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 …
See additional learning tools, study tips, features on campus life and much more at our Student Resources Headquarters.
List of the most influential people in Biology,
#9801
Herbert J. Meiselman
#139498
Overall Influence
#9802
Coleman Peter Wolk
#139506
Overall Influence
#9803
Robert E. Handschumacher
#139514
Overall Influence
#9804
Nick Dulvy
#132043
Overall Influence
Nicholas Kevin Dulvy is a Distinguished Professor and Canada Research Chair in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at Simon Fraser University. He was the Co-Chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Shark Specialist Group from 2009–2020. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters on life histories, extinction risk, the ecosystem impacts of fishing and the ecological and socioeconomic impacts of climate change.
Go to Profile#9805
Cyril Zipfel
#139530
Overall Influence
#9806
Mart Saarma
#139535
Overall Influence
#9807
John Edwin Thorpe
#139548
Overall Influence
#9808
Ian Chopra
#139549
Overall Influence
#9809
Bruce William Holloway
#139551
Overall Influence
#9810
Maria cristina Mingari
#139562
Overall Influence
#9811
Scott Creel
#139568
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
#9812
Charitha Pattiaratchi
#136593
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Charitha Pattiaratchi is a Winthrop Professor of coastal oceanography at the University of Western Australia. He leads the UWA Coastal Oceanography Group. and the IMOS Australian National Facility for Ocean Gliders. He has played an active role in research related in understanding climate change effects in the regions of coastal Western Australia and specifically in terms wind and wave climate, ocean currents, coastal flooding, sea level variability and beach stability. The research programs he has developed involves ocean observation integration, numerical modelling and synthesis to define...
Go to Profile#9813
S. Ganesh
#56243
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (58 years)
Subramaniam Ganesh is an Indian geneticist, molecular biologist and a professor at the department of biological sciences and bio-engineering of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Known for his pioneering studies on Lafora progressive myoclonic epilepsy and other neurodegenerative disorders, Ganesh is an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, India. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to...
Go to Profile#9814
Lucien Hoffmann
#139581
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
#9815
Michael J. Feldman
#139583
Overall Influence
#9816
Hervé Philippe
#139597
Overall Influence
#9817
Brian John Marples
#71562
Overall Influence
1907 - 1997 (90 years)
Brian John Marples FRSNZ was a British zoologist who spent most of his career in New Zealand. Early years Marples was born in Hessle, Yorkshire, in north-eastern England. He was educated at Kingsmead in Cheshire, and St Bees in Cumberland before attending Exeter College at Oxford University. He graduated as a BA from Oxford in 1929, subsequently obtaining a MSc from the University of Manchester in 1931, and MA from Oxford in 1933. He married Mary Joyce Ransford in 1931.
Go to Profile#9818
James Edward Maynard
#139622
Overall Influence
#9819
Lynne R. Parenti
#136694
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
Lynne R. Parenti is an American ichthyologist. She serves as a Research Scientist and Curator of Fishes at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution. Her specialty is the systematics and historical biogeography of freshwater and coastal fishes, and she has conducted research in this area for about thirty years.
Go to Profile#9820
Alexander H. Glassman
#139640
Overall Influence
#9821
Peter Matthew Lengyel
#139650
Overall Influence
#9822
Heikki Vapaatalo
#139661
Overall Influence
#9823
Zhang Yongzhen
#88607
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (61 years)
Zhang Yongzhen , also known as Yong-Zhen Zhang, is a Chinese virologist known for his work relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. A professor at Fudan University, Zhang has discovered numerous RNA viruses and created a network of labs dedicated to monitoring new viruses. He led the team that sequenced and published the genome of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in early January 2020.
Go to Profile#9824
Graziano Pesole
#139675
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#9825
Edward Weitzberg
#139694
Overall Influence
#9826
E. Sally Ward
#133361
Overall Influence
Elizabeth Sally Ward is a British physician who is Director of Translational Immunology at the Centre for Cancer Immunology in the University of Southampton. She was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2022.
Go to Profile#9827
C. T. Mervyn Davies
#139709
Overall Influence
#9828
Olaf H. Rieß
#139720
Overall Influence
#9829
Wei-xing Cao
#139733
Overall Influence
#9830
Marcus D. Flather
#139742
Overall Influence
#9831
Roger A. Hitchings
#139760
Overall Influence
#9832
Luc Tappy
#139762
Overall Influence
#9833
Rita J. Valentino
#139763
Overall Influence
#9834
Bill Ballantine
#89083
Overall Influence
1937 - 2015 (78 years)
William James Ballantine was a British-born New Zealand marine biologist. He has been called the "father of marine conservation in New Zealand". Biography Born in Leicester, England, on 15 April 1937, Ballantine was awarded an MA from Downing College, Cambridge and a PhD from Queen Mary College, University of London. His thesis was entitled The population dynamics of Patella vulgata and other limpets. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1964 when he was appointed the inaugural director of the University of Auckland's Leigh Marine Laboratory. The Marine Reserves Act 1971 was the brainchild of Ballantine, and he initiated a "no take" marine reserve at Leigh.
Go to Profile#9835
Robert Alan Goldberg
#139776
Overall Influence
#9836
J. Victor Nadler
#139779
Overall Influence
#9837
Christopher Chambers
#139782
Overall Influence
Christopher Chambers is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at Cardiff University, where he is also Head of the CUBRIC Brain Stimulation Group. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society , and the winner of the society's Spearman Medal in 2007.
Go to Profile#9838
Steven C. Hunt
#139785
Overall Influence
#9839
R. Malcolm Brown Jr.
#116042
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (87 years)
R. Malcolm Brown Jr. is an American biologist, currently the Johnson & Johnson Centennial Chair in Plant Cell Biology at University of Texas at Austin.
Go to Profile#9840
Dr. D. J. Tolhurst
#139789
Overall Influence
#9841
Peter S. Aronson
#139790
Overall Influence
#9842
Francesco Pallone
#139801
Overall Influence
#9843
Zoi Lygerou
#125403
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
Zoi Lygerou is a Greek molecular biologist and associate professor at Patras Medical School. Lygerou's works have been published in such journals as the European Journal of Biochemistry, Journal of Cell Science, the Molecular and Cellular Biology journal, Journal of Biological Chemistry, and both Science and Nature journals among others. She is especially known for her work on cell cycle control mechanisms in eukaryotic organisms, and has done research at the University of Patras since 1999. Lygerou has also held positions at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory and at the Imperial Cance...
Go to Profile#9844
Michael Vander Laan Bennett
#139819
Overall Influence
#9845
Andrew Zalesky
#139820
Overall Influence
#9846
David Gaffan
#139827
Overall Influence
#9847
Heidi L. Rehm
#139835
Overall Influence
#9848
Michael J. Maccoss
#139841
Overall Influence
#9849
Cyril Andrew. Ponnamperuma
#139844
Overall Influence
#9850
Peter. J. Newman
#139847
Overall Influence
