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,
#7201
Jose‐manuel García‐verdugo
#119904
Overall Influence
#7202
Michal Schwartz
#68199
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Michal Schwartz is a professor of neuroimmunology at the Weizmann Institute of Science. She is active in the field of neurodegenerative diseases, particularly utilizing the immune system to help the brain fight terminal neurodegenerative brain diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and dementia.
Go to Profile#7203
Daniel Siebert
#26182
Overall Influence
Daniel J. Siebert is an ethnobotanist, pharmacognosist, and author who lives in Southern California. Siebert has studied Salvia divinorum for over twenty years and was the first person to unequivocally identify Salvinorin A as the primary psychoactive substance of Salvia divinorum. In 1998, Siebert appeared in the documentary Sacred Weeds shown in the United Kingdom. He has discussed Salvia divinorum on National Public Radio, Fox News, CNN, Telemundo and his comments have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and The New York Times.
Go to Profile#7204
Gary J. Bennett
#119929
Overall Influence
#7205
Lynda Delph
#94051
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Lynda Ferrell Delph is a Distinguished Professor of Biology and member of the Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior Program at Indiana University - Bloomington. Delph began her education at the University of Arizona, where she completed her undergraduate education in 1979 and masters in 1983. In 1988, she completed her Ph.D., on gender dimorphism in New Zealand Scrophulariaceae, from the University of Canterbury, which was followed by a post doctoral fellowship at Rutgers University.
Go to Profile#7206
David G. Haskell
#90236
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
David George Haskell is a British and American biologist, writer, and William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies at Sewanee: The University of the South, in Sewanee, Tennessee. He is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist in General Nonfiction. In addition to scientific papers, he has written essays, poems, op-eds, and the books The Forest Unseen , The Songs of Trees , Thirteen Ways to Smell a Tree , and Sounds Wild and Broken .
Go to Profile#7207
Johannes Weigelt
#119969
Overall Influence
#7208
Richard P. Bunge
#119977
Overall Influence
#7209
Helmuth Sinzinger
#119981
Overall Influence
#7210
Eric Berry Edney
#107372
Overall Influence
1913 - 2000 (87 years)
Eric Berry Edney was an English-born zoologist. Edney was born in Bognor Regis, and moved to Rhodesia with his family as a child. He attended boarding school and a college in Bulawayo. Edney earned a bachelor's of science from Rhodes University College in 1933. He returned to England for graduate study, and was awarded a Diploma of Imperial College and Ph.D. at the University of London in 1936. Edney worked for the National Museum of Southern Rhodesia until 1940, when he accepted a post as biology lecturer at Makerere College. During World War II, Edney served in the Uganda Defense Force. Fro...
Go to Profile#7211
Robert V. Rice
#68752
Overall Influence
1924 - 2020 (96 years)
Robert Vernon Rice was an American biochemist from Carnegie Mellon University and the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts primarily known for work in the area of biochemistry and physiology of muscle proteins and neuromuscular interactions.
Go to Profile#7212
Claudio M. Anasetti
#120001
Overall Influence
#7213
Stanley J. Slinger
#120008
Overall Influence
#7214
Barry Douglas Bavister
#120016
Overall Influence
#7215
Sean Curran
#71432
Overall Influence
Sean Curran is an American gerontologist who is Professor of Gerontology and Vice Dean at the USC Davis School of Gerontology with joint appointments in Molecular and Computational Biology . He also serves as the Dean of Faculty and Research. His expertise is the molecular genetics of healthspan and longevity with an emphasis on biology, genetics, nutrition, and diets.
Go to Profile#7216
Ulrik Fredrik Malt
#16062
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (80 years)
Ulrik Fredrik Malt is a Norwegian psychiatrist. He was a consultant psychiatrist at Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, and was Director of the Department of Neuropsychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine from 1987 to 2013. Since 2014 he is a senior consultant, Department of Research and Education, Division of Surgery and Clinical Neuroscience, Oslo University Hospital. Holding a position of Professor II at the University of Oslo since 1988, in 2016 he became professor emeritus.
