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,
#11301
Dominique Meyer
#151085
Overall Influence
#11302
Gail Jarvik
#144687
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (67 years)
Gail Jarvik is an American geneticist who is currently the Arno G. Motulsky Endowed Chair at University of Washington and an Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Go to Profile#11303
Reinhold-ernst Schmidt
#151099
Overall Influence
#11304
Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan
#151105
Overall Influence
#11305
L. S. Stepanyan
#148754
Overall Influence
1931 - 2002 (71 years)
Leo Surenovich Stepanyan was an Armenian ornithologist, best known as the author of the Conspectus of the ornithological fauna of the USSR, a taxonomic work in Russian on birds of the Soviet Union.
Go to Profile#11306
José Manuel Gironés Guillem
#151114
Overall Influence
#11307
James Hunter Graham
#151115
Overall Influence
#11308
Theodore Elliott Nash
#151118
Overall Influence
#11309
Brian L. Kotzin
#151123
Overall Influence
#11310
Günter Kampf
#151129
Overall Influence
#11311
Howard J. Federoff
#151132
Overall Influence
#11312
Noriyuki Ouchi
#151137
Overall Influence
#11313
Philip Hogg
#110099
Overall Influence
Philip Hogg is an Australian biochemical researcher and an academic. He is Head of ACRF Centenary Cancer Research Center at the Centenary Institute and Honorary Professor at the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre at the University of Sydney.
Go to Profile#11314
Ewa Kamler
#129790
Overall Influence
1937 - Present (89 years)
Ewa Kamler is a Polish biologist and ichthyologist, Professor of Natural Sciences specializing in the fields of ecology, hydrobiology and zoology. Life and career She graduated from the Juliusz Słowacki High School No. 7 in Warsaw and subsequently from the Faculty of Biology and Earth Sciences of the University of Warsaw. In 1965, she obtained a doctoral degree at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. In 1977, she received her habilitation from the Institute of Ecology of the Polish Academy of Sciences . On 9 March 1992, she obtained the title of Professor of Natural Sciences.
Go to Profile#11315
Roderick Hunt
#151167
Overall Influence
#11316
Janina R. Galler
#66335
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
Janina R. Galler is Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and Psychiatrist in the Chester M. Pierce MD Division of Global Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital. She co-founded the 45-year Barbados Nutrition Study in the Lesser Antilles, in the Americas, with the late Sir Dr. Frank C. Ramsey, who was knighted for their joint efforts in eliminating malnutrition from Barbados. Dr. Galler has served as Director of this study since 1973. The Barbados Nutrition Study is a unique longitudinal study that has shown how the intergenerational legacy of poverty and disadvantage result from early childhood malnutrition and associated childhood adversities.
Go to Profile#11317
John F. Morris
#151184
Overall Influence
#11318
Lonnie William Aarssen
#151189
Overall Influence
#11319
David Catling
#138652
Overall Influence
David C. Catling is a Professor in Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington. He is a planetary scientist and astrobiologist whose research focuses on understanding the differences between the evolution of planets, their atmospheres, and their potential for life. He has participated in NASA's Mars exploration program and contributed research to help find life elsewhere in the solar system and on planets orbiting other stars. He is also known for his work on the evolution of Earth's atmosphere and biosphere, including how Earth's atmosphere became rich in oxygen, allowing complex...
Go to Profile#11320
Christoph Richter
#151193
Overall Influence
#11321
Willis Wagner Wirth
#95014
Overall Influence
1916 - 1994 (78 years)
Willis Wagner Wirth was an American entomologist. He was born in Dunbar, Nebraska.
Go to Profile#11322
Wolf‐dieter Ludwig
#151203
Overall Influence
#11323
Nirmal Kumar Ganguly
#151204
Overall Influence
#11324
William W. Thomson
#151205
Overall Influence
#11325
Itzhak Ohad
#151210
Overall Influence
#11326
Vito M. Campese
#151228
Overall Influence
#11327
Gerard Sanacora
#132613
Overall Influence
Gerard Sanacora is an American translational neuroscientist. Upon earning his bachelor's degree from Stony Brook University in 1986, Sanacora entered the Medical Scientist Training Program, completing his doctorate and medical degree at Stony Brook in 1992 and 1994, respectively. He joined the Yale School of Medicine, where he was named George D. Gross and Esther S. Gross Professor of Psychiatry in 2018. Sanacora is a fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.
Go to Profile#11328
Vernonica Franklin-Tong
#140320
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
Vernonica "Noni" Elsa Franklin-Tong is an English plant cell biologist who is Emeritus Professor at the University of Birmingham. She is known for her studies on self-incompatibility in Papaver rhoeas. In 2021 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Go to Profile#11329
Lucilla Parnetti
#151254
Overall Influence
#11330
Steven L. Bressler
#151256
Overall Influence
#11331
Claus Braestrup
#151276
Overall Influence
#11332
Alan M. Weiner
#151281
Overall Influence
#11333
Vernon E. Steele
#151283
Overall Influence
#11334
John Carl Holmes
#151296
Overall Influence
#11335
Ronald F. Follett
#151300
Overall Influence
#11336
Julie A. Mennella
#151302
Overall Influence
#11337
Joseph Owen Hendley
#151322
Overall Influence
#11338
Phillip Cassey
#151323
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
#11339
Thierry Rabilloud
#151329
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
#11340
Markus Zweckstetter
#151332
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#11341
Zoltán Rihmer
#151337
Overall Influence
#11342
Anne-marie Poustka
#151348
Overall Influence
#11343
Thomas C. Winter
#151353
Overall Influence
#11344
Marco Solmi
#151376
Overall Influence
#11345
Cho Zang-hee
#46277
Overall Influence
1936 - Present (90 years)
Zang-Hee Cho is a Korean neuroscientist who developed the first Ring-PET scanner and the scintillation detector BGO. More recently, Cho developed the first PET-MRI fusion molecular imaging device for neuro-molecular imaging.
Go to Profile#11346
Miodrag Ristic
#151398
Overall Influence
#11347
Jorge M. Vivanco
#151409
Overall Influence
#11348
Erwin Tschachler
#151416
Overall Influence
#11349
Thomas B. Ducker
#151438
Overall Influence
#11350
José Lutzenberger
#40977
Overall Influence
1926 - 2002 (76 years)
José Antônio Kroeff Lutzenberger was a Brazilian agronomist and environmentalist. In 1988, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for his "contribution to protecting the natural environment in Brazil and worldwide".
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