Search People Result | Academic Influence

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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Person Name

School

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Discipline

Subdiscipline

Ranking

List of the most influential people in Biology,

#6651

Peter Gaehtgens

#70489

Overall Influence

1937 - Present (89 years)

Peter Gaehtgens is a German professor of physiology. In 1999, he became president of Free University of Berlin after winning the associated elections against Gesine Schwan. He stayed in this position until 2003, when he was elected president of the German "Rector's Conference" . Gaethgens was a leading proponent of the country-wide introduction of tuition fees at German universities. For this reason, he was heavily criticized in public.

#6652

Leanne Armand

#81402

Overall Influence

1968 - 2022 (54 years)

Leanne Armand was an Australian professor of marine science. She was an expert in the identification of diatoms in the Southern Ocean. She was known for her contributions to the understanding of past Southern Ocean dynamics and sea ice as a result of her knowledge of diatom distributions and ecology.

#6653

Jamie Rossjohn

#115465

Overall Influence

#6654

H. Basil S. Cooke

#57799

Overall Influence

1915 - 2018 (103 years)

Herbert Basil Sutton Cooke was a South African-Canadian geologist and palaeontologist, and Emeritus Professor at Dalhousie University. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, he was educated at King Edward VII School before earning a B.A. and M.A. at Cambridge University, and M.Sc. and D.Sc. at the University of the Witwatersrand.

#6655

Giles Skey Brindley

#115474

Overall Influence

#6656

Michael Claridge

#93150

Overall Influence

1934 - Present (92 years)

Michael Frederick Claridge FLS FRES FRSB is a British entomologist. He is Emeritus Professor of Entomology at Cardiff University. He received the Linnean Medal for Zoology in 2000 and was President of the Linnean Society 1988–1991.

#6657

Norito Kawakami

#115484

Overall Influence

1957 - Present (69 years)

#6658

Judith Lesnaw

#60094

Overall Influence

Judith Alice Lesnaw is an American virologist, photographer, and inductee of the University of Kentucky's Hall of Fame. She was the first woman hired into Biology, the first woman to be tenured, and the first molecular biologist at the University of Kentucky.

#6659

R. W. Alexander Jesudasan

#77235

Overall Influence

R. W. Alexander Jesudasan is an Indian entomologist credited with the discovery of more than 60 species of whiteflies in South India. He was a prominent educationist and served as Principal of Madras Christian College and have been part of many education-related committees including NAAC Peer Team.

#6660

Alex Van Belkum

#115499

Overall Influence

#6661

Sara Cherry

#92198

Overall Influence

Sara R. Cherry is an American microbiologist who is John W. Eckman Professor of Medical Science and Professor of Microbiology in Biochemistry and Biophysics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research involves genetic and mechanistic studies of virus–host interactions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cherry looked to identify novel therapeutic strategies.

#6662

Sjoerd Lieuwe Bonting

#115509

Overall Influence

#6663

Anne Stone

#81586

Overall Influence

Anne C. Stone is an American anthropological geneticist and a Regents' Professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University. Her research focuses on population history and understanding how humans and the great apes have adapted to their environments, including their disease and dietary environments. Stone is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences.

#6664

Ernest Arthur Bell

#89512

Overall Influence

1926 - 2006 (80 years)

Ernest Arthur Bell CB was an English botanist and chemist who was Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew from 1981 to 1988, the first biochemist to be appointed to the post. Early life Arthur Bell was born at Gosforth, Northumberland and was educated at Dame Allan's School, Newcastle upon Tyne. He took a degree in Chemistry at Durham University and was awarded a doctorate at Trinity College Dublin in 1950.

#6665

Mitchell Loyd Sogin

#115525

Overall Influence

#6666

Michael P. Taylor

Michael P. Taylor

#47599

Overall Influence

1968 - Present (58 years)

Michael Paul Taylor is a British computer programmer with a Ph.D. in palaeontology. To date, he has published 18 paleontological papers and is co-credited with naming three genera of dinosaur . Along with paleontologists Darren Naish and Matt Wedel, he founded the paleontology blog Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week, where he blogs as Mike Taylor.

