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,
#12201
Gillian Baird**
#157385
Overall Influence
#12202
Harvey Karten
#91733
Overall Influence
Harvey Karten is an American neuroscientist who is professor emeritus of neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. Karten is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and was a founding faculty member of the UCSD School of Medicine. Karten is known for evolutionary analyses of non-mammalian brains; his current work includes the development of a cell-based database of brain regions, neurons, connections, and chemical properties.
Go to Profile#12203
Boris Rotman
#83879
Overall Influence
1924 - Present (102 years)
Marcos Boris Rotman was a Chilean American immunologist–molecular biologist and professor emeritus of Medical Science at Alpert Medical School of Brown University. He is widely recognized for performing the first single molecule experiments in biology. He died in July 2021 at the age of 96.
Go to Profile#12204
Nicolas Cherbuin
#157406
Overall Influence
#12205
Gibran Hemani
#157413
Overall Influence
#12206
Jürg Biber
#157414
Overall Influence
#12207
Robert H. Jr. Brown
#157418
Overall Influence
#12208
Dan Peer
#137583
Overall Influence
1972 - Present (54 years)
Dan Peer is a Professor and the Director of the Laboratory of Precision NanoMedicine at Tel Aviv University . He is also the Vice President for Research and Development at TAU. In 2017 he co-founded and acts as the managing director of SPARK Tel Aviv, Center for Translational Medicine. From 2016–2020 he was the chair of the TAU Cancer Biology Research Center.
Go to Profile#12209
Graeme Henderson
#150388
Overall Influence
Graeme Henderson is a British neuroscientist whose research focuses on opioid addiction. He is professor of pharmacology in the School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol .
Go to Profile#12210
Paul W. Davenport
#107839
Overall Influence
Paul W. Davenport is an American physiologist, focusing in the relationship between respiratory mechanics and the neural mechanisms of respiratory sensation, currently a Distinguished Professor at University of Florida.
Go to Profile#12211
Orville A. Levander
#157428
Overall Influence
#12212
Gunter Fischer
#157437
Overall Influence
#12213
Christopher Tyler
#52505
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Christopher William Tyler is a neuroscientist, creator of the autostereogram , and is the Head of the Brain Imaging Center at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute He also holds a professorship at City University of London.
Go to Profile#12214
J. Peter H. Burbach
#157459
Overall Influence
#12215
Richard W. Lacey
#157460
Overall Influence
#12216
Shigenobu Kanba
#157462
Overall Influence
#12217
Gisa Tiegs
#157477
Overall Influence
#12218
David S. Hayman
#157481
Overall Influence
#12219
Ludwig Huber
#93584
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
Ludwig Huber is an Austrian zoologist and a comparative cognitive biologist cognitive biologist at the Messerli Research Institute at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, where he is co-founder head of the Unit of Comparative Cognition. His research is focused on the experimental and comparative study of animal cognition, and he has worked with a wide variety of species, including pigeons, dogs, kea, and marmosets.
Go to Profile#12220
Dietrich Müller-Doblies
#89099
Overall Influence
1938 - Present (88 years)
Dietrich Müller-Doblies is a German systematic botanist. His main areas of interest are the Bryophyta, the Spermatophyta, the Monocotyledons, Amaryllidaceae, Colchicaceae and Hyacinthaceae. He is currently at the Herbarium of the Technische Universität Berlin Most of his botanical writings are in conjunction with Ute Müller-Doblies, whose author abbreviation is U.Müll.-Doblies, however most taxa named by them bear both names, signified by D.Müll.-Doblies & U.Müll.-Doblies or D. & U. M.-D. and sometimes D. et U. M.-D..
Go to Profile#12221
Michael Steinmetz
#157497
Overall Influence
#12222
D. Brian Jones
#157519
Overall Influence
#12223
Patrik Magnusson
#157520
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (57 years)
Patrik Karl Erik Magnusson is a Swedish genetic epidemiologist and senior researcher at the Karolinska Institute, where he leads the Swedish Twin Registry. He was listed as an ISI Highly Cited Researcher in 2017.
