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,
#11951
Shaul Feldman
#155505
Overall Influence
#11952
Peter Fromherz
#155515
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (84 years)
#11953
Kristen Marhaver
#142652
Overall Influence
1982 - Present (44 years)
Kristen Marhaver is a marine biologist studying coral reefs and specializing in coral ecology, reproduction, and conservation. Marhaver is a senior scientist at CARMABI Marine Research Station. Marhaver was part of the group of scientists that successfully used frozen Elkhorn coral sperm to fertilize live coral eggs to raise the first lab-reared juveniles in nurseries. Some of the sperm and eggs were from geographically isolated corals of the same species. Their success allows for the possibility of breeding corals to be more resistant to increasing ocean water temperatures by breeding cora...
Go to Profile#11954
Ingo Kowarik
#155532
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
#11955
Charles Edward Bugg
#155544
Overall Influence
#11956
Paul W. Frankland
#155545
Overall Influence
#11957
Joshua B. Plotkin
#143972
Overall Influence
Joshua B. Plotkin is an evolutionary biologist and applied mathematician. He is the Walter H. and Leonore C. Annenberg Professor of Natural Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. Plotkin's research includes the study of the evolution of adaptation in populations, virus ecology, genetic drift, protein translation, and social norms.
Go to Profile#11958
Francis P. Filice
#103406
Overall Influence
1922 - 2015 (93 years)
Francesco Pasqual Filice was an American priest of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Filice was a professor of biology at the University of San Francisco , founder of United for Life of San Francisco , co-founder of the St. Ignatius Institute , co-founder of Priests for Life , and founder of the Holy Family Oratory of St. Philip Neri.
Go to Profile#11959
Michael Brada
#155580
Overall Influence
#11960
Jan Strugnell
#82408
Overall Influence
1976 - Present (50 years)
Jan Maree Strugnell is an Australian evolutionary molecular biologist. She is a professor and director in the Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture at James Cook University, Townsville, Australia. Strugnell's work has investigated population and species level molecular evolution in Antarctic and deep sea species in the context of past geological and climatic change. Strugnell's work also uses genetic tools to help solve bottlenecks in aquaculture and fisheries industries.
Go to Profile#11961
Bruce S. Baker
#155607
Overall Influence
#11962
Alfred C. Johnson
#98433
Overall Influence
Alfred Charles Johnson is an American molecular biologist and civil servant. He is the deputy director of management at the National Institutes of Health. Johnson was a principal investigator in the laboratory of molecular biology at the National Cancer Institute from 1996 to 2007.
Go to Profile#11963
Wyndham Lathem
#138413
Overall Influence
1974 - Present (52 years)
Wyndham Willoughby Lathem is an American microbiologist and convicted murderer. He is a former associate professor at Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, a specialist in pathogenic bacteria.
Go to Profile#11964
Nancy Carrasco
#97881
Overall Influence
1901 - Present (125 years)
Nancy Carrasco is a professor in, and the chair of, the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at Vanderbilt University. Carrasco has conducted research in the fields of biochemistry, biophysics, molecular physiology, molecular endocrinology, and cancer. She cloned the sodium/iodide symporter , a breakthrough in thyroid pathophysiology with ramifications for many other fields, including structure/function of transport proteins, molecular endocrinology, gene transfer studies, cancer, and public health .
Go to Profile#11965
Matthias Mack
#155626
Overall Influence
#11966
Cynthia Wolberger
#115973
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Cynthia Wolberger is an American structural biologist currently at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and an Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. On April 19, 2019, she was elected as a member of the National Academy of Science among 100 new members and 25 foreign associates.
Go to Profile#11967
A. Maria Visconti
#155628
Overall Influence
#11968
Malte Andersson
#155631
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (85 years)
#11969
Pierre Morell
#155633
Overall Influence
#11970
Paul Polani
#130187
Overall Influence
1914 - 2006 (92 years)
Paul Emanuel Polani, FRCP, HonFRCP, FRCPCH, FRCOG, HonFRCPath, DCH, FRS, was an Italian-Austrian geneticist, described by the Royal College of Physicians as "one of the key figures in the development of medical genetics".
Go to Profile#11971
Matthis Synofzik
#155643
Overall Influence
1979 - Present (47 years)
#11972
Ambroise Wonkam
#110594
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Ambroise Wonkam is a Cameroonian medical doctor and professor of medical genetics at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. His research is in sickle cell disease, the genetics of congenital hearing impairment, and ethics in human genetics. He is the current president of the African Society of Human Genetics.
