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 Business,
#601
Robert E. Hoskisson
#122087
Overall Influence
#602
Donald F. Kuratko
#122190
Overall Influence
#603
Ewan Ferlie
#106202
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (68 years)
Ewan Balfour Ferlie FBA is a British social scientist, whose work has made an important contribution to the academic literature on public sector management. He has published widely and internationally on narratives of public management reform and also on questions of organizational change in public services organizations, especially in health care and higher education. His well-cited works include co-authored monographs, Oxford University Press handbooks and peer reviewed articles. He is currently professor of public services management at King's College London.
Go to Profile#604
Robert L. Niehoff
#86431
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (71 years)
Rev. Robert L. Niehoff, S.J. is the President Emeritus of John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio. Niehoff was appointed as the 24th president in John Carroll history on April 7, 2005, and assumed the duties of president on August 22, 2005. Prior to his service at John Carroll, he was the Associate Provost and Vice President for Planning and Budget of the University of San Francisco.
Go to Profile#605
Colleen Mills
#74314
Overall Influence
Colleen Elizabeth Mills was a New Zealand management academic, specialising in communication and sensemaking in times of disruption. She was a professor of management at the University of Canterbury.
Go to Profile#606
Jeff Green
#97482
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (68 years)
Jeffrey Stuart Green is a Canadian author, playwright, producer, and director, who has worked in a variety of media including radio, television, computer, DVD-based multimedia, and in live nightclub settings. His work has earned him critical acclaim and a number of awards. In addition to the work he has created, he was instrumental in the evolution of broadcast radio in the Ottawa market during the late 1970s and the 1980s — specifically, the Carleton University non-profit radio station CKCU-FM and the commercial album-oriented rock radio station CHEZ-FM.
Go to Profile#607
Jamie Theakston
#65415
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (53 years)
James Paul Theakston is an English television presenter, producer, narrator and actor. He has hosted several television programmes for the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. He co-presented the Saturday morning BBC One children's show Live & Kicking, alongside Zoe Ball between 1996 and 1999, and co-hosted the music programme Top of the Pops between 1998 and 2003. He currently co-hosts the national breakfast show with Amanda Holden on Heart Radio.
Go to Profile#608
John Mathews
#118949
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (78 years)
John A. Mathews is an Australian professor of competitive dynamics and global strategy. He currently holds the Eni Chair of Competitive Dynamics and Global Strategy at LUISS Guido Carli University, in Rome, and concurrently holds a Chair of Strategy at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Macquarie University, in Sydney.
Go to Profile#609
James M. Utterback
#122764
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (83 years)
#610
T. Boone Pickens
#99732
Overall Influence
1928 - 2019 (91 years)
Thomas Boone Pickens Jr. was an American business magnate and financier. Pickens chaired the hedge fund BP Capital Management. He was a well-known takeover operator and corporate raider during the 1980s. As of November 2016, Pickens had a net worth of $500 million.
Go to Profile#611
Tina Ambos
#110890
Overall Influence
Tina Ambos is full professor of strategy at the University of Geneva, where she also is the Director of the Institute of Management. Vita Before joining the University of Geneva in September 2015, she held positions at the University of Sussex. Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Vienna University of Economics and Business , the University of Edinburgh and London Business School. She studied in Austria, Australia and Canada and received a venia docendi, a Ph.D. and a Magister in business administration from WU Vienna and a Magister degree in Philosophy from the University of Vienna.
Go to Profile#612
Igor Linkov
#123317
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (57 years)
#614
Gerard Bekaert
#123587
Overall Influence
#615
John B. Glen
#63006
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (84 years)
John Baird Glen, also known as Iain Glen, is a Scottish veterinarian. Biography Born in Scotland, Glen grew up on a small farm. He studied veterinary medicine at the University of Glasgow. After the completion of his study, he became a practicing animal surgeon.
Go to Profile#616
Greg J. Bamber
#102061
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (75 years)
Greg Bamber is a British-Australian academic, researcher and writer. He is a professor at the Department of Management, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. He is also Director, International Consortium for Research in Employment & Work , Centre for Global Business, Monash Business School.
Go to Profile#617
Douglas Breeden
#77850
Overall Influence
Douglas T. Breeden is the William W. Priest Professor of Finance and former Dean of the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University. He is best known for establishing the use of state prices in financial economics, and for his work on the Consumption CAPM. He was the International Association for Quantitative Finance “Financial Engineer of the Year 2013”, and was Founding Editor of the Journal of Fixed Income. He holds a Ph.D. in Finance from Stanford and an S.B. in Management Science from M.I.T.
