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,
#9901
Karsten Reise
#140253
Overall Influence
#9902
Donna M. Peehl
#140261
Overall Influence
#9903
Alex K. Shalek
#88857
Overall Influence
1981 - Present (45 years)
Alex K. Shalek is a biomedical engineer, and a core faculty member of the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science , an Associate Professor of Chemistry, and an Extramural Member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Additionally, he is a Member of the Ragon Institute and an Institute Member of the Broad Institute, an Assistant in Immunology at Massachusetts General Hospital, and an Instructor in Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard Medical School. The multi-disciplinary research of the Shalek Lab aims to create and impl...
Go to Profile#9904
Wayne T. Swank
#140272
Overall Influence
#9905
Roberta Farrell
#57654
Overall Influence
Roberta Lee Farrell is emeritus professor at the University of Waikato, New Zealand and a researcher of international renown in the fields of wood degradation, bioremediation, mycology and enzymology.
Go to Profile#9906
Richard G. Hartnoll,
#140291
Overall Influence
#9907
Wallace Peters
#97709
Overall Influence
1924 - 2018 (94 years)
Wallace Peters was a British entomologist and parasitologist. He is noted for his work on malaria and won the Joseph Augustin LePrince Medal for outstanding work in the field of malariology in 1994. He also won Germany's Rudolf Leuckart Medal in 1980 and Saudi Arabia's King Faisal International Prize for Medicine in 1983. In 2004 he was awarded the Manson Medal.
Go to Profile#9908
Malcolm Peaker
#140293
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
#9909
Nora J. Besansky
#115326
Overall Influence
Nora J. Besansky is an American molecular biologist. She is the Martin J. Gillen Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame. In 2020, Besansky was elected a Member of the National Academy of Sciences for being an expert in the genomics of malaria vectors.
Go to Profile#9910
Stefano Panzeri
#140302
Overall Influence
#9911
Toru Abo
#75971
Overall Influence
1947 - 2016 (69 years)
Toru Abo was a Japanese immunologist and author from the Aomori Prefecture. His work involved creating monoclonal antibodies against natural killer cells. Education and career He received his PhD from Tohoku University School of Medicine. He served as a professor of medicine at Niigata University. Abo was also a member of the Department of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Go to Profile#9912
Albert H. Owens Jr.
#99112
Overall Influence
1926 - 2017 (91 years)
Albert H. Owens, Jr. was the director of the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center in Baltimore, MD. Owens earned his undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University and graduated from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1949.
Go to Profile#9913
William L. Gerald
#140349
Overall Influence
#9914
Lisa Stowers
#123031
Overall Influence
Lisa Stowers is an American neuroscientist studying pheromone signaling and response. She is a professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Scripps Research. Early life and education Lisa was born Lisa Tanguay in Petaluma, California.
Go to Profile#9915
Ernest L. Hartmann
#140351
Overall Influence
#9916
Clifford J. Woolf
#84155
Overall Influence
Clifford J. Woolf is professor of neurology and neurobiology at Harvard Medical School and director of the F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center at Boston Children’s Hospital. He has added greatly to the understanding of pain.
Go to Profile#9917
Ayub Khan Ommaya
#140393
Overall Influence
#9918
Omar Bagasra
#108725
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
Omar Bagasra is a Pakistani-American Molecular Biologist, Biotechnologist and author, known for his innovations in the Polymerase Chain Reaction method and popular public and scientific talks in biotechnology. He is also known for his role as an independent investigator in the HIV trial in Libya, an important event of international significance in immunology, medical criminology and human rights.
Go to Profile#9919
Branislav D. Jankovič
#140404
Overall Influence
#9920
Masahito Ikawa
#140410
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#9921
Niko Geldner
#135634
Overall Influence
1972 - Present (54 years)
Niko Geldner is a German-Swiss biologist specialised in the study of Plant Cell and Developmental Biology. He is a full professor and the director of the plant cell biology laboratory at the University of Lausanne.
Go to Profile#9922
Harvey T. Mcmahon
#140421
Overall Influence
#9923
Ove Lundgren
#140427
Overall Influence
#9924
Jean‐jacques Hauw
#140428
Overall Influence
#9925
Michael Mina
#104861
Overall Influence
Michael Joseph Mina is an American epidemiologist, immunologist and physician. He was formerly an assistant professor of Epidemiology & Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, assistant Professor of Pathology at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and currently Chief Medical Officer at eMed.
