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).

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School

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Subdiscipline

Ranking

List of the most influential people in Biology,

#15401

Harshini Mukundan

#183559

Overall Influence

Harshini Mukundan is an Indian-American microbiologist. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Life She grew up in India. Mukundan received her Bachelor's of Science Degree in Microbiology from the University of Delhi in 1995. In 1997, she earned in Master's Degree in Microbiology from Barkatullah University and then went on to complete her Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.

#15402

Aaron Lazare

#80531

Overall Influence

1936 - 2015 (79 years)

Aaron Lazare was the Chancellor and Dean of University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, from May 15, 1991, to March 15, 2007. He died on July 14, 2015, from complications of kidney cancer.

#15403

Eitan Schwarz

#154122

Overall Influence

2000 - Present (26 years)

Dr. Eitan Schwarz is an adult, child, and adolescent psychiatrist. He is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and has a psychiatric practice in Skokie, Illinois. He published the book Kids, Parents, and Technology in 2010. He's currently on the faculty at Northwestern University's psychiatric department, and his research interests include PTSD, digital media in play therapy and the consumption of media by children and families.

#15404

Richard Holdaway

#183176

Overall Influence

Richard Noel Holdaway is ornithologist in New Zealand. With a doctorate in avian palaeobiology and systematics and a BSc in neurophysiology and ornithology, he has studied birds for three decades primarily in New Zealand. In 2003 he received the 2003 D. L. Serventy Medal Holdaway is director of Palaecol Research Ltd in Christchurch, New Zealand. He was recognized for his findings on the extinction of the New Zealand terrestrial megafauna by the University of Otago. His work has also appeared in the New Zealand Journal of Zoology, Nature Communications, the US National Library of Medicine, N...

#15405

John P. Hammond

#183604

Overall Influence

#15406

Joachim Roth

#183639

Overall Influence

#15407

Caren Cooper

#178131

Overall Influence

Caren Beth Cooper is an American professor and scholar at North Carolina State University, citizen science advocate, and author of two books on citizen science. Her doctoral dissertation addressed the effects of habitat fragmentation on the Australian passerine. Her scientific publications concentrate primarily on ornithology as well as citizen science contributions to science and diversity, equity, and inclusion in underserved communities.

#15408

T Parimelazhagan

#183372

Overall Influence

1973 - Present (53 years)

T. Parimelazhagan is currently working as a Professor and Head of the Department of Botany, Bharathiar University, Tamil Nadu. He is known for his expertise in phytomedicine and bioprospecting of medicinal plants. He has committed his research to analyse and isolating various phytocompounds and evaluating the valuable properties of traditional medicinal plants.

#15409

Carrie Manfrino

#115018

Overall Influence

Carrie Manfrino is an American oceanographer who is president and director of research of the Central Caribbean Marine Institute. She also holds an associate professorship at Kean University. Her research concerns coral and climate change.

#15410

Peter Preiser

#183651

Overall Influence

Peter Preiser is chair of the School of Biological Sciences and a professor of molecular genetics and cell biology at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He specialises in the study of the malaria parasite and is head of the team at NTU that has discovered a route to a possible vaccine for the disease.

#15411

David J. Kramer

#183662

Overall Influence

#15412

Paul Nyirjesy

#149427

Overall Influence

Paul Nyirjesy is a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Drexel University, Philadelphia, and the director of Drexel Vaginitis Center. In 2016, Nyirjesy announced positive results from a clinical trial for a potential vaccine against Vaginitis.

#15413

Horace Loh

#172418

Overall Influence

1937 - Present (89 years)

Horace Hao Loh is a Chinese-born Taiwanese biochemist. Loh graduated from National Taiwan University and completed a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Iowa, as did his friend Yuan-Chuan Lee. Loh then moved to the University of California, San Francisco as a postdoctoral researcher under Eddy Leong Way, after which he joined the UCSF Medical Center faculty. In 1989, Loh began teaching at the University of Minnesota, where he was named Frederick and Alice Stark Professor of Pharmacology, and later appointed to a Regents Professorship. Since 1986, Loh has been a member of Academia...

