Search People Result | Academic Influence

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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Person Name

School

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Discipline

Subdiscipline

Ranking

List of the most influential people in Biology,

#14851

Margaret A. Phillips

#176807

Overall Influence

1959 - Present (67 years)

Margaret A. Phillips is an American biologist who is the Sam G. Winstead and F. Andrew Bell Distinguished Chair in Biochemistry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences in 2021.

#14852

Gintaras Kantvilas

#170158

Overall Influence

1956 - Present (70 years)

Gintaras Kantvilas is an Australian lichenologist, who earned his Ph.D in 1985 from the University of Tasmania with a thesis entitled Studies on Tasmanian rainforest lichens. He has authored over 432 species names, and 167 genera in the field of mycology.

#14853

Roger Cooper

#148214

Overall Influence

1939 - 2020 (81 years)

Roger Alan Cooper was a New Zealand paleontologist, known as a leading expert on the fossil zooplankton of the early Paleozoic and the paleobiology of Zealandia. Biography Roger A. Cooper, the second of his parents' five children, grew up in Eastbourne, New Zealand. He became a geology student at Victoria University of Wellington and in his second year went in January 1961 as a field assistant on a trip lasting almost three months. The purpose of the trip, with four people, three pack horses, two-way radios, and rifles, was geological mapping of New Zealand's Marlborough Region. Nearly a yea...

#14854

Tõnu Möls

#174640

Overall Influence

1939 - 2019 (80 years)

Tõnu Möls was an Estonian mathematician and biologist. In 1965 he described the moth Epirrhoe tartuensis. From 1994 until 2004, he was the president of Estonian Naturalists' Society. In 2001, he was awarded with Order of the White Star, V class.

#14855

Ignacio Ribera

#177886

Overall Influence

1963 - 2020 (57 years)

Ignacio “Nacho” Ribera Galán was a Spanish entomologist who authored 104 species, 16 genera, 3 subgenera, and 1 family of beetles, along with two species of worms . Career Born in Barcelona, Ignacio grew up in Martorell and was the second of six children. He graduated from the University of Barcelona in the 1980s with a degree in biology, followed by a PhD from the Spanish National Research Council. His PhD dissertation was titled "Estudio de los Hydradephaga del Pirineo y Prepirineo: morfometría y ecología." Throughout his early career, Ribera worked at the Scottish Agricultural College, Un...

#14856

William H. Fishman

#168367

Overall Influence

1914 - 2001 (87 years)

William Harold Fishman was a Canadian-American cancer researcher who taught at Tufts University from 1948 until his retirement in 1975. In 1976, with a $180,000 grant from the National Cancer Institute, he co-founded the La Jolla Cancer Research Foundation with his wife, Lillian. He was also the founding editor-in-chief of Tumor Biology, serving in this role from 1980 to 1983.

#14857

Mustafa al'Absi

#63764

Overall Influence

Mustafa al’Absi is a Yemeni academic who is a Professor of Behavioral Medicine and the holder of the Max & Mary La Due Pickworth Chair at University of Minnesota Medical School. Al'Absi also holds faculty positions at Department of Family Medicine, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Department of Neurosciences, and the Integrated Biological Science Program. He is the founding director of the Duluth Medical Research Institute , the Behavioral Medicine Laboratories, and the Khat Research Program . Al’Absi completed his undergraduate education at Cairo University and his doctoral training at the...

#14858

Timothy D. Herbert

#173826

Overall Influence

Timothy D. Herbert is an American oceanographer, currently the Henry L. Doherty Professor of Oceanography, Professor of Environmental Studies and Professor of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Brown University. He obtained B.S. in the Geological Sciences from Yale College in 1980 and, seven years later, graduated with a Ph.D. in the same field from Princeton University.

#14859

Eric Poeschla

#177261

Overall Influence

Eric Murnane Poeschla is an American infectious disease physician, virologist, and innate immunologist. Education Poeschla graduated from the Yale School of Medicine in 1985 and completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine in 1988, which was followed by a year of tropical medicine training in Papua New Guinea.

