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,
#851
Zuo‐jun (max) Shen
#152557
Overall Influence
#852
Edmund Outslay
#112573
Overall Influence
1952 - 2019 (67 years)
Edmund Outslay was a Deloitte / Michael Licata Endowed Professor of Taxation at Michigan State University. He acquired his undergraduate degree from Furman University and his MBA and Ph.D from the University of Michigan. During his career in academia he achieved several awards including the American Taxation Association/Deloitte Teaching Innovation Award, Distinguished Faculty Award, Presidential Award for Outstanding Community Service, Withrow Teacher-Scholar Award, plus Curricular Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Award.
Go to Profile#853
Alasdair Steele-Bodger
#75036
Overall Influence
1924 - 2008 (84 years)
Alasdair Steele-Bodger was a British veterinary surgeon. Early life and education Steele-Bodger was born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, the son of Harry Steele-Bodger, also a noted vet, and the elder brother of Micky Steele-Bodger, another vet and also England international rugby player. He was educated at Shrewsbury School before reading Natural Sciences at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and qualifying as a vet at the Royal Veterinary School, University of Edinburgh.
Go to Profile#854
Marc J. Goovaerts
#152611
Overall Influence
#855
Olivier Toubia
#32358
Overall Influence
Olivier Toubia is the Glaubinger Professor of Business at Columbia Business School, Columbia University. He is known for his work on innovation, idea generation and conjoint analysis.
Go to Profile#856
Alan R. Andreasen
#152977
Overall Influence
#857
Rainer Kolisch
#152979
Overall Influence
#858
Elizabeth Parr-Johnston
#63066
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (85 years)
Elizabeth Parr-Johnston, CM is a Canadian business woman. She is the Managing Partner of Parr-Johnston Consultants, an economic policy consultancy based in Chester Basin, Nova Scotia. Parr-Johnston is a past president of two Canadian Universities, a recipient of the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal in 1992, the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002 and the Order of Canada in 2008.
Go to Profile#859
John William Boudreau
#152997
Overall Influence
#860
Robert Salomon
#142756
Overall Influence
Robert Salomon is an American researcher, author and educator. He is Professor and NEC Faculty Fellow of International Management at the New York University Stern School of Business. He is also the Vice Dean of NYU Stern, and Dean for Executive Programs. He was designated an NYU Stern Faculty Scholar in 2014.
Go to Profile#861
William Michael Lynn
#130705
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (66 years)
William Michael "Mike" Lynn is the Burton M. Sack Professor in Food & Beverage Management in Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration. He has a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Ohio State University. Much of his research deals with the study of tipping at restaurants. Lynn is currently on the editorial board of the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. He is the editor-in-chief of the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly.
Go to Profile#862
Colin W. Wrigley
#153431
Overall Influence
#863
Gisaburō Sugii
#34841
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (84 years)
is a Japanese anime director and Nihonga artist. He is best known for his work as director of the Touch series, the movie adaptation of the Arashi no Yoru ni children's book series, and the movie Night on the Galactic Railroad. He is a member of the Directors Guild of Japan and the Japanese Animation Creators Association.
Go to Profile#864
Ian Bruce
#90729
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (79 years)
Ian Waugh Bruce CBE FRSA CCMI is a British charity leader, cause campaigner and academic. He is vice-president of the Royal National Institute of Blind People . He is also the founder and president of the Centre for Charity Effectiveness at Bayes Business School , City, University of London.
Go to Profile#865
Scott Wasserman Stern
#154011
Overall Influence
#866
Christopher K. Hsee
#154187
Overall Influence
#867
Edward B. Roberts
#144944
Overall Influence
1935 - Present (89 years)
Edward Baer Roberts is a faculty member at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He became the David Sarnoff Professor of Management of Technology in 1974. Ed Roberts, one of the leading authorities on entrepreneurship wrote "Entrepreneurs in High Technology: Lessons from MIT and Beyond" on high-tech business creation and growth. The book won the Association of American Publishers Award for Outstanding Book in Business and Management in 1991. Dr. Roberts is the David Sarnoff Professor of Management of Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Chair of the Sloan School’s Mana...
Go to Profile#868
Kevin Williamson
#96260
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (63 years)
Kevin Williamson is a writer, publisher, and activist originally from Caithness. He is a Scottish socialist and republican and was an activist for the Scottish Socialist Party . He was also the architect of their radical drug policy, which included the legalisation of cannabis and the provision under the National Health Service of free synthetic heroin to addicts under medical supervision to combat the problems of drugs in working class communities. He wrote a regular weekly column, "Rebel Ink", for the Scottish Socialist Voice.
Go to Profile#869
Oded Lowengart
#90733
Overall Influence
Oded Lowengart is Professor of Marketing at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, where he holds the Ernest Scheller Jr. Chair in Innovative Management and is Head of the Department of Business Administration. His two terms as Dean of the Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management saw to opening the International MBA Program, expanded global programs, and increased Journal Citation Reports-ranked research publications.
Go to Profile#870
Benno C. Schmidt Jr.
