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,
#9101
Lewis G. Tilney
#134526
Overall Influence
#9102
Daniel Martin Ziegler
#134527
Overall Influence
#9103
Ulrich Mohr
#134529
Overall Influence
#9104
Triin Vahisalu
#118468
Overall Influence
1978 - Present (48 years)
Triin Vahisalu is an Estonian botanist. She studies the effects of stress on plants and discovered a gene that regulates stomata in harsh environments. Education Vahisalu attended the University of Tartu for her undergraduate degree in biology between 1997 and 2004 and stayed on until 2005 for her master's.
Go to Profile#9105
Patrizia Mecocci
#134547
Overall Influence
#9106
Jean Sibilia
#134576
Overall Influence
#9107
Lawrence I. Grossman
#134580
Overall Influence
#9108
Caroline Palmer
#77767
Overall Influence
Caroline Palmer is the Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience of Performance and Professor in the Department of Psychology at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She is also an Associate Faculty Member in the Schulich School of Music at McGill. Her research in cognitive science addresses the behavioural and neural foundations that make it possible for people to produce auditory sequences such as playing a musical instrument or speaking. Palmer has developed and empirically tested computational models of how people perceive and produce auditory sequences, and how they coordinate th...
Go to Profile#9109
Vidya Arankalle
#134591
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
Vidya Avinash Arankalle is an Indian virologist whose work is multidisciplinary, incorporating aspects of cell culture and microbiology. Life She is a fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, and the Indian Academy of Sciences.
Go to Profile#9110
Nand Kumar Fageria
#134594
Overall Influence
#9111
Bruce Evan Johnson
#134597
Overall Influence
#9112
Tiiu Kull
#126272
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (68 years)
Tiiu Kull is an Estonian botanist. She specialises in the study of population dynamics in plant species and has published an extensive number of papers on the subject. In 1997 she conducted a study, "Population studies of native orchids in Estonia".
Go to Profile#9113
Abbas Agaimy
#134604
Overall Influence
#9114
Prof. Peter Weidmann
#134615
Overall Influence
#9115
Margarita Arboix
#65608
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Margarita Arboix Arzo is the former Rector of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. She obtained a Bachelor's degree and later a doctorate in biology by the same university. In 1976 she was employed in the pharmacology department of the Faculty of Medicine, and transferred to a teaching position in the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences nine years later.
Go to Profile#9116
Sarah Robertson
#82013
Overall Influence
Sarah Anne Robertson is a fellow of both the Australian Academy of Science and Australian Academy for Health and Medical Sciences, and Professor of Reproductive Immunology at University of Adelaide, Australia, and Director of the Robinson Research Institute. She was an NHMRC fellow for more than 15 years.
Go to Profile#9117
Philip A Beachy
#134639
Overall Influence
#9118
Oliver Walter Mischa Rauhut
#104147
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (57 years)
#9119
Megan Carey
#59632
Overall Influence
Megan Carey is a neuroscientist and Group Leader of the Neural Circuits and Behavior Laboratory at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown in Lisbon, Portugal. She is known for her work on how the cerebellum controls coordinated movement.
Go to Profile#9120
Nerida Wilson
#126198
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Nerida Gaye Wilson is an invertebrate marine molecular biologist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation who has interests in diversity, systematics, phylogeny, phylogeography and behavior. Wilson has been instrumental in demonstrating the level of marine cryptic species complexes in Antarctic waters, testing the circumpolar distribution paradigm with molecular data, and using interdisciplinary approaches to show how Antarctic diversity may have been generated. Her work with NOAA on Antarctic Marine Living Resources has been used to regulate exploratory benthic fish...
Go to Profile#9121
Michael Yarus
#134681
Overall Influence
Michael Yarus is an American biologist and an Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Go to Profile#9122
Christine Jacobs-Wagner
#132430
Overall Influence
Christine Jacobs-Wagner is a microbial molecular biologist. She is the William H. Fleming, MD Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale University and Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis, HHMI investigator, and director of the Microbial Sciences Institute at Yale Medical School. Jacobs-Wagner's research has shown that bacterial cells have a great deal of substructure, including analogs of microfilaments, and that proteins are directed by regulatory processes to locate to specific places within the bacterial cell. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in...
Go to Profile#9123
Masashi Tazawa
#127081
Overall Influence
1930 - Present (96 years)
Masashi Tazawa is a botanist, notable for his physiological, biophysical and cell biological research on characean cells. He is a member of the Botanical Society of Japan, a corresponding member of the American Society of Plant Physiologists, and an honorary member of the German Botanical Society. Tazawa is also an honorary member of The Botanical Society of Japan and also an honorary member of the Japanese Society of the Plant Physiologists. In 1990. Tazawa received the Japan Academy Prize. In 1990/91 he was president of the Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists, and from 1976 to 1981, he ...