Go to Profile#7217
Alexander Pihl
#120055
Overall Influence
#7218
James E. Montie
#120056
Overall Influence
#7219
Barend Mons
#89904
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Barend Mons is a molecular biologist by training and a leading FAIR data specialist. The first decade of his scientific career he spent on fundamental research on malaria parasites and later on translational research for malaria vaccines. In the year 2000 he switched to advanced data stewardship and systems analytics. He is currently a professor in Leiden and most known for innovations in scholarly collaboration, especially nanopublications, knowledge graph based discovery and most recently the FAIR data initiative and GO FAIR. Since 2012 he is a Professor in biosemantics in the Department of Human Genetics at the Leiden University Medical Center in The Netherlands.
Go to Profile#7220
Bernhard Cinader
#105878
Overall Influence
1919 - 2001 (82 years)
Bernhard "Hardi" Cinader was a Canadian Immunologist and Professor in the Department of Immunology at the University of Toronto. He was inaugural president of the Canadian Society for Immunology and the International Union of Immunological Societies .
Go to Profile#7221
Roger Lemon
#103616
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (80 years)
Roger Nicolas Lemon is professor of neurophysiology at University College London. He is a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. He was awarded the Fyssen International Prize in 2015. External links Official website
Go to Profile#7222
Ganesh Bagler
#59381
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Ganesh Bagler is known for his research in computational gastronomy, an emerging data science of food, flavors and health. By blending food with data and computation he has helped establish the foundations of this niche area. Starting with the investigation of food pairing in the Indian cuisine, his lab has contributed to computational gastronomy with studies on culinary fingerprints of world cuisines, culinary evolution, benevolent health impacts of spices, and taste prediction algorithms.
Go to Profile#7223
L. -f. Liu
#120132
Overall Influence
#7224
Arnold Tukker
#120136
Overall Influence
#7225
Hilary Finucane
#69244
Overall Influence
Hilary Kiyo Finucane is an American computational biologist who is Co-Director of the Program in Medical and Population Genetics at the Broad Institute. Her group combines genetic data with molecular data to understand the origins and mechanisms of disease.
Go to Profile#7226
Hans‐jochen Heinze
#120153
Overall Influence
#7227
Sharon Tooze
#111804
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Sharon Tooze, FMedSci is an American cell biologist who has made significant contributions to the Autophagy field. She is a senior scientist at the Francis Crick Institute and was awarded European Molecular Biology Organization membership in 2010.
Go to Profile#7228
Nancy J. Cox
#120168
Overall Influence
#7229
Armand Nicholi
#29352
Overall Influence
1928 - 2017 (89 years)
Armand M. Nicholi Jr. was a clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital. His clinical work and research focused on the impact of absent parents on the emotional development of children and young adults. He was the editor and coauthor of the classic The Harvard Guide to Psychiatry . He was also a founding board member of the Family Research Council.
Go to Profile#7230
Tristram Wyatt
#109510
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Tristram Dick Wyatt is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is a senior research fellow in the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford and an emeritus fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford. Wyatt researches pheromones and animal behavior.
Go to Profile#7231
Lawrence F. Eng
#120175
Overall Influence
#7232
William Brewster Pratt
#120180
Overall Influence
#7233
Takashi Makinodan
#120183
Overall Influence
#7234
Olev Vinn
#113760
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (55 years)
Olev Vinn is Estonian paleobiologist and paleontologist. Vinn graduated from the biology class of Tallinn 3. Secondary School in 1989. He studied geology at the University of Tartu from 1989 to 1993. Vinn holds an M.Sc. degree in paleontology and stratigraphy from the University of Tartu in 1995 and a Ph.D. degree in geology from the same university in 2001. He is senior research fellow in paleontology at the University of Tartu since 2007. He has published more than 200 peer reviewed papers in international scientific journals. Since 2021 he is editor of Journal of Paleontology.
Go to Profile#7235
Robert M. Blizzard
#80166
Overall Influence
1957 - 2003 (46 years)
Robert M. Blizzard was an American pediatric endocrinologist and a founding member of the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society. Life and career Blizzard was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, and raised in Greenville, Illinois. He attended Northwestern University, interrupting his undergraduate studies to serve in the United States Army for three years during the Second World War. He later returned and graduated from the Feinberg School of Medicine in 1952.
