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,
#6951
Bita Moghaddam
#90109
Overall Influence
Bita Moghaddam is an Iranian-American neuroscientist and author. She is currently the Ruth Matarazzo Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience at Oregon Health & Science University. Moghaddam investigates the neuronal processes underlying emotion and cognition as a first step to designing strategies to treat and prevent brain illnesses.
Go to Profile#6952
Robert Earle Buchanan
#117783
Overall Influence
#6953
Anila Paparisto
#64504
Overall Influence
Anila Paparisto is an entomologist and taxonomist from Albania, who was appointed in 2021 as Vice Rector for Teaching at the University of Tirana. She is also Professor in Invertebrate Zoology and Teaching Didactics there. Her career began at the university in 1994 and in 2011 was promoted to professor. Her research has focussed on invasive species in Albania, in particular in riverine environments. She is a member of the Academy of Sciences of Albania. She is a board member of the Quality Assurance Agency in Higher Education Board in Albania.
Go to Profile#6954
Elli Leadbeater
#59991
Overall Influence
Ellouise "Elli" Leadbeater is an ecologist and evolutionary biologist in the UK. In 2019 she was appointed Professor of Ecology and Evolution at Royal Holloway, University of London. Education and career Leadbeater was educated at the University of Edinburgh where she was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Biology in 2001 and Leiden University where she did a MSc in Evolutionary and Ecological Science in 2004. She was awarded her PhD in 2008 at Queen Mary University of London having looked at "Social information use in foraging bumblebees". Leadbeater was a research fellow at the Institute of Z...
Go to Profile#6955
Lisa Curran
#56542
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
Lisa Curran is an American tropical forester, and Roger and Cynthia Lang Professor in Environment & Anthropology, at Stanford University. Education Curran graduated from Harvard University, and Princeton University with a Ph.D.
Go to Profile#6956
Richard S. Ostfeld
#117218
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
Richard Simon Ostfeld is a Distinguished Senior Scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York. He is best known for his work on the ecology of Lyme disease, which he began studying while monitoring the abundance of small mammals in the forests of Cary Institute property in the early 1990s.
Go to Profile#6957
Walter Joseph Bock
#117798
Overall Influence
#6958
Willem Takken
#117807
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
#6959
Joseph Wortis
#33214
Overall Influence
1906 - 1995 (89 years)
Joseph Wortis was an American psychiatrist, longtime editor of the scientific journal Biological Psychiatry, and a professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Early life Joseph Wortis was born in Brooklyn, New York, one of five children of Jewish immigrant parents . He attended New York University, where he majored in English literature before switching to pre-med. He graduated in 1927. Accepted into Yale medical school, he went instead to Europe and studied medicine in Vienna , Munich and Paris.
Go to Profile#6960
Gustav Dallner
#117847
Overall Influence
#6961
Jay Oliver Lampen
#117856
Overall Influence
#6962
Milosch Dr Chvapil
#117861
Overall Influence
#6963
Jacques M. Deviere
#117865
Overall Influence
#6964
Nina Buchmann
#117379
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (61 years)
Nina Buchmann is a German ecologist known for her research on the physiology of plants and the impact of plants on biogeochemical cycling. She is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and an elected fellow of the American Geophysical Union.
Go to Profile#6965
I. V. Subba Rao
#108126
Overall Influence
1934 - 2010 (76 years)
Idupuganti Venkata Subba Rao M.Sc. Ph.D. was an eminent Agricultural scientist. He was born in Pasalapudi village near Tanuku in West Godavari district. His parents are Achanna and Munemma. He has done M.Sc. in agriculture from Andhra University and obtained his Ph.D. from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi.
Go to Profile#6966
Raynard S. Kington
#23760
Overall Influence
Raynard S. Kington is an American educator and the 16th Head of School of Phillips Academy in Andover. Previously, he was the 13th president of Grinnell College. He has served as the deputy director and acting director of the National Institutes of Health.
