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,
#9951
Brigitte S. Rockstroh
#140689
Overall Influence
#9952
André Fenton
#121498
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (59 years)
André A. Fenton is a Guyanese-Canadian-American neuroscientist who is a Professor of Neural Science at New York University. He studies how brains store and experience memories. He has been co-host of the television show NOVA Wonders.
Go to Profile#9953
Karel W. A. Wirtz
#140703
Overall Influence
#9954
Bernard Robaire
#140733
Overall Influence
#9955
Ernst‐otto Riecken
#140734
Overall Influence
#9956
Ananda Prasad
#61077
Overall Influence
1928 - 2022 (94 years)
Ananda Shiv Prasad was an Indian-born American doctor specialising in the role of zinc in the human metabolism. Biography Prasad was born in Buxar, Bihar, British Raj in 1928. He studied first at Patna Medical College in Bihar, before going on to take his doctorate at the University of Minnesota. He worked in Iran before moving to the United States, joining Wayne State University, Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, in 1963 as an assistant professor of medicine and director of haematology. He held the latter post until 1984, and later served as director of research for the Department of Internal...
Go to Profile#9957
Bente Pakkenberg
#140741
Overall Influence
1949 - 2023 (74 years)
#9958
Marc E. Weksler,
#140742
Overall Influence
#9959
Walter Jacob Chazin
#140745
Overall Influence
#9960
Beverly Law
#132178
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Beverly Law is an American forest scientist. She is professor emeritus at Oregon State University known for her research on forest ecosystems, especially with respect to carbon cycling, fire, and how human actions impact future climate.
Go to Profile#9961
Roland Otto Buhl
#140771
Overall Influence
#9962
Ian Olver
#77625
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
Ian Olver AM is an Australian medical oncologist, cancer researcher and bio-ethicist. He is a former chief executive officer of Cancer Council Australia and a noted authority and media commentator on cancer issues.
Go to Profile#9963
Garth Cooper
#116037
Overall Influence
Garth James Smith Cooper is a New Zealand academic biochemist, and as of 2021 is a full professor at the University of Auckland. Early life Cooper is of Pākehā and Ngāti Māhanga Māori descent. He speaks English, but not Māori, as his Māori grandmother thought he should learn English. He received schooling in New Zealand. He studied at the University of Auckland starting in 1969, and gained a BSc in Chemistry and Biochemistry , a BSc in Human Biology and medical degrees .
Go to Profile#9964
Catherine Belzung
#140781
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
#9965
Stanley G. Nathenson
#140783
Overall Influence
#9966
Julian Blow
#138314
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
Julian Blow is a molecular biologist, Professor of Chromosome Maintenance, and Dean of the School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Scotland. Education and career Blow graduated with a BSc in Medical Sciences from the University of Edinburgh in 1984. He then earned his PhD in DNA replication from the University of Cambridge in 1987. Following his PhD, in 1988, he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Oxford. In 1991 he established his own laboratory at the ICRF Clare Hall Laboratories before being promoted to Senior Scientist in 1996. The following year he moved to the University of Dundee as a Principal Investigator.
Go to Profile#9967
Emiko Senba.
#140798
Overall Influence
#9968
Meinhard Michael Moser
#74252
Overall Influence
1924 - 2002 (78 years)
Meinhard Michael Moser was an Austrian mycologist. His work principally concerned the taxonomy, chemistry, and toxicity of the gilled mushrooms , especially those of the genus Cortinarius, and the ecology of ectomycorrhizal relationships. His contributions to the Kleine Kryptogamenflora von Mitteleuropa series of mycological guidebooks were well regarded and widely used. In particular, his 1953 Blätter- und Bauchpilze [The Gilled and Gasteroid Fungi ], which became known as simply "Moser", saw several editions in both the original German and in translation. Other important works included a 1...
Go to Profile#9969
Marwan Noel Sabbagh
#140816
Overall Influence
#9970
Roi Cohen Kadosh
#115389
Overall Influence
1976 - Present (50 years)
Roi Cohen Kadosh is an Israeli-British cognitive neuroscientist notable for his work on numerical and mathematical cognition and learning and cognitive enhancement. He is a professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and the head of the School of Psychology at the University of Surrey.
Go to Profile#9971
Shruti Naik
#126730
Overall Influence
Shruti Naik is an Indian American scientist who is an associate professor of biological sciences at the NYU Langone Medical Center. In 2020 Naik was named a Packard Fellow for her research into the molecular mechanisms that underpin the function of tissue stem cells. She was awarded the 2018 regional Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists and the International Takeda Innovator in Regeneration Award. She has also received the NIH Directors Innovator Award and been named a Pew Stewart Scholar in 2020.
