Trending Scientific Theories — September 2026
The 100 most-viewed scientific theories on Wikipedia, September 2026. Ranked by real-world attention. Top: Big Bang. Data as of 24 October 2026.
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- September 2026 · Data as of 24 October 2026
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- 100 scientific theories — drawn from 12,391,362 articles Wikipedia recorded views for in this window
This counts a Wikipedia language edition, not a country's residents. Nothing here is capped or sampled: it is every view Wikipedia published for these articles in the window. Rows carrying a 📰 badge add news coverage from GDELT; entity names and types come from Wikidata. Looking for what one country read? That is what the world reads — a different, capped measurement.
Where this data comes from ›100
Ranked
1,552,388
Total Views (September 2026)
1
Big Bang
hypothetical begin of the Universe through expansion out of an infinitely small and infinitely dense state
129,226
views
views
2
anarchism
a philosophy, movement, and political ideology that holds that any government, like the state, is undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful
91,162
views
views
3
Fermi paradox
apparent contradiction between the lack of evidence and high probability estimates for the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations
88,214
views
views
4
flat Earth
archaic conception of the Earth's shape
77,830
views
views
5
theory of relativity
two interrelated physics theories by Albert Einstein
65,559
views
views
6
race
nonscientific human classification system primarily based on physical appearance
60,656
views
views
7
general relativity
standard and classical physics theory of gravity and space
52,528
views
views
8
accelerationism
political philosophy that the prevailing system of capitalism should be expanded in order to generate radical social change
48,716
views
views
9
uncertainty principle
fundamental principle in quantum physics
48,577
views
views
10
Dyson sphere
hypothetical megastructure, originally described by Freeman Dyson
43,787
views
views
11
Coriolis force
apparent or fictitious force on objects moving within a reference frame that rotates with respect to an inertial frame
38,550
views
views
12
special relativity
physical theory of measurement in an inertial frame of reference proposed in 1905 by Albert Einstein
37,507
views
views
13
heliocentrism
astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around a relatively stationary Sun at the center of the Solar System
33,732
views
views
14
infrared radiation
electromagnetic radiation with longer wavelengths than those of visible light
29,136
views
views
15
meritocracy
political system in which capital is assigned on the basis of competence
27,014
views
views
16
Bose–Einstein condensate
state of matter of a dilute gas of bosons cooled to temperatures very near absolute zero
24,800
views
views
17
boson
quantum system invariant by exchange of two identical instances
22,591
views
views
18
Einstein field equations
field equations in general relativity
20,596
views
views
19
miasma theory
obsolete medical theory about the transmission of disease through bad air
20,397
views
views
20
continental drift
movement of Earth's continents relative to each other
19,399
views
views
21
cell theory
scientific theory that living organisms are made up of cells, that they are the basic structural/organizational unit of all organisms, and that all cells come from pre-existing cells
18,933
views
views
22
Darwinism
theory of biological evolution driven by natural selection
18,604
views
views
23
Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era
a political theory attributed to Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party
18,344
views
views
24
Lamarckism
hypothesis that an organism can pass on characteristics that it has acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime to its offspring
17,188
views
views
25
spontaneous generation
disproven theory of life arising from nonliving matter
17,094
views
views
26
germ theory of disease
prevailing theory about the cause of infectious diseases
16,813
views
views
27
trickle-down economics
economic theory
15,371
views
views
28
big lie
gross distortion or misrepresentation of the truth
14,467
views
views
29
spherical Earth
assertion that the Earth is (at least approximately) spherical
14,128
views
views
30
axial tilt
angle between the rotational axis and orbital axis of a body
14,094
views
views
31
insanity
abnormal mental or behavioral patterns
13,925
views
views
32
History of atomic theory
history of scientific theory that views matter as made up of atoms of chemical elements
13,386
views
views
33
Realism
international relations theory
12,193
views
views
34
Third International Theory
theory of governance proposed by Muammar Gaddafi
11,957
views
views
35
vitalism
discredited scientific hypothesis
11,614
views
views
36
high-functioning autism
outdated term for types of autism without intellectual or verbal disability and cognitively "higher functioning" (with an IQ of ≥70); term that medical and autistic communities calling to stop using because it is simplistic and offensive
10,863
views
views
37
phlogiston theory
superseded scientific theory about combustion
10,535
views
views
38
technofeudalism
political theory
10,205
views
views
39
kinetic theory
mathematical model explaining macroscopic properties of gases in microscopic terms
8,792
views
views
40
Kurgan hypothesis
theory of Indo-European origin
8,625
views
views
41
Fermi–Dirac statistics
behaviour of many identical fermions, particles with half-integer spin
8,543
views
views
42
Bose-Einstein statistics
statistical description for the behaviour of bosons
8,426
views
views
43
von Mises yield criterion
concept in continuum mechanics
8,394
views
views
44
modern evolutionary synthesis
early-20th-century scientific theory combining Darwinian evolution and Mendelian inheritance
8,278
views
views
45
principal–agent problem
conflict of interest when one agent makes decisions on another's behalf
8,211
views
views
46
HIV/AIDS denialism
unsubstantiated denial of the scientific fact that HIV causes AIDS
8,151
views
views
47
bricolage
construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of things that happen to be available, or a work created by such a process.