Go to Profile#6967
Andres Salumets
#91800
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (55 years)
Andres Salumets is an Estonian biologist, biochemist, and international infertility expert. He currently is Professor of Reproductive Medicine at the Karolinska Institute. Education He completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Tartu in 1993 and 1995, respectively. In 1995, he also became an embryologist at the Nova Vita Clinic, a private IVF provider in Estonia. In October 2003, he received his PhD at the University of Helsinki with the academic dissertation "Effects of embryological parameters on the success of fresh and frozen embryo transfers".
Go to Profile#6968
F. J. Bollum
#117880
Overall Influence
#6969
Stephen Michael Collins
#117892
Overall Influence
#6970
Stephen Albert Johnston
#117896
Overall Influence
#6971
Steven E Jacobsen
#117905
Overall Influence
#6972
Ben-Erik van Wyk
#87129
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Ben-Erik van Wyk FAAS is a South African professor of indigenous botany and traditional African medicine at the University of Johannesburg. Early life and education Ben-Erik van Wyk was born on 27 December 1956 in Bellville, South Africa. In 1979, he received a Bachelor of Science from Stellenbosch University in Forestry and Nature Conservation. In 1983, he graduated cum laude with a Master of Science. In 1989, he obtained a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Cape Town.
Go to Profile#6973
Bruce Budowle
#117917
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
#6974
Carolyn Burns
#54001
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (84 years)
Dame Carolyn Waugh Burns is a New Zealand ecologist specialising in lakes. She is an emeritus professor at the University of Otago. Early life, family, and education Burns was born in Lincoln, New Zealand, the daughter of Ruth Alvina Burns and Malcolm McRae Burns, an agricultural scientist. She was educated at Christchurch Girls' High School, before studying zoology at the University of Canterbury, from where she graduated Bachelor of Science with first-class honours in 1962. She completed a PhD at the University of Toronto in 1966, with her thesis titled The feeding behaviour of Daphnia un...
Go to Profile#6975
Helen V Worthington
#117938
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#6976
Otto Egon Lowenstein
#117947
Overall Influence
1906 - 1999 (93 years)
Otto Egon Lowenstein FRSE was a German-born zoologist. He did extensive studies on the labyrinth of the ears of fish. Life He was born in Munich on 24 October 1906, to a Jewish family. He studied Sciences at the University of Munich. He was taught Zoology by Karl von Frisch. He continued to postgraduate level gaining a PhD in 1932.
Go to Profile#6977
William Stephenson
#102274
Overall Influence
1917 - 1996 (79 years)
William Stephenson MBE was a British/Australian marine biologist and academic. Early life William Stephenson was born on 14 June 1916 in Fence Houses, Durham, England. His father was a schoolteacher. From the age of 5 he was interested in zoology. He attended Kings College, Durham and took his B.Sc. with honours in zoology in 1938 and received his PhD in zoology from Durham University in 1941. He took a Diploma in Theory and Practice of Teaching at Durham in 1939. He lectured at Kings College, Newcastle and the University of Bristol, under Maurice Yonge. He led students on vacation fieldwork in marine biology at the University College, Bangor and Cullercoats.
Go to Profile#6978
Trevor Worthy
#102509
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Trevor Henry Worthy is an Australia-based paleozoologist from New Zealand, known for his research on moa and other extinct vertebrates. Biography Worthy grew up in Broadwood, Northland, and went to Whangarei Boys' High School. He began his career as a largely self-taught palaeontologist, after becoming interested in fossils through caving. Worthy completed his BSc and MSc at the University of Waikato, then did a second Master's degree at Victoria University of Wellington.
