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,
#7351
David Sims
#48832
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (57 years)
David William Sims is a British marine biologist known for using satellite tracking to study wild behaviour of sharks and for the Global Shark Movement Project. He is Senior Research Fellow at the Laboratory of the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth, and a Professor of Marine Ecology in the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton at the University of Southampton, U.K.
Go to Profile#7352
David Robert Sibley
#121071
Overall Influence
#7353
Paul M. Allen
#104005
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
Paul Malone Allen is an American cellular immunologist and current Robert L. Kroc Professor of Pathology and Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis, Missouri. Allen holds prestigious MERIT status with the National Institutes of Health.
Go to Profile#7354
Toby Spribille
#105319
Overall Influence
1975 - Present (51 years)
Toby Spribille is a lichenologist, specialising in evolution and taxonomy. He identified the presence of yeast cells as an additional fungal component of some lichens. He works at University of Alberta and is the Canada Research Chair in Symbiosis.
Go to Profile#7355
Kathy Hudson
#63001
Overall Influence
Kathy Lynn Hudson is an American microbiologist specializing in science policy. She was the deputy director for science, outreach, and policy at the National Institutes of Health from October 2010 to January 2017. Hudson assisted in the creation and launch of All of Us, the BRAIN initiative, and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. She founded the Genetics and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University in 2002. Hudson is an advocate for women in science.
Go to Profile#7356
Sikhulile Moyo
#71773
Overall Influence
Sikhulile Moyo is a Zimbabwean virologist working as the laboratory director of the Botswana–Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership and a research associate at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. In November 2021, Moyo and his laboratory were the first to identify the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. In 2022, Moyo was listed in the Time 100 list.
Go to Profile#7357
Lee Ehrman
#117542
Overall Influence
1935 - Present (91 years)
Lee Ehrman is an American geneticist and a Distinguished Professor of Biology at State University of New York at Purchase known for her research on Drosophila fruit flies. Early life and education Ehrman earned a Bachelor of Science from Queens College of CUNY in 1956. Ehrman earned her M.S. in 1957 and received her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1959, where she studied under Theodosius Dobzhansky. She joined the faculty at Purchase as a founding faculty member in 1970. In 1976, she received Purchase's Chancellor‘s Award for Excellence in Teaching, and she was named a Distinguished Profess...
Go to Profile#7358
Thomas Joseph Brady
#121122
Overall Influence
#7359
Alan C. Mix
#121128
Overall Influence
#7360
Joel Morganroth
#121144
Overall Influence
#7361
Göran Lundborg
#121151
Overall Influence
#7362
Thomas M. Roberts
#121174
Overall Influence
#7363
Jeremy Luban
#121179
Overall Influence
#7364
Michael Laverack
#115087
Overall Influence
1931 - 1993 (62 years)
Michael Stuart Laverack MIB FRSE was a British zoologist who was director of the Gatty Marine Laboratory from 1969 to 1985. He emigrated to Australia and was noted for his contributions to marine biology.
Go to Profile#7365
Zita Martins
#59063
Overall Influence
1979 - Present (47 years)
Zita Carla Torrão Pinto Martins , OSE, is a Portuguese astrobiologist, and an associate professor at Instituto Superior Técnico. She was a Royal Society University Research Fellow at Imperial College London. Her research explores how life may have begun on Earth by looking for organic compounds in meteorite samples.
Go to Profile#7366
Robert M. Blizzard
#121196
Overall Influence
#7367
Margaret A. Liu
#98573
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Margaret A. Liu is a physician and researcher studying gene expression, immune responses, and vaccines. From 2015 to 2017, Liu served as president of the International Society of Vaccines. She is currently a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of California, San Francisco and a foreign adjunct professor at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. Since June 7, 2017, she has been a director of Ipsen S.A. in France.
Go to Profile#7368
Tim Tully
#115665
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
Timothy Paul Tully is an American neurobiologist who is the chief scientific officer and executive vice president for research & development at the San Diego-based biotechnology company Dart Neuroscience. He is known for his research on the role of genetics in human memory. With the support of billionaire Ken Dart, he is also attempting to create a pharmaceutical drug that would give its takers a photographic memory, which has been dubbed "Viagra for the brain" by the media.
Go to Profile#7369
Jean Théodore Delacour
#121233
Overall Influence
#7370
Charles L. Bowden
#121241
Overall Influence
#7371
Stefano Francesco Cappa
#121247
Overall Influence
#7372
Thomas M. Mcintyre
#121251
Overall Influence
#7373
Ian R. Hart
#121268
Overall Influence
#7374
Leonard E. Mortenson
#121299
Overall Influence
#7375
Christoffer Schander
#105792
Overall Influence
1960 - 2012 (52 years)
Carl Fredrik Christoffer Schander was a professor in marine biology at the University of Bergen, Norway. He was also a thematic leader at the Centre of Excellence in Geobiology. His doctoral thesis explored the evolutionary relationships of the parasitic marine gastropod family Pyramidellidae. He worked on marine invertebrates, mainly molluscs, and published more than 90 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, 76 are indexed in the Web of Knowledge, and fourteen of them have been cited ten or more times.
Go to Profile#7376
Ronald H. A. Plasterk
#121310
Overall Influence
#7377
Doron Nof
#121317
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (82 years)
Doron Nof was an American oceanographer. He was the Distinguished Nansen Professor of Physical Oceanography at Florida State University. Nof has published on various aspects of physical oceanography, including flows through straits and passages, boundary current dynamics, upwelling in coastal regions, the dynamics of eddies in the upper and deep ocean, equatorial dynamics, general circulation problems, and cross-equatorial flows. He was a recipient of the Fridtjof Nansen Medal awarded by the European Geosciences Union. In addition to his scientific research, Nof has received notoriety in the ...
