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,
#7051
Alison M. Bell
#84753
Overall Influence
Alison M. Bell is an American ecologist who studies animal behaviour at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. She has focused on the evolution of and mechanisms that underpin animal personality. In 2020, she was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Go to Profile#7052
Stephen Donovan
#117054
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
Stephen Kenneth Donovan FLS is a British palaeontologist, who is at Palaeozoic and Mesozoic Macroinvertebrates, Nederlands Centrum voor Biodiversiteit - Naturalis . He previously worked at the Department of Geology at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. He was awarded the Linnean Medal.
Go to Profile#7053
David M. Danks
#118649
Overall Influence
#7054
Robert A. Lewis
#118654
Overall Influence
#7055
Michael W. Bruford
#99343
Overall Influence
1963 - 2023 (60 years)
Michael William Bruford was a Welsh molecular ecologist, conservation biologist and a professor at Cardiff University's School of Biosciences. His area of research spanned from animal wildlife genetics to the management of captive populations and livestock breeds to animal biobanking. After earning his B.Sc. from the University of Portsmouth and his PhD from the University of Leicester, Bruford worked at the Zoological Society of London where he became Head of Conservation Genetics before joining Cardiff University as reader in 1999 and professor in 2001. In addition to his research activitie...
Go to Profile#7056
Lars‐inge Larsson
#118672
Overall Influence
#7057
Mayim Bialik
#39399
Overall Influence
1975 - Present (51 years)
Mayim Chaya Bialik is an American actress, game show host, and author. From 1991 to 1995, she played the title character of the NBC sitcom Blossom. From 2010 to 2019, she played neuroscientist Amy Farrah Fowler on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, for which she was nominated four times for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2015 and 2017.
Go to Profile#7058
Robert C. Vrijenhoek
#118677
Overall Influence
#7059
Peter Langhorne
#118684
Overall Influence
#7060
Rebecca Doerge
#75700
Overall Influence
Rebecca Whitbeck Doerge is an American researcher in statistical bioinformatics, known for her research on quantitative traits. She is currently the provost at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She was previously the Trent and Judith Anderson Distinguished Professor of Statistics at Purdue University and then dean of the Mellon College of Science at Carnegie Mellon University, with joint appointments in the departments of biology and statistics.
Go to Profile#7061
Tracy Teal
#81796
Overall Influence
Tracy Teal is an American bioinformatician and the executive director of Data Carpentry. She is known for her work in open science and biomedical data science education. Education and early career Teal received her Bachelors of Science in Cybernetics from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1997 and later received her Master of Arts in Organismal Biology, Ecology, and Evolution in 1999. There, she worked in the laboratory of Charles Taylor, studying how the evolution of language is impacted by the way people learn it. She then earned her PhD from the California Institute of Technology in Computation and Neural Systems in 2007.
Go to Profile#7062
Gijs Kuenen
#111535
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (86 years)
Johannes Gijsbrecht Kuenen is a Dutch microbiologist who is professor emeritus at the Delft University of Technology and a visiting scientist at the University of Southern California. His research is influenced by, and a contribution to, the scientific tradition of the Delft School of Microbiology.
Go to Profile#7063
Prasad Devarajan
#118699
Overall Influence
#7064
Richard F. Keep
#118700
Overall Influence
#7065
Peter Claus Heinrich
#118758
Overall Influence
#7066
Kenneth Witwer
#107806
Overall Influence
Kenneth W. Witwer is an associate professor of molecular and comparative pathobiology and neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. As nominated President-Elect of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles , Witwer previously served as Secretary General and Executive Chair of Science and Meetings of the society. His laboratory studies extracellular vesicles , noncoding and extracellular RNA , and enveloped viruseses, including HIV and SARS-CoV-2. Witwer is a member of the Richman Family Precision Medicine Center of Excellence...
Go to Profile#7067
Signe Normand
#103124
Overall Influence
1979 - Present (47 years)
Signe Normand is a Danish biologist and educator, specializing in vegetation ecology. Since February 2014, she has been an assistant professor at Aarhus University specializing in Danish flora and vegetation. In March 2015, in recognition for her research on vegetation in the Arctic tundra, she received an International Rising Talent Fellowship, one of the L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science.