#6667

Gérard Karsenty

#99866

Overall Influence

Gérard Karsenty is a professor and chair of the Genetics and Development Department at the Columbia University Medical Center where he studies the endocrinology of bone. In 2010 Karsenty won the Richard Lounsbery Award for his work on the molecular mechanisms that underlie the formation and the remodeling of bone. In 2016 he won the Roy O. Greep Laureate Award.

#6668

Steven C. Almo

#115552

Overall Influence

#6669

Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit

#98777

Overall Influence

1979 - Present (47 years)

Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit is a German virologist and Professor of Arbovirology at the University of Hamburg. Schmidt-Chanasit is also the Deputy Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Arbovirus and Haemorrhagic Fever Reference and Research at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine.

#6670

D. Frank Benson

#115566

Overall Influence

#6671

Pierre Jean Meunier

#115577

Overall Influence

#6672

Mark E. Sherman

#115579

Overall Influence

#6673

James. L. Hamrick

#115580

Overall Influence

#6674

Colin Butler

#77130

Overall Influence

1913 - 2016 (103 years)

Colin Gasking Butler OBE FRS was a British entomologist who first isolated the pheromone, known as "queen substance", which attracts drones to queen bees. The son of a schoolmaster, Butler was born at Horsham and educated at Monkton Combe School, Bath, and at Queens' College, Cambridge. Following his graduation, he won a scholarship doing research at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and was later appointed to superintend Cambridge University's entomological field station.

#6675

Frederick Lawrence Grinnell

#115597

Overall Influence

#6676

Stephen Herrero

#67675

Overall Influence

1939 - Present (87 years)

Stephen Herrero is a Canadian professor emeritus of ecology at the University of Calgary. He is the author of Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance, which has been described as "authoritative" and "required reading" on the topic.

#6677

Grzegorz Grynkiewicz

#115625

Overall Influence

1939 - Present (87 years)

#6678

Julia Bodmer

#95601

Overall Influence

1934 - 2001 (67 years)

Lady Julia Gwynaeth Bodmer was a British geneticist and trained economist. Involved in the discovery and definition of the human leukocyte antigen system of genetic markers, Bodmer became one of the world's leading experts in HLA serology and the genetic definition of the HLA system. A prominent figure in the field of immunogenetics, her discoveries helped the understanding and development of knowledge about HLA associations with diseases including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and cancer. As well as being a distinguished scientist in her own right, she collaborated throughout her career with her husband, the human and cancer geneticist Sir Walter Bodmer.

#6679

Victor J. Marder

#115668

Overall Influence

#6680

William Paul Duprex

#98865

Overall Influence

William Paul Duprex is a British scientist and advocate for vaccines and global health. He serves as Director of the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Vaccine Research and Regional Biocontainment Laboratory. Duprex holds the Jonas Salk Chair in Vaccine Research. He is also a professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of General Virology, which is published by the Microbiology Society, and a senior editor of mSphere, published by the American Society for Microbiology. Duprex is an expert i...

#6681

Marcus J. Goldman

#53422

Overall Influence

1960 - Present (66 years)

Marcus Jacob Goldman , is a physician, board certified in psychiatry with past certifications in addiction, forensic and geriatric psychiatry and is also a writer. Goldman received his medical degree from the State University of New York Upstate Medical University in 1986.

#6682

Robin Jeremy Wootton

#115695

Overall Influence

#6683

Gisou van der Goot

#109356

Overall Influence

1964 - Present (62 years)

Françoise Gisou van der Goot is a Swiss-Dutch cell biologist. She is a professor and the Vice President for Responsible Transformation at EPFL . Career Gisou van der Goot studied engineering at the École Centrale de Paris. She pursued a PhD in molecular biophysics at the Saclay Nuclear Research Centre . After her PhD, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg. In 1994 she worked as a group leader in the Department of Biochemistry of the University of Geneva and, subsequently, from 2001 as associate professor in the department of microbiology and molecular medicine.

#6684

Lionel Buéno

#115700

Overall Influence

#6685

Pal Maliga

#114546

Overall Influence

1946 - Present (80 years)

Pal Maliga is a plant molecular biologist. He is Distinguished Professor of Plant Biology and Laboratory Director at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology, Rutgers University. He is known for developing the technology of chloroplast genome engineering in land plants and its applications in basic science and biotechnology.