#15414

Hans M. Heybroek

Hans M. Heybroek

#95580

Overall Influence

1927 - 2022 (95 years)

Hans M. Heybroek was a Dutch botanist best known for his research into the genus Ulmus at the Dorschkamp Research Institute for Forestry & Landscape Planning. Until his retirement in 1992, he was responsible for the raising and release of numerous elm hybrid cultivars, notably 'Columella'. Specializing in phytopathology, Heybroek also investigated the Coral Spot fungus Nectria cinnabarina in elm. In 1960 he travelled to the Kashmir to search for a frost-hardy form of the Himalayan Elm Ulmus wallichiana as a source of anti-fungal genes for use in the Dutch elm research programme.

#15415

Natacha Aguilar de Soto

#177841

Overall Influence

Natacha Aguilar de Soto is a Spanish marine biologist at the University of La Laguna , Tenerife, Canary Islands. She is a Ramón y Cajal research and teaching fellow at ULL and has been a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow at ULL and at the Center for Research in Ecological Modeling of the University of St. Andrews . She is the director of cetacean research within ULL's BIOECOMAC .

#15416

Libby Liggins

#170477

Overall Influence

2000 - Present (26 years)

Libby Liggins is an evolutionary ecologist and a Senior Lecturer in the School of Natural and Computational Science at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand, as well as a research associate at Auckland Museum. Her research uses genetic and genomic data to explore the biogeography, population ecology, and biodiversity of marine organisms.

#15417

Kesara Margrét Anamthawat-Jónsson

#182482

Overall Influence

Kesara Margrét Anamthawat-Jónsson is professor of botany and plant genetics at the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, School of Engineering and Natural Sciences, University of Iceland. Education Kesara was awarded an entry to the Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University. She completed the four-years programme in 1974, with a B.Sc. degree, Botany major, and during the graduation ceremony she received the Gold Medal Award from King Bhumibol Adulyadej Rama IX.

#15418

Jórunn Erla Eyfjörð

Jórunn Erla Eyfjörð

#181815

Overall Influence

2000 - Present (26 years)

Jórunn Erla Eyfjörð is an Icelandic molecular biologist and professor emerita at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Iceland. She is known for her research on breast cancer genetics. Career Jórunn Erla matriculated from the mathematics division of Reykjavik Junior College in 1966. She did her undergraduate studies at the University of Iceland and University of Minnesota. She graduated with a BSc in biology from the University of Iceland in 1971. Along with her undergraduate studies she worked as an assistant to professor Gudmundur Eggertsson at his newly founded molecular genetics laboratory, at Keldur, Institute for Experimental Pathology.

#15419

Judith Willis

#135459

Overall Influence

Judith H. Willis is an American biologist currently Professor Emeritus at University of Georgia and fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Her research frequently involved insect cuticular proteins as molecular markers of metamorphic stage, precise role CPs play in constructing insects and annotating the CP genes of Anopheles gambiae, the major vector of malaria.

#15420

D. E. Johnson

#183730

Overall Influence

#15421

Leonard Shengold

#57204

Overall Influence

1925 - 2020 (95 years)

Leonard Shengold was an American psychiatrist known for his studies on child abuse. Biography Shengold was born on December 5, 1925, in Syracuse, New York. Both his parents were Jewish, and his father was a watchmaker originating from Minsk and his mother a homemaker from Vilnius. During his youth, he noted that his father was prone to having severe angina attacks and died when he was 12 years old. He attended Syracuse University for one semester before transferring to Columbia College, where he studied under Lionel Trilling, who sparked his interest in Freud and psychoanalysis.

#15422

Anna Koltunow

#182810

Overall Influence

Anna M. G. Koltunow is an Australian plant physiologist researching how plants reproduce. As of 2020 she is Professorial Research Fellow in the Centre for Crop Science at the University of Queensland. She is leading research for the second phase of a project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

#15423

Stacey Harmer

#183632

Overall Influence

Stacey Harmer is a chronobiologist whose work centers on the study of circadian rhythms in plants. Her research focuses on the molecular workings of the plant circadian clock and its influences on plant behaviors and physiology. She is a professor in the Department of Plant Biology at the University of California, Davis.

#15424

Nina J. Karnovsky

#177143

Overall Influence

Nina J. Karnovsky is an American ecologist and ornithologist. She is the Willard George Halstead Zoology Professor of Biology at Pomona College in Claremont, California. Early life and education Karnovsky attended Wesleyan University. She loved the liberal arts and the philosophy of science offerings there but disliked science courses and petitioned out of her required ones. She ended up majoring in science and society. After college, she taught children at the Point Blue Bird Observatory, a field station at Point Reyes. She earned a master's degree at Montana State University, where she studi...