Go to Profile#9926
Elmar Altvater
#5861
Overall Influence
1938 - 2018 (80 years)
Elmar Altvater was Professor of Political Science at the Otto-Suhr-Institut of the Free University of Berlin, before retiring on 30 September 2004. He continued to work at the institute, and published articles and books.
Go to Profile#9927
Charles Shipley Cox
#114500
Overall Influence
1922 - 2015 (93 years)
Charles "Chip" Shipley Cox was an oceanographic physicist. He was particularly well known for his work on electromagnetic phenomenon, fine grained pressure and salinity measurements in the ocean depths and surface.
Go to Profile#9928
Clemens Prof. Dr. Sorg
#140464
Overall Influence
#9929
Susan Kaech
#140472
Overall Influence
Susan Kaech is an American immunologist. Kaech is a professor and director of the NOMIS Center for Immunobiology and Microbial Pathogenesis at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences. She holds the NOMIS Foundation Chair. Her research focuses on the formation of memory T cells, T cell metabolism, and cancer immunotherapy.
Go to Profile#9930
Assen V. Jablensky
#140476
Overall Influence
#9931
J. I. Lieberman
#140480
Overall Influence
#9932
William H. Heard
#117615
Overall Influence
1930 - Present (96 years)
William Henry Heard is a malacologist, and an authority on freshwater mollusks, especially freshwater pelecypods . He is an emeritus professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, at Florida State University.
Go to Profile#9933
John Nicholas Wood
#140499
Overall Influence
#9934
Carol J. Thiele
#76956
Overall Influence
Carol Jeanne Thiele is an American microbiologist and cancer researcher specialized in the development of novel therapeutic strategies for pediatric tumors. She is chief of the cell and molecular biology section at the National Cancer Institute. She is a founding editor of the journal Cell Death & Differentiation.
Go to Profile#9935
J. Michael Janda
#140547
Overall Influence
#9936
Christine Nicol
#134537
Overall Influence
Christine Nicol is an author, academic and a researcher. She is a Professor of Animal Welfare at the Royal Veterinary College and has honorary appointments at the University of Oxford and the University of Lincoln. She is the Field Chief Editor of Frontiers in Animal Science.
Go to Profile#9937
Adriana Briscoe
#107627
Overall Influence
Adriana Darielle Mejía Briscoe is an American evolutionary biologist and Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. She specializes in research questions at the intersection of sensory physiology, color vision, coloration, animal behavior, molecular evolution, and genomics.
Go to Profile#9938
Manolis Pasparakis
#140554
Overall Influence
#9939
Catherine A. Tauber
#140571
Overall Influence
#9940
Boris Orlov
#122252
Overall Influence
1935 - 2012 (77 years)
Boris Nikolayevich Orlov was a Soviet Russian biologist, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation and Honorary Worker of Higher Professional Education of the Russian Federation, Academician of the European Academy of Natural Sciences. He was a professor at the Nizhny Novgorod State Agriculture Academy and at the N. I. Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod.
Go to Profile#9941
Peter T. Jr. Lansbury
#140601
Overall Influence
#9942
Celia F. Brosnan
#140617
Overall Influence
#9943
Judy H. Cho
#140635
Overall Influence
#9944
Gonneke A. H. M. Willemsen
#140638
Overall Influence
#9945
Hans Prof Dr Reichenbach
#140643
Overall Influence
#9946
Kerstin Lindblad-Toh
#121922
Overall Influence
1970 - Present (56 years)
Kerstin Lindblad-Toh is a scientist in comparative genomics, specializing in mammalian genetics. She is the Scientific Director of vertebrate genomics at the Broad Institute and a professor in comparative genomics at Uppsala University. In 2010 she co-founded Science for Life Laboratory together with Mathias Uhlén and acted as Co-Director until 2015. As the leader of the Broad Institute's Mammalian Genome Initiative she has led the effort to sequence and analyze the genomes of various mammals, including mouse, dog, chimpanzee, horse, rabbit and opossum. She has researched extensively on the g...
Go to Profile#9947
Christoph Helmstaedter
#140674
Overall Influence
#9948
Mitzi Nagarkatti
#140678
Overall Influence
#9949
Rolf Karl-heinz Kinne
#140679
Overall Influence
#9950
Gerda Horneck
#140681
Overall Influence