Go to Profile#9124
Robert K. Jansen
#134694
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
#9125
Anthony John Bron
#134698
Overall Influence
#9126
Barbara Lawrence
#99562
Overall Influence
1909 - 1997 (88 years)
Barbara Lawrence , sometimes known as Barbara Lawrence Schevill, was an American paleozoologist and mammalogist known for her studies of canids, porpoises and howler monkeys and her work as the mammal curator at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology .
Go to Profile#9127
Anne M. Bowcock
#134717
Overall Influence
#9128
Ingrid Grummt
#134720
Overall Influence
#9129
George S. Roth
#134728
Overall Influence
#9130
Douglas Sheil
#134738
Overall Influence
#9131
Ronald Fricke
#83055
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (67 years)
Ronald Fricke is a German ichthyologist and researcher of biodiversity at the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart. As of 2022, Fricke authored 8 families, 10 genera and 186 species within the families of Callionymidae, Gobiesocidae, Ophichthidae, Tripterygiidae and other families.
Go to Profile#9132
Jorma Keski‐oja
#134752
Overall Influence
#9133
Atle Mysterud
#134757
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#9134
Jane Hill
#130582
Overall Influence
Jane Katharine Hill Hon.FRES is British ecologist, and professor of ecology at the University of York and is the current President of the Royal Entomological Society; research includes the effects of climate change and habitat degradation on insects.
Go to Profile#9135
Emanuel Wolinsky
#134766
Overall Influence
#9136
Kunle Odunsi
#109499
Overall Influence
Adekunle O. Odunsi is an American gynecologic oncologist. In 2020, Odunsi was named the director of the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center. Early life and education Growing up in Nigeria, Odunsi attended the University of Ife for his Bachelor of Science degree and medical degree. Following this, he completed his PhD in immunogenetics at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine.
Go to Profile#9137
Jean Talairach
#134771
Overall Influence
#9138
Harlyn O. Halvorson
#121623
Overall Influence
1925 - 2008 (83 years)
Harlyn Odell Halvorson was an American microbiologist who served as director of the Marine Biological Laboratory from 1987 to 1992. Previously, he was director of the Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center at Brandeis University from 1971 to 1987, and served as president of the American Society for Microbiology in 1977. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Medicine in 1989.
Go to Profile#9139
Stacey Missmer
#91289
Overall Influence
Stacey Ann Missmer is an American reproductive biologist who is a professor at Michigan State University. She was the first faculty member to be appointed under the Michigan State University Global Health Initiative. Her research considers physical and environmental risk factors for endometriosis and infertility.
Go to Profile#9140
Ermanno Bonucci
#134794
Overall Influence
#9141
Ashley Shade
#71017
Overall Influence
Ashley L. Shade is the Director of Research at the Institute of Ecology and the Environment within Le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Shade is an associate professor at Michigan State University in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences. She is best known for her work in microbial ecology and plant-microbe interactions.
Go to Profile#9142
Eileen Ingham
#130386
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
Eileen Ingham is a multidisciplinary scientist specialising in biochemistry, microbiology, clinical immunology and pathogenesis. She is most recognized for her work and contribution to biocompatibility in medical implants. She is currently a professor at the University of Leeds as of 2016 when she was elected as Professor for Medical Immunology.
Go to Profile#9143
Stephan Beck
#134811
Overall Influence
#9144
Peter Robert Schofield
#134833
Overall Influence
#9145
William E. Bradley
#134834
Overall Influence
#9146
Wyndham H. Wilson
#134836
Overall Influence
#9147
Susan Lozier
#76031
Overall Influence
Susan Lozier is a physical oceanographer and the dean of the Georgia Institute of Technology's College of Sciences. Previously, she was the Ronie-Richelle Garcia-Johnson Professor of Earth and Ocean Sciences in the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Her research focuses on large-scale ocean circulation, the ocean's role in climate variability, and the transfer of heat and fresh water from one part of the ocean to another.
Go to Profile#9148
Roger Paul Woods
#134843
Overall Influence
#9149
Joy K. Ward
#119774
Overall Influence
Joy K. Ward is a leading evolutionary biologist studying the impact of the environment on plants and ecosystems. She began a new role as the dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at Case Western Reserve University on July 1, 2020 - leaving behind her professorship at the University of Kansas. Her research on plant life has gained her notoriety in many scientific research fields. Aside from her work in the lab, she is also a strong advocate for advancing underrepresented communities' scientific learning and careers. As part of her deanship at the University of Kansas, Ward was an important fac...
Go to Profile#9150
Morris. Pollard
#134849
Overall Influence
