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,
#6001
Rhiju Das
#65622
Overall Influence
1978 - Present (48 years)
Rhiju Das is a computational biochemist and an associate professor of biochemistry and physics at Stanford University. Research in his lab seeks a predictive understanding of how RNA molecules and their complexes form molecular machines fundamental to life.
Go to Profile#6002
John A. Knauss
#57400
Overall Influence
1925 - 2015 (90 years)
John Atkinson Knauss was an American oceanographer, meteorologist and administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from 1989 to 1993. Knauss received a Bachelor of Science in meteorology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Master of Science from University of Michigan in physics, and a Ph.D. in oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California. While a graduate student, he made the first comprehensive measurements of the Pacific Equatorial Undercurrent. Knauss's PhD dissertation focused on the Equatorial Undercurrent in the Pacific Ocean, also known as the Cromwell Current.
Go to Profile#6003
Michela Gallagher
#105003
Overall Influence
Michela Gallagher is an American cognitive psychologist and neuroscientist. She is the Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University. Her scientific work has changed the model of neurocognitive aging, and developed new indices for its study. Previously, work had focused on neurodegeneration as a primary cause of memory loss.
Go to Profile#6004
Irene Schloss
#35397
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
Irene R. Schloss is an Antarctic researcher, best known for her work on plankton biology. She is a researcher at the Argentine Antarctic Institute and was a correspondent researcher of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina until July 2017. She became an independent researcher since August 2017 and an associate professor at the University of Quebec.
Go to Profile#6005
Jianlin Cheng
#52457
Overall Influence
Jianlin Cheng is the William and Nancy Thompson Missouri Distinguished Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He earned his PhD from the University of California-Irvine in 2006, his MS degree from Utah State University in 2001, and his BS degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 1994.
Go to Profile#6006
Agata Smogorzewska
#72826
Overall Influence
Agata Smogorzewska is a Polish-born scientist. She is an associate professor at Rockefeller University, heading the Laboratory of Genome Maintenance. Her work primarily focuses on DNA interstrand crosslink repair and the diseases resulting from deficiencies in this repair pathway, including Fanconi anemia and karyomegalic interstitial nephritis.
Go to Profile#6007
Wendy Chung
#63053
Overall Influence
Wendy K. Chung is an American clinical and molecular geneticist and physician. She currently directs the clinical genetics program at NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital / Columbia University Medical Center in New York City and serves as the Kennedy Family Professor of Pediatrics. She is the author of 600 peer-reviewed articles and 75 chapters and has won several awards as a physician, researcher, and professor. Chung helped to initiate a new form of newborn screening for spinal muscular atrophy which is used nationally and was among the plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case which banned gene patenti...
Go to Profile#6008
Una M. Ryan
#92750
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (60 years)
Una M. Ryan is a biochemist from Ireland, researching parasites and infectious agents in Australia, where she lives. She is an associate professor at the School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences of Murdoch University. In 2000, she received the Frank Fenner Prize for Life Scientist of the Year from the Prime Minister of Australia for her work in isolating a method of diagnosing parasites.
Go to Profile#6009
Lisa Ng
#90289
Overall Influence
Lisa Ng is a Singaporean viral immunologist. In 2008, she became the first Singaporean and the first woman to win the ASEAN Young Scientist and Technologist Award for her work in developing diagnostic kits for Avian Influenza and Sars-CoV. She has been featured as part of the "Beyond Curie" project as a pioneer in viral immunology, as well as being inducted into the Singapore Women's Hall of Fame. Her ongoing research includes endemic tropical diseases and Sars-CoV-19.
Go to Profile#6010
Scott T. Grafton
#109814
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#6011
Harley Brown
#105745
Overall Influence
1921 - 2008 (87 years)
Harley Procter Brown Jr. was an American biologist and an expert in certain types of aquatic beetles. He described over forty new species in his career. Background and education He was born in Uniontown, Alabama and showed an early interest in insects. He received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. His thesis involved the lifecycle of the species Climacia areolaris of the family Sisyridae. He received a PhD from Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio in 1945. His dissertation studied the flagellum of the protozoan with the electron microscope.
Go to Profile#6012
Alexei J. Drummond
#109852
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#6013
Janice Kiecolt-Glaser
#104455
Overall Influence
Janice K Kiecolt-Glaser is S. Robert Davis Chair of Medicine and Distinguished University Professor at the Ohio State University College of Medicine. She is a clinical health psychologist specializing in psychoneuroimmunology and Director of the Ohio State Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research. Her research on stress associated with caregiving and marital relationships has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many other news outlets.
Go to Profile#6014
Marc K. Jenkins
#105691
Overall Influence
Marc K. Jenkins is a Regents Professor and Director of the Center for Immunology at the University of Minnesota. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Education Jenkins received his B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Minnesota in 1980. He completed his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology in 1985 from Northwestern University and then conducted postdoctoral training in the Laboratory of Immunology at the National Institutes of Health from 1985 to 1988.