Go to Profile#9972
Manfred Schliwa
#140828
Overall Influence
#9973
David H. Zald
#140843
Overall Influence
#9974
Robert Paul Levine
#140852
Overall Influence
#9975
Sandra Rees
#128135
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (84 years)
Professor Sandra Rees is an Honorary Professorial Fellow in the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience at the University of Melbourne. Her major research interests have been directed towards understanding the pathogenesis of brain injury resulting from fetal hypoxia, infection, alcohol exposure, growth restriction and prematurity.
Go to Profile#9976
Kristin A. Johnson
#140868
Overall Influence
#9977
Raju S. K. Chaganti
#140903
Overall Influence
#9978
Jacqueline M. Grebmeier
#114399
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
Jacqueline M. Grebmeier is an American ecologist who specializes in polar biological oceanography. Early life and education Grebmeier completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from the University of California, Davis in 1977 before enrolling at Stanford University for her first Master's degree in Biology. Following this, she earned her second master's degree in Marine Affairs from the University of Washington in 1983, specializing in applications of Arctic science to Arctic resource utilization policy, and her PhD in Biological Oceanography from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in ...
Go to Profile#9979
Santa Ono
#58729
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
#9980
Elaine Fox
#110983
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Elaine Fox is a Professor of Psychology and Director of the Oxford Centre for Emotions and Affective Neuroscience at the University of Oxford. Her research considers the science of emotion and what makes some people more resilient than others. As of 2019 Fox serves as the Mental Health Networks Impact and Engagement Coordinator for United Kingdom Research and Innovation.
Go to Profile#9981
Sandra Demaria
#140924
Overall Influence
#9982
Gérard Ailhaud
#140948
Overall Influence
#9983
Jacques Mallet
#140952
Overall Influence
#9984
Paolo Curatolo
#140954
Overall Influence
#9985
Benjamin A. Taylor
#140958
Overall Influence
#9986
Robert Boutilier
#134409
Overall Influence
1953 - 2003 (50 years)
Robert Graeme Boutilier FRSC was a Canadian biologist. He graduated from Acadia University with a first class BSc in 1976 and an MSc in 1978, and completed his PhD at the University of East Anglia in 1981. He was an associate professor at Dalhousie University, and a lecturer in zoology at the University of Cambridge. He was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2000, and was awarded the Fry Medal of the Canadian Society of Zoologists in 2002. He was editor of The Journal of Experimental Biology.
Go to Profile#9987
Naomi F. Rothfield
#140968
Overall Influence
#9988
Daisuke Koya
#140969
Overall Influence
#9989
Gerald G.. Krueger
#140977
Overall Influence
#9990
David L. Nanney
#140981
Overall Influence
#9991
Jeffrey M. Farber
#140983
Overall Influence
#9992
Gillian Wu
#86170
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
Gillian Elizabeth Wu is a Canadian Immunologist and the former Dean of Pure and Applied Science at York University. She is currently Professor Emerita in York University's Faculty of Science and Faculty of Health and also at the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine.
Go to Profile#9993
Leslie J. Berg
#127533
Overall Influence
Leslie Joan Berg is an American immunologist. As a professor at University of Massachusetts Medical School, she was elected the 95th president of the American Association of Immunologists for a one-year term from 2011 to 2012. Berg’s research focuses on understanding the signal transduction pathways—the succession of reactions inside the cell as it changes one kind of stimulus, or signal, into another—important for T-cell development and activation, and the generation of protective immunity to infections.
Go to Profile#9994
George Brawerman
#140995
Overall Influence
#9995
Lennart Hansson
#140998
Overall Influence
#9996
Charles Ffrench‐constant
#141006
Overall Influence
#9997
Anna Marie Ann Skalka
#141012
Overall Influence
#9998
Jean Marshall
#141013
Overall Influence
Jean Sylvia Marshall, born in Birmingham, England, is a Canadian immunologist and acting Professor and Head of the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Marshall's work has investigated how mast cells are involved in the early immune response to infection and antigen. She is best known for her discovery of the previously unknown degranulation-independent immunoregulatory roles of mast cells in infection and allergy and their ability to mobilize dendritic cells.
Go to Profile#9999
Constance E. Brinckerhoff
#138971
Overall Influence
Constance E. Brinckerhoff is an American microbiologist and an emeritus professor of medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine. Life Brinckerhoff was born to social worker Elizabeth E. Zimmerman and physician Maurice K. Laurence.
Go to Profile#10000
Dietrich Prof Dr Dr Seidel
#141020
Overall Influence