#14860

Patricia Majluf

#174278

Overall Influence

1958 - Present (68 years)

Patricia Majluf Chiok is a Peruvian biologist, zoologist, researcher and conservationist. She founded the Center for Environmental Sustainability at the Cayetano Heredia University in 2006. She is currently the Vice President in Peru of Oceana, a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the oceans.

#14861

Kenneth Boyd Fraser

#168245

Overall Influence

1917 - 2001 (84 years)

Prof Kenneth Boyd Fraser FRSE MC was a British virologist and hero of the Second World War. He was known to friends as Kenny Fraser. He introduced Immunofluorescence in both academic and clinical fields. He discovered a link between the measles virus and multiple sclerosis.

#14862

Geoffrey Wasteneys

#178531

Overall Influence

Geoffrey Wasteneys is a Canadian biologist, currently at University of British Columbia and a Canada Research Chair in Plant Cell Biology.

#14863

Henry Fadamiro

#177607

Overall Influence

Henry Yemisi Fadamiro is a Nigerian-American entomologist and academic administrator with research into chemical and physiological mechanisms of plant-insect and tritrophic interactions. He is the co-founder of the International Association of Black Entomologists, IABE . He is a fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, the African Academy of Sciences, the Nigerian Academy of Science, and a member of the National Academy of Inventors.

#14864

Allan Green

#147165

Overall Influence

Thomas George Allan Green is a lichenologist, terrestrial ecologist and botanist. He is a professor emeritus at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. His work particularly studies how lichens respond to extreme low temperatures and dryness, and especially how this affects photosynthesis. He has studied the ecology of Antarctica.

#14865

C.A. Viraktamath

#177585

Overall Influence

1944 - Present (82 years)

Chandrashekaraswami Adiveyya Viraktamath is an Indian entomologist who specializes in the systematics of leaf-hoppers, Cicadellidae. He served as a professor of entomology at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore.

#14866

Karen Osborn

#176428

Overall Influence

1974 - Present (52 years)

Karen Joyce Osborn is a marine scientist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History Invertebrate Zoology department. She is known for her work in marine biology specializing in mid-water invertebrates.

#14867

Jonathan Leo

#106679

Overall Influence

Jonathan T. Leo is a former Professor of Anatomy at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee. He is currently an Associate Professor of Anatomy at the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine. He has published articles critical of chemical and biological theories of mental illness. He is the former editor-in-chief of Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry. With Sami Timimi, he is also the co-editor of the book Rethinking ADHD.

#14868

Marie Cassidy

#91036

Overall Influence

1959 - Present (67 years)

Marie Therese Jane Cassidy is a pathologist and academic. From 2004 to 2018 she was State Pathologist of Ireland, the first woman to hold the position. She is Professor of Forensic Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland and Trinity College, Dublin.

#14869

Alan E. H. Emery

#178635

Overall Influence

#14870

Maria-Regina Kula

#169873

Overall Influence

1937 - Present (89 years)

Maria-Regina Kula is an inventor. She was one of the two prize winners of the German Future Prize in 2002. Also in 2002, she was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to the understanding and practice of enzyme-based chemical processes and protein separations.

#14871

Erika Edwards

#146204

Overall Influence

Erika Jeannine Edwards is a professor at Yale University known for her work on evolution of plants. She is also the director of the Marsh Botanical Garden. Education and career Edwards has a B.S. from Stanford University and earned her Ph.D. from Yale University where she worked on the evolution of the Pereskia, a genus of cactus. Following her Ph.D. she was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California at Santa Barbara before accepting a position at Brown University as an assistant professor in 2007. In 2017 she moved to Yale University as a professor and director of the Marsh Bo...

#14872

Jesus Santiago Moure

#174869

Overall Influence

1912 - 2010 (98 years)

Jesus Santiago Moure was a Brazilian entomologist who specialised in Hymenoptera. External links Moure's Bee CatalogueBiography of Jesus Santiago Moure

#14873

Phil Lounibos

#115145

Overall Influence

L. Philip Lounibos is an American entomologist. Lounibos focuses on the biology of mosquitos, malaria, dengue, vector-borne disease, medical entomology and biological control, and invasion biology. He is currently Distinguished Professor at University of Florida.

