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,
#8301
F. Christian Thompson
#116456
Overall Influence
1944 - 2021 (77 years)
Frederic Christian Thompson was an American entomologist specializing in the study of Diptera. Works Thompson, F. Christian . "The Flower Fly genus Ornidia " . Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington. 93 : 248–261.Thompson, F. Christian. . "A key to the genera of the flower flies of the Neotropical Region including descriptions of new genera and species and a glossary of taxonomic terms used" . Contributions on Entomology, International. 3 : 321–378
Go to Profile#8302
Karl Simin
#89847
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (59 years)
Karl Simin is an American scientist and assistant professor of cancer biology working with microarrays to study gene expression in engineered mouse models to gain insight into the biology of human tumors.
Go to Profile#8303
Michael J. Peach
#128506
Overall Influence
#8304
Johanna Ivaska
#121872
Overall Influence
1972 - Present (54 years)
Mari Johanna Ivaska is a cancer researcher and molecular cell biology academy professor in University of Turku, Finland. Early life and education Johanna Ivaska was born 1972 in Turku, Finland. Her father is emeritus analytical chemistry professor Ari Ivaska. She did her master's studies in University of Turku. Her PhD on collagen-binding integrins in University of Turku was give an honorary mention for an excellent PhD thesis by the Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku in 2001. After receiving a PhD she moved to London, UK for a postdoctoral work on investigating how integrins and protein kinases work together in cancer migration at Cancer Research UK with professor Peter J.
Go to Profile#8305
Russ E. Davis
#128549
Overall Influence
#8306
Robert H. Symons
#128552
Overall Influence
#8307
Stan Gronthos
#128574
Overall Influence
#8308
Joseph L. Demer
#128576
Overall Influence
#8309
Stanley N. Cohen
#128581
Overall Influence
#8310
Jiquan Chen
#122522
Overall Influence
Jiquan Chen is a landscape ecologist, primarily focused on nutrient flux, carbon cycling, bioenergy, and grassland ecology. He currently leads the LEES lab at Michigan State University. Early life and education Chen was born in Shanxi, Northern China. His parents were farmers. He graduated Inner Mongolia University in 1983 with an undergraduate degree in grassland plant ecology, received his MS in forest ecology in 1986 from the Chinese Academy of Science, and his PhD in ecosystem analysis from the University of Washington in 1991. From 1992 to 1993 he completed postdoc training in stream ecol...
Go to Profile#8311
Paul L. Gepts
#128607
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
#8312
Maximilian Weigend
#100121
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (57 years)
Maximilian Weigend is a German botanist. His botanical author abbreviation is "Weigend". As a student, Weigend received first prize in 1987 and 1989 as part of the Federal President's history competition on the subject of environmental history and in 1992 from the South African Phycological Society for his studies on the phytochemistry of South African macroalgae.
Go to Profile#8313
André M. Deelder
#128615
Overall Influence
#8314
Scott David Ramsey
#128621
Overall Influence
#8315
Julio Abalde
#128631
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Julio Abalde is a Spanish university professor of microbiology. On 3 December 2015 he was elected rector of Universidade da Coruña. Academic career Abalde obtained a PhD from Universidade de Santiago de Compostela in 1986, starting his teaching career one year earlier at the university college that this university had in A Coruña. In 1988 he became associate professor of microbiology of that university, moving to Universidade da Coruña with the same academic rank when the former university college gained independent university status in 1991. He remained in that position until he became full professor in 2010.
Go to Profile#8316
Sandro Mussa-Ivaldi
#49425
Overall Influence
Ferdinando Mussa-Ivaldi is an Italian born professor at Northwestern University. He is known for his contributions to the fields of motor control, motor learning and computational neuroscience. Biography Sandro Mussa-Ivaldi obtained a degree in Physics from the University of Torino and a PhD in biomedical engineering from the Politecnico di Milano . He was a postdoctoral fellow and principal research scientist in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the MIT.
Go to Profile#8317
Philip E. Leboit
#128641
Overall Influence
#8318
Françoise Gros
#128642
Overall Influence
#8319
Lisa Hensley
#51970
Overall Influence
Lisa Ellen Hensley is the associate director of science at the Office of the Chief Scientist, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease Integrated Research Facility in Frederick, Maryland. She was previously a civilian microbiologist in the virology division of the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases . Hensley is one of the premier researchers of some of the world's most dangerous infections, including Ebola hemorrhagic fever, Lassa fever, the coronavirus diseases Severe acute respiratory syndrome and Middle East respiratory syndrome , and smallpox....
Go to Profile#8320
Karl‐heinz Jöckel
#128651
Overall Influence
#8321
Svanter Bertil Ross
#128657
Overall Influence
#8322
Peter Satir
#126227
Overall Influence
1935 - Present (91 years)
Peter Gerald Satir is an American microbiologist who has spent his career studying the basis of motion by studying the cilium. He is a native of New York, graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1952, received his PhD from the Rockefeller University in 1961 and worked at the Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Go to Profile#8323
Gina R. Poe
#110873
Overall Influence
Gina R. Poe is an American neuroscientist specializing in the study of sleep and its effect on memory and learning. Her findings have shown that the absence of noradrenaline and low levels of serotonin during sleep spindles allow the brain to form new memories during REM, as well as restructure old memory circuits to allow for more learning during later waking periods. She currently works as a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles .
