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,
#13351
Christian H. Bauer
#165220
Overall Influence
#13352
Stephen Thorpe
#165173
Overall Influence
Stephen Austen Thorpe FRS is a British oceanographer, Professor of Oceanography, University of Southampton, 1986–2003, now emeritus. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1991 and was President of the Royal Meteorological Society.
Go to Profile#13353
Arnold G. Steigerwalt
#165229
Overall Influence
#13354
Margaret Elizabeth Barr-Bigelow
#155793
Overall Influence
1923 - 2008 (85 years)
Margaret Elizabeth Barr Bigelow was a Canadian mycologist known for her contributions to the Ascomycetes fungi. Biography She was born on April 16, 1923, in Elkhorn, Manitoba. She studied at the University of British Columbia, receiving her bachelor's degree in 1950 and her Master's in 1952. She went on to study under Lewis E. Wehmeyer at the University of Michigan, and received her doctorate in 1956 for her work on "The taxonomic position of the genus Mycosphaerella as shown by comparative developmental studies".
Go to Profile#13355
Frederick Patrick Ross
#165245
Overall Influence
#13356
Adolph I. Cohen
#165268
Overall Influence
#13357
Britney Schmidt
#64376
Overall Influence
Britney Schmidt is an American earth scientist and astrobiologist at Cornell University. She has conducted research on the melting of ice shelves in Antarctica and studied Jupiter's moon Europa. In 2023, she was included on the Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world for her research on the Thwaites Glacier. She previously worked at Georgia Tech, and has been involved in projects with NASA. Schmidt was educated at the University of Arizona and University of California, Los Angeles.
Go to Profile#13358
Bolortsetseg Minjin
#132413
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Bolortsetseg Minjin is a Mongolian paleontologist known for her work in fossil repatriation and dinosaur-themed science outreach. She is a recipient of the WINGS WorldQuest Women of Discovery Award for Earth, National Geographic Explorer, and TEDx speaker. She is the founder of the Institute for the Study of Mongolian Dinosaurs.
Go to Profile#13359
M. ‐marsel Mesulam
#165286
Overall Influence
#13360
Hongkui Zeng
#165287
Overall Influence
#13361
M. F. J. Taylor
#165289
Overall Influence
#13362
Minosuke Hiroe
#148351
Overall Influence
1914 - 2000 (86 years)
Minosuke Hiroe was a Japanese botanist. His main works are on the Umbelliferae, from which family he described many new species. His work has been criticized by Lincoln Constance. Books M. Hiroe, 1990. Kyoto matsuri to hana. Ed. Seiseisha; Shohan ed. 207 pp. M. Hiroe, 1980. Sōsa shokubutsugaku/Criminal investigation botany section. Ed. Ariake Shoten, ShōwaM. Hiroe, 1979. Umbelliferae of World. Ed. Ariake Book Co. 2128 pp. M. Hiroe, 1971. Orchid Flowers. Two vols. Ed. Kyoto:Kyoto-Shoin CoM. Hiroe, 1958. Umbelliferae of Asia: . Ed. EikodoM. Hiroe, Lincoln Constance|Constance, L. Umbelliferae of Japan.
Go to Profile#13363
Jerzy Jurka
#165308
Overall Influence
#13364
Deborah Jacobvitz
#109108
Overall Influence
Deborah Bea Jacobvitz is an American ecologist. She holds the Phyllis L. Richards Endowed Professorship at University of Texas at Austin. Early life Jacobvitz was raised by mother Jeanne Jacobvitz and father Leonard Jacobvitz. She grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico with three other siblings. She attended ElDorado High School and graduated with straight As.
Go to Profile#13365
Eng Eong Ooi
#165364
Overall Influence
#13366
Kenneth Stuart Killham
#165378
Overall Influence
#13367
Roger Anwyl
#165382
Overall Influence
#13368
John T. Penniston
#165388
Overall Influence
#13369
Robert S. Weinstein
#165390
Overall Influence
#13370
Jeffrey N. Strathern
#165414
Overall Influence
#13371
Katrin Rittinger
#143962
Overall Influence
Katrin Rittinger is a professor in structural biology who has made significant contributions to the ubiquitination field. She is a senior scientist at the Francis Crick Institute and was awarded European Molecular Biology Organization membership in 2019. Rittinger is on the Editorial Board of Biochemical Journal and has written on transparency and openness in science.