Go to Profile#6015
Andrew H. Kang
#109881
Overall Influence
#6016
A. C. Linda R. Maxson Wilson
#109882
Overall Influence
#6017
Heinz Kohut
#109894
Overall Influence
#6018
Aldemaro Romero Jr.
#55264
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
Aldemaro Romero Jr. is a Venezuelan/Americann scientist, communicator, and public intellectual. He has published more than 1,100 works, more than 30 books and monographs, and produced, directed, written and/or hosted more than 1500 radio shows and 400 TV shows and documentaries in areas ranging from science to history and philosophy. He is known for his approaches of combining field, laboratory and archival studies from different disciplines.
Go to Profile#6019
James P. Tam
#109909
Overall Influence
#6020
Christopher D. Pigott
#109914
Overall Influence
#6021
Niels Borregaard
#109919
Overall Influence
#6022
Jenny Tung
#46653
Overall Influence
Jenny Tung is an evolutionary anthropologist and geneticist. She is an Associate Professor of Biology and a researcher at Duke University. In 2019, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. Personal life Tung’s mother and father immigrated to the United States from China and moved to Maryland and then to Delaware where they had Tung and her older sister, Wenny. Tung’s father was a chemical engineer for DuPont, an American chemical company, and her mother was a teacher prior to their coming to the United States. Upon starting her undergraduate work at Duke University, Tung studied biology with ...
Go to Profile#6023
Robert M. Sutherland
#109956
Overall Influence
#6024
Beronda Montgomery
#106700
Overall Influence
Dr. Beronda Montgomery is a writer, science communicator, and researcher. In 2022, she moved to Grinnell College as professor of biology and vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college. Prior to Grinnell, Montgomery served as Michigan State University Foundation Professor in the Departments of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics. She was also a member of the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory. Her research group investigates how photosynthetic organisms adapt to changes in their environment. Her scholarship extends beyond biology and into st...
Go to Profile#6025
Joshua Sikhu Okonya
#39035
Overall Influence
Joshua Sikhu Okonya is a Ugandan Author and an International agricultural research scientist. He is an Agronomist and a scholar who has made contributions to the body of knowledge in agriculture and the adaptation of African agricultural systems to climate change.
Go to Profile#6026
Oye Gureje
#88550
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
Oyewusi Gureje, NNOM is a Nigerian psychiatrist at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria and Director at the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health, Neurosciences, Drug and Alcohol Abuse in the institution. He is also a Professor Extraordinary at the Department of Psychiatry, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. He is best known for his work on epidemiology, nosology and global mental health and as one of the leading voices on mental health service and policy development in Africa. Oye Gureje has published more than 500 peer-reviewed scientific papers, monographs, book chapters, and other reports.
Go to Profile#6027
Austin Gallagher
#84409
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Austin Gallagher is an American marine biologist, explorer, author and social entrepreneur, best known for his research on sharks. He is the founder and CEO of Beneath the Waves, a non-profit organization focusing on ocean conservation. He is a National Geographic Explorer, has been the lead on more than 50 global scientific expeditions, and has published over 100 scientific papers spanning research on the migrations of ocean giants, deep-sea exploration, and marine policy.
Go to Profile#6028
Len R. Troncale
#79162
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
Lenard Raphael Troncale is an American biologist, systems theorist, Professor Emeritus of Cellular and Molecular Biology, and former Director of the Institute for Advanced Systems Studies at the California State Polytechnic University.
Go to Profile#6029
Mark. O. Hill
#109976
Overall Influence
#6030
Wendell L. Minckley
#107940
Overall Influence
1935 - 2001 (66 years)
Wendell Lee Minckley was a college professor and leading expert on fish. He spent most of his career at Arizona State University. In 1963, he with Robert Rush Miller discovered and named the northern platyfish in honor of Dr. Myron Gordon. Dr. Minckley, in turn, had five species named in his honor. Dr. Minckley died on June 22, 2001, in Desert Samaritan Hospital in Mesa, Arizona, from complications associated with treatment for cancer.
Go to Profile#6031
Olke C. Uhlenbeck
#71735
Overall Influence
Olke C. Uhlenbeck is a Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry at the University of Colorado Boulder and at Northwestern University. His research group has led to many breakthroughs in RNA biochemistry, including the enzymatic synthesis of RNAs from synthetic DNA templates using T7 RNA polymerase. Olke was a founding member of the RNA Society. His father was theoretical physicist George Uhlenbeck.
Go to Profile#6032
Tad Murty
#41154
Overall Influence
1938 - 2018 (80 years)
Tad S. Murty is an Indian-Canadian oceanographer and expert on tsunamis. He is the former president of the Tsunami Society. He is an adjunct professor in the departments of Civil Engineering and Earth Sciences at the University of Ottawa. Murty has a PhD degree in oceanography and meteorology from the University of Chicago. He is co-editor of the journal Natural Hazards with Tom Beer of CSIRO and Vladimir Schenk of the Czech Republic.
