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,
#10251
Malcolm B. Perry
#143247
Overall Influence
#10252
J. Brian Houston
#143260
Overall Influence
#10253
Andreas Trumpp
#143261
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
#10254
H. Jeremy C. Swan
#143266
Overall Influence
#10255
Henning Hermjakob
#143269
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#10256
K. Gordon Lark
#76940
Overall Influence
1930 - 2020 (90 years)
Karl Gordon Lark was an American biologist and a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Utah, known for his research on canine genetics. He graduated in 1948 with a bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago and in 1952 with a Ph.D. from New York University. After three years as a postdoc, he was from 1956 to 1963 a faculty member in Medical Microbiology at St. Louis University Medical School. From 1963 to 1970 he worked at Kansas State University. From 1970 to 1977 he was the chair of the Department of Biology at the University of Utah. In 1965 the American Society for M...
Go to Profile#10257
Kenneth J. Fotherby
#143285
Overall Influence
#10258
Andres Wiemken
#143310
Overall Influence
#10259
Judes Poirier
#109752
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
Judes Poirier is Canadian-born professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at McGill University and former director of the Centre for Studies in Aging at McGill University. He currently serves as director of the Molecular Neurobiology Unit at the Douglas Institute Research Centre and, co-founder and associate director of the Centre for the Studies on the Prevention of Alzheimer's disease at McGill University.
Go to Profile#10260
Masanori Otsuka
#143314
Overall Influence
#10261
D. Bradford Sanders
#143315
Overall Influence
#10262
Per F. L. Hall
#143324
Overall Influence
#10263
Thomas Brabletz
#143328
Overall Influence
#10264
Mauno Vihinen
#143336
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#10265
Bernd Saletu
#143340
Overall Influence
#10266
Peter Martin Ray
#143341
Overall Influence
#10267
Tracey Shors
#92970
Overall Influence
Tracey Shors is a neuroscientist and distinguished professor in behavioral neuroscience, systems neuroscience, and psychology as well as a member of the Center for Collaborative Neuroscience at Rutgers University. She is currently vice chair and director of graduate studies in the department of psychology.
Go to Profile#10268
Paul David Van Helden
#143385
Overall Influence
#10269
Derek Eamus
#143393
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (67 years)
#10270
Jamuna Sharan Singh
#91606
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (85 years)
Jamuna Sharan Singh is an Indian ecologist, academic and a former professor of botany and ecological sciences at Banaras Hindu University. He is known for his studies on the grassland ecosystems which are reported to have assisted in the better management of tropical grasslands. He is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences, The World Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, India. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bha...
Go to Profile#10271
Richard H. Masland
#143411
Overall Influence
#10272
Cesare Peschle
#143412
Overall Influence
#10273
Roland Billard
#143434
Overall Influence
#10274
Philip A. Cochran
#124976
Overall Influence
1955 - 2015 (60 years)
Philip A. Cochran was an American biologist who worked as a professor at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin , and St. Mary’s University of Minnesota . Cochran earned a B.A. in Biology and Environmental Science at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota in 1977 , an M.S. in Fisheries Science from the University of Minnesota in 1980, and a PhD in Zoology from University of Wisconsin in 1984, where at the Center for Limnology he first studied lampreys, the group of animals that would become his specialty.
Go to Profile#10275
Marc Stadler
#143440
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
#10276
Rocío Cabrera López
#143441
Overall Influence
#10277
Michael L. Shelanski
#143461
Overall Influence
#10278
Andrew E. Simor
#143464
Overall Influence
#10279
Carlos Martı́nez-a.
#143482
Overall Influence
#10280
Gerald J. Holtmann
#143491
Overall Influence
#10281
Elmar W. J. Weiler
#143515
Overall Influence
#10282
Ralph Edward Durand
#143520
Overall Influence
#10283
Andrea Mattevi
#143537
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (61 years)
#10284
Carl Marci
#84981
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (57 years)
Carl D. Marci , is a physician, scientist, entrepreneur and author of the book, Rewired: Protecting Your Brain in the Digital Age. He is currently Chief Psychiatrist and Managing Director at OM1, a venture-backed health data company using artificial intelligence to improve patient outcomes. He is also a senior advisor to early stage health tech start-ups and a part-time psychiatrist within the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.,
Go to Profile#10285
Walter Prof. Dr.med. Zieglgänsberger
#143541
Overall Influence
#10286
E. Gambetta Gurpide
#143542
Overall Influence
#10287
J. Michael Mccune
#143544
Overall Influence
#10288
Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu
#64756
Overall Influence
1974 - Present (52 years)
Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu is a professor, researcher, epidemiologist and psychiatrist at the Department of Psychiatry in the Faculty of Medicine, Makerere University in Uganda. Her research is particularly focused on supportive group psychotherapy as a first-line treatment for depression in people with HIV. She is one of only five recipients of the Elsevier Foundation Award for Early Career Women Scientists in the Developing World in Biological Sciences, as well as listed at one of the BBC's 100 Women in 2020.
Go to Profile#10289
Jaboury Ghazoul
#143565
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (59 years)
#10290
Kensuke Egashira
#143578
Overall Influence
#10291
Heinrich H. Spoendlin
#143587
Overall Influence
#10292
Felix Rosenow
#143588
Overall Influence
#10293
Christian Gisselbrecht
#143621
Overall Influence
#10294
Brian J. Reid
#143629
Overall Influence
#10295
Ulrich Hübscher
#143631
Overall Influence
#10296
Samuel A. Deadwyler
#143642
Overall Influence
#10297
Sergi Sabater
#143650
Overall Influence
#10298
Clyde A. Iii Hutchison
#143656
Overall Influence
#10299
Arnost Reviewer Kleinzeller
#143665
Overall Influence
#10300
Maria Jasin
#82464
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Maria Jasin is a developmental biologist at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She is known for studying homologous recombination, a method in which double-strand breaks in DNA strands are repaired, and for discovering the role of BRCA1 and BRCA2 in cancers.
Go to Profile