Go to Profile#7236
E. Roy John
#65424
Overall Influence
1924 - 2009 (85 years)
Erwin Roy John was a pioneer in the field of quantitative electroencephalography and neurometrics. Chronology Erwin Roy John was born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, United States. During the Great Depression he was a union organizer in an airplane plant. His attendance at City College of New York was interrupted by World War II, where he volunteered and served in the Battle of the Bulge. After the war, he attended University of Chicago earning a BA in physics and a PhD in psychology. He began work on brain research at UCLA and later founded brain research laboratories at the University of Rochester and at Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital.
Go to Profile#7237
Gurdyal Besra
#115722
Overall Influence
Gurdyal Singh Besra is Bardrick Professor of Microbial Physiology & Chemistry at the University of Birmingham. Education Besra was educated at Newcastle University where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree 1987 followed by a PhD for studies on the lipids of the leprosy bacillus in 1990.
Go to Profile#7238
Kim Orth
#90224
Overall Influence
Kim Orth is a microbiologist and biochemist. She is the Earl A. Forsythe chair in biomedical science and professor of molecular biology and biochemistry at UT Southwestern. She is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Her research focuses on bacterial pathogenesis.
Go to Profile#7239
Kenneth J. Frey
#120212
Overall Influence
#7240
Elizabeth M. McNally
#63529
Overall Influence
Elizabeth M. McNally is an American human geneticist and cardiologist. She is the Elizabeth J. Ward Chair and director of the Center for Genetic Medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.
Go to Profile#7241
Adrian T. Sumner
#120214
Overall Influence
#7242
Jordi Bascompte
#116294
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (59 years)
Jordi Bascompte is a professor of ecology at the University of Zurich and the director of its specialized master's program on quantitative environmental sciences. He is best known for having brought the interactions of mutual benefit between plants and animals into community ecology, at the time largely dominated by predation and competition. His application of network theory to the study of mutualism has identified general laws that determine the way in which species interactions shape biodiversity.
Go to Profile#7243
Lutz Prof. Dr. Gissmann
#120233
Overall Influence
#7244
Amy Dickman
#98217
Overall Influence
Amelia Jane Dickman is Professor of Wildlife Conservation and Director of WildCRU at the University of Oxford, Kaplan Senior Research Fellow at Pembroke College, Oxford and joint CEO of Lion Landscapes. She is best known for her leadership of the Ruaha Carnivore Project, seeking to improve conservation outcomes for lions and other carnivores in the Ruaha National Park of Tanzania. She is known for her views on the importance of scientific and local community input into discussions around the continued importance of trophy hunting for the conservation of African landscapes.
Go to Profile#7245
Howard Riezman
#120240
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#7246
Theodore Wells Pietsch III
#86039
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (81 years)
Theodore Wells Pietsch III is an American systematist and evolutionary biologist especially known for his studies of anglerfishes. Pietsch has described 72 species and 14 genera of fishes and published numerous scientific papers focusing on the relationships, evolutionary history, and functional morphology of teleosts, particularly deep-sea taxa. For this body of work, Pietsch was awarded the Robert H. Gibbs Jr. Memorial Award in Systematic Ichthyology by the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists in 2005. Pietsch has spent most of his career at the University of Washington in...
Go to Profile#7247
Peter Bridgewater
#96619
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (81 years)
Professor Peter Bridgewater is an Australian conservationist. Biography Bridgewater completed a Bachelor of Science in botany at Durham University in 1967. He stayed on to complete a doctorate at the same institution.
Go to Profile#7248
Carl B. Huffaker
#120254
Overall Influence
#7249
W. Illiam E. Grizzle
#120268
Overall Influence
#7250
Vinod Scaria
#46725
Overall Influence
1981 - Present (45 years)
Dr. Vinod Scaria FRSB, FRSPH is an Indian biologist, medical researcher pioneering in Precision Medicine and Clinical Genomics in India. He is best known for sequencing the first Indian genome. He was also instrumental in the sequencing of The first Sri Lankan Genome, analysis of the first Malaysian Genome sequencing and analysis of the Wild-type strain of Zebrafish and the IndiGen programme on Genomics for Public Health in India
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