Go to Profile#6033
Stephen D. Douglas
#110033
Overall Influence
#6034
Klaus Dr Becker
#110070
Overall Influence
#6035
Hartmut Wekerle
#110084
Overall Influence
#6036
Lev R. Ginzburg
#84970
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (81 years)
Lev R. Ginzburg is a mathematical ecologist and the president of the firm Applied Biomathematics. Biography Lev Ginzburg was born in 1945 in Moscow, Russia, but grew up in St. Petersburg, at the time Leningrad. He studied mathematics and theoretical mechanics at Leningrad State University and received his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the Agrophysical Research Institute in 1970. He worked at this Institute until the Spring of 1975 and emigrated to the United States in December 1975. After several months at the Accademia Nazionale Dei Lincei , and one year at the Mathematics Department ...
Go to Profile#6037
Augustine Kong
#49514
Overall Influence
Chung Tung Augustine Kong is a statistical geneticist who is Professor of Statistical Genetics at the University of Oxford's Nuffield Department of Medicine, where he is also the Senior Group Leader in Genomic Epidemiology. He was previously the head of the statistics team at the Icelandic company deCODE genetics, and before that, he taught at the University of Chicago. He has conducted research on the genetic basis of educational attainment and the way in which it can be influenced by "genetic nurture", or the genes carried by parents but not passed on to their children.
Go to Profile#6038
Paul Kellam
#96364
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (61 years)
Paul Kellam is a Professor of Viral Genomics at Imperial College London and vice-president of infectious diseases and vaccines at Kymab Ltd. He is co-author of the Oxford textbook Human Virology. Education Kellam attended Oakwood Park Grammar School. He received a Bachelor Science in Microbiology from the University of Reading in 1987 and a PhD in Virology from the University of London in 1994.
Go to Profile#6039
Orson K. Miller Jr.
#103660
Overall Influence
1930 - 2006 (76 years)
Orson Knapp Miller Jr. was an American mycologist. He published numerous papers in mycology and was responsible for the naming of many taxa, as well as being one of the authors erecting the genus Chroogomphus. He described Omphalotus olivascens, several species of Amanita, and the ghoul fungus Hebeloma aminophilum.
Go to Profile#6040
Pamela J. Green
#98081
Overall Influence
Pamela J. Green is Crawford H. Greenewalt Chair, Professor of Plant and Soil Sciences and Professor of Marine Studies at the University of Delaware. She has researched the uses for RNA, one of the three major biological macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life.
Go to Profile#6041
Neil Gow
#107693
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Neil Andrew Robert Gow is a professor of Microbiology and deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Exeter. Previously he served at the University of Aberdeen for 38 years and retains an honorary Chair there.
Go to Profile#6042
Ezio Giacobini
#110138
Overall Influence
#6043
Kingsley Dixon
#106967
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
Kingsley Wayne Dixon is an Australian botanist currently working as a professor at Curtin University. He was the founding Director of Science at Kings Park and Botanic Gardens, and helped to establish the laboratories there as among the world's leading.
Go to Profile#6044
Alfred M. Boyce
#96936
Overall Influence
1901 - 1997 (96 years)
Alfred Mullikin Boyce was an American entomologist and first dean of University of California, Riverside's College of Agriculture. Early life and education Boyce grew up on his family's farm in Maryland. After spending 1919 at the Annapolis campus of St. John's College, Boyce embarked as a seaman aboard several commercial vessels. Boyce served as a crewman aboard the ill-fated SS Philadelphia and was arrested along with the rest of the crew by Italian authorities during the 1922 mutiny.
Go to Profile#6045
Anita Thapar
#101641
Overall Influence
Anita Thapar is a Welsh child psychiatrist who is Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the Institute of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neuroscience at Cardiff University. Her research focuses on risk factors for ADHD and major depression in children. She was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 1995, and of the Academy of Medical Sciences and Learned Society of Wales in 2011. In 2017, she received the Frances Hoggan Medal from the Learned Society of Wales and was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire , both in recognition of her research in ...
Go to Profile#6046
Morris Reichlin
#110206
Overall Influence
#6047
Debasisa Mohanty
#53855
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (60 years)
Debasisa Mohanty is an Indian computational biologist, bioinformatician and a staff scientists at the National Institute of Immunology, India. Known for his studies on structure and function prediction of proteins, genome analysis and computer simulation of biomolecular systems, Mohanty is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies namely the Indian Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Science Academy and the National Academy of Sciences, India. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Developmen...
Go to Profile#6048
Tung‐tien Sun
#110228
Overall Influence
#6049
Norman F. Johnson
#110235
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#6050
Merav Ben-David
#71778
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (67 years)
Merav Ben-David is an Israeli-American ecologist, zoologist, and politician who is the chair of the Department of Zoology and Physiology at the University of Wyoming. She was the Democratic nominee in the 2020 United States Senate election in Wyoming, losing to former Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis in the general election. She ran for State Representative from Wyoming's 46th District in 2022.
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