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,
#9301
John Gamon
#76188
Overall Influence
John A. Gamon is a Canadian-American scientist currently working in Nebraska. His work using terrestrial vegetation spectral signatures to discern plant productivity and biodiversity has had a significant impact in the discipline of remote sensing, having published 95 papers and receiving 7,613 citations as of 2017. Gamon pioneered the use of the relationship between leaf xanthophyll cycle pigment content and spectral reflectance to improve satellite monitoring of photosynthesis. Gamon's seminal work resulted in the development of the Photochemical Reflectance Index . He trained under Nobel Pe...
Go to Profile#9302
Mitsuo Oshimura
#135826
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
#9303
Haim Sompolinsky
#135831
Overall Influence
#9304
Claude C. Schulman
#135834
Overall Influence
#9305
Peter William Jack Rigby
#135835
Overall Influence
#9306
Narayanaswamy Srinivasan
#58594
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Narayanaswamy Srinivasan was an Indian molecular biophysicist and a professor and the head of Proteins: Structure, Function and Evolutionary Group at the Molecular Biophysics Unit of the Indian Institute of Science. He is known for his researches in the fields of computational genomics and protein structure analysis. An elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, India, he is a J. C. Bose National fellow of the Department of Biotechnology and a recipient of the National Bioscience Award for Career Development of the Department of Science and Technology.
Go to Profile#9307
Joseph Piven
#135840
Overall Influence
#9308
Virginia L. Gewin
#135843
Overall Influence
#9309
Oleg B. Ptitsyn
#135864
Overall Influence
#9310
Yoram Vodovotz
#135870
Overall Influence
#9311
Thomas William Keenan
#135874
Overall Influence
#9312
Sharon A. Savage
#120542
Overall Influence
Sharon A. Savage is an American pediatric hematologist/oncologist. She is the clinical director of the National Cancer Institute's Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics. Life Savage completed a B.S. in biochemistry at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Savage earned her M.D. from the University of Vermont College of Medicine, completed residency training in pediatrics at Children’s National Medical Center, in Washington DC, and a fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at the National Cancer Institute Pediatric Oncology Branch and Johns Hopkins University. She is board-certified in b...
Go to Profile#9313
Sara A. Courtneidge
#126392
Overall Influence
Sara A. Courtneidge is a cancer research scientist. Education and research Courtneidge was a very young child when she decided that she wanted to be a scientist. Years later, she earned her Bachelor of Science certificate in Biochemistry from the University of Leeds and her PhD at the National Institute for Medical Research. After receiving her PhD, Courtneidge accepted a research position with J. Michael Bishop at The University of California, Berkeley where she began her research on the Proto-oncogene tyrosine-protein kinase Src. Courtneidge’s most notable finding is her discovery of the link between the T antigen of polyomavirus and c-Src.
Go to Profile#9314
Jean Langenheim
#128718
Overall Influence
1925 - 2021 (96 years)
Jean H. Langenheim was an American plant ecologist and ethnobotanist, highly respected as an eminent scholar and a pioneer for women in the field. She has done field research in arctic, tropical, and alpine environments across five continents, with interdisciplinary research that spans across the fields of chemistry, geology, and botany. Her early research helped determine the plant origins of amber and led to her career-long work investigating the chemical ecology of resin-producing trees, including the role of plant resins for plant defense and the evolution of several resin-producing trees in the tropics.
Go to Profile#9315
Raffaele Lattes
#135916
Overall Influence
#9316
James Richard Neely
#135923
Overall Influence
#9317
Roberta A. Hauser
#135927
Overall Influence
#9318
David Neary
#135933
Overall Influence
#9319
Peter P. Marra
#135934
Overall Influence
#9320
David Ballou
#98429
Overall Influence
David P. Ballou is a professor emeritus of biological chemistry at the University of Michigan Medical School in the United States. He is best known for his development of rapid-reaction techniques, including stopped flow and rapid freeze-quench EPR methods, as tools to study the mechanisms of enzymes containing flavin, iron, cobalamin, or pyridoxal phosphate cofactors. Many of these studies were performed in collaboration with other scientists, most often with colleagues at Michigan.
