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,
#12951
Digby G. Sale
#162425
Overall Influence
#12952
Masaaki Arakawa
#162426
Overall Influence
#12953
Satoshi Umemura
#162458
Overall Influence
#12954
Stephen J. H. Ashcroft
#162465
Overall Influence
#12955
Andrzej Pilc
#162493
Overall Influence
#12956
Peter W. Hunt
#162503
Overall Influence
#12957
Roger H. Green
#162505
Overall Influence
#12958
Reto Crameri
#162513
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
#12959
Peter R. Kvietys
#162514
Overall Influence
#12960
Stanley Larson Welsh
#124416
Overall Influence
1928 - Present (98 years)
Stanley Larson Welsh is an American botanist. He has worked as professor of integrative biology at Brigham Young University for 44 years and was the founding curator of that university's herbarium, which is named after him. His fields are North American and Tahitian flora, especially the genera Astragalus, Oxytropis and Atriplex.
Go to Profile#12961
Erin K. O‘shea
#162532
Overall Influence
#12962
Tobias Plieninger
#162541
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (55 years)
#12963
Juhani Rapola
#162544
Overall Influence
#12964
Patrick Hogan
#133586
Overall Influence
Patrick G. Hogan is a cellular and molecular biologist who studies how cellular signaling leads to gene expression. He obtained his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a PhD in neurobiology from Harvard Medical School. In 2010, he moved to the La Jolla Institute for Immunology in San Diego as a Professor in the Division of Signaling and Gene Expression. He is a Founder and Member of the Scientific Advisory Board, CalciMedica Inc, La Jolla, CA.
Go to Profile#12965
Charles A. Blake
#162553
Overall Influence
#12966
Philippe R. Marteau
#162554
Overall Influence
#12967
Santu Kumar Banerjee
#162557
Overall Influence
#12968
A. Duncan Brown
#162568
Overall Influence
#12969
Ia John G. Reynolds
#162581
Overall Influence
#12970
Hans Steiner
#53407
Overall Influence
1946 - 2022 (76 years)
Hans Steiner was an Austrian-born American professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, child and adolescent psychiatry and human development at Stanford University, School of Medicine. In 2010 he was awarded Lifetime Distinguished Fellow by the American Psychiatric Association.
Go to Profile#12971
Elizabeth Hadly
#102181
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (68 years)
Elizabeth Hadly is a professor in the Department of Biology at Stanford University, and holds the Paul S. and Billie Achilles Chair of Environmental Science. Her research interests include links between ecology and evolution, and understanding of the impacts of the Anthropocene.
Go to Profile#12972
Kalle Saksela
#151338
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Kalle M. Saksela is a Finnish virologist. He has been a professor at University of Helsinki since 2005, where he leads the virology department. Biography and work in 1989 Saksela obtained his MD and PhD from the University of Helsinki under the supervision of Kari Alitalo. In 1989/1990 Saksela was research fellow with Helsinki's department of virology. In 1991 Saksela worked as a postdoctoral fellow with David Baltimore at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and then followed him to the Rockefeller University. There he worked as an assistant professor From 1994 to 1996.
Go to Profile#12973
Garrett E. Alexander
#162600
Overall Influence
#12974
Adam C. Watson
#162605
Overall Influence
#12975
David James Harris
#162627
Overall Influence
#12976
Wan Zurinah Wan Ngah
#162635
Overall Influence
#12977
William A. Friedman
#162663
Overall Influence
#12978
Georg Pohnert
#162671
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (58 years)
#12979
Wolf‐bernhard Schill
#162672
Overall Influence
#12980
Nathan Brot
#162676
Overall Influence
#12981
Stephen w. Chensue
#162724
Overall Influence
#12982
Clarence E. Grim
#162726
Overall Influence
#12983
Peter E. Verboven
#162727
Overall Influence
#12984
Christopher Daniel Hillyer
#162734
Overall Influence
#12985
Gabriel Zada
#137417
Overall Influence
1978 - Present (48 years)
Gabriel Zada is Professor of Neurological Surgery at the University of Southern California. He is known for his expertise in brain tumor and pituitary tumor surgery and as an innovator in minimally invasive cranial surgery. Zada is the director of the USC Brain Tumor Center, USC Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery Program and USC Radiosurgery Center. He is also an NIH-funded principal investigator at the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute. He specializes in endoscopic and minimally invasive neurosurgical techniques. During his career, he has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles on various neurosurgical topics, and holds numerous U.S.
Go to Profile#12986
Gordon Francis Whitmore
#162743
Overall Influence
#12987
Sunday Ekesi
#162745
Overall Influence
#12988
Leon D. Sabath
#162746
Overall Influence
#12989
Stuart Bearhop
#158831
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Stuart Bearhop is a Professor of animal ecology at the University of Exeter. His research makes use of stable isotope analysis. Education Bearhop obtained a Bachelor of Science degree and a PhD from the University of Glasgow in 1995 and 1999 respectively.
Go to Profile#12990
Piers Nash
#108175
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (57 years)
Piers David Nash is an entrepreneur, cancer biology professor, data evangelist, writer and technology futurist. He is the son of academic Roger Nash. Early life and education Born in Exeter, England, and grew up in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. In high school he competed in the Canada-Wide Science Fair in five successive years , winning awards on each occasion and becoming one of the most highly awarded science fair participants in the history of the fair. In recognition of this he was selected to represent Canada as one of two youth delegates to the 1985 Nobel Prize lectures and ceremony in Stoc...
Go to Profile#12991
Takashi Yoshida
#162752
Overall Influence
#12992
William S. Romoser
#133960
Overall Influence
William Sherburne Romoser was an American entomologist. He was an emeritus professor of Arbovirology and Medical Entomology at the Ohio University. Education and career Romoser was born in October 18, 1940 in Columbus, Ohio. He completed his BSc at Ohio State University in 1962. He stayed to complete his PhD in Zoology under the supervision of Carl Venard at the same institution in 1964. His thesis title was The Development Of The Oesophageal Diverticula In Aedes Triseriatus .
Go to Profile#12993
Frederick D. Petty
#162758
Overall Influence
#12994
Frank Birklein
#162761
Overall Influence
#12995
Juraj Iványi
#162765
Overall Influence
1934 - Present (92 years)
#12996
Giovanni Rovera
#162767
Overall Influence
#12997
Arthur J. Mccomb
#162777
Overall Influence
#12998
Pekka Lappalainen
#162781
Overall Influence
#12999
Herman T. Epstein
#162782
Overall Influence
#13000
Marcello Iriti
#162783
Overall Influence