#6686

Harinder Paul Singh Makkar

#115728

Overall Influence

#6687

Jerry B. Lingrel

#115743

Overall Influence

#6688

Klaus Ring

#105042

Overall Influence

1934 - Present (92 years)

Klaus Ring is a German microbiologist who served as president of the Goethe University Frankfurt from 1986 to 1994. Career Ring studied microbiology and biochemistry at the universities of Göttingen, Frankfurt and Kiel and received his doctorate in Kiel in 1962. In 1968 he earned the habilitation and in 1971 he was appointed professor of microbiological chemistry at Frankfurt. Ring's scientific focus during this time was the structure and function of biological membranes. He was as visiting professor at the University of Hull and the University of Utrecht .

#6689

Peter A. Bandettini

#115753

Overall Influence

1966 - Present (60 years)

#6690

Vincent Peter Collins

#115779

Overall Influence

#6691

Peter A. Rona

#85391

Overall Influence

1934 - 2014 (80 years)

Peter Arnold Rona was an American oceanographer. He was also a professor of Earth and planetary sciences at Rutgers University. Early years and college Born in Trenton, New Jersey, Rona collected rocks and minerals as a child. This passion would lead him to a bachelor's degree in geology from Brown University in 1956 and a master's in geology from Yale University in 1957. Working for Standard Oil from 1957 to 1959, he explored the Southwestern U.S. for future refinery sites. While visiting his family in December 1958, he met oceanographers, in New York for a meeting, who mentioned a new oceanic ecology.

#6692

Warren Lambert Wagner

#102050

Overall Influence

1950 - Present (76 years)

Warren Lambert Wagner is an American botanist, a curator of botany, and a leading expert on Onagraceae and plants of the Pacific Islands, especially plants of the Hawaiian Islands. Biography Wagner attended New Mexico State University from 1968 to 1972 and then transferred to the University of New Mexico. There he graduated in 1973 with a bachelor of science degree in biology and in 1977 with a master's degree in botany, after working as a herbarium curatorial assistant and a research assistant supported by a series of grants. His master's thesis is on the flora of the Animas Mountains in southwestern New Mexico.

#6693

Christine Beeton

#40136

Overall Influence

Christine Beeton is an immunologist and associate professor at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. She works within the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics. Beeton graduated from the Faculté des Sciences de Luminy within the Université de la Mediterranée in Marseille, France and later as a postdoctoral fellow from the University of California. Her professional interests and areas of expertise include autoimmune diseases , drug development, ions and ion channels in disease, and targeted therapies.

#6694

John Albert Bevan

#115834

Overall Influence

#6695

Suzanne Lambin

#97972

Overall Influence

1902 - 2008 (106 years)

Suzanne Lambin was a French microbiologist who studied the evolution of bacterial cultures and how various antiseptic agents affected those cultures. Lambin's work in microbiology led to a career in pharmacy and microbiology which won her recognition within France.

#6696

Michael G. Barbour

#115847

Overall Influence

1942 - 2020 (78 years)

Michael G. Barbour was a Californian botanist and ecologist. He was a Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Davis. His fields of expertise were in autecology and synecology of plants and vegetation in stressful environments, including marine strand, tidal salt marsh, vernal pools, warm desert scrub, mixed evergreen forest, oak forest, and montane conifer forest. This research was conducted in Alta and Baja California along the Pacific coast of North America, on the Gulf of Mexico coast, in northwestern Argentina, in southern Australia, in coastal and arid parts of Israel, in mo...

#6697

Noel T. Keen

#106548

Overall Influence

1940 - 2002 (62 years)

Noel Thomas Keen was an American plant physiologist. He spent his career teaching at University of California, Riverside . His research focused on the varied ability of cultivars to detect and resist pathogens.

#6698

Barry Reisberg

#115856

Overall Influence

2000 - Present (26 years)

#6699

Hiroyuki Aburatani

#115858

Overall Influence

#6700

Susan Lowey

#85926

Overall Influence

1933 - Present (93 years)

Susan Lowey is an American biophysicist researching the structure and function of contractile proteins. She currently teaches in the Department of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics at the University of Vermont and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as well as the Biophysical Society.

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