The Most Influential People Across History
Find the most influential people in 24 academic disciplines and numerous subdisciplines
Find famous and important people related to your research. This is an excellent tool for research papers, topic papers, and building a bibliography. Using our influence-based algorithm, our rankings synthesize data from Wikipedia, Wikidata, Semantic Scholar, and CrossRef.
Students and researchers now have a fast and reliable way to find influential thinkers from 24 disciplines and 300 sub-disciplines (and growing). If you want to find history’s most influential philsosophers, or the world’s most influential mathematicians currently, now you can.
We also provide custom rankings of people by discipline as well as interviews with influential academics who are currently active.
To use this tool, select the discipline (and optional subdiscipline) relevant to your research, and specify influential academics by history, world, or US. Even results that are counterintuitive are often enlightening (our algorithm always picks up a signal).
Methodology: How and Why We Rank by Influence …
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List of the most influential people in Biology,
#5251
Yoshitsugu Kobayashi
#81653
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (55 years)
Yoshitsugu Kobayashi is a Japanese vertebrate paleontologist. He is a professor and the assistant director in Hokkaido University Museum. His major achievements include the description and naming of several dinosaurs from Japan, for example, Kamuysaurus, Yamatosaurus and Paralitherizinosaurus. He is also a research affiliate of Perot Museum of Nature and Science, a member of Jurassic Foundation, a councilor of .
Go to Profile#5252
Joram Piatigorsky
#102925
Overall Influence
#5253
Jack Harrison Wilmore
#102933
Overall Influence
#5254
David L. Spector
#62158
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
David L. Spector is a cell and molecular biologist best recognized for his research on gene expression and nuclear dynamics. He is currently a professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory . Since 2007, he has served as Director of Research of CSHL.
Go to Profile#5255
Dennis Brown
#50886
Overall Influence
Dennis Brown is a renal physiologist. He is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, director of the Program in Membrane Biology at the Massachusetts General Hospital , and Associate Director of the MGH Center for Systems Biology. He is a member of the MGH Executive Committee on Research , the central body for research governance at MGH.
Go to Profile#5256
Marc Miravitlles
#102977
Overall Influence
1991 - Present (35 years)
#5257
Balz B. Frei
#102986
Overall Influence
#5258
Cedric O. Carter
#102988
Overall Influence
#5259
Lawrence Kolb
#36958
Overall Influence
1911 - 2006 (95 years)
Lawrence Coleman Kolb was an American psychiatrist who was the New York State Commissioner of Mental Hygiene from 1975 to 1978. Biography He was born in on June 16, 1911, in Baltimore, Maryland. His family moved to Ireland from 1928 to 1931, and he attended Trinity College in Dublin. He returned to the United States to medical school at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Following graduation, he did residency training in psychiatry and neurology, then considered one specialty, at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York. During World War II, he went into the Navy and was stationed...
Go to Profile#5260
James P. Herman
#94026
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
James P. Herman is an American neuroscientist. He graduated from Hobart College with a bachelor's degree and completed his doctorate at the University of Rochester, followed by a fellowship at the University of Michigan's Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute. He joined the University of Kentucky faculty as an associate professor, where he served as James and Barbara Holsinger Chair of Anatomy and Neurobiology. In 2000, Herman moved to the University of Cincinnati. He was named Donald C. Harrison Endowed Chair in Medicine at UC in 2014, and a distinguished research professor in 2016....
Go to Profile#5261
J. Carl Barrett
#103049
Overall Influence
#5262
Graham Hoyle
#103073
Overall Influence
1923 - Present (103 years)
#5263
Robert P. Schleimer
#103075
Overall Influence
#5264
Turi King
#57934
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (57 years)
Turi Emma King is a Canadian-British professor of Public Engagement and Genetics at the University of Leicester. In 2012, King led the DNA verification during the exhumation and reburial of Richard III of England. She is also known for featuring with Stacey Dooley on the BBC Two genealogy series, DNA Family Secrets.
Go to Profile#5265
Else Marie Friis
#85972
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (79 years)
Else Marie Friis is a Danish botanist and paleontologist. She is Professor Emerita in the Department of Geoscience at Aarhus University. Her work has been fundamental in the phylogenetic analysis of angiosperms, with widespread application to reproductive biology.
Go to Profile#5266
Steven E. Lindow
#83305
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
Steven Earl Lindow is an American plant pathologist. He has researched the application of transgenic bacteria to prevent frost damage in crops as well as using bacteria to prevent russeting of fruit. He is a member of several scientific societies, including the National Academy of Sciences, and has been co-editor of the Annual Review of Phytopathology with Jan E. Leach since 2015.
