreation and entertainment

1. Recreation
2. Game
   1. Board game
   2. Card game
   3. Chess
   4. Go
   5. Video game
3. Gambling
4. Sport
   1. Association football
   2. Cricket
   3. Olympics
   4. Track and field
5. Toy

Society and social sciences (93 articles)

1. Society
2. Community
3. Culture

Social issues

1. Abortion
2. Civil liberties
3. Discrimination
   1. Racism
   2. Sexism
4. Education
5. Environmentalism
6. Feminism
7. Freedom
   1. Slavery
8. Globalization
9. Human rights
10. Humanitarianism
11. Law
    1. Capital punishment
    2. Constitution
    3. Crime
    4. Justice
    5. Police
    6. Property
12. Peace
    1. Terrorism
    2. War
13. Pollution
14. Poverty
15. Privacy
16. Suicide

Business and economics

1. Business
   1. Corporation
   2. Finance
   3. Management
   4. Tax
2. Economics
   1. Employment
   2. Good
   3. Market
   4. Service
   5. Trade
3. Industry
   1. Agriculture
   2. History of agriculture
   3. Construction
   4. Factory
   5. Fishing industry
   6. Manufacturing
   7. Mining
   8. Retail
4. Money
   1. Euro
   2. United States dollar

Media

1. Advertising
2. Broadcasting
3. Journalism
4. Magazine
5. Mass media
6. News
7. Newspaper
8. Publishing

Politics and government

1. Politics
   1. Colonialism
   2. Conservatism
   3. Imperialism
   4. Liberalism
   5. Nationalism
2. Government
   1. Anarchism
   2. Capitalism
   3. Communism
   4. Democracy
   5. Dictatorship
   6. Fascism
   7. Monarchy
   8. Socialism
   9. Theocracy
3. State
   1. Diplomacy
   2. Military
4. Specific political and governmental institutions
   1. European Union
   2. International Monetary Fund
   3. International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
   4. NATO
   5. Nobel Prize
   6. United Nations
   7. World Health Organization
   8. World Trade Organization

Social sciences

1. Social science
   1. Anthropology
   2. Political science
   3. Psychology
   4. Sociology

Health and medicine (43 articles)

Disease

1. Disease
2. Alzheimer's disease
3. Cancer
4. Cholera
5. Common cold
6. Diabetes mellitus
7. Dysentery
8. Influenza
9. Malaria
10. Parkinson's disease
11. Plague
12. Sexually transmitted disease
    1. AIDS
    2. Syphilis
13. Smallpox
14. Tuberculosis

Health and fitness

1. Health
2. Hygiene
3. Obesity
4. Stress
5. Addiction
6. Drug
   1. Alcoholic beverage
   2. Smoking
7. Nutrition

Medicine

1. Medicine
2. Birth control
3. Disability
   1. Autism
   2. Blindness
   3. Hearing impairment
   4. Mental disorder
4. Physical trauma
   1. Bone fracture
   2. Brain damage
   3. Burn
   4. Frostbite
   5. Bleeding
   6. Inflammation
   7. Stroke
5. Pharmaceutical drug
   1. Antibiotic
   2. Vaccine
6. Physician

Science (191 articles)

1. Science
2. History of science
3. Nature
4. Philosophy of science
5. Scientific method

Astronomy

1. Astronomy
2. Asteroid
3. Big Bang
4. Black hole
5. Galaxy
   1. Milky Way
6. Natural satellite
7. Orbit
8. Outer space
9. Physical cosmology
10. Planet
11. Solar System
    1. Sun
    2. Mercury
    3. Venus
    4. Earth
       1. Moon
    5. Mars
    6. Asteroid belt
    7. Jupiter
    8. Saturn
    9. Uranus
    10. Neptune
12. Star
13. Supernova
14. Universe

Biology

1. Biology
2. Life
   1. Death
   2. Extinction
3. Abiogenesis
4. Anatomy
   1. Nervous system
      1. Brain
   2. Gastrointestinal tract
   3. Circulatory system
      1. Blood
      2. Heart
   4. Immune system
   5. Kidney
   6. Liver
   7. Lung
   8. Muscle
   9. Skin
   10. Skeleton
5. Reproduction
   1. Female
   2. Male
   3. Pregnancy
   4. Sex
      1. Homosexuality
6. Botany
7. Cell
8. Ecology
   1. Ecosystem
9. Evolution
   1. Genetic drift
   2. Natural selection
10. Genetics
    1. DNA
    2. Gene
    3. Heredity
    4. RNA
11. Organism
    1. Animal
       1. Amphibian
       2. Animal husbandry
       3. Bird
       4. Dinosaur
       5. Domestication
       6. Fish
       7. Insect
       8. Mammal
          1. Human
       9. Reptile
    2. Archaea
    3. Bacteria
    4. Eukaryote
    5. Fungus
    6. Plant
       1. Flower
       2. Seed
       3. Tree
    7. Algae
12. Photosynthesis
13. Species
14. Virus
15. Zoology

Chemistry

1. Chemistry
2. Biochemistry
3. Organic chemistry
4. Inorganic chemistry
5. Physical chemistry
6. Acid
7. Alloy
   1. Bronze
   2. Steel
8. Atom
9. Base
10. Catalysis
11. Chemical bond
12. Chemical compound
    1. Carbon dioxide
    2. Oil
    3. Salt
    4. Water
13. Chemical element
    1. Aluminium
    2. Carbon
    3. Copper
    4. Gold
    5. Hydrogen
    6. Iron
    7. Nitrogen
    8. Oxygen
    9. Silicon
    10. Silver
14. Chemical reaction
15. Crystal
16. Electrolysis
17. Glass
18. Ion
19. Metal
20. Mineral
21. Molecule
22. Periodic table

