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,
#12351
Willi Ziegler
#96397
Overall Influence
1929 - 2002 (73 years)
Willi Ziegler was a German paleontologist. Works In 1969, he described the conodont genus Protognathodus. In 1984, with Charles A. Sandberg, he described the conodont genus Alternognathus. In 2002, with IA Bardashev and K Weddige, he described the conodont genus Eolinguipolygnathus.
Go to Profile#12352
Matilene Berryman
#101436
Overall Influence
1926 - 2003 (77 years)
Matilene Spencer Berryman was an American oceanographer and attorney. Originally from Prince Edward County, Virginia. Early life Berryman was born in Darlington Heights, Prince Edward County, Virginia, to parents Mary and Charles Spencer. She was the fifth of nine children.
Go to Profile#12353
Robertson Parkman
#158388
Overall Influence
#12354
John A. Gatehouse
#158400
Overall Influence
#12355
Inke Nathke
#158011
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
Inke Näthke is a German-British cell biologist. She is Professor of Epithelial Biology at the Department of Cell & Developmental Biology, Interim Dean and Associate Dean for Professional Culture at the School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee in Scotland. She is known for her work on the role of the adenomatous polyposis coli protein in colorectal cancer.
Go to Profile#12356
K. I. Suzuki
#158432
Overall Influence
#12357
Ivica Kostović
#158434
Overall Influence
#12358
Luana Colloca
#158439
Overall Influence
#12359
Peter Ghosh
#158446
Overall Influence
#12360
Dirk Dressler
#117395
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (68 years)
Konrad Karl Erich Bodo Wilhelm Dirk Dressler is a German neurologist and psychiatrist. He is Full Professor of Neurology at Hannover Medical School. His research focus is neurological movement disorders and the development and introduction of the botulinum toxin therapy.
Go to Profile#12361
Gordon Richard Conway
#158447
Overall Influence
#12362
Catharina Larsson
#158465
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
#12363
Andreas De Leenheer
#68168
Overall Influence
1941 - 2022 (81 years)
Andreas De Leenheer was a Belgian academic and biologist. He was Vice-Rector of Ghent University from 1997 to 2001 and Rector from 2001 to 2005. Biography In 1971, De Leenheer became a lecturer at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Ghent University. In 1977, he became a full professor and headed the laboratories department at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences from 1984 to 1993. He was dean of the Faculty from 1984 to 1992. From 1992 to 1998, he was chair of the Department of Bioanalysis. From 1997 to 2001, he was Vice-Rector before serving as Rector from 2001 to 2005. During his t...
Go to Profile#12364
Edward J. Balish
#158480
Overall Influence
#12365
Rafael John Tamargo
#158482
Overall Influence
#12366
Charles Grob
#55564
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Charles Grob is a professor of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences and Pediatrics and director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Harbor–UCLA Medical Center. He received his two BS degrees from Oberlin College and Columbia University, before getting an MD from the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center. Grob's research interests include anxiety and mood disorders and also self-medication and substance abuse. The FDA approved one of his Phase 1 studies to study the psychological and physiological effects of MDMA and the hallucinogen ayahuasca.
Go to Profile#12367
Natalia Rybczynski
#86959
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (55 years)
Natalia Rybczynski is a Canadian paleobiologist, professor and researcher. She is a research scientist with the Canadian Museum of Nature and holds a professorship at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. Her doctorate was obtained at Duke University and her main interests are evolutionary functional morphology, particularly at the polar climes.
Go to Profile#12368
Mortimer Poncz
#158499
Overall Influence
#12369
Victor V. Solovyev
#119763
Overall Influence
Victor V. Solovyev is the chief scientific officer of Softberry Inc. He was previously a professor of computer science in the Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering Division at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and in the Department of Computer Science at Royal Holloway College, University of London . He was on the editorial board of Mathematical Biosciences and was a founder of Softberry Inc..