Go to Profile#11973
Larissa A. Pohorecky
#155651
Overall Influence
#11974
Pieter Ubele Dijkstra
#155656
Overall Influence
#11975
Nathalie Gontard
#155664
Overall Influence
#11976
Ep Heuvelink
#155670
Overall Influence
#11977
Povl Munk‐jørgensen
#155676
Overall Influence
#11978
Kerrie Wilson
#128004
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Kerrie Ann Wilson is an Australian environmental scientist who is the Queensland Chief Scientist and a Professor in the Faculty of Science at Queensland University of Technology . She was formerly the Pro Vice-Chancellor at QUT. Wilson is also an affiliated professor in conservation science at the University of Copenhagen, honorary professor at The University of Queensland, a member of the Australian Heritage Council and the Australian Natural Sciences Commissioner for UNESCO.
Go to Profile#11979
Eric T. Mackenzie
#155687
Overall Influence
#11980
Michael A. Kuskowski
#155693
Overall Influence
#11981
Bennett M. Shapiro
#155705
Overall Influence
#11982
Marianne Schultzberg
#155707
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
#11983
John Melvin Olson
#155710
Overall Influence
#11984
Anders Oldfors
#155711
Overall Influence
#11985
Richard P. Macdermott
#155728
Overall Influence
#11986
Robert Hume
#155729
Overall Influence
#11987
Jason W. Chin
#155730
Overall Influence
1973 - Present (53 years)
#11988
Zoraida Luces de Febres
#107822
Overall Influence
1922 - 2015 (93 years)
Zoraida Luces de Febres was a Venezuelan botanist whose specialty was grasses . She was an important figure in Venezuelan botany for many years. Biography Zoraida Luces de Febres was born in Caracas, Venezuela, 1922. She studied for five years under the Swiss geographer and botanist Henri Pittier, then the director of the Servicio Botanico of the Venezuelan Agriculture Ministry. When American agrostologist Mary Agnes Chase came to Venezuela in 1940 to survey grasses and advise on the development of a botanical program, Chase recommended Luces for training at the Smithsonian Institution and offered to let her live at her home in Washington, D.C., during the year that would take.
Go to Profile#11989
Dena Dubal
#85099
Overall Influence
Dena Dubal is the David A. Coulter Endowed Chair in Ageing and Neurodegenerative Disease at University of California, San Francisco. Dubal has demonstrated that the hormone Klotho can enhance cognition and protect the brain from neurodegenerative decline.
Go to Profile#11990
Maurizio Colognesi Capogrossi
#155741
Overall Influence
#11991
Ralph B. Arlinghaus
#155749
Overall Influence
#11992
Ellen C. Hopmans
#155760
Overall Influence
#11993
John David Termine
#155765
Overall Influence
#11994
Susumu Tamai
#155766
Overall Influence
#11995
Elizabeth Joan Stokes
#59717
Overall Influence
1912 - 2010 (98 years)
Elizabeth Joan Stokes was an English bacteriologist. She spent the majority of her career as a clinical bacteriologist at University College Hospital in London. Biography Elizabeth Joan Stokes was born on 6 May 1912 in Hampstead, London, to Thomas Rooke, an engineer, and Elizabeth Frances Pearce, whose father was the Liberal MP Robert Pearce. She attended University College Hospital Medical School and graduated with an MBBS in 1937. She worked at UCH as a house physician, house surgeon and casualty officer before becoming a medical registrar under Thomas Lewis in 1940. When UCH was evacuated to Cardiff in 1941, Stokes decided to make a career change from clinical medicine to pathology.
Go to Profile#11996
Kenneth Harrap
#92615
Overall Influence
1931 - 2017 (86 years)
Professor Kenneth Reginald Harrap was a British oncological biochemist. Early life and education Harrap was born in Streatham, London, on 20 November 1931. He was educated at Woking Grammar School and George Green's School, London.
Go to Profile#11997
Jonathan B. Rothbard
#155782
Overall Influence
#11998
Yoji Ikawa
#155786
Overall Influence
#11999
Philip Boyce
#104775
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
Philip Manley Boyce is an Australian psychiatrist. he is an Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Sydney and an Emeritus Consultant in Psychiatry at Westmead Hospital. He was a professor of psychiatry and head of discipline of psychiatry at the University of Sydney, and head of Perinatal Psychiatry Clinical Research Unit at Westmead Hospital. He has published more than 350 articles, and frequently contributes to psychiatric textbooks. He served as associate editor of Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. He has a long clinical and research interest in anxiety disorders, mood disorders, psychosomatic disorders, and perinatal psychiatry.
Go to Profile#12000
Xavier P. Jouven
#155800
Overall Influence