#14874

Lisa Schulte Moore

#55021

Overall Influence

Lisa Schulte Moore is an American landscape ecologist. Schulte Moore is a professor of natural resource ecology and management at Iowa State University. In 2020 she received a $10 million USD grant to study anerobic digestion and its application to turning manure into usable energy. In 2021 she was named a MacArthur fellow.

#14875

Martin Reuter

#178680

Overall Influence

#14876

Roger Charles Carolin

#156545

Overall Influence

1929 - Present (97 years)

Roger Charles Carolin is a botanist, pteridologist and formerly an associate professor at Sydney University. He was appointed as a lecturer in botany at the University of Sydney in 1955 earned a Ph.D from Sydney University in 1962 with a thesis on the floral morphology of the campanales, and retired as an associate professor in 1989.

#14877

Pierre Margot

#77868

Overall Influence

1950 - Present (76 years)

Pierre Margot is a Swiss forensics scientist known for his contribution to the invention of the first forensic light source Polilight for the detection of fingerprint, biological fluids and other evidence on the crime scene. This new technology was named by the Powerhouse Museum as one of the top 100 Australian innovations of the 20th century. It was a great revolution in the field of forensic identification since this light could be used at the crime scene, unlike lasers at that time.

#14878

Siddaramaiah

#178703

Overall Influence

#14879

Carl Petersen

#172728

Overall Influence

Carl Christian Holger Petersen is a Professor of neuroscience at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland. Professional Biography Carl Petersen obtained a BSc in physics from the University of Oxford in 1992. During his PhD studies under the supervision of Prof. Sir Michael Berridge at the University of Cambridge , he investigated cellular and molecular mechanisms of calcium signalling. In his first postdoctoral period , he joined the laboratory of Prof. Roger Nicoll at the University of California San Francisco to investigate synaptic transmission and plasticity in the hippocampus.

#14880

K. Tanaka

#178741

Overall Influence

#14881

Michael V. L. Bennett

#178745

Overall Influence

#14882

Carla P. Catterall

#173286

Overall Influence

1951 - Present (75 years)

Carla Perdita Catterall is an Australian ecologist and ornithologist. As of 2021 she is Emeritus Professor at Griffith University. Career Born in 1951, Catterall graduated from the University of Queensland with a PhD in 1979. Her thesis, titled "Behavioural strategies of a silvereye population, , in relation to food resources, on a coral cay island", was published by the Royal Australian Ornithologists Union in 1982.

#14883

Patrizia Casaccia

#176473

Overall Influence

Patrizia Casaccia is an Italian neuroscientist who is the Director of the Neuroscience Initiative of the Advanced Science Research Center at the City University of New York , as well as a Professor of Neuroscience, Genetics & Genomics, and Neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Casaccia is a pioneer in the study of myelin. Her research focuses on understanding the neurobiological and neuroimmune mechanisms of multiple sclerosis and to translate findings into treatments. Casaccia co-founded the Center for Glial Biology at Mount Sinai and CUNY and is one of the Directors of th...

#14884

Elizabeth Quinlan

#173621

Overall Influence

Elizabeth Quinlan is an American neuroscientist and a professor at the University of Maryland. There she serves as the Clark Leadership Chair in Neuroscience and as the Director of the Brain and Behavior Institute . Her research focuses on understanding how the plasticity of juvenile and adult mammalian visual systems differ.

#14885

Anjali Kusumbe

#176756

Overall Influence

Anjali Kusumbe is a British-Indian biologist who is the Head of the Tissue and Tumour Microenvironments Group at the Medical Research Council Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford. She was awarded the Royal Microscopical Society Award for Life Sciences in 2022.

#14886

Alan Mark

#123000

Overall Influence

1932 - Present (94 years)

Sir Alan Francis Mark is a New Zealand botanist and environmentalist. He was an initial member of the Save Manapouri campaign and the inaugural chair of the Guardians of Lake Manapouri for 26 years.

#14887

Giordana Grossi

#107392

Overall Influence

Giordana Grossi is a cognitive neuroscientist and professor of psychology at SUNY New Paltz, New York, and a member of The NeuroGenderings Network, a group which promotes "neurofeminism". Education Giordana Grossi received her Ph.D. from the University of Pavia, Italy, and her B.A. from the University of Padova, Italy.