Go to Profile#12224
Michael J. Brownstein
#157521
Overall Influence
#12225
Sakae Katoh
#157524
Overall Influence
#12226
Raymond J. Lasek
#157529
Overall Influence
#12227
Lilian Lewis
#107360
Overall Influence
1904 - Present (122 years)
Lilian Burwell Lewis, was an American zoologist known for being the first African-American woman to receive a doctorate degree from the University of Chicago and for her research in gonadogenesis. Early life and education Lewis was born Lilian Leonora Burwell in Meridian, Mississippi on August 13, 1904, as the ninth of thirteen children. She earned a High school diploma from Tougaloo College in 1919 before attending Howard University, where she studied under Ernest Everett Just and graduated with a bachelor's degree in biology in 1925. Lewis would then follow in the footsteps of another one o...
Go to Profile#12228
Michael. Falk
#157548
Overall Influence
#12229
Stephen H. Bryant
#157549
Overall Influence
#12230
Louis Ptáček
#102451
Overall Influence
Louis Ptáček is an American neurologist and professor who contributed greatly to the field of genetics and neuroscience. He was also an HHMI investigator from 1997 to 2018. His chief areas of research include the understanding of inherited Mendelian disorders and circadian rhythm genes. Currently, Ptáček is a neurology professor and a director of the Division of Neurogenetics in University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine. His current investigations primarily focus on extensive clinical studies in families with hereditary disorders, which include identifying and characterizing...
Go to Profile#12231
Guy Sauvageau
#157556
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
#12232
Christopher Alan Bradfield
#157557
Overall Influence
#12233
Enid MacRobbie
#90949
Overall Influence
1931 - Present (95 years)
Enid Anne Campbell MacRobbie, is a Scottish plant scientist, Emeritus Professor of Plant Biophysics at the University of Cambridge and a Life Fellow of Girton College. Her specialty is biophysics, with particular interests in ion fluxes and stomata.
Go to Profile#12234
Carl William Anderson
#157570
Overall Influence
#12235
Gordon R. Carter
#157577
Overall Influence
#12236
Gary Steven Gilkeson
#157584
Overall Influence
#12237
Teruo Nishida
#157591
Overall Influence
#12238
T. Hauw The
#157607
Overall Influence
#12239
Robert T. Francoeur
#35916
Overall Influence
1931 - 2012 (81 years)
Robert Thomas "Bob" Francoeur Ph.D., A.C.S. was an American biologist and sexologist. Life and career Francoeur was born on October 18, 1931, in Detroit, Michigan. He earned a B.A. in philosophy and English at Sacred Heart College in 1953, a M.A. in Catholic theology at Saint Vincent College in 1957, a M.S. in biology at the University of Detroit in 1961, a Ph.D. in experimental embryology at the University of Delaware in 1967, and an A.C.S. in sexology at the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in 1979. He received the "Golden Brick Award" from the Center for Family Life Educ...
Go to Profile#12240
Maxine Frank Singer
#157621
Overall Influence
#12241
Cyrus R. Creveling
#157639
Overall Influence
#12242
William J. Scott
#157678
Overall Influence
#12243
Yogesh Chandra Awasthi
#157689
Overall Influence
#12244
Jonathan Corren
#157692
Overall Influence
#12245
Robert B. Zurier
#157696
Overall Influence
#12246
Mac E. Hadley
#157705
Overall Influence
#12247
Thomas Scammell
#155216
Overall Influence
Thomas E. Scammell is an American neurologist, known for his research in sleep medicine pertaining to neurobiology of sleep and sleep disorders, particularly narcolepsy and cataplexy. Scammell is a professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, serving the department of neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Boston Children's Hospital.
Go to Profile#12248
Rainer Pepperkok
#157718
Overall Influence
#12249
Stjepan Marcělja
#157730
Overall Influence
#12250
Gérard Orth
#157732
Overall Influence
