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,
#11151
Karl Mechtler
#149973
Overall Influence
#11152
Robert Luc Brasseur
#149980
Overall Influence
#11153
Josef Settele
#149988
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
#11154
Harold F. Clark
#149989
Overall Influence
#11155
Ichirou Kurane
#150002
Overall Influence
#11156
O. Hayes Griffith
#150007
Overall Influence
1938 - Present (88 years)
#11157
Henry C. Tuckwell
#150009
Overall Influence
#11158
JoAnn Burkholder
#120186
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
JoAnn Marie Burkholder is an American professor of aquatic ecology at the North Carolina State University, Raleigh. She was responsible for identifying the cause, a dinoflagellate Pfiesteria piscicida and its toxins, of mass deaths of fish that posed a public health hazard. Her studies also helped in improving legislation to control pollution and eutrophication.
Go to Profile#11159
Romano Dallai
#150020
Overall Influence
1938 - Present (88 years)
#11160
Joel Gittelsohn
#150021
Overall Influence
#11161
R. Jennings Doyle
#150041
Overall Influence
#11162
Hilliard Festenstein
#150046
Overall Influence
#11163
Enrico Cherubini
#150052
Overall Influence
#11164
Daniel I. Demeyer
#150075
Overall Influence
#11165
Richard A. Phillips
#150085
Overall Influence
#11166
Michael Solursh
#150086
Overall Influence
#11167
Michele Christine Heath
#150091
Overall Influence
#11168
Arpad Janos Pusztai
#150102
Overall Influence
#11169
Charles E. Mccall
#150112
Overall Influence
#11170
Sara Mednick
#91720
Overall Influence
Sara C. Mednick is a sleep researcher at the University of California, Irvine. Her research focuses on the relationship between napping and performance. She is the author of several papers and a mass market book, Take a Nap! Change Your Life. She graduated with her PhD in psychology from Harvard University studying under Ken Nakayama and Robert Stickgold.
Go to Profile#11171
Frank White
#97724
Overall Influence
1927 - 1994 (67 years)
Frank White was a botanist who was an expert on African flora and curator of the herbarium at the University of Oxford.
Go to Profile#11172
Denis Raymond Stanworth
#150163
Overall Influence
#11173
Roy A. Mariuzza
#150173
Overall Influence
#11174
G. Stanley Mcknight
#150176
Overall Influence
#11175
D. James Surmeier
#91452
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
D. James "Jim" Surmeier , an American neuroscientist and physiologist of note, is the Nathan Smith Davis Professor and Chair in the Department of Physiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. His research is focused on the cellular physiology and circuit properties of the basal ganglia in health and disease, primarily Parkinson's and Huntington's disease as well as pain.
Go to Profile#11176
Sardul Singh Guraya
#150191
Overall Influence
#11177
William B. Schoolcraft
#150209
Overall Influence
#11178
Kurt Einarsson
#150214
Overall Influence
#11179
Martin Zeitz
#150215
Overall Influence
#11180
Oscar Janiger
#15581
Overall Influence
1918 - 2001 (83 years)
Oscar Janiger was an experimental psychiatrist and a University of California Irvine psychiatrist and psychotherapist, best known for his LSD research, which lasted from 1954 to 1962. Early life Janiger was born on February 8, 1918, in New York City, New York. Beat poet and author Allen Ginsberg was a cousin.
Go to Profile#11181
Vivienne Gianinazzi‐pearson
#150228
Overall Influence
#11182
Thomas B. Smith
#149688
Overall Influence
Thomas Bates Smith is an American evolutionary and conservation biologist. His research focuses on rainforest biodiversity, species evolution in human-altered environments, the ecology of animal and human diseases, wildlife trafficking, migratory bird conservation, and the development of new approaches for mitigating the impacts of climate change.
Go to Profile#11183
Leeanne Carey
#107982
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (67 years)
Professor Leeanne Carey is a world leading Australian neuroscientist in occupational therapy and stroke rehabilitation and recovery research. She is the founding leader of the Neurorehabilitation and Recovery research group in the Stroke division at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health in Melbourne, Australia, and currently holds a Future Fellowship awarded by the Australian Research Council .
Go to Profile#11184
Michael I. Lerman
#150240
Overall Influence
#11185
Michel Tibayrenc
#150242
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (79 years)
#11186
François-loı̈c Cosset
#150244
Overall Influence
#11187
Sally Leys
#148138
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Sally Leys is a Canadian spongiologist. She is a professor of biology at the University of Alberta where she and her colleagues study sponges in all their aspects including ecology, physiology, their adaptations to a fluid environment and the evolution of sensory systems using sponges as their model organism. A current project is Evaluating ecosystem function, vulnerability, resilience, and ability to recover from multiple stressors.
Go to Profile#11188
Tom Cade
#96228
Overall Influence
1928 - 2019 (91 years)
Thomas Joseph Cade was an American ornithologist most notable for his efforts to conserve the peregrine falcon. Early life and education Cade was born on January 10, 1928, in San Angelo, Texas, to parents Ernest and Ethel née Bomar Cade. Ernest was a lawyer, while Ethel was a homemaker. As a child, Cade read a 1937 National Geographic article "Adventures with Birds of Prey", written by Frank and John Craighead, that piqued his interest in falconry.
Go to Profile#11189
Ylermi M. J. Soini
#150260
Overall Influence
#11190
Richard M. Lawn
#150261
Overall Influence
#11191
Richard E. McCarty
#150264
Overall Influence
1938 - Present (88 years)
Richard E. McCarty is the William D. Gill Professor of Biology at Johns Hopkins University. He also served as Dean of The Johns Hopkins Krieger School of Arts and Sciences for several years. In addition to lecturing in the Biology Department, McCarty oversees a research laboratory, in which graduate and undergraduate students, and post-doctoral fellows conduct various plant biochemistry-related research.
Go to Profile#11192
Donatella Marazziti
#150268
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
#11193
Youji Mitsui
#150292
Overall Influence
#11194
Harold Corby Kistler
#150307
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Harold Corby Kistler is an American Adjunct Professor of biology and plant pathology at the University of Minnesota and a fellow of the American Phytopathological Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Go to Profile#11195
Roy Hunter Burdon
#150315
Overall Influence
#11196
Kenya Honda
#150328
Overall Influence
#11197
Philip J. Barr
#150331
Overall Influence
#11198
Erkki Savilahti
#150334
Overall Influence
#11199
Mark Vellend
#150342
Overall Influence
1973 - Present (53 years)
#11200
Jean‐claude Chermann
#150343
Overall Influence