#14888

Jian-guo Zhu

#178808

Overall Influence

#14889

Kathryn Albers

#178420

Overall Influence

Kathryn M. Albers is an American scientist. She is a professor of neurobiology and medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She is known for her research on nerve growth and the impact on sensory nerve abilities undergoing disfunction.

#14890

Virpi Lummaa

#178811

Overall Influence

Virpi Lummaa is a Finnish evolutionary biologist and ecologist. She is an Academy of Finland professor at the University of Turku. Her research interests include ageing, lifespan, and natural selection in contemporary human populations. In addition to her research into human evolution, Lummaa studies life history patterns, social behavior, and more in Asian elephants, another large, long-lived mammal. Lummaa is currently the Principal Investigator of both the Human Life History Group based at the University of Turku and the Myanmar Timber Elephant Project. She has received a starting grant fr...

#14891

Alison McCusker

#178853

Overall Influence

1933 - 2015 (82 years)

Alison McCusker was an Australian botanist and science administrator noted for orchestrating the creation of the multi-volume Flora of Australia while serving as the first Director of Flora Programs at Australian Biological Resources Study. In 1987 McCusker became Deputy Director of the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, a branch of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization . McCusker was a 2009 recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia for her work on the Flora of Australia.

#14892

Julie Elizabeth Gough

#159768

Overall Influence

Julie Elizabeth Gough is a Professor of Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering at The University of Manchester. She specializes on controlling cellular responses at the cell-biomaterial interface by engineering defined surfaces for mechanically sensitive connective tissues.

#14893

George Huntly Lorimer

#97661

Overall Influence

1942 - Present (84 years)

George Huntly Lorimer is a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Maryland. Career and research Lorimer is recognized for his work on mechanism of two proteins, RuBisCO and the GroE chaperonins. Rubisco is the enzyme responsible for photosynthetic carbon fixation, and the GroE chaperonins enable the Adenosine triphosphate -dependent folding of many other proteins.

#14894

Subhan Qureshi

#96566

Overall Influence

1959 - Present (67 years)

Muhammad Subhan Qureshi is a biologist from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, who is the founder and chief patron of Dairy Science Park. He also worked as a dean at the University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan, and as adjunct professor at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Australia.

#14895

Sadao Takagi

#177123

Overall Influence

1932 - Present (94 years)

is a Japanese entomologist who has specialised in the scale insects , particularly the armoured scale insects of the Diaspididae. Takagi studied at Hokkaido University, where he received his bachelor's degree, his master's and his doctorate in agriculture. He specialized in studying the armoured scale insects. After graduation, he remained at Hokkaido University and taught, first as an associate professor and then as a full professor.

#14896

Andrew J Saxon

#178934

Overall Influence

#14897

Teresa Lebel

#174244

Overall Influence

1974 - Present (52 years)

Dr Teresa Lebel is a taxonomist and ecologist who works on fungi, with a particular interest in subterranean truffle-like fungi and their mushroom, bolete, bracket or cup relatives. Career Lebel studied at the University of Western Australia , then Oregon State University before taking up a position at the National Herbarium of Victoria as a mycologist , and Editor of Muelleria. During this time, Lebel undertook a two-year sabbatical on the Ross Beever Memorial Fellowship at Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research . Lebel is currently Senior Botanist and Curator Cryptogams at the State Herbarium ...

#14898

Wen Yumei

#159025

Overall Influence

1934 - Present (92 years)

Wen Yumei is a Chinese virologist and microbiologist and the current director of the Institute of Pathogenic Microorganisms, Fudan University. She is also the director of Scientific Committee of Open Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health.

#14899

Kath Dickinson

#178997

Overall Influence

Katharine Josephine Mary Dickinson is a New Zealand academic working in the field of botany. In 2009 the New Zealand Ecological Society awarded Dickinson the Te Tohu Taiao Award, an award for ecological excellence. As of 2018 she is a full professor at the University of Otago.

#14900

Jane Rylett

#161832

Overall Influence

Rebecca Jane Rylett is a Canadian molecular neurobiologist. , she is the Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute of Aging. As a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Western Ontario, Rylett also served as an Associate Dean in the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and chair of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology.

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