Earth science

1. Earth science
2. History of the Earth
3. Geology
   1. Earthquake
   2. Erosion
   3. Plate tectonics
   4. Rock
   5. Volcano
4. Atmosphere of Earth
   1. Climate
   2. Cloud
   3. Flood
   4. Global warming
   5. Meteorology
   6. Rain
   7. Tornado
   8. Tropical cyclone
   9. Weather
5. Oceanography

Physics

1. Physics
2. Particle physics
   1. Standard Model
   2. Subatomic particle
      1. Electron
      2. Neutrino
      3. Neutron
      4. Photon
      5. Proton
3. Classical mechanics
   1. Newton's laws of motion
4. Energy
   1. Kinetic energy
   2. Potential energy
5. Force
   1. Electromagnetism
   2. Gravitation
   3. Strong interaction
   4. Weak interaction
6. Heat
   1. Temperature
7. Light
   1. Electromagnetic radiation
   2. Optics
   3. Speed of light
8. Mass
9. Matter
   1. State of matter
10. Measurement
    1. Imperial and US customary measurement systems
    2. Metric system
11. Motion
12. Quantum mechanics
13. Sound
14. Space
15. Thermodynamics
16. Theory of relativity
17. Time
    1. Day
    2. Year
18. Vacuum

Technology (108 articles)

1. Technology
2. History of technology
3. Engineering
4. Artificial intelligence
5. Biotechnology
6. Genetic engineering
7. Nuclear technology
8. Tool

Energy

1. Electricity
2. Geothermal electricity
3. Hydropower
4. Nuclear power
5. Petroleum
6. Solar energy
7. Wind power

Electronics

1. Electronics
2. Battery
3. Incandescent light bulb
4. Integrated circuit
5. Semiconductor device
6. Transistor

Mechanical and structural engineering

1. Mechanical engineering
2. Engine
   1. Electric motor
   2. Internal combustion engine
   3. Jet engine
   4. Steam engine
3. Robot
4. Simple machine
5. Wheel
6. Arch
7. Bridge
8. Canal
9. Dam
10. House
11. Infrastructure
12. Pyramid
13. Tower

Transportation

1. Transport
2. Aircraft
3. Automobile
4. Bicycle
5. Rail transport
6. Ship

Information technology

1. Information technology
2. Abacus
3. Calculator
4. Computer
5. Cryptography

Optical

1. Camera
2. Laser
3. Lens
4. Microscope
5. Telescope

Media and communication

1. Telecommunication
2. Email
3. Internet
4. Mobile phone
5. Printing
6. Radio
7. Telephone
8. Television
9. Video
10. World Wide Web

Navigation and timekeeping

1. Navigation
2. Calendar
3. Clock
4. Compass
5. Global Positioning System
6. Gyroscope
7. Pendulum
8. Radar
9. Sundial

Weapons

1. Weapon
2. Artillery
3. Bow and arrow
4. Firearm
5. Knife
6. Nuclear weapon
7. Sword
8. Submarine
9. Tank

Material and chemical

1. Candle
2. Fire
3. Explosive material
   1. Gasoline
   2. Gunpowder
4. Masonry
5. Metallurgy
6. Plastic
7. Rubber
8. Textile
9. Wood

Food and health

1. Electrocardiography
2. Magnetic resonance imaging
3. Pasteurization
4. Refrigeration
5. Stove
6. X-ray
7. Anesthesia

Space

1. Moon landing
2. Rocket
3. Satellite
   1. Hubble Space Telescope
4. Spaceflight
5. Space Shuttle
6. Space station
   1. International Space Station

Mathematics (62 articles)

1. Mathematics
2. History of mathematics
3. Algebra
4. Algorithm
5. Arithmetic
   1. Addition
   2. Subtraction
   3. Multiplication
   4. Division
   5. Fraction
   6. Percentage
   7. Exponentiation
   8. nth root
6. Chaos theory
7. Combinatorics
8. Equation
9. Function
10. Game theory
11. Geometry
    1. Angle
    2. Area
    3. Coordinate system
    4. Dimension
    5. Line
    6. Plane
    7. Point
    8. Shape
       1. Circle
       2. Conic section
       3. Polygon
       4. Polyhedron
       5. Sphere
       6. Triangle
    9. Volume

1. Linear algebra
   1. Matrix
2. Logarithm
3. Mathematical analysis
   1. Calculus
   2. Infinity
   3. Limit
   4. Probability
   5. Statistics
4. Mathematical proof
5. Number
   1. Complex number
   2. Constant
      1. e
      2. Golden ratio
      3. Pi
   3. Digit
   4. Integer
   5. Natural number
   6. Number theory
   7. Prime number
   8. Rational number
   9. Real number
6. Series
7. Set
8. Topology
9. Trigonometry
10. Variable

See also

• Category:Vital articles
• Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Core topics, another take on the minimal article list.
• Wikipedia:Core topics - 1,000, a similar list
• Wikipedia:Core biographies
• Wikipedia:Core culture and society topics
• Wikipedia:Core math, science and technology topics

External links

• Top 1000 vital articles sorted by number of views
  • Wordle of top 1000 vital articles sorted by number of views

Wordle constructed from Top 1000 vital articles sorted by number of views. Available at Wordle gallery.