Go to Profile#8324
Lorraine S. Symington
#124850
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (68 years)
Lorraine S. Symington is a British-American geneticist. As the Harold S. Ginsberg Professor and Director of Graduate Studies of Microbiology & Immunology at Columbia University, her laboratory uses genetic, biochemical and molecular approaches to understand mechanisms of homology-directed double-strand break repair using the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as an experimental system.
Go to Profile#8325
Erica Bree Rosenblum
#111396
Overall Influence
Erica Bree Rosenblum is an American herpetologist and evolutionary biologist. She is a Professor of Global Change Biology in the department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at the University of California Berkeley. She is also the director of Berkeley Connect, a mentorship program for undergraduate students. Rosenblum’s main research areas include a fungus that causes high mortality rates in frogs and evolution in lizards in White Sands, New Mexico.
Go to Profile#8326
Hideyuki Saya
#128713
Overall Influence
#8327
Shigeyuki Hamada
#128731
Overall Influence
#8328
Teuvo Ahti
#121616
Overall Influence
1934 - Present (92 years)
Teuvo Tapio Ahti is a Finnish botanist and lichenologist. He has had a long career at the University of Helsinki that started in 1963, and then following his retirement in 1997, at the Botanical Museum of the Finnish Museum of Natural History. Known as a specialist of the lichen family Cladoniaceae, Ahti has published more than 280 scientific publications. A Festschrift was dedicated to him in 1994, and in 2000 he was awarded the prestigious Acharius Medal for lifetime contributions to lichenology.
Go to Profile#8329
William f. Hickey
#128741
Overall Influence
#8330
Jonathan Rosand
#128760
Overall Influence
#8331
Margaret T. May
#103462
Overall Influence
Margaret T. May is Professor of Medical Statistics at the University of Bristol, and specialises in prognostic modelling and HIV epidemiology. May has a master's degree from the University of Cambridge, and a master's degree and PhD from the University of Bristol.
Go to Profile#8332
Roberts S. Negrin
#128764
Overall Influence
#8333
Tetsuo Roy Fukuto
#128766
Overall Influence
#8334
Richard R. Strathmann
#128783
Overall Influence
#8335
Marnie Blewitt
#88040
Overall Influence
Marnie Blewitt is head of a division at WEHI, which focuses on X-inactivation, and is engaged in research on the role of polycomb-group proteins in hematopoietic stem cell function. Scientific career
Go to Profile#8336
Katie Hinde
#97555
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Katherine Hinde is an Associate Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Senior Sustainability Scientist at Arizona State University, where she researches lactation. She is also a science writer and science communicator.
Go to Profile#8337
Allen w. Cheever
#128787
Overall Influence
#8338
Norman Edwin Gibbons
#128791
Overall Influence
#8339
Ann Bartuska
#79617
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
Ann M. Bartuska is an ecologist and biologist. She is a senior advisor at Resources for the Future and a former Deputy Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics at the United States Department of Agriculture and former USDA Chief Scientist.
Go to Profile#8340
Ellen Rothenberg
#125974
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
Ellen V. Rothenberg is an American biologist who is an Edward B. Lewis Professor of Biology at the California Institute of Technology. She investigates the molecular mechanisms that underpin lineage choice. She is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.
Go to Profile#8341
Takashi Miyata
#128806
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (86 years)
#8342
Suzanne Ildstad
#113927
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
Suzanne Tollerud Ildstad is an American physician and medical researcher. She is the Chief Scientific Officer and founding CEO of Talaris Therapeutics . She also serves the Board of Directors. She is also the Jewish Hospital Distinguished Professor of Transplantation Research, Director of the Institute for Cellular Therapeutics, Professor in the Department of Surgery with associate appointments in the Departments of Physiology & Biophysics and Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.
Go to Profile#8343
Bruno Oberle
#40310
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
Bruno Oberle is a Swiss biologist and environmental scientist. On 13 July 2020, he was appointed Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Biography Oberle was born in St. Gallen, Switzerland on 12 October 1955, and grew up in Locarno and Zürich. He took biology and environmental sciences at ETH Zurich and obtained his PhD.
Go to Profile#8344
Satoshi Tabata
#128810
Overall Influence
#8345
Peter Hillmen
#128819
Overall Influence
#8346
Richard Denton
#128830
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (85 years)
Richard Michael Denton FRS is a British biochemist, and Emeritus Professor at University of Bristol. Life He earned a PhD in 1967 at the University of Cambridge, where he studied with Sir Philip Randle.
Go to Profile#8347
Nancy May Hogg
#128857
Overall Influence
#8348
Oliver Phillips
#87325
Overall Influence
Oliver Lawrence Phillips, is a British ecologist who specializes in tropical forests and is currently Professor of Tropical Ecology in the School of Geography at the University of Leeds. He is noted for his work coordinating large-scale, collaborative research projects that study how humans have changed the world's tropical forests, and the implications for climate change.
Go to Profile#8349
S. Douglass Gilman
#128866
Overall Influence
#8350
Cornelia Lass‐flörl
#128870
Overall Influence