Go to Profile#12370
G. V. R. Prasad
#89996
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (68 years)
Guntupalli Veera Raghavendra Prasad is an Indian paleontologist and former head of the department of geology at the University of Delhi. He is known for his studies on the Mesozoic vertebrate groups of India and is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies viz. Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and the National Academy of Sciences, India as well as The World Academy of Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize f...
Go to Profile#12371
William S. Reeburgh
#158523
Overall Influence
#12372
Richard D. Brunning
#158524
Overall Influence
#12373
Raimond L. Winslow
#110175
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
Raimond L. Winslow is an American biomedical engineer and computational biologist. He enrolled at Johns Hopkins University, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering in 1986. In 2003, Winslow was recognized by IBM as a winner of the IBM Life Sciences Institutes of Innovation Award.
Go to Profile#12374
Michael J. Neal
#158525
Overall Influence
#12375
Thomas R. Rimmele
#158538
Overall Influence
#12376
Thomas Gridley
#158543
Overall Influence
#12377
Gregory John Del Zoppo
#158551
Overall Influence
#12378
Sabine Tejpar
#158573
Overall Influence
#12379
Van Luu‐the
#158583
Overall Influence
#12380
Piet Kuiper
#150285
Overall Influence
1934 - 2017 (83 years)
Pieter Jan Cornelis "Piet" Kuiper was a Dutch botanist. He was professor of plant physiology at the University of Groningen from 1974 to 1999. Kuiper was born in Hoorn. He obtained his PhD in 1961 at the Landbouwhogeschool in Wageningen. Kuiper helped doctors in determining species of mushrooms in poisoning cases. He died, together with his wife, on 10 December 2017.
Go to Profile#12381
Renee Reijo Pera
#135918
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Renee Reijo Pera is a stem cell biologist and the President of the McLaughlin Research Institute in Great Falls, MT. She previously served as Vice President of Research and Economic Development, for more than 8 years at the California Polytechnic State University and at Montana State University. Reijo Pera's research focuses on human development and disease, in particular, on the development and differentiation of somatic and germ cell lineages and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease and also infertility in men and women.
Go to Profile#12382
P. Mauviel Berthold
#158604
Overall Influence
#12383
Nada Stotland
#60035
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
Nada Logan Stotland is an American psychiatrist and the 135th president of the American Psychiatric Association. Education Stotland received her undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago, where she later received her M.D. and also completed her residency.
Go to Profile#12384
Stephen E. Derenzo
#158618
Overall Influence
#12385
Takuji Sasaki
#158644
Overall Influence
#12386
John Salmon
#107022
Overall Influence
1910 - 1999 (89 years)
John Tenison Salmon was a New Zealand photographer, entomologist, academic, conservationist, and author. His primary occupation was as an entomologist; first at the Dominion Museum and then at Victoria University College .
Go to Profile#12387
Frederick Samuel Kaplan
#158658
Overall Influence
#12388
Robert L. Dehaan
#158671
Overall Influence
#12389
Trevor G. Cooper
#158675
Overall Influence
#12390
Paola Dazzan
#158676
Overall Influence
#12391
Tuomo Rankinen
#158679
Overall Influence
#12392
Fred Heffron
#158680
Overall Influence
#12393
Gueh-djen Hsiung
#158682
Overall Influence
#12394
Jed. E. Rose
#158683
Overall Influence
#12395
Shigeki Shibahara
#158685
Overall Influence
#12396
Peter Girguis
#139226
Overall Influence
Peter R. Girguis is a professor in the department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, where he leads a lab that studies animals and microbes that live in extreme environments. He and his lab also develop novel underwater instruments such as underwater mass spectrometers. Girguis was the founder and Chief Technology Officer of Trophos Energy from 2010 to 2012, which focused on commercializing microbial fuel cell technologies. The company was bought by Teledyne Benthos in 2012. Girguis currently serves as a board member of the Ocean Exploration Trust and the Schmidt Ma...
Go to Profile#12397
Carol E. Cass
#158687
Overall Influence
#12398
Egbert Jan Boekema
#158710
Overall Influence
#12399
Florian Altermatt
#158712
Overall Influence
#12400
David H. Salat
#158718
Overall Influence
