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,
#10851
Jamie E. Childs
#147900
Overall Influence
#10852
Alexander Bachmanov
#122579
Overall Influence
Dr. Alexander Bachmanov studied veterinary medicine at the Saint Petersburg Veterinary Institute, Russia , received his Ph.D. in biological sciences from the Pavlov Institute of Physiology in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1990. He completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Physiological Laboratory at Cambridge University in 1993 and at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States from 1994 to 1997. He later joined Monnell's faculty.
Go to Profile#10853
William R. Beardslee
#147906
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (81 years)
#10854
Armand M. Kuris
#147921
Overall Influence
#10855
Matti H. Viitanen
#147938
Overall Influence
#10856
Felix L. Wäckers
#147940
Overall Influence
#10857
Sidney L. Goldfischer
#147944
Overall Influence
#10858
Thomas C. Doetschman
#147965
Overall Influence
#10859
Colin Harrison
#97745
Overall Influence
1926 - 2003 (77 years)
Colin James Oliver Harrison was an English ornithologist. Harrison was born in London. He got a scholarship to grammar school, and then worked as a librarian and a teacher. He had been interested in birds since childhood, and joined an expedition to study autumn migration in Norway. He became a professional ornithologist at the age of 34 and became responsible for the care of the national collection of birds' nests and eggs in the Bird Room at the Natural History Museum at Tring, Hertfordshire. In 1966 he led the fourth of the series of Harold Hall Australian ornithological collecting expedi...
Go to Profile#10860
Sunil S. Badve
#147974
Overall Influence
#10861
Deborah Steinberg
#84999
Overall Influence
Deborah K. Steinberg is an American Antarctic biological oceanographer who works on interdisciplinary oceanographic research programs. Steinberg's research focuses on the role that zooplankton play in marine food webs and the global carbon cycle, and how these small drifting animals are affected by changes in climate.
Go to Profile#10862
Patricia Woolley
#117619
Overall Influence
1932 - Present (94 years)
Patricia Woolley is Australian zoologist recognised for her work with marsupials, specifically the dasyurid family. Pseudantechinus woolleyae is named for her. Biography Patricia Woolley was born in 1932 in Denmark, Western Australia. Her mother was a nurse and her father a medical practitioner. She completed her Junior Certificate at Albany High School. After moving to Perth, Woolley sought to study science at Perth Modern School however at that time women were not allowed to study chemistry at the school, so she attended Perth Technical College and later Leederville Technical College instead.
Go to Profile#10863
Amar J. S. Klar
#148003
Overall Influence
#10864
Mary Cannon
#106276
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (61 years)
Mary Cannon is an Irish psychiatrist, research scientist, public figure and former member of the Cannabis Risk Alliance. She has received the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland's "Doctors Award" for psychiatry, and is among the most highly cited scientists in the world. Cannon is known for her views on cannabis, being described as 'anti-cannabis'. She is best known in the field of psychiatry for her study of the risk factors for mental illness in young people.
Go to Profile#10865
Jerry W. Rudy
#148011
Overall Influence
#10866
Michel Bornens
#148018
Overall Influence
#10867
M. L. G. Ern Fellous
#148019
Overall Influence
#10868
Kunihiko Obata
#148021
Overall Influence
#10869
Philippe Thonart
#148041
Overall Influence
#10870
Jessica Borger
#38745
Overall Influence
Jessica Geraldine Borger is an Australian T Cell immunologist, lecturer and graduate course coordinator at the Central Clinical School, Monash University. Her research has added to the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of T cell function. Additionally, Borger is a news and commentary editor for Immunology & Cell Biology and a guest associate editor for Frontiers in Immunology, and a reviewer for several academic journals. Jessica also advocates for gender equality in science, technology, engineering and mathematics in her position a member of the Gender Equity, Diversity and Inclusion...