Go to Profile#5267
Joan Rose
#59339
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
Joan Bray Rose is an American microbiologist. Rose earned her bachelor's degree in microbiology from the University of Arizona, followed by a master's degree in the same subject from the University of Wyoming. She returned to Arizona to obtain a doctorate, also in microbiology. Rose then taught at the University of South Florida until 2003. She serves as the Homer Nowlin Chair in Water Research at Michigan State University.
Go to Profile#5268
Kathleen Donohue
#98799
Overall Influence
1963 - Present (63 years)
Kathleen Donohue is an American biologist at Duke University. She researches how adaptation occurs on a genetic basis and received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2013 for her work. Education Kathleen Donohue attended Stanford University, graduating in 1985 with two bachelor's degrees. She then attended the University of Chicago for her master's degree and PhD . Her doctoral advisor was Ellen Simms and her dissertation was titled "The evolution of seed disperal in Cakile edentula var. lacustis".
Go to Profile#5269
Natalie Strynadka
#74289
Overall Influence
1963 - Present (63 years)
Natalie C. J. Strynadka FRS is a professor of Biochemistry in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of British Columbia. Education Strynadka was educated at the University of Alberta where she was awarded a PhD in 1990. Her thesis committee included Michael N. G. James and Sir David Chilton Phillips.
Go to Profile#5270
Antony J. Underwood
#103198
Overall Influence
#5271
Christopher John Secombes
#103206
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
#5272
Bankole Johnson
#34926
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (67 years)
Bankole A. Johnson, DSc, MD, MPhil, FRCPsych is a licensed physician and board-certified psychiatrist throughout Europe and the United States who served as Alumni Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia. Johnson's primary area of research expertise is the psychopharmacology of medications for treating addictions, and he is well known in the field for his discovery that topiramate, a gamma-aminobutyric acid facilitator and glutamate antagonist, is an effective treatment for alcoholism. Professor Johnson also received na...
Go to Profile#5273
Arthur N. Popper
#103208
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
#5274
Bernie Devlin
#34470
Overall Influence
Bernard J. Devlin is an American psychiatrist who is Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Pittsburgh. An expert on statistical and psychiatric genetics, he is a fellow of the statistics section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is also a member of the American Society of Human Genetics, the Genetics Society of America, and the International Society for Autism Research. Before joining the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh, he worked at the Yale School of Medicine, where he conducted research with Neil Risch on the utility of DNA tests.
Go to Profile#5275
James Elser
#91374
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (67 years)
James Elser is an American ecologist and limnologist. He is Director & Bierman Professor of Ecology, Flathead Lake Biological Station, University of Montana and research professor, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University. He is known for his work in ecological stoichiometry. In 2019, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
Go to Profile#5276
Nick Brown
#56276
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Nicholas David Leimu-Brown is a British botanist and academic. Since 2010, he has been Principal of Linacre College, Oxford. He is also a Commonwealth Scholarship Commissioner. Early life and education Leimu-Brown was born on 4 December 1962 in Brockworth, Gloucestershire, England. He completed the International Baccalaureate at UWC Atlantic College in Wales from 1979 to 1981. He then studied geography at the University of Cambridge between 1982 – 1985 and then an MSc in ecology at the University of Aberdeen. From 1986 to 1990 he studied for a DPhil in Forest Ecology under the supervision of Timothy Charles Whitmore at the University of Oxford .
Go to Profile#5277
Sharon Hillier
#74288
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
Sharon Louise Hillier is an American microbiologist. She is the Richard Sweet Endowed Chair in Reproductive Infectious Disease and vice chair of the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Magee-Women's Research Institute.
Go to Profile#5278
Merritt Turetsky
#89972
Overall Influence
Merritt Turetsky is an American ecosystem ecologist and a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. She currently serves as the Director of Arctic Security for the University of Colorado. She served as the first woman Director of the Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research from 2019-2023. Her research considers fire regimes, climate change and biogeochemical cycling in Arctic wetlands. Turetsky is a member of the Permafrost Action Team , a group of scientists who translate and deliver science to decision-makers.
Go to Profile#5279
Marie-Hélène Verlhac
#57380
Overall Influence
Marie-Hélène Verlhac is a French cellular biologist, specialising in the final stages of oocyte development. She was the recipient of the French National Centre for Scientific Research's Silver Medal in 2021.