Go to Profile#7068
Hugh Mclennan
#118788
Overall Influence
#7069
Aleksander S. Popel
#118792
Overall Influence
#7070
William W. Hay
#63317
Overall Influence
1934 - 2022 (88 years)
William Winn Hay was an American geologist, marine geologist, micropaleontologist, paleoceanographer, and paleoclimatologist, primarily associated with the University of Colorado. Biography Hay was born October 12, 1934, in Dallas, Texas, the second son of Stephen John and Avella Hay.
Go to Profile#7071
Lorene Rogers
#39208
Overall Influence
1914 - 2009 (95 years)
Lorene Lane Rogers was an American biochemist and educator who served as the 21st President of the University of Texas at Austin. She has been described as the first woman in the United States to lead a major research university.
Go to Profile#7072
E. Richard Moxon
#118818
Overall Influence
#7073
Allan Gilling Timmermann
#118820
Overall Influence
#7074
Roxana Moslehi
#78359
Overall Influence
Roxana Moslehi is an Iranian-born genetic epidemiologist. Her research is on cancer and cancer precursors, including work on radiation-induced cancer of the eyes, and ethnic differences in breast cancer incidence. Born in Iran and raised there and in Canada, she is an associate professor in epidemiology and biostatistics at the University at Albany in New York state.
Go to Profile#7075
Jim Fowler
#20394
Overall Influence
1930 - 2019 (89 years)
James Mark Fowler was an American professional zoologist and host of the acclaimed wildlife documentary television show Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. Early years Born in Albany, Georgia, Fowler spent his youth in the town of Falls Church, Virginia, exploring all things in nature in the stream valley of Four Mile Run near his family home. He graduated from Westtown School in 1947, a Quaker college preparatory school in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and Earlham College in 1952.
Go to Profile#7076
Bernard Dutrillaux
#118847
Overall Influence
#7077
Yosef Shiloh
#118891
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
#7078
Vladimir Hachinski
#52876
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (85 years)
Vladimir Hachinski is a Canadian clinical neuroscientist and researcher based at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University. He is also a Senior Scientist at London's Robarts Research Institute. His research pertains in the greatest part to stroke and dementia, the interactions between them and their joint prevention. He and John W. Norris helped to establish the world's first successful stroke unit at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, and, by extension, helped cement stroke units as the standard of care for stroke patients everywhere. He discovered that the control of...
Go to Profile#7079
Walter Leal
#105414
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
Walter Soares Leal is a Brazilian biochemist and entomologist who is known for identifying pheromones and mosquito attractants, and elucidating a mechanism of action of the insect repellent DEET. Leal was the first non-Japanese to earn tenure at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries of Japan. In 2000, he accepted a position as associate professor at the University of California, Davis. Leal is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. He served as chair of the entomology department at UC Davis .
Go to Profile#7080
Nicholas Dyson
#102774
Overall Influence
Nicholas Dyson is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, the James and Shirley Curvey MGH Research Scholar and Scientific Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. Research The Dyson Lab studies the retinoblastoma protein.
Go to Profile#7081
Ryan D'Arcy
#72511
Overall Influence
1972 - Present (54 years)
Ryan C.N. D'Arcy is a Canadian neuroscientist, researcher, innovator and entrepreneur. D'Arcy co-founded HealthTech Connex Inc. where he serves as President and Chief Scientific Officer. HealthTech Connex translates neuroscience advancements into health technology breakthroughs. D'Arcy is most known for coining the term "brain vital signs" and for leading the research and development of the brain vital signs framework.
Go to Profile#7082
Axel M. Gressner
#118915
Overall Influence
#7083
Shekhar Saxena
#118917
Overall Influence
#7084
Sueharu Horinouchi
#118939
Overall Influence
#7085
Philip R. Taylor
#118943
Overall Influence
#7086
H. Julian G. Bloom
#118967
Overall Influence
#7087
Wade Regehr
#64367
Overall Influence
Wade G. Regehr is a Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School's Department of Neurobiology. Early biography Born in Shaunavon, Saskatchewan, Canada, Regehr attended the University of Regina in Canada where he received the Governor General's Award, then received his Ph.D. at Caltech in applied physics with David Rutledge. His doctorate was at the interface between neuroscience and electrical engineering.