Go to Profile#10871
Max Nieuwdorp
#148063
Overall Influence
#10872
Rafael Augusto Lopes Franco
#148076
Overall Influence
#10873
D. R. R. Burt
#148092
Overall Influence
#10874
Bruce A. Yankner
#148102
Overall Influence
#10875
Eishichi Miyamoto
#148114
Overall Influence
#10876
Assunta Dr Imperato
#148124
Overall Influence
#10877
Randall K. Holmes
#148130
Overall Influence
#10878
Daniel Schmitt
#148131
Overall Influence
#10879
Howard Neil Hodis
#148137
Overall Influence
#10880
Steven m. Rothman
#148141
Overall Influence
#10881
Harry D. Jr. Peck
#148142
Overall Influence
#10882
Shigetoh Miyachi
#148148
Overall Influence
#10883
Enrico Stefani
#148154
Overall Influence
#10884
Veena Kumari
#148159
Overall Influence
Veena Kumari is Professor of Experimental Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. Selected publications
Go to Profile#10885
Michael J. Eckardt
#148160
Overall Influence
#10886
Madelaine Böhme
#144547
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (59 years)
Madelaine Böhme is a German palaeontologist and professor of palaeoclimatology at the University of Tübingen. Böhme was born in 1967 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. She studied at the Freiberg University of Mining and Technology and Leipzig University, completing her doctorate there in 1997 and habilitation at LMU Munich in 2003. In 2009 she became professor of terrestrial palaeoclimatology in Tübingen.
Go to Profile#10887
David A. Fidock
#147684
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (61 years)
David A. Fidock , is the CS Hamish Young Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Professor of Medical Sciences at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in Manhattan. Education and Training David Fidock was born in Paris, on 8 December 1965 and moved to Australia when he was seven years old. He attended the University of Adelaide and earned a bachelor of mathematical sciences and an honors degree in genetics in 1985. He earned a PhD in Microbiology with a focus on malaria in 1994, with his thesis Molecular and Immuno-Epidemiological Studies of the Plasmodium falciparum STARP and LSA-1 Antigens Expressed During the Pre-Erythrocytic Stages in Humans, advised by Dr.
Go to Profile#10888
Henny van der Windt
#114648
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
Hendrik Johannes van der Windt is a Dutch associate professor at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, specialized in the relationship between sustainability and science, in particular the relationship between nature conservation and ecology and between energy technologies, locale energy-initiatives and the energy transition.
Go to Profile#10889
Jan E. Lindsten
#148194
Overall Influence
1935 - Present (91 years)
#10890
Isaac Ginsburg
#148208
Overall Influence
#10891
Martin Dym
#148209
Overall Influence
#10892
Andrew M. Thorburn
#148219
Overall Influence
#10893
Sheue-yann Cheng
#98917
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (87 years)
Sheue-yann Cheng is an American molecular geneticist who pioneered the development of mouse models to understand the molecular basis of diseases due to mutations of thyroid hormone receptors. Cheng is a senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute and chief of the gene regulation section.
Go to Profile#10894
Elliott Israel
#148230
Overall Influence
#10895
Christopher John Gordon
#148246
Overall Influence
#10896
Mick Gillies
#138813
Overall Influence
1920 - 1999 (79 years)
Michael Thomas Gillies was an English medical entomologist. He spent most of his working life in the tropics, particularly Tanzania and later The Gambia, studying the transfer of malaria between mosquitos and humans. He was awarded the Chalmers and Sir Rickard Christophers Medals for his seminal contribution to the understanding of the role of mosquito behaviour in the transfer of malaria. He was also a world authority on the mayfly.
Go to Profile#10897
Mart Mannik
#148257
Overall Influence
#10898
Darold Treffert
#12666
Overall Influence
1932 - 2020 (88 years)
Darold A. Treffert was a psychiatrist and research director who specialized in the epidemiology of autism spectrum disorders and savant syndrome. He lived in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. He was on the staff at Agnesian HealthCare and served on the Board of Trustees of Marian University. Treffert was a clinical professor at the University of Wisconsin Medical School. He was also a clinical professor at University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.
Go to Profile#10899
Emily Bernhardt
#136883
Overall Influence
Emily S. Bernhardt is an American ecosystem ecologist, biogeochemist, and professor at Duke University. Bernhardt studies the effects of land use change, global change, and chemical pollution on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and is the co-author of an award-winning text book on biogeochemistry. She also served as the president of the Society for Freshwater Science from 2016 to 2017.
Go to Profile#10900
Richard Edward Thomson
#148273
Overall Influence
