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,
#9401
Ronald M. Lindsay
#136499
Overall Influence
#9402
Colin James Pennycuick
#131598
Overall Influence
1933 - 2019 (86 years)
Colin James Pennycuick FRS was a British Scientist who studied flight in birds, encompassing theoretical and practical research. Life He read biology at Merton College, Oxford from 1951 to 1955. During this time he enlisted in the RAF, graduating to Flying Officer in 1956. He would later exploit his pilot skills to follow and study migrating birds. He earned his PhD in the Zoology Department at Cambridge University in 1962, studying the electromechanics of frog muscles, before moving to the animal behaviour laboratory for a postdoctoral position where he studied the homing of pigeons.
Go to Profile#9403
Dariya Nikitichna Dobroczajeva
#113877
Overall Influence
1916 - 1995 (79 years)
Dariya Nikitichna Dobroczajeva was a Ukrainian botanist and university teacher. Biography Dobroczajeva was the head of the Botanical Museum of the Botanical Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. She brought back numerous herbarium materials from expeditions in Ukraine and private trips to various countries, donating more than 30,000 herbarium sheets to the Institute of Botany. For a long time, she headed the herbarium exchange fund, significantly expanded her connections to botanical institutions in many countries of Europe, Asia and America, and intensified her work to replenish the world flora collection.
Go to Profile#9404
Bernard Weisblum
#136528
Overall Influence
#9405
Vitaly Citovsky
#136529
Overall Influence
Vitaly Citovsky is an American biochemist, currently a SUNY Distinguished Professor at Stony Brook University, State University of New York, and also a published author. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Go to Profile#9406
Ian Robertson
#75433
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
Ian Robertson is a Scottish neuroscientist and clinical psychologist, and Professor of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin. He is also known as a leading researcher as to how an individual may harness the attention system of one's mind to enhance autonomy over emotions and cognitive function.
Go to Profile#9407
Mark E. Nesbit
#136534
Overall Influence
#9408
Tatsuro Ishibashi
#136537
Overall Influence
#9409
Beate Sodeik
#128562
Overall Influence
Beate Sodeik is a German cell biologist who is Professor of Medical Sciences at the Hannover Medical School. Her research considers the biology of viral infections, with a particular focus on Herpes simplex virus.
Go to Profile#9410
Isao Kitagawa
#136596
Overall Influence
#9411
Octavio Paredes López
#50701
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (80 years)
Octavio Paredes López , is a Mexican biochemical engineer and food scientist. He is a past president of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, a founding member of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology, and a member of the Governing Board of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He received the National Prize for Arts and Sciences in 1991 and the Third World Network of Scientific Organizations Award in 1998.
Go to Profile#9412
Annika Linde
#100102
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
Gerda Annika Linde is a Swedish physician, virologist and retired civil servant. From 2005 to 2013 she served as State Epidemiologist at the Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control. Biography Linde was born in Skövde and grew up there. She was inspired by the novel Exodus by Leon Uris to study medicine. She enrolled at Gothenburg University in 1968, studying medicine and sociology, obtaining a medical degree in 1974. After her internship at Danderyd Hospital she went on to work as an infectious disease specialist at the presently defunct Roslagstull Hospital in Stockholm. In 1979 s...
Go to Profile#9413
Jan A. Fawcett
#136627
Overall Influence
#9414
Graham H. Coombs
#136631
Overall Influence
#9415
Donald John Birkett
#136653
Overall Influence
#9416
Robert Gregory Priest
#136656
Overall Influence
#9417
Alexander Fornito
#136662
Overall Influence
#9418
Jesús J. Jiménez-barbero
#136691
Overall Influence
#9419
Joachim Frey
#136701
Overall Influence
#9420
Robert Lücking
#129502
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
Robert Lücking is a German lichenologist. He earned his master's and PhD from the University of Ulm, focusing on the taxonomy, ecology, and biodiversity of foliicolous lichens . He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Mason E. Hale Award for his doctoral thesis, the Augustin Pyramus de Candolle prize for his monograph, and the Tuckerman Award twice for his publications in The Bryologist. Since 2015, he has been serving as the curator of lichens, fungi, and bryophytes at the Berlin Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum, and several lichen species and a genus have been named...
Go to Profile#9421
Gerald F. Dibona
#136762
Overall Influence
#9422
Barbara Seliger
#136767
Overall Influence
#9423
Nancy Allbritton
#60553
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Nancy Allbritton is a Professor of Bioengineering and the Frank & Julie Jungers Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Washington. She was previously a Kenan Professor and Chair in the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University.
Go to Profile#9424
Michi‐ie Sakamoto
#136781
Overall Influence
#9425
Xiong-wei Zhu
#136787
Overall Influence
#9426
Yogesh C. Patel
#136788
Overall Influence
#9427
Guy Theraulaz
#136791
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
#9428
Messoud Ashina
#136798
Overall Influence
#9429
James P. Quigley
#136800
Overall Influence
#9430
Bess Ward
#129546
Overall Influence
Bess Ward is an American oceanographer, biogeochemist, microbiologist, and William J. Sinclair Professor of Geosciences at Princeton University. Ward studies include marine and global nitrogen cycles, and how marine organisms such as phytoplankton and bacteria influence the nitrogen cycle. Ward was the first woman awarded the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award from the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography for her pioneering work on applying molecular methods for nitrogen and methane conversions as well as scaling up organismal biogeochemical rates to whole ecosystem rates.
