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,
#10051
Kent E. Holsinger
#141426
Overall Influence
#10052
Ronald R. Fieve
#141445
Overall Influence
#10053
Leho Tedersoo
#141458
Overall Influence
1980 - Present (46 years)
Leho Tedersoo is an Estonian mycologist and microbiologist. He has described the following taxon:Coltricia australica L.W.Zhou, Tedersoo & Y.C.Dai, 2013
Go to Profile#10054
Jack Rosenbluth
#141484
Overall Influence
#10055
John McGeehan
#119852
Overall Influence
John McGeehan is a British research scientist and professor of structural biology. He was director of the Centre for Enzyme Innovation at the University of Portsmouth until 2022 and led a research team on enzyme engineering.
Go to Profile#10056
Rhonda Susan Bassel‐duby
#141535
Overall Influence
#10057
Hilal Lashuel
#131516
Overall Influence
1973 - Present (53 years)
Hilal Lashuel is an American-Yemeni neuroscientist and chemist, currently an associate professor at the EPFL . His research focuses on protein misfolding and aggregation in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
Go to Profile#10058
David G. Drubin
#134270
Overall Influence
David G. Drubin is an American biologist, academic, and researcher. He is a Distinguished Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Berkeley where he holds the Ernette Comby Chair in Microbiology.
Go to Profile#10059
Margaret Baird
#138345
Overall Influence
1945 - 2016 (71 years)
Margaret Alison Baird was a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Otago. Her research considered dendritic cells and their role in cancer and infectious disease.
Go to Profile#10060
Margaret E. Hodson
#141609
Overall Influence
#10061
Philippa Saunders
#139080
Overall Influence
Philippa Saunders, FRSE is Chair of Reproductive Steroids and Director of Postgraduate Research for the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, and Registrar of the Academy of Medical Sciences. Her research explores the mechanisms behind how sex steroids impact on repair, regeneration and cell replication throughout the body.
Go to Profile#10062
Nieng Yan
#111823
Overall Influence
1977 - Present (49 years)
#10063
Pietro Pietrini
#141626
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
#10064
Jason Jason P. Lerch
#141628
Overall Influence
#10065
Go¨ran Lindstedt
#141630
Overall Influence
#10066
Hugh Bostock
#139378
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (82 years)
Hugh Bostock is a British neuroscientist, and Emeritus Professor of Neurophysiology, at University College, London. Life He was educated at Charterhouse School and earned a BA from Merton College, Oxford in 1966, and MSc and PhD in 1974 from University of London.
Go to Profile#10067
Maria New
#93412
Overall Influence
Maria Iandolo New is a professor of Pediatrics, Genomics and Genetics at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. She is an expert in congenital adrenal hyperplasia , a genetic condition affecting the adrenal gland that can affect sexual development.
Go to Profile#10068
Martha Clokie
#104649
Overall Influence
Martha Rebecca Jane Clokie is a Professor of Microbiology at the University of Leicester. Her research investigates the identification and development of bacteriophages that kill pathogens in an effort to develop new antimicrobials.
Go to Profile#10069
Laura Attardi
#122587
Overall Influence
Laura Attardi is the Catharine and Howard Avery Professor of the school of medicine, and professor of radiation oncology and genetics at Stanford University where she leads the Attardi Laboratory. Attardi studies the tumor suppressor protein p53 and the gene that encodes it, TP53, to better understand mechanisms for preventing cancer.
Go to Profile#10070
Jeffrey S. Stevenson
#141644
Overall Influence
#10071
Paul A. Harris
#141662
Overall Influence
#10072
Kay F. Huebner
#141664
Overall Influence
#10073
Bernhard Fleischer
#141665
Overall Influence
#10074
Michael Joseph Crumpton
#141669
Overall Influence
#10075
Richard A. Roth
#141671
Overall Influence
#10076
Charles J. Malemud
#141683
Overall Influence
#10077
Shozo Izui
#141688
Overall Influence
#10078
Miguel Marín‐padilla
#141696
Overall Influence
#10079
J. Rodney Quayle
#115067
Overall Influence
1926 - 2006 (80 years)
John Rodney Quayle FRS was a microbial biochemist, West Riding Professor of Microbiology and Head of Department at University of Sheffield and then Vice-Chancellor of Bath University . He adopted techniques for dissecting enzymic reactions using radioactive carbon-14. He focused on microbes that used compounds containing one atom of carbon as their sources of energy and biomass.
Go to Profile#10080
Peter Bernard Raven
#141708
Overall Influence
#10081
Knut Aukland
#112061
Overall Influence
1929 - 2014 (85 years)
Knut Aukland was a Norwegian physiologist. He made significant contributions to renal physiology, particularly in fields of renal blood flow measurement and regulation and transcapillary fluid balance, through his studies of blood circulation in the kidneys.
Go to Profile#10082
Aubrey Milunsky
#141722
Overall Influence
1936 - Present (90 years)
#10083
Milton Paul Gordon
#141723
Overall Influence
#10084
Vladimir Nikolaevich Anisimov
#141725
Overall Influence
#10085
Donald Zak
#141735
Overall Influence
Donald R. Zak is an American ecologist, currently the Alexander H. Smith Distinguished University Professor of Ecology and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in the School for Environment and Sustainability at University of Michigan and an Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Ecological Society of America.
Go to Profile#10086
Bernard Tandler
#141749
Overall Influence
#10087
Charles Albert Nittrouer
#141765
Overall Influence
#10088
J. David Jentsch
#97037
Overall Influence
1972 - Present (54 years)
James David Jentsch is an American neuroscientist. He is the Empire Innovation Professor of Psychology at Binghamton University. His research considers the neurobiological origins of psychoses and addiction. Jentsch was awarded the 2011 AAAS Award for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility.
Go to Profile#10089
Gregory M. Vercellotti
#141786
Overall Influence
#10090
Murray Rabinowitz
#141795
Overall Influence
#10091
Kazuo Tajima
#141802
Overall Influence
#10092
Ruma Banerjee
#115760
Overall Influence
Ruma Banerjee is a professor of enzymology and biological chemistry at the University of Michigan Medical School. She is an experimentalist whose research has focused on unusual cofactors in enzymology.
Go to Profile#10093
Mario Sznol
#141816
Overall Influence
#10094
John S. Dugdale
#124638
Overall Influence
1934 - 2020 (86 years)
#10095
Carl T. Brighton
#141835
Overall Influence
#10096
Simon Barry Laughlin
#141844
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (79 years)
#10097
Joseph F. Piesman
#141855
Overall Influence
#10098
Adele Dessa Sadovnick
#141856
Overall Influence
#10099
Joseph S. Wall
#141865
Overall Influence
#10100
Salvatore Auricchio
#141875
Overall Influence