Go to Profile#13372
Erik Gylfe
#165419
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (79 years)
#13373
Rolf Verleger
#165425
Overall Influence
#13374
Robert A. Lazzarini
#165426
Overall Influence
#13375
Rohan Fernando
#162891
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
Rohan L. Fernando is a Sri Lankan American geneticist who is a professor of quantitative genetics in the Department of Animal Science at Iowa State University , US. Fernando's efforts have focused primarily on theory and methods for use of genetic markers in breeding, theory and methods for genetic evaluations of crossbred animals, methodology related to the estimation of genetic parameters and the prediction of genetic merit in populations undergoing selection and non-random mating, Bayesian methodology for analysis of unbalanced mixed model data, optimization of breeding programs, and use o...
Go to Profile#13376
Brett A. Clementz
#165429
Overall Influence
#13377
Derrick M. Oosterhuis
#165444
Overall Influence
#13378
Walter Nagl
#165445
Overall Influence
#13379
John M. Fryxell
#165450
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
#13380
George L. Kenyon
#165452
Overall Influence
#13381
Hitoshi Okamura
#165454
Overall Influence
#13382
AKM Nurul Islam
#138632
Overall Influence
1928 - 2006 (78 years)
AKM Nurul Islam was a Bangladeshi botanist and academician. He was selected as the National Professor of Bangladesh in 2006. He was a Fellow of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences since 1980 and Bangladesh Botanical Society since 1997.
Go to Profile#13383
David Peter Skoner
#165467
Overall Influence
#13384
Andreas Nieder
#165478
Overall Influence
#13385
Toshiki Yoshimine
#165489
Overall Influence
#13386
Daniel Curtis Nepstad
#165491
Overall Influence
#13387
Heinz‐johannes Buhr
#165501
Overall Influence
#13388
Dean Paul Edwards
#165503
Overall Influence
#13389
Janine Caira
#155415
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Janine Caira Ph.D. , is an academic researcher specializing in the taxonomy, evolution and diversity of tapeworms that live in the digestive tract of sharks and stingrays. Related work includes applying the practice of categorizing groups of organisms based on their most recent common ancestor to advance the phylogenetic systematics of tapeworms and demonstrating the importance of accurate host identification. She is a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut.
Go to Profile#13390
Thomas D. Schiano
#165528
Overall Influence
#13391
J. Murray Roberts
#165532
Overall Influence
#13392
Gabor Kaley
#165537
Overall Influence
#13393
Lindsay P. Keller
#165539
Overall Influence
#13394
Basil Eleftherios Eleftheriou
#165542
Overall Influence
#13395
Douglas Hamilton Smith
#165547
Overall Influence
#13396
Dale B. Schenk
#165548
Overall Influence
#13397
Martín Ezcurra
#152220
Overall Influence
1987 - Present (39 years)
Martín Dário Ezcurra is an Argentine palaeontologist naming many extinct genera such as Aerotitan, Lophostropheus and Powellvenator. Biography Ezcurra was born on April 23, 1987. He first got into paleontology in 2002 while working with Fernando Novas in Argentina. He went to university in Buenos Aires, Munich, and Birmingham. His first papers were published in 2006. Martin Ezcurra obtained his Master's-level studies in 2012 at the Universidad de Buenos Aires with specialization in animal anatomy and systematics. As an undergraduate student, Martin conducted since 2002 research on basal dinosaurs and theropods under the advice of Dr.
Go to Profile#13398
Lawrence Whalley
#105088
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (80 years)
Lawrence J. Whalley MB, BS, MD, DPM, FRCP, FRC Psych was formerly the Crombie Ross Professor of Mental Health in the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK from 1992 to 2008. He remains professor emeritus at the University of Aberdeen and from 2010-2020 part-time professor of research at the University of the Highlands and Islands.
Go to Profile#13399
Lynn R. Fraser
#165573
Overall Influence
#13400
Valery E. Forbes
#157550
Overall Influence
Valery E. Forbes is an American ecologist and professor specializing in environmental toxicology. Since the start of the 2022-2023 academic season, she has been the Dean of the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science at Florida Atlantic University. Her research expertise is in ecotoxicology, where she primarily studies effects of environmental stresses on organisms at different levels of biological organization.
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