Go to Profile#9321
Raymond R. Tubbs
#135936
Overall Influence
#9322
Stacey E. Mills
#135938
Overall Influence
#9323
Roger Parish
#108652
Overall Influence
Roger Parish is an Emeritus Professor of botany at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. He was the acting Vice-Chancellor in 2006. Recent Publications Suppression and restoration of male fertility using a transcription factor Plant Biotech. J., 5, 297-313 The Arabidopsis AtMYB5 gene regulates mucilage synthesis, seed coat development and trichome morphogenesis Plant Cell, 21, 72-89 Death of a tapetum: A programme of developmental altruism Plant Science, 178, 73–89.
Go to Profile#9324
Rolf Prof. Dr. Gebhardt
#135942
Overall Influence
#9325
David Atkinson
#135944
Overall Influence
#9326
Flossie Cohen
#90404
Overall Influence
1925 - 2004 (79 years)
Flossie Cohen was an Indian-born pediatric immunologist who spent most of her career at the Children's Hospital of Michigan. She was also a professor at the Wayne State University School of Medicine.
Go to Profile#9327
G. Gilbert Ashwell
#135947
Overall Influence
#9328
Eric Klann
#132765
Overall Influence
Eric Klann is an American neuroscientist who studies how molecular signaling, synaptic plasticity, and behavior are altered in developmental disability, autism, aging, psychiatric disorders, and Alzheimer's disease.
Go to Profile#9329
Lukas Milas
#135960
Overall Influence
#9330
Ronny C. Hughes
#135967
Overall Influence
#9331
Beatriz Rico
#38643
Overall Influence
Beatriz Rico is a professor of developmental neurobiology at King's College London. Her research focuses on neural circuit development. Early life and education Beatriz was born in Madrid, Spain, where she completed her public primary and secondary education. She then attended Complutense University of Madrid to study biology, and earned her Ph.D. at the Autónoma University in Madrid under her supervisor Carmen Cavada.
Go to Profile#9332
María Teresa Miras Portugal
#121245
Overall Influence
1948 - 2021 (73 years)
María Teresa Miras Portugal was a Spanish scientist, pharmacist, biochemist, molecular biologist and Emeritus professor at the Complutense University of Madrid. She was a member of the Spanish "Real Academia Nacional de Farmacia" and served as President of this Institution from 2007 to 2013, becoming the first female to be elected for this position in a Spanish "Real Academia". She was Honorific President.
Go to Profile#9333
Christer Nilsson
#136009
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
#9334
Hans Vetter
#136015
Overall Influence
#9335
J. Michael Scott
#136017
Overall Influence
#9336
David Stewart Mckay
#136024
Overall Influence
#9337
Samuel Kaplan
#136034
Overall Influence
#9338
A. ... Et Al. Balows
#136042
Overall Influence
#9339
David Fraser
#136045
Overall Influence
#9340
Michael Festing
#85433
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Michael Festing is a British research scientist best known for his interest in animal testing. He is one of 19 members of the UK's Animal Procedures Committee, which advises the Home Secretary on matters related to animal testing. He was previously a trustee of the Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments , which funds and promotes research into the use of animal alternatives. He is also a council member of the Institute of Laboratory Animals Research USA.
Go to Profile#9341
Francis A. Ennis
#136064
Overall Influence
#9342
Robert William Sidwell
#136072
Overall Influence
#9343
John L. Gittleman
#136078
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
#9344
Eva Gottwein
#81443
Overall Influence
Eva Henriette Gottwein is a virologist and Associate Professor of Microbiology-Immunology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois. The main focus of her research is the role of viral miRNAs involved in herpesviral oncogenesis. Gottwein is member of Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. Her contributions as a member include the focus on how encoded miRNAs target and function in the human oncogenic herpesvirus Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus known as KSHV.
Go to Profile#9345
Ronen Marmorstein
#136080
Overall Influence
#9346
Mark A. Peifer
#136084
Overall Influence
#9347
Michael, R. Loken
#136090
Overall Influence
#9348
Rudi Appels
#136092
Overall Influence
#9349
Godfrey S. Getz
#136096
Overall Influence
#9350
Alan D. Kersey
#136098
Overall Influence