7,338
views
views
48
Socialism in One Country
political theory by Joseph Stalin
7,242
views
views
49
Kelvin–Helmholtz instability
fluid instability that occurs when there is velocity shear in a single continuous fluid or a velocity difference across the interface between two fluids
7,228
views
views
50
Rényi entropy
family of diversity measures generalising Shannon entropy
7,089
views
views
51
elite theory
theory of the state
7,085
views
views
52
iron law of oligarchy
Political theory claiming that all organizations will eventually become oligarchic
6,819
views
views
53
free energy principle
hypothesis in neuroscience proposed by Karl Friston
6,696
views
views
54
probability axioms
axioms that are relevant to the probability theory
6,487
views
views
55
palingenetic ultranationalism
theory concerning generic fascism
5,955
views
views
56
Gallicanism
the belief that popular civil authority—often represented by the monarchs' authority or the state's authority—over the Catholic Church is comparable to that of the Pope's
5,935
views
views
57
neorealism
concept in international relations
5,921
views
views
58
perturbation theory
quantum mechanics
5,740
views
views
59
Madman theory
feature of Richard Nixon's foreign policy
5,654
views
views
60
foco
theory of revolution by way of guerrilla warfare
5,580
views
views
61
voting paradox (Condorcet)
Marquis de Condorcet's observation regarding times when voters' collective preferences are cyclic, even when voters' individual preferences are not
5,514
views
views
62
domino theory
theory concerning the influence of Communism
5,252
views
views
63
Duverger's law
principle in political science
5,239
views
views
64
Dirac sea
ground state of a fermionic field; thought of as a "sea" of negative-energy states that have been all filled in, thus rendering the vaccum stable
5,095
views
views
65
Penrose diagram
two-dimensional diagram that captures the causal relations between different points in spacetime
4,989
views
views
66
Penrose process
theorical process wherein energy can be extracted from a rotating black hole
4,954
views
views
67
two-nation theory
political ideology that, in the Indian subcontinent, Hindus and Muslims comprise separate nations
4,951
views
views
68
Three Worlds Theory
Maoist interpretation and formulation of international relations
4,946
views
views
69
Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory
chemical theory defining acids and bases by transfer of protons (hydrons)
4,881
views
views
70
capability approach
economic theory
4,733
views
views
71
growing block universe
past and present exist while the future does not
4,413
views
views
72
menstrual synchrony
purported menstrual cycle synchronization in women who live together
4,194
views
views
73
withering away of the state
concept coined by Engels that, with the realization of socialism, the state will become obsolete and disappear as the society will govern itself without coercive enforcement of the law
4,027
views
views
74
Aristotelian physics
natural sciences as described by Aristotle
4,024
views
views
75
Turing pattern
how patterns in nature, such as stripes and spots, can arise naturally and autonomously from a homogeneous, uniform state
4,012
views
views
76
Bell state
quantum state of two qubits that exhibits maximal quantum entanglement
3,965
views
views
77
contractualism
moral theory
3,933
views
views
78
Stokes parameters
3,894
views
views
79
Aristotle's biology
theory of biology, grounded in systematic observation and collection of data, mainly zoological, embodied in Aristotle's books on the science
3,864
views
views
80
Fresnel zone
region of space involved in radio propagation between a transmitting and receiving antenna
3,758
views
views
81
Jahn–Teller effect
mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking in molecular and solid-state systems
3,625
views
views
82
Bell test experiments
experiments in quantum mechanics
3,619
views
views
83
democratic peace theory
theory which posits that democracies are hesitant to engage in armed conflict with other identified democracies
3,583
views
views
84
Pauli effect
supposed tendency of technical equipment to fail in the presence of certain people
3,560
views
views
85
rotating black hole
black hole with angular momentum
3,447
views
views
86
killer ape theory
theory that war and interpersonal aggression was the driving force behind human evolution
3,433
views
views
87
devolution
process of evolving from a complex organism to a simpler organism
3,416
views
views
88
nutation
type of motion in astronomy. A component of the rotating motion of a planet under the influence of gravitational pull by moons, other planets or the central star
3,339
views
views
89
optical aberration
phenomenon in astronomy
3,279
views
views
90
post-Marxism
trend in political philosophy and social theory
3,257
views
views
91
Chapman–Enskog theory
framework allowing the equations of hydrodynamics for a gas to be derived from the Boltzmann equation
3,243
views
views
92
isospin
quantum number related to the weak interaction
3,089
views
views
93
functionalism
social science
3,080
views
views
94
Stokes flow
fluid flow where advective inertial forces are small compared with viscous forces
3,022
views
views
95
caloric theory
obsolete scientific theory of heat flow
2,884
views
views
96
refrigerator mother theory
discredited historical theory that autistic spectrum disorders are caused by a lack of parental emotional warmth
2,876
views
views
97
von Neumann entropy
type of entropy in quantum statistical mechanics
2,816
views
views
98
preformationism
formerly-popular theory that organisms develop from miniature versions of themselves
2,800
views
views
99
band theory
model of electronic structure in solids
2,772
views
views
100
Fresnel diffraction
diffraction
2,730
views
views