Go to Profile#9431
Timo Krings
#136835
Overall Influence
#9432
J. Mary Taylor
#99832
Overall Influence
1931 - 2019 (88 years)
Jocelyn Mary Taylor was an American mammalogist, who served as president of the American Society of Mammalogists from 1982 to 1984. She was also an honorary trustee of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. As a pioneer for women in the field of mammalogy, Taylor actively worked to broaden the study, doing so as a member of the American Society of Mammalogists, as a university professor, and through conducting her research, publishing numerous works.
Go to Profile#9433
Wayne A. Border
#136848
Overall Influence
#9434
Ramesh Chandra Gupta
#136859
Overall Influence
#9435
Jacob Marinus Koolhaas
#136860
Overall Influence
#9436
Nils Mandahl
#136873
Overall Influence
#9437
Ayla Kalkandelen
#109262
Overall Influence
1939 - 2002 (63 years)
Ayla Kalkandelen was a Turkish entomologist. Her specialty was in Auchenorrhyncha, a suborder of true bugs or insects order Homoptera. She described ten taxa and has five taxa named after her. Ayla Kalkandelen was born in Gaziantep on 14 March 1939. She had an elder brother named Nejat. She completed her primary and secondary education in her hometown.
Go to Profile#9438
Peter Leo Steponkus
#136907
Overall Influence
#9439
Christiane Linster
#83656
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Christiane Linster is a Luxembourg-born behavioral neuroscientist and a professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University. Her work focuses on neuromodulation along with learning and memory, using the olfactory system of rodents as a model. Her lab integrates behavioral, electrophysiological, and computational work. Linster was the founding President of the Organization for Computational Neurosciences , which was created to coordinate and lead the annual meeting of aspiring and senior computational neuroscientists. Linster served as president of the OCNS from 2003 ...
Go to Profile#9440
Gyula Telegdy
#136912
Overall Influence
#9441
Susan Edwards
#43897
Overall Influence
Susan L. Edwards is an Australian physiologist and academic administrator serving as president of Wright State University since 2020. She was previously a professor of biology and vice provost for faculty affairs at Appalachian State University.
Go to Profile#9442
Matthew Phillips
#136916
Overall Influence
#9443
Oleg Negrobov
#127947
Overall Influence
1941 - 2021 (80 years)
Oleg Pavlovich Negrobov was a Russian entomologist, Professor, doctor of science from Voronezh. He studied in Voronezh State University. He described more than 350 taxa of Dolichopodidae, a family of flies. The fly genera Negrobovia and Olegonegrobovia were named in his honor.
Go to Profile#9444
David Mosser
#43472
Overall Influence
David M. Mosser is an American researcher, academic and author. He is Professor of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics at University of Maryland and the Director of Maryland Pathogen Research Institute. Mosser’s research is primarily in the field of immunology. He is most known for the discovery and characterization of macrophages with anti-inflammatory and growth-promoting activity, termed regulatory macrophages. He has written over 150 articles in scientific journals that have been cited over 25,000 times.
Go to Profile#9445
Li Zaiping
#113220
Overall Influence
1925 - 2018 (93 years)
Li Zaiping was a Chinese molecular biologist considered a pioneer in genetic science and engineering in China. His research team was the first in China to sequence a virus genome. He also utilized E. coli to produce human EGF and GM-CSF, and identified the gene LPTS. He was a professor at the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
Go to Profile#9446
In‐jung Lee
#136968
Overall Influence
#9447
Santiago F. Elena
#136971
Overall Influence
#9448
Johannes Dichgans
#137001
Overall Influence
#9449
William Schafer
#110558
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
William Ronald Schafer is a neuroscientist and geneticist who has made important contributions to understanding the molecular and neural basis of behaviour. His work, principally in the nematode C. elegans, has used an interdisciplinary approach to investigate how small groups of neurons generate behavior, and he has pioneered methodological approaches, including optogenetic neuroimaging and automated behavioural phenotyping, that have been widely influential in the broader neuroscience field. He has made significant discoveries on the functional properties of ionotropic receptors in sensory...
Go to Profile#9450
Bruce H. Tiffney
#126884
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
Bruce Haynes Tiffney is an American paleobotanist, professor, and the former dean of the College of Creative Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He graduated from Boston University with a degree in geology in 1971, and after earning his PhD at Harvard University in 1977, he became a professor of biology at Yale University, where he taught for nine years, and where he also worked as a curator of the D. C. Eaton Herbarium and paleontological collections at the Peabody Museum of Natural History. His research focuses on the evolution of flowering plants in the fossil record. ...
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