#52336
Overall Influence
1942 - 2023 (81 years)
Benno Charles Schmidt Jr. was an American academic and education executive. From 1986 to 1992, he was 20th president of Yale University. Prior, Schmidt was Dean of the Columbia Law School, Harlan Fiske Stone Professor of Constitutional Law, and chairman of Edison Schools . He lastly served as the chairman of Avenues: The World School, a for-profit, private K-12 school, and as the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York from 2003 to 2016.
Go to Profile#871
Richard J. Boland
#154614
Overall Influence
#872
Jeong-bon Kim
#154629
Overall Influence
#873
L. Bess Raymond
#154674
Overall Influence
#874
Michael White
#88371
Overall Influence
1936 - 2016 (80 years)
Michael Simon White was a British theatrical impresario and film producer. White was responsible for 101 stage productions and 27 films over 50 years. Early life Michael White was born in Glasgow, Scotland, the son of Victor White, a merchant who ran a glove making business, and Doris , a property developer. His parents were from Eastern European Jewish backgrounds. As White suffered from asthma as a boy, his parents decided he would be educated as a boarder at the Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz in Switzerland from age 7, where he was the only boy who did not speak the French language. He then graduated...
Go to Profile#875
Narasimhan Jegadeesh
#154734
Overall Influence
#876
Robert Eric Wood
#154866
Overall Influence
#877
James R. Barth
#154901
Overall Influence
#878
William Fleming Hoggan Jarrett
#133608
Overall Influence
1928 - 2011 (83 years)
William "Bill" Fleming Hoggan Jarrett, RCVS, FRCPath, FRCPG, FRS was a British pathologist. Personal life Bill was born on 2 January 1928 in Glasgow. He studied at Lenzie Academy, Glasgow, and Glasgow Veterinary College. His father, though a joiner and cabinetmaker, came from a farming background and moved his family shortly afterwards to an agricultural smallholding near Cumbernauld. Their early life there no doubt influenced Bill, his elder brother Tom and younger brother Oswald to study veterinary medicine. Bill graduated from Glasgow Veterinary College with honours in 1947 and then, alrea...
Go to Profile#879
Martin G. M. Wetzels
#154948
Overall Influence
#880
Scott Anthony Snell
#155226
Overall Influence
#881
Wesley James Johnston
#155277
Overall Influence
#882
Michael G. Harvey
#155288
Overall Influence
#883
James D. Westphal
#155357
Overall Influence
#884
C. B. Bhattacharya
#155570
Overall Influence
#885
Gordon McClymont
#45841
Overall Influence
1920 - 2000 (80 years)
Gordon Lee McClymont AO was an Australian agricultural scientist, ecologist, and educationist. The originator of the term "sustainable agriculture", McClymont is known for his multidisciplinary approach to farm ecology. McClymont was the foundation chair of the Faculty of Rural Science at the University of New England, the first degree program of its kind to integrate animal husbandry, veterinary science, agronomy, and other disciplines into the field of livestock and agricultural production. In 1978, in recognition of his work and contributions to his field, he was appointed Officer of th...
Go to Profile#886
Timothy Light
#36560
Overall Influence
1938 - Present (86 years)
Timothy Light is an American sinologist who took a Chinese name "黎天睦" . He was the fourteenth president of Middlebury College, 1990–1991. A native of Kalamazoo, Michigan, Light is a scholar in East Asian languages and literature. He served as provost of Kalamazoo College prior to his time at Middlebury, and later became a professor of religion and provost at Western Michigan University.
Go to Profile#887
Rudolf R. Sinkovics
#156307
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (58 years)
#888
Humayun Ahmed
#35360
Overall Influence
1948 - 2012 (64 years)
Humayun Ahmed was a Bangladeshi novelist, dramatist, screenwriter, filmmaker, songwriter, scholar, and academic. His breakthrough was his debut novel Nondito Noroke published in 1972. He wrote over 200 fiction and non-fiction books. He was one of the most popular authors and filmmakers in post-independence Bangladesh. Dawn referred to him as the cultural legend of Bangladesh.
Go to Profile#889
Heather McGregor
#103534
Overall Influence
Dame Heather Jane McGregor is a British executive, journalist, and academic. She is the Provost and Vice Principal of Heriot-Watt University Dubai since 1 September 2022. Prior to that and since 2016, she has been Executive Dean of Edinburgh Business School, Heriot Watt University. She wrote a column for the Financial Times from 1999 to 2016 as "Mrs Moneypenny", and was the chief executive of Taylor Bennett from 2000 to 2016.
Go to Profile#890
Eitan Muller
#156690
Overall Influence
#891
Andrew Bing Quan. Ang
#156773
Overall Influence
#892
Daniele Bianchi
#157093
Overall Influence
#893
Nelson Repenning
#129009
Overall Influence
Nelson Repenning is an American business scholar, currently the School of Management Distinguished Professor of Systems Dynamics and Organization Studies at MIT Sloan School of Management.
Go to Profile#894
Joel C. Huber
#157410
Overall Influence
#895
Olivier Boiral
#157569
Overall Influence
#896
Alvaro Cuervo-cazurra
#157575
Overall Influence
#897
Herman Ramon
#157618
Overall Influence
#898
Linda Lavonne Price
#157738
Overall Influence
#899
Wolfgang G. Bessler
#157897
Overall Influence
#900
Douglas M. Lambert
#158143
Overall Influence
