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,
#10001
Robert A. Branch
#141021
Overall Influence
#10002
Jonathan Charles Howard
#141031
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
#10003
Jürgen Unützer
#141033
Overall Influence
#10004
William Francis Ganong Jr.
#123850
Overall Influence
1924 - 2007 (83 years)
William Francis Ganong Jr. was an American physiologist at the University of California, San Francisco , and was one of the first scientists to trace how the brain controls important internal functions of the body.
Go to Profile#10005
Masaki Mori
#141039
Overall Influence
#10006
Donald Kent Morest
#141041
Overall Influence
#10007
Theodore Ching-teh Hsiao
#141043
Overall Influence
#10008
Melvin Dwaine Reuber
#141044
Overall Influence
#10009
Timothy john Williams
#141045
Overall Influence
#10010
Martino Bolognesi
#141053
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
#10011
William Cheung
#139517
Overall Influence
William Cheung is a marine biologist, well known for his research on the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems and fisheries. He currently works as director of science of the Nereus Program and is also an associate professor at the University of British Columbia, as well as Leader at the UBC Changing Ocean Research Unit.
Go to Profile#10012
Peter Anthony Hall
#141062
Overall Influence
#10013
Charles Arthur Barraclough
#141067
Overall Influence
#10014
Franck Courchamp
#141083
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (57 years)
#10015
Erica McAlister
#124990
Overall Influence
Erica McAlister Hon.FRES is an entomologist, museum curator and presenter in the United Kingdom. She is an expert in flies and is senior curator at the Natural History Museum, London. She is a past President of the Amateur Entomologists' Society.
Go to Profile#10016
Marc David Abrams
#141113
Overall Influence
#10017
Wolfgang H. Dillmann
#141117
Overall Influence
#10018
Michel Gustave Jules Fardeau
#141120
Overall Influence
#10019
Dale E. Mcfarlin
#141122
Overall Influence
#10020
Horton H. Hobbs Jr.
#109180
Overall Influence
1914 - 1994 (80 years)
Horton Holcombe Hobbs Jr. was an American taxonomist and carcinologist, specialising in freshwater decapods. He was also a capable artist, musician, cook and botanist. Hobbs was born in Alachua County, Florida, on March 29, 1914. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Florida, where he taught until 1946, when he moved to the University of Virginia, becoming director of the Mountain Lake Biological Station for four years. In 1957, he moved to the United States National Museum to be the Head Curator of the Department of Zoology, and two years later was made Senior Scientist in the Departm...
Go to Profile#10021
Malcolm Winston Turner
#141164
Overall Influence
#10022
Olof Vesterberg
#141180
Overall Influence
#10023
Brian A. Hazlett
#141191
Overall Influence
#10024
Jonathan M. Levine
#141192
Overall Influence
#10025
Alan Bernstein
#141209
Overall Influence
#10026
Mark Robert Shaw
#141215
Overall Influence
#10027
Cecilia J. Hillard
#141218
Overall Influence
#10028
Suthat Fucharoen
#141225
Overall Influence
#10029
J. Os Vanderleyden
#141232
Overall Influence
#10030
Maria de Sousa
#127011
Overall Influence
1939 - 2020 (81 years)
Maria Ângela Brito de Sousa was a Portuguese immunologist, science leader poet and writer. She gained international recognition as a medical researcher, as the author of several seminal scientific papers: she was the first to describe thymus-dependent areas in 1966, a fundamental discovery in the mapping of peripheral lymphoid organs; she coined the term "ecotaxis" in 1971, to describe the phenomenon of cells of different origins to migrate and to organize among themselves in very specific lymphoid areas. In the 1980s she focused on the study of hereditary hemochromatosis, an iron overload ...
Go to Profile#10031
Richard James Beamish
#141239
Overall Influence
#10032
Luc A. Devriese
#141270
Overall Influence
#10033
David Simha Segal
#141290
Overall Influence
#10034
John Michael Mcintosh
#141302
Overall Influence
#10035
Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell
#73491
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (61 years)
Caitlin Elizabeth O'Connell-Rodwell is an American conservation biologist and author. She is an instructor at Harvard Medical School, scientific consultant, co-founder and CEO of Utopia Scientific, and an expert on elephants. Her elephant research was the subject of the Elephant King, an award-winning Smithsonian Channel documentary.
Go to Profile#10036
Karen S. Anderson
#141322
Overall Influence
#10037
Jennifer R. Mandel
#98017
Overall Influence
Jennifer R. Mandel is an American biologist. Mandel is an associate professor of biological sciences at the University of Memphis. Education Jennifer Rhea Ellis earned a Bachelor of Arts in biology from Carson–Newman University with a focus in organismal biology, ecology, and natural history. She completed a Doctor of Philosophy in biological sciences from Vanderbilt University specializing in plant conservation and evolutionary genetics. Her dissertation, Conservation Genetics of the Endangered Sunflower Helianthus verticillatus elevated the Whorled sunflower to a high priority candidate for endangered species status.
Go to Profile#10038
Andrew Phillip Brown
#88915
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
Andrew Phillip Brown is a conservation biologist and taxonomist at the Western Australian Department of Environment and Conservation. He is also curator of Orchidaceae and Myoporaceae at the Western Australian Herbarium and a foundation member of the Australian Orchid Foundation and the Western Australia Native Orchid Study and Conservation Group. He is the author of more than 100 journal articles and seven books on the flora of Western Australia, including a field guide to the eremophilas of that state.
Go to Profile#10039
Kris Gevaert
#141341
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (55 years)
#10040
Arnold H. Menezes
#141354
Overall Influence
#10041
E. Eddie Wisse
#141364
Overall Influence
#10042
Toshiyuki Officer Resi Hamaoka
#141375
Overall Influence
#10043
Merlin S. Bergdoll
#141389
Overall Influence
#10044
Mohammad Zahid Ashraf
#126160
Overall Influence
1973 - Present (53 years)
Mohammad Zahid Ashraf is an Indian biotechnologist and a professor at Jamia Millia Islamia. Known for his studies on thrombosis experienced at high altitudes. Ashraf is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India, Indian National Sciences Academy and Indian Academy of Sciences, and an elected member of the National Academy of Medical Sciences. 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 biosciences, in 2017–18.
Go to Profile#10045
Mutaz B. Habal
#141402
Overall Influence
#10046
Hyo‐soo Kim
#141406
Overall Influence
#10047
Rolf Teschke
#141415
Overall Influence
#10048
Manfred Bleuler
#59836
Overall Influence
1903 - 1994 (91 years)
Manfred Bleuler was a Swiss physician and psychiatrist. Following in the footsteps of his father, doctoral supervisor, and colleague, Eugen Bleuler, Manfred Bleuler was devoted primarily to the study and treatment of schizophrenia. For his contributions, he received the Stanley R. Dean Award in 1970 and the Marcel Benoist Prize in 1972.
Go to Profile#10049
Theodore S. Zimmerman
#141421
Overall Influence
#10050
Marcel Eens
#141424
Overall Influence