#15425

Stephen A. Douglas

#183766

Overall Influence

#15426

Jianlin Cheng

#183769

Overall Influence

#15427

Sarah Coulthurst

#173768

Overall Influence

Sarah Coulthurst a molecular bacteriologist and Professor of Microbial Interactions at the University of Dundee, UK. Her research focuses increasing understanding of how bacteria can cause disease, and how this information can eventually lead to new medical treatments.

#15428

Ezra E. H. Griffith

#60797

Overall Influence

1942 - Present (84 years)

Ezra E. H. Griffith is an American psychiatrist. Griffith is professor emeritus of and senior research scientist in psychiatry; deputy chair for diversity and organizational ethics, department of psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine and emeritus professor of African and African-American studies at Yale University.

#15429

Dong-Pyou Han

#139070

Overall Influence

Dong-Pyou Han, born in Seoul, South Korea, is a former assistant professor of biomedical sciences at Iowa State University who resigned his post there in October 2013. In December 2013, it was revealed that he had added human blood components to rabbit blood to make it appear as though a vaccine he was working on had exhibited anti-HIV activity. As a result of this apparent positive result, Han and his team received approximately $19 million in grant money from the National Institutes of Health. After Han's fraud came to light, James Bradac, who oversees AIDS grants for the National Institutes...

#15430

T. Edward Reed

#128468

Overall Influence

T. Edward Reed is a Canadian zoologist, anthropologist, and pediatrician. He became a junior geneticist at the University of Michigan's Heredity Clinic in 1952. He was appointed Professor and Chair of the Department of Zoology at the University of Toronto in 1960, succeeding Norma Ford Walker. Among Reed's doctoral students at the University of Toronto was Emoke Szathmary.

#15431

Indranil Biswas

#183803

Overall Influence

#15432

Fraser Bergersen

#176096

Overall Influence

1929 - 2011 (82 years)

Fraser John Bergersen , was a New Zealand plant biologist. Education Born in Hamilton, New Zealand, Bergerson earned a Master of Science degree from the University of Otago, and received a Doctor of Science from the University of New Zealand in 1962.

#15433

Jasmin Fisher

#180917

Overall Influence

Jasmin Fisher , is an Israeli-British biologist who is Professor of computational biology at University College London. She is Group Leader of the Fisher Lab at UCL Cancer Institute, which develops state-of-the-art computational models and analysis techniques to study cancer evolution and mechanisms of drug resistance to identify better personalised treatments for cancer patients.

#15434

Josefa González Blanco Ortiz Mena

#45678

Overall Influence

1965 - Present (61 years)

Josefa González Blanco Ortiz Mena is a Mexican ecologist, politician and diplomat from the National Regeneration Movement who was the Secretary of Environment from 2018 to 2019. She has served as the Mexican ambassador to the United Kingdom since 23 April 2021. On 9 June 2021, she presented her credentials to Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace accrediting her as Mexico's representative to the United Kingdom.

#15435

Emma Fransson

#79853

Overall Influence

1973 - Present (53 years)

Emma Fransson is a child psychologist and epidemiologist at Stockholm University and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. Her expertise is in the health and social implication of shared parenting arrangements on children after their parents are divorced. She has also studied the effects of stress during pregnancy.

#15436

José L. Panero

#183877

Overall Influence

1959 - Present (67 years)

José L. Panero is a Mexican-American botanist. He earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Miami in 1984 and his Master's and Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee. He did postdoctoral studies at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a specialist in neotropical flora, with an emphasis on the Asteraceae family.

#15437

Jacqueline Beggs

#124997

Overall Influence

1962 - Present (64 years)

Jacqueline Rae Beggs is a New Zealand entomologist and ecologist specialising in biodiversity and biosecurity. Beggs is a professor at the University of Auckland. Her research includes managing the impact of invasive invertebrates on the biosystem. She has also researched the identification of drivers of pollination and evaluated the use of the molecular approach to identify possible causes of detrimental changes in the environment. Beggs is associated with organisations focused on raising awareness of a wide range of issues relevant to biosecurity and advises New Zealand government agencies...