Go to Profile#7378
Francis John Ballard
#121336
Overall Influence
#7379
Michael S. Dunnill
#121359
Overall Influence
#7380
Jennifer Webster-Cyriaque
#97081
Overall Influence
Jennifer Y. Webster-Cyriaque is an American dentist and immunologist specializing in the oral microbiome, salivary gland disease in patients with HIV, and cancer-causing viruses. She became the deputy director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research in November 2020. Webster-Cyriaque was a faculty member at UNC Adams School of Dentistry and the UNC School of Medicine for 21 years.
Go to Profile#7381
Helmut Hillebrand
#121419
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (60 years)
#7382
Brian Huntley
#112416
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (82 years)
Brian John Huntley is a retired professor and conservation scientist from South Africa, best known for developing and transforming African national parks. He was involved in expanding the National Botanical Institute to become an authoritative repository on South African flora and fauna. As an independent expert, he was a consultant for agencies and international organizations, including the United Nations, with regard to nature conservation. He himself took part in multiple conservation projects around Africa.
Go to Profile#7383
Robert W. Lichtwardt
#112367
Overall Influence
1924 - 2018 (94 years)
Robert W. Lichtwardt was a Brazilian-born American mycologist specializing in the study of arthropod-associated, gut-dwelling fungi . He is known for his online monograph and interactive keys to trichomycete taxa.
Go to Profile#7384
Rohinton Kamakaka
#47541
Overall Influence
Rohinton T Kamakaka is a professor in the Department of Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Prior to that, he was Unit Chief at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He received his PhD degree from the University of Cambridge, U.K.
Go to Profile#7385
Dieter Kabelitz
#121464
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
#7386
Inga Koerte
#71765
Overall Influence
Inga Katharina Koerte is a German neuroradiologist. She currently holds a dual affiliation as Professor of Biological Research in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Ludwig-Maximilians-University , Munich, Germany and as lecturer in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School , Boston, USA. Since 2018 she is associate faculty member of the Graduate School of Systemic Neuroscience in Munich. Her research focusses on the effects of brain trauma on the brain's structure and function, as well as the development of diagnostic markers that can be used for the purpose of both therapeutic, and preventative i...
Go to Profile#7387
Anatoly Grigoriev
#39947
Overall Influence
1943 - 2023 (80 years)
Anatoly Ivanovich Grigoriev was a Soviet and Russian physiologist. He was a Doctor of Sciences , Professor at the Lomonosov Moscow State University, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation . Laureate of the 1989 USSR State Prize and winner of the 2001 State Prize of the Russian Federation. Disciple of Oleg Gazenko, Grigoriev was one of the leading scientists in bioastronautics and space flight medicine.
Go to Profile#7388
Reza Shadmehr
#121479
Overall Influence
#7389
Lawrence Douglas Dorr
#121494
Overall Influence
#7390
Rodolfo Brenner
#109707
Overall Influence
1922 - 2018 (96 years)
Rodolfo Roberto Brenner was an Argentine emeritus professor of chemistry. He was the founder and director of the Institute of Biochemical Research of La Plata and the co-founder of the Argentine Society for Biochemical Research.
Go to Profile#7391
Irvine G. Mcquarrie
#121520
Overall Influence
#7392
David Larry Sparks
#121530
Overall Influence
#7393
Leann Tilley
#87091
Overall Influence
Leann Tilley is Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute, The University of Melbourne. Education and awards Leann Tilley was born in Edenhope, Victoria, and attended Marian College in Ararat. Following a BSc in biochemistry at the University of Melbourne, she obtained her PhD in biochemistry from the University of Sydney. She completed postdoctoral fellowships at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, the College de France in Paris, and the University of Melbourne, before joining La Trobe University. In 2011 she moved to the De...
Go to Profile#7394
Nathan Nelson
#103956
Overall Influence
1938 - Present (88 years)
Nathan Nelson is an Israeli biochemist and molecular biologist who was awarded the 2013 Israel Prize in Life Sciences. As of January 2012, he has published more than 240 scientific papers which were cited over 15,000 times.
Go to Profile#7395
L. David Hillis
#121567
Overall Influence
#7396
Emanuel F. Iii Petricoin
#121578
Overall Influence
#7397
Manuel Buchwald
#79621
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (86 years)
Manuel Buchwald, is a Canadian geneticist and academic. Born in Lima, Peru, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree summa cum laude in 1962 from Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. in 1967 from Brandeis University. He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
Go to Profile#7398
Mauro Maccarrone
#121597
Overall Influence
#7399
Rollin C. Richmond
#97086
Overall Influence
Rollin Charles Richmond was the president of Humboldt State University in Arcata, California from May 2002 to July 2014. Before taking that position he was provost and genetics professor at Iowa State University, leading research on the genetic mechanisms of fruit flies evolution and effects of cocaine on Drosophila. He has also served in various positions at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, the University of South Florida, and Indiana University.
Go to Profile#7400
Philip George Houthem Gell
#64152
Overall Influence
1914 - 2001 (87 years)
Philip George Houthem Gell was a British immunologist working in postwar Britain. Together with Robin Coombs, he developed the Gell–Coombs classification of hypersensitivity. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1969.
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