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,
#11101
Gunter Meister
#149682
Overall Influence
#11102
Bengt A. Kihlman
#149691
Overall Influence
#11103
Donna E. Davies
#141598
Overall Influence
Donna Elizabeth Davies is a British biochemist and professor of respiratory cell and molecular biology at the University of Southampton. In 2003, Davies was the co-founder of Synairgen, an interferon-beta drug designed to treat patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Go to Profile#11104
John Thomas Sharp
#149708
Overall Influence
#11105
Carl L. Schildkraut
#149710
Overall Influence
#11106
Sacha B. Nelson
#149716
Overall Influence
#11107
Alan Jamieson
#55006
Overall Influence
Alan J. Jamieson is a Scottish marine biologist, engineer, explorer and author, best known for his deep-sea exploration and study of life at the deepest places in the oceans. He is known for extensive use of deep-sea landers to establish the maximum depth and community dynamics of many organismal groups, as well as the discovery of many new species and highlighting the presence of anthropogenic impacts at full ocean depth. During the Five Deeps Expedition, and follow on expeditions in 2020, he completed various dives in a manned submersible to some of the deepest places in the world. He has pu...
Go to Profile#11108
Nan‐yao Su
#149719
Overall Influence
#11109
Manuel Benedikt Graeber
#149724
Overall Influence
#11110
Marc T. Goodman
#149728
Overall Influence
#11111
Morio Kita
#40297
Overall Influence
1927 - 2011 (84 years)
Morio Kita was the pen name of Sokichi Saitō, a Japanese psychiatrist, novelist and essayist. Kita was the second son of poet Mokichi Saitō. , his older brother, was also a psychiatrist. The essayist Yuka Saitō is Kita's daughter.
Go to Profile#11112
Christina Curtis
#109054
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Christina Curtis is an American scientist who is a Professor of Medicine, Genetics and Biomedical Data Science and an Endowed Scholar at Stanford University where her research investigates the evolution of tumors. She is director of Artificial Intelligence and Cancer Genomics at Stanford University School of Medicine and is on the board of directors of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Go to Profile#11113
D. Yves Von Cramon
#149732
Overall Influence
#11114
Taylor Ricketts
#141165
Overall Influence
Taylor Henry Ricketts is an American ecologist. He is the director of the University of Vermont's Gund Institute for Environment and Gund Professor at the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. Ricketts is a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Ecological Society of America. In 2015, Thompson-Reuters named him as one of the world's most cited and influential scientists.
Go to Profile#11115
Nina Bassuk
#124831
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
Nina Lauren Bassuk is a professor and program leader of the Urban Horticulture Institute at Cornell University. Education Bassuk received her B.S. in Horticulture from Cornell University in 1974 and her Ph.D. in Horticulture from the University of London in 1980.
Go to Profile#11116
Gerd‐achim Kullak‐ublick
#149739
Overall Influence
#11117
Kevin j. Mcgraw
#149741
Overall Influence
#11118
Klaus Scherrer
#149748
Overall Influence
#11119
G. Causey Whittow
#149760
Overall Influence
#11120
John Shearer Kelly
#149766
Overall Influence
#11121
Debra J. Skene
#148951
Overall Influence
Dr. Debra J. Skene is a chronobiologist with specific interest in the mammalian circadian rhythm and the consequences of disturbing the circadian system. She is also interested in finding their potential treatments for people who suffer from circadian misalignment. Skene and her team of researchers tackle these questions using animal models, clinical trials, and most recently, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Most notably, Skene is credited for her evidence of a novel photopigment in humans, later discovered to be melanopsin. She was also involved in discovering links between human PER3 genotype and an extremely shifted sleep schedules categorized as extreme diurnal preference.
Go to Profile#11122
J. Lawrence Johnson
#149782
Overall Influence
#11123
George R. Mangun
#149789
Overall Influence
#11124
Thomas W. Langfitt
#149801
Overall Influence
#11125
Veli‐pekka Lehto
#149822
Overall Influence
#11126
Carmen Ayuso
#149836
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
#11127
Wiek H. Van Gilst
#149841
Overall Influence
#11128
Ehud Y. Isacoff
#149843
Overall Influence
#11129
Hugh Gurling
#103837
Overall Influence
1950 - 2013 (63 years)
Hugh Malcolm Douglas Gurling was an English medical geneticist who specialised in the role of genetics and mental health. He led a molecular psychiatry laboratory at University College, London. Gurling was born in London on 6 May 1950, and brought up in Derbyshire. His father, Kenneth Gurling, was a physician and inaugural dean of the University of Nottingham. His mother, Nonie Sempill, was a nurse.
Go to Profile#11130
Steven R. Manchesters.r. Manchester
#149858
Overall Influence
#11131
Jonathan Van Blerkom
#149864
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (79 years)
#11132
Peter G. Bullough
#149866
Overall Influence
#11133
Lennart Kaijser
#149867
Overall Influence
#11134
Oscar Marín
#145976
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (55 years)
Oscar Marín Parra FMedSci FRS is a Spanish and British neuroscientist. He is married to neuroscientist Beatriz Rico. Education Oscar Marín was born in Madrid and received his undergraduate degree in Biology from Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and later his PhD in neuroscience. He then undertook postdoctoral training with M. Angela Nieto at the Instituto Cajal and John L. Rubenstein and Marc Tessier-Lavigne at the University of California in San Francisco.
Go to Profile#11135
Constantine Herbert Fernando
#149869
Overall Influence
#11136
Anthony W. Bateman
#149879
Overall Influence
#11137
Marie‐thérèse Vanier
#149880
Overall Influence
#11138
Lee C. Drickamer
#149885
Overall Influence
#11139
Daniel E. Schindler
#149897
Overall Influence
#11140
Manfred Schedlowski
#149901
Overall Influence
#11141
Rahul Satija
#149905
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#11142
Pejman Rohani
#149907
Overall Influence
#11143
Dolph O. Adams
#149914
Overall Influence
#11144
John C. M. Brust
#149917
Overall Influence
#11145
Robert A. Weller
#149926
Overall Influence
#11146
Elizabeth Exley
#113591
Overall Influence
1927 - 2007 (80 years)
Elizabeth Morris Exley was an entomologist who researched Australian native bees particularly those in the subfamily Euryglossinae. Early life and education Elizabeth Exley was born in Bardon, Brisbane, Queensland, on 29 November 1927. Her extended family owned Bardon House, a home which later became part of St Joseph's Catholic School at Bardon in 1925. Her grandmother, also named Elizabeth Exley was credited with establishing a local branch of Mother's Union, which became a district nursing service now known as Anglicare. Young Elizabeth's father was a founding member of the Queensland Naturalists' Club, and the family had a strong interest in natural history.
Go to Profile#11147
Ban Hock Hock Toh
#149936
Overall Influence
#11148
Anita Hopper
#144214
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Anita Hopper is an American molecular geneticist who is a professor at the Ohio State University. She studies the mechanisms of distribution of RNA between the nucleus and cytoplasm. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was elected a Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2021.
Go to Profile#11149
Toomas Tammaru
#149966
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (58 years)
Toomas Tammaru is an Estonian lepidopterist and professor of entomology at the University of Tartu. Together with Andro Truuverk and Erki Õunap, he transferred the butterfly Epirrita pulchraria to the genus Malacodea.
Go to Profile#11150
Barbara Rehermann
#149972
Overall Influence