Go to Profile#7088
Noel L. Warner
#118976
Overall Influence
#7089
Alessandro Padovani
#118978
Overall Influence
#7090
John Pringle
#114540
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
John R. Pringle is an American scientist. He is a professor at Stanford University. He received an AB in Mathematics from Harvard University and a PhD in Biology also from Harvard University . He is the 2013 recipient of the E.B. Wilson Medal, the American Society for Cell Biology's highest honor for science.
Go to Profile#7091
Peter Klopfer
#96753
Overall Influence
1930 - Present (96 years)
Peter Hubert Klopfer is a German-born American zoologist, civil rights advocate and educator. He is Professor Emeritus of Biology at Duke University, where in 1966 he co-founded, with John Buettner-Janusch, the Duke Lemur Center . This facility houses the largest living collection of endangered primates in the world.
Go to Profile#7092
Lihadh Al-Gazali
#87238
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
Professor Lihadh Al-Gazali MBChB MSc FRCP FRCPCH is a professor in clinical genetics and paediatrics. Her main area of interest is identifying new inherited disorders in Arab populations clinically and at the molecular level.
Go to Profile#7093
Mark Hauber
#112695
Overall Influence
Mark Erno Hauber is an American ornithologist and Endowed Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research considers the development of avian recognition systems. Early life and education Hauber was born and raised in Hungary. He has said that he always wanted to become an ornithologist. He attended high school in Italy, before moving to the United States for college. Hauber was an undergraduate student at Yale College, where he majored in organismal biology. He started focusing on birds, and the differences between the brains of different species. He worked toward his doctorate at the Cornell University, where he studied brood parasitic cowbirds.
Go to Profile#7094
Ronald C. Kennedy
#98940
Overall Influence
1954 - 2011 (57 years)
Ronald C. Kennedy was a virus immunologist at Texas Tech University. Prior to his appointment there he was affiliated with Baylor University, where he had previously done postdoctoral studies. Furthermore, when he switched affiliations to Texas Tech, he was also an adjunct, associate and full professor in the Departments of Microbiology and Pediatrics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. After his tenure in San Antonio, he switched affiliations to the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center's department of microbiology and immunology. In the 1980s he was affi...
Go to Profile#7095
Martha Herbert
#77603
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Martha Herbert is an American physician and assistant professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and pediatric neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. Herbert is also director of the TRANSCEND program at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging.
Go to Profile#7096
Vasily Krylov
#97980
Overall Influence
1947 - 2018 (71 years)
Vasily Nikolayevich Krylov was a Russian scientist, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Distinguished Professor at the N. I. Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod , Chairman of the Russian Apitherapy Coordinating Council, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation and Honorary Worker of Higher Professional Education the Russian Federation. Laureate of the 2016 Nizhny Novgorod Prize. He is known as a bee venom expert.
Go to Profile#7097
Guadalupe Sabio
#96504
Overall Influence
1977 - Present (49 years)
Guadalupe Sabio Buzo is a Spanish scientist and Professor at the Spanish National Cardiovascular Research Centre, which is part of the Carlos III Health Institute. Her research considers stress-activated kinases and the development of diseases associated with obesity. She was awarded the Princess of Girona Foundation Scientist Prize in 2012 and selected as one of the Top 100 Women Leaders in Spain in 2017.
Go to Profile#7098
Hendrik Gerard Stunnenberg
#119030
Overall Influence
#7099
Miriam Salpeter
#97599
Overall Influence
1929 - 2000 (71 years)
Miriam Salpeter was an American academic. As professor of neurobiology at Cornell University, she developed quantitative electron microscopic autoradiography as a means to investigate the neuromuscular junction. The Society for Neuroscience created the Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award in her honour.
Go to Profile#7100
Yoshihide Hayashizaki
#119035
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