#15438

Kendra Daly

#181663

Overall Influence

Kendra Lee Daly is an oceanographer known for her work on zooplankton, particularly in low oxygen regions of the ocean. She is a professor at the University of South Florida, and an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

#15439

Vera Byers

#168606

Overall Influence

Vera Steinberger Byers is an American immunologist who currently practices as a consultant in Incline Village, Nevada and was formerly a professor at the University of California San Francisco, before changing affiliations to University of Nottingham, where she helped conduct research on tumor immunology, later moving on to immunodermatology. While at UCSF, she helped develop a monoclonal antibody for use as an anticancer treatment, specifically against osteogenic sarcoma, though it was originally used against graft-versus-host disease. While at the University of Nottingham, she published some...

#15440

Welton Taylor

#133298

Overall Influence

1919 - 2012 (93 years)

Welton Ivan Taylor was an American microbiologist, inventor and civil rights activist. He is known for his work on food-borne pathogenss, notably for developing tests for Salmonella and for inventing the XLD agar, which can be used to isolate Salmonella and Shigella bacteria.

#15441

Peter Gallagher

#183905

Overall Influence

#15442

Bonnie Bartel

#174576

Overall Influence

Bonnie Bartel is an American geneticist and plant biologist. She is the Ralph and Dorothy Looney Professor of BioSciences at Rice University. Education Bonnie Bartel received a B.A. in biology from Bethel College and a PhD in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

#15443

Lisa Jones

#181875

Overall Influence

Lisa Michelle Jones is an associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Maryland, Baltimore . Her research is in structural proteomics, using mass spectrometry together with fast photochemical oxidation of proteins , allowing researchers to study the solvent accessibility of proteins experimentally.

#15444

Minesh Mehta

#111265

Overall Influence

1957 - Present (69 years)

Professor Minesh P. Mehta, MD, FASTRO, is an American radiation oncologist and physician-scientist of Indian origin, Ugandan birth, Zambian Schooling and American Training, who contributed to the field of oncology for more than two and half decades.

#15445

Berthold Grünfeld

Berthold Grünfeld

#49038

Overall Influence

1932 - 2007 (75 years)

Berthold Grünfeld was a Norwegian psychiatrist, sexologist, and professor of social medicine at the University of Oslo. He was also a recognized expert in forensic psychiatry, often employed by Norwegian courts to examine insanity defense pleas.

#15446

Reinhart Langer

#144832

Overall Influence

1921 - 2018 (97 years)

Reinhart Hugo Michael Langer was a New Zealand botanist. He was an academic at Lincoln College for over 25 years, and served as its acting principal from 1984 to 1985. Early life, family, and education Born in Upper Silesia on 17 January 1921, Langer grew up in Berlin where he moved with his mother and two siblings after the death of his father, a judge, when Reinhart was aged three years. In 1939, Langer fled to England with his sister. He worked as a veterinary assistant in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, for a year, before spending the remainder of World War II working on a mixed cropping ...

#15447

Trond Amundsen

#94015

Overall Influence

1957 - Present (69 years)

Trond Amundsen is a Norwegian biologist, and a Professor of Biology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology . He specializes in ethology. He is a member of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters. He has also been very active in disseminating knowledge about behavior, ecology and evolution to the general public, and in general public discourse on research, and in 2018 he was awarded NTNU's prize for research dissemination.

#15448

William Breitbart

#23383

Overall Influence

1951 - Present (75 years)

William S. Breitbart, FAPM , is an American psychiatrist in Psychosomatic Medicine, Psycho-oncology, and Palliative Care. He is the Jimmie C Holland Chair in Psychiatric Oncology, and the Chief of the Psychiatry Service, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center , He is a Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He was president of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, and the Editor-in-Chief of Palliative and Supportive Care.

#15449

Thomas W. Smith

#183999

Overall Influence

#15450

Nils Retterstøl

Nils Retterstøl

#182276

Overall Influence

1924 - 2008 (84 years)

Nils Retterstøl was a Norwegian psychiatrist. He was a professor at the University of Bergen from 1968 to 1973, and at the University of Oslo from 1973 to 1994. He published several books on mental subjects. He is also famous for saying "A man who is determined that he is right, despite everyone else telling him that he is wrong, certainly do have a serious mental illness" which was his statement in the Juklerød case, where a healthy person was forcibly restrained in a mental institution and medicated, because of him being "difficult for the authorities". Perhaps the biggest psychiatric scand...

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