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,
#12401
Johanna S. Hunt
#158733
Overall Influence
#12402
Manikkam Suthanthiran
#158744
Overall Influence
#12403
Vinzenz Prof. Dr. Med. Hombach
#158749
Overall Influence
#12404
Kelly Anne Shepherd
#140027
Overall Influence
1970 - Present (56 years)
Kelly Anne Shepherd is an Australian botanist, who has published some 91 names. Career Shepherd earned a B.Sc. in 1992 with a thesis entitled "Faecal Analysis of Mammalian Herbivores in the Perup Forest, Western Australia." and a Ph.D.
Go to Profile#12405
Sigmund Hågvar
#113396
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (82 years)
Sigmund Hågvar is a Norwegian entomologist and environmentalist. He finished his secondary education at Valler in 1963. He became a professor of nature conservation at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.
Go to Profile#12406
Donald R. Davis
#119793
Overall Influence
1934 - Present (92 years)
Donald Ray Davis is an American entomologist, specializing in Lepidoptera. Biography In 1956 Davis earned his bachelor's degree in Entomology at the University of Kansas. He received his Ph.D. at Cornell University in 1962.
Go to Profile#12407
Justin David Radolf
#158785
Overall Influence
#12408
E. Tessa Hedley‐whyte
#158822
Overall Influence
#12409
Paul Edward Berry
#133069
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
Paul Edward Berry is an American botanist and curator. He is Director of the Wisconsin State Herbarium. He received his PhD. in Botany, from Washington University in St. Louis, in 1980, conducting biogeography studies.
Go to Profile#12410
Tirrill O. Harris
#158828
Overall Influence
#12411
Emre Kokmen
#158862
Overall Influence
#12412
Lee Baer
#158867
Overall Influence
#12413
Rodney Bluestone
#158869
Overall Influence
#12414
William Allen Frazier
#158874
Overall Influence
#12415
Simon Gilroy
#158877
Overall Influence
#12416
John W. Barnwell
#158887
Overall Influence
#12417
Nathaniel R. Landau
#158890
Overall Influence
#12418
Janet Hering
#106673
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (68 years)
Janet Gordon Hering is the former Director of the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology and Professor emeritus of Biogeochemistry at ETH Zurich and EPFL . She works on the biogeochemical cycling of trace elements in water and the management of water infrastructure.
Go to Profile#12419
Brenda L. Bass
#103094
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Brenda L. Bass is a Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Utah who holds the H.A. and Edna Benning Endowed Chair. She is also an adjunct professor of human genetics and an investigator at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Her research focuses on RNA silencing and the cellular dynamics of double-stranded RNA. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2015.
Go to Profile#12420
Charles Michael Stein
#158903
Overall Influence
#12421
Alta Schrock
#134976
Overall Influence
1911 - 2001 (90 years)
Alta Elizabeth Schrock was an American biology professor and community activist in Western Maryland who was the first Mennonite woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D. Early life Schrock was born on April 3, 1911, on Strawberry Hill Farm, near Grantsville, Maryland, the oldest of eight children.
Go to Profile#12422
Carl M. Parsons
#158921
Overall Influence
#12423
Martin Morrison
#158922
Overall Influence
#12424
Kenneth J. Marians
#158923
Overall Influence
#12425
Ingmar Lundquist
#158928
Overall Influence
#12426
Lindsay M. Aitkin
#158934
Overall Influence
#12427
Hendrik Schulze‐koops
#158954
Overall Influence
#12428
Max J. Paape
#158958
Overall Influence
#12429
Mutsumi Nishida
#158961
Overall Influence
#12430
Russell T. Joffe
#158963
Overall Influence
#12431
Tucker Collins
#158967
Overall Influence
#12432
Jeffrey F. Harper
#158974
Overall Influence
#12433
Yigal Henis
#158976
Overall Influence
#12434
Christopher J. Barnard
#158978
Overall Influence
1952 - 2007 (55 years)
Christopher John Barnard was a British evolutionary biologist, Professor of Animal Behaviour at the University of Nottingham from 1996 until his death.
Go to Profile#12435
Johan Elf
#140519
Overall Influence
1975 - Present (51 years)
Per Johan Sven Elf, is a Swedish biophysicist. As of 2013 he is professor of physical biology at Uppsala universitet, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology. He is a member of the board of Uppsala University.
Go to Profile#12436
Esther Lutgens
#115391
Overall Influence
1975 - Present (51 years)
Esther Lutgens is a Dutch physician and molecular biologist who is Professor of Vascular Immunopathology at Amsterdam University Medical Centre. She studies the modulation of co-stimulatory pathways and the immune system.
Go to Profile#12437
Johan Ehrlén
#158998
Overall Influence
#12438
Jan Booij
#159011
Overall Influence
#12439
Peter Friend
#53605
Overall Influence
Peter Friend is Professor of Transplantation and Director of the Oxford Transplant Centre and a fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford. His brother Richard is Cavendish Professor at the University of Cambridge.
Go to Profile#12440
Liliane Merlivat
#159027
Overall Influence
#12441
Jacques Le Magnen
#159028
Overall Influence
#12442
Kristine Novak
#159032
Overall Influence
#12443
M. R. W. Brown
#159033
Overall Influence
#12444
Stanley Greenspan
#12726
Overall Influence
1941 - 2010 (69 years)
Stanley Greenspan was a clinical professor of Psychiatry, Behavioral Science, and Pediatrics at George Washington University Medical School and a practicing child psychiatrist. He was best known for developing the influential floortime approach for treating children with autistic spectrum disorders and developmental disabilities.
Go to Profile#12445
Richard Malkin
#159067
Overall Influence
#12446
Philippe Langella
#159069
Overall Influence
#12447
Norman Bernard Hecht
#159075
Overall Influence
#12448
Yuji Ikegaya
#159085
Overall Influence
#12449
Frits Penning De Iwmi Regional Office For Africa Vries
#159089
Overall Influence
#12450
Junichi Yoshikawa
#159092
Overall Influence