Go to Profile#618
Thomas James Allen
#124105
Overall Influence
#619
Gerard George
#124312
Overall Influence
#620
Kenneth Alan Froot
#124331
Overall Influence
#621
Jerome Vanclay
#109622
Overall Influence
Jerome Klaas Vanclay is an Australian academic. He is currently a Professor for Sustainable Forestry at Southern Cross University , and a coordinator in IUFRO. Career Jerry Vanclay is currently the Professor of Sustainable Forestry in the School of Environment, Science and Engineering at Southern Cross University and served as and Dean of Science and Head of School for 11 years. Vanclay received a doctorate from the University of Queensland in 1992. Before joining SCU, Vanclay was Principal Scientist with the Center for International Forestry Research , and Professor of Tropical Forestry at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Go to Profile#622
Hubert Nyssen
#57689
Overall Influence
1925 - 2011 (86 years)
Hubert Nyssen was a Belgian-French writer, publisher and founder of the Éditions Actes Sud. Biography Hubert Nyssen grew up in Boitsfort and settled in Provence in 1968. He became a naturalised French citizen in 1976. A novelist, diarist, essayist and poet, he was the author of numerous books.
Go to Profile#623
Andrew Atherton
#53018
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (58 years)
Andrew Atherton is Global Director Transnational Education for Navitas Limited, a leading global education provider. Atherton was a Professor and Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dundee which he held from January to November 2019. During his period as Principal of the University of Dundee, it rose to 4th in the UK for student satisfaction, its highest ever result, and to its highest league table position of 24th in the Sunday Times University Guide and 3rd in Scotland. During Atherton's tenure the University was also named Student Experience University of the Year by the Sunday Times as a result of its rise in student satisfaction.
Go to Profile#624
David P. Norton
#107738
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (83 years)
David P. Norton is an American business theorist, business executive and management consultant, known as co-creator, together with Robert S. Kaplan, of the Balanced Scorecard. David P. Norton co-founded Palladium Group, Inc. and served as its chief executive officer.
Go to Profile#625
Marissa Mayer
#88763
Overall Influence
1975 - Present (49 years)
Marissa Ann Mayer is an American business executive and investor who served as president and chief executive officer of Yahoo! from 2012 to 2017. She was a long-time executive, usability leader and key spokesperson for Google . Mayer later co-founded Sunshine, a startup technology company.
Go to Profile#626
Frank A Buckless
#80031
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (66 years)
Frank A Buckless is an American business educator, textbook editor and author, as well as consultant who is known for his expertise in auditing. Buckless is the Stephen P. Zelnak Dean of the Poole College of Management at North Carolina State University,
Go to Profile#627
Edward J. Zajac
#119905
Overall Influence
Edward J. Zajac is James F. Beré Distinguished Professor of Management and Organizations at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. In 2012 the Free University of Berlin gave him an honorary doctorate "for his pioneering work in the areas of corporate governance and strategic alliances".
Go to Profile#628
Robert R. Davila
#21607
Overall Influence
1932 - Present (92 years)
Dr. Robert Davila served as the ninth president of Gallaudet University, the world's only university in which all programs and services are specifically designed to accommodate deaf and hard of hearing students. His appointment came after the wake of the Unity for Gallaudet Movement protests of 2006, when many students, staff, and alumni objected to the initial choice of Jane Fernandes as the intended next president. It was originally intended that he serve only 18–24 months as an interim president, but the Board dropped the interim designation and then extended his contract to 36 months.
Go to Profile#629
Colin Michael Mason
#125892
Overall Influence
#630
Leopoldt van Huyssteen
#72492
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (73 years)
Leopoldt van Huyssteen was the acting Rector and Vice-Chancellor of Stellenbosch University, South Africa, following the unexpected death of the previous office bearer Prof Russel Botman on 28 June 2014. Prof Wim de Villiers was appointed to the position permanently at the end of 2014.
Go to Profile#631
Lee Stetson
#68051
Overall Influence
Willis Stetson was the Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at the University of Pennsylvania for 29 years. University of Pennsylvania Stetson worked as Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at the University of Pennsylvania for 29 years until 2007. According to former Union College admissions dean Daniel M. Lundquist, he brought "modern college recruiting practices to the Ivy League", and he was known as an advocate of early admission policies which, he argued, attracted a more dedicated cadre of students. In September 2007, Stetson announced his retirement.
Go to Profile#632
Bruce McLarty
#61746
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (67 years)
Bruce D. McLarty is an American academic and Christian minister. He served as the fifth president of Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, from 2013 to 2020. Prior to becoming president of the university, McLarty served as the institution's Dean of the College of Bible and Ministry and the "vice president for spiritual life" from 2005 to 2013. McLarty was the primary minister of College Church of Christ in Searcy from 1991 to 2005; he has held other preaching positions in Tennessee and Mississippi.
Go to Profile#633
Yakov Amihud
#126894
Overall Influence
#634
Alessandro Piccolo
#53593
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (73 years)
Alessandro Piccolo is an Italian chemist and agricultural scientist, with particular expertise in soil science. He is a professor at the University of Naples Federico II and has been honoured by the prize for chemistry in 1999 by the Humboldt Foundation. He received the Doctorate Honoris Causa by the University of Life Sciences of Prague, Czech Republic in 2009. He is chief editor of the Springer journal Chemical and Biological Technologies in Agriculture. He has been coordinator of two research EU projects and a member of numerous other EU research projects such as the project Biofector with the University of Hohenheim.