Go to Profile#6979
Bernard Jeanrenaud
#117954
Overall Influence
#6980
Daniel Mansuy
#117955
Overall Influence
#6981
Rolf Müller
#109414
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
Professor Rolf Müller is a German molecular biologist and professor within the Institute of Molecular Biology and Tumor Research, University of Marburg. He is working in the area of molecular oncology with a focus on human ovarian cancer. He is particularly interested in transcriptional networks, therapy resistance, the tumor micro environment and tumor metabolism. This work is intimately linked to the function of the nuclear receptor PPARβ/δ and its potential as a drug target.
Go to Profile#6982
Joseph Travis
#100967
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
Joseph A. Travis is an American Professor of Biological Science and past Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at Florida State University. His research studies the ecology of natural selection using experimental techniques. His studies focus on a number of specific problems ranging from the differences in inflorescence size among populations of the flypoison lily, Zigadenus muscatoxicus in Virginia to the striking divergence in body size in north Florida populations of the sailfin molly, Poecilia latipinna. Populations of least killifish vary widely in density as well as in the form and ...
Go to Profile#6983
Stephen F. Lowry
#118012
Overall Influence
#6984
Junichi Tanji
#118018
Overall Influence
#6985
Daniel H. Huson
#118019
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
#6986
Eric Gouaux
#118026
Overall Influence
#6987
Clarence J. Jr. Gibbs
#118033
Overall Influence
#6988
Theodore L. Hullar
#59597
Overall Influence
1935 - Present (91 years)
Theodore Lee Hullar was Chancellor of the University of California, Riverside from 1985 to 1987 and Chancellor of the University of California, Davis from 1987 to 1994. A biochemist by training, he was one developer of the Hanessian–Hullar reaction.
Go to Profile#6989
Ángel Carracedo
#118039
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
#6990
Alwyn H. Gentry
#118043
Overall Influence
#6991
Richard Highton
#75364
Overall Influence
1927 - Present (99 years)
Richard Highton is an American herpetologist, an expert on the biological classification of woodland salamanders. Education and personal life Highton was born in Chicago. His father encouraged his son to have an interest in herpetology. In 1950 he was awarded a bachelor's degree in biology, mathematics and sociology from New York University, with his studies interrupted by military service. He received his master's degree and Doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Florida. In 1950 he married Anne Adams and they had 4 children together.
Go to Profile#6992
Alexandra Durr
#118061
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
#6993
Ulf Pettersson
#118078
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (84 years)
#6994
Torgny H. Svensson
#118091
Overall Influence
#6995
Arthur C. Upton
#118100
Overall Influence
#6996
George A. Zentmyer
#109187
Overall Influence
1913 - 2003 (90 years)
George Aubrey Zentmyer, Jr. was an American plant physiologist and professor emeritus at University of California, Riverside. He was known as one of the world's foremost authorities on Phytophthora.
Go to Profile#6997
Giovanni Cavagna
#114739
Overall Influence
1934 - Present (92 years)
Giovanni Cavagna is a physiologist and Emeritus Professor of Human Physiology at the University of Milan. His research focuses on muscle physiology, biomechanical principles of terrestrial locomotion in humans and other animals, from walking to running. He also studied specialized locomotion styles in Luo and Kikuyu women carrying heavy loads on their head with low metabolic cost, as well as locomotion during parabolic flight simulating Martian gravity. The New Scientist and the Discover magazine covered his discoveries about the mechanisms of imperfect pendular exchange between gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy of the center of body mass.
Go to Profile#6998
Peter M. Kappeler
#118106
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (67 years)
#6999
John Wesley Griffin
#118119
Overall Influence
#7000
Tulio de Oliveira
#88982
Overall Influence
1976 - Present (50 years)
Tulio de Oliveira is a Brazilian, Portuguese, and South African permanent resident professor of bioinformatics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and Stellenbosch University, South Africa, and associate professor of global health at the University of Washington. He has studied outbreaks of chikungunya, dengue, hepatitis B and C, HIV, SARS-CoV-2, yellow fever and Zika. During the COVID-19 pandemic he led the team that confirmed the discovery of the Beta variant of the COVID-19 virus in 2020 and the Omicron variant in 2021.
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