Go to Profile#5280
Ian C. Potter
#103341
Overall Influence
#5281
Susan M. Rosenberg
#55024
Overall Influence
Susan M. Rosenberg is a cancer research scientist and the Ben F. Love Chair in Cancer Research at Baylor College of Medicine. Her research focuses on the processes of DNA mutations, damage, and repair.
Go to Profile#5282
André Jagendorf
#100683
Overall Influence
1926 - 2017 (91 years)
André Tridon Jagendorf was an American Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor Emeritus in the Section of Plant Biology at Cornell University who is notable for providing direct evidence that chloroplasts synthesize adenosine triphosphate using the chemiosmotic mechanism proposed by Peter Mitchell.
Go to Profile#5283
Richard B. Root
#94261
Overall Influence
1936 - 2013 (77 years)
Richard Bruce "Dick" Root was a professor of evolutionary biology, ecology and entomology. He was an important contributor to the field of ecology, and is best known for introducing the concept of the ecological “guild”. This concept is found in his doctoral research paper focused on defining the ecological niche and comparing the niche dimensions of the blue-grey gnatcatcher with other insectivorous bird species.
Go to Profile#5284
Kathy K. Griendling
#103391
Overall Influence
#5285
Alexander van Oudenaarden
#39702
Overall Influence
1970 - Present (56 years)
Alexander van Oudenaarden is a Dutch biophysicist and systems biologist. He is a leading researcher in stem cell biology, specialising in single cell techniques. In 2012 he started as director of the Hubrecht Institute and was awarded three times an ERC Advanced Grant, in 2012, 2017, and 2022. He was awarded the Spinoza Prize in 2017.
Go to Profile#5286
Stuart H. Hurlbert
#103395
Overall Influence
#5287
Michael John Dunn
#103398
Overall Influence
#5288
James F. Gusella
#66989
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
James Francis Gusella is a Canadian molecular biologist and geneticist, also known as "Lucky Jim". He is professor of neurogenetics and director of the Center for Neurofibromatosis and Allied Disorders at Harvard Medical School, and director of the Center for Human Genetic Research at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Go to Profile#5289
Robert H. Wasserman
#103427
Overall Influence
#5290
Benjamin G. Neel
#103454
Overall Influence
#5291
Miles D. Houslay
#103473
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#5292
Nadia Harbeck
#103495
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#5293
Gregory Jefferis
#87832
Overall Influence
Gregory Stephen Xavier Edward Jefferis is a British neuroscientist known for his work on the circuit basis of olfactory perception in the vinegar fly, Drosophila melanogaster. He is a tenured Programme Leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge and associated with the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge.
Go to Profile#5294
Joseph Larner,
#103521
Overall Influence
#5295
Eldor A. Paul
#103527
Overall Influence
#5296
Donald Kroodsma
#52296
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (80 years)
Donald Eugene Kroodsma is an American author and ornithologist, one of the world's leading experts on the science of birdsong. Education and career He received in 1968 his B.A. from Hope College in Holland, Michigan and in 1972 his Ph.D. from Oregon State University under John A. Wiens with dissertation Singing behavior of the Bewick's wren: development, dialects, population structure, and geographical variation. Kroodsma was from 1972 to 1974 a postdoc and from 1974 to 1980 an assistant professor at Rockefeller University. He was from 1980 to 1987 an associate professor and from 1987 to 2003...
Go to Profile#5297
Peter James O’brien
#103535
Overall Influence
#5298
William R. Cotton
#57541
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (86 years)
William R. Cotton is an American cloud physicist and mesoscale meteorology educator. He is a professor emeritus in the Department of Atmospheric Science at the Colorado State University . Background Cotton earned a B.A. in mathematics at University at Albany, The State University of New York in 1964, a M.S. in meteorology at SUNY in 1966, and a Ph.D. in meteorology at Pennsylvania State University in 1970. He was appointed to the academic faculty at the CSU Department of Atmospheric Science in 1974. He assumed the position of an assistant professor in the department where he is now a tenured professor.
Go to Profile#5299
Paul M. Bingham
#84889
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
Paul Montgomery Bingham is an American molecular biologist and evolutionary biologist, Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Stony Brook University and Vice President for Research at Rafael Pharmaceuticals. He is known for his work in molecular biology, and has also published recent articles and a book on human evolution.
Go to Profile#5300
Richard R. Behringer
#103557
Overall Influence