Go to Profile#635
Michael Arthur Firth
#127054
Overall Influence
#636
Harry G. Broadman
#79548
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (70 years)
Harry Gerard Broadman is an international investment executive and global business strategist; an authority on trade, antitrust, corporate governance, sustainability, and innovation; and a non-executive corporate director. He is a Partner, managing director, and Chair of the Emerging Markets Practice and Chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States Practice at the Berkeley Research Group LLC and on the faculty of Johns Hopkins University.
Go to Profile#637
Oded Shenkar
#127230
Overall Influence
#638
Thomas Smith
#97078
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (66 years)
Thomas Smith is an Australian finance academic. He has been ranked as the number one finance academic in Australia and New Zealand by both the Journal of Financial Literature and the Pacific Basin Finance Journal.
Go to Profile#639
Steve Case
#102971
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (66 years)
Stephen McConnell Case is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist best known as the former chief executive officer and chairman of America Online . Case joined AOL's predecessor company, Quantum Computer Services, as a marketing vice-president in 1985, became CEO of the company in 1991, and, at the height of the dot-com bubble in 2000, orchestrated with Gerald M. Levin the merger that created AOL Time Warner, described as "the biggest train wreck in the history of corporate America."
Go to Profile#640
Graham Hill
#47278
Overall Influence
F. W. Graham Hill is a Zimbabwean veterinary surgeon and academic. He was Vice Chancellor of the University of Zimbabwe from 1997 to 2002. As a researcher, he published on subjects such as the rabies vaccination and its epidemiology carcinoma in cattle, snake bites of small animals and diseases of the small intestines of dogs. His term as Vice-Chancellor was marked by frequent staff strikes and student disturbances, and university and government crackdowns in response. He was accused of intervening in the academic process to favour senior government officials.
Go to Profile#641
Henri Verneuil
#33559
Overall Influence
1920 - 2002 (82 years)
Henri Verneuil was a French-Armenian playwright and filmmaker, who made a successful career in France. He was nominated for Oscar and Palme d'Or awards, and won Locarno International Film Festival, Edgar Allan Poe Awards, French Legion of Honor, Golden Globe Award, French National Academy of Cinema and Honorary Cesar awards.
Go to Profile#642
Pawan S. Budhwar
#127576
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (60 years)
#643
John Palms
#38924
Overall Influence
1935 - Present (89 years)
John Michael Palms is an American military officer, nuclear physicist and college professor who also served as president of the University of South Carolina and Georgia State University. Palms and his family left the Netherlands shortly after Germany invaded Poland, returned after the war, and then permanently immigrated to the United States in 1951, and became a naturalized citizen in 1957. Palms is married to Norma Cannon Palms, LHD University of South Carolina . They have three children.
Go to Profile#644
Barton Weitz
#127702
Overall Influence
#645
C. Wayne McIlwraith
#116639
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (77 years)
Cyril Wayne McIlwraith is the founding director of the Orthopaedic Research Center, a University Distinguished Professor in orthopaedics and holds the Barbara Cox Anthony University Chair in Orthopaedic Research at Colorado State University. He is a New Zealander who has had most of his career in the United States and is an equine orthopaedic surgeon and orthopaedic researcher. He pioneered many of the techniques in equine arthroscopic surgery including writing the textbook “Diagnostic and surgical arthroscopy in the horse” . He is noted for significant achievements in the fields of osteoarth...
Go to Profile#646
Hetan Shah
#39954
Overall Influence
Hetan Shah is the chief executive of the British Academy and the chair of Our World in Data. He is a visiting professor at King's College London and a Fellow of Birkbeck, University of London. He served as executive director of the Royal Statistical Society from 2011 to 2019.
Go to Profile#647
Tudor Rickards
#85345
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (83 years)
Tudor Rickards is a self-published author of non-fiction and fiction, a business academic, and a scientist. He is Professor Emeritus at University of Manchester and formerly Professor of creativity and Organisational change at Alliance Manchester Business School. His fiction works include The Unnamed Threat: A Wendy Lockinge Mystery , Seconds Out and Chronicles of Leadership . His non-fiction includes Tennis Matters: A Leaders We Deserve Monograph , Tennis Tensions , The Manchester Method and The Double Houdini .
Go to Profile#648
Gregory Gwynne Dess
#128120
Overall Influence
#649
Rune Elvik
#128240
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (69 years)
#650
Charles W. L. Hill
#99054
Overall Influence
Charles W. L. Hill is a British-born academic. As of 2016, he is the Hughes M. and Katherine G. Blake Endowed Professor in Business Administration and Professor of Management and Organization at the University of Washington's Foster School of Business in Seattle, where he has been teaching since 1988. Previously he taught at Michigan State University , and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology . He was also a visiting professor at Texas A&M University . His books include Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach , co-authored with G. R. Jones, and International Bu...
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