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,
#901
Patrick L. Brockett
#133259
Overall Influence
Patrick L. Brockett is an endowed Chaired Professor within the Information, Risk and Operations Management, Finance, and Mathematics departments at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the Director of the Risk Management and Insurance Program, Director for the Center of Risk Management and Insurance, and Director for the Minor/Certificate in Risk Management Program. He is also an Affiliated Faculty Member in the University of Texas- Austin Division of Statistics & Scientific Computation. He is known for his research in statistics, probability, actuarial science, quantitative methods in business and social sciences, and risk and insurance.
Go to Profile#902
Samarjit Kar
#158243
Overall Influence
#903
Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka
#90130
Overall Influence
1970 - Present (54 years)
Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka is a Ugandan veterinarian and founder of Conservation Through Public Health, an organisation dedicated to the coexistence of endangered mountain gorillas, other wildlife, humans, and livestock in Africa.
Go to Profile#904
Belle Rose Ragins
#158393
Overall Influence
#905
Bob Jolly
#139076
Overall Influence
1930 - Present (94 years)
Robert Dudley Jolly is a New Zealand veterinary academic, currently an emeritus professor at Massey University, specialising in animal pathology. Much of his research has been into animal models of human disease, including Batten's Disease and mannosidosis.
Go to Profile#906
Edward A. Hoover
#158476
Overall Influence
#907
Mary Abukutsa-Onyango
#85793
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (65 years)
Mary Oyiela Abukutsa-Onyango is a humanitarian and agricultural scientist from Kenya who specializes in olericulture, agronomy, plant physiology. Abukutsa-Onyango is a professor of horticulture at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology whose work focuses on African indigenous food crops. Abukutsa Onyango has studied how African indigenous vegetables can be used to combat malnutrition in Africa while maintaining a secure form of revenue even during more challenging weather and climate.
Go to Profile#908
Stephen Ellwood Satchell
#158579
Overall Influence
#909
Juliet V. García
#82019
Overall Influence
Juliet Villarreal García is an American academic administrator. When she was named president of Texas Southmost College in 1986, she became the first Mexican-American female to head a U.S. college or university. After TSC merged with a four-year university in 1991, she served as president of the resulting University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College , then was president of the University of Texas at Brownsville when it became a separate institution.
Go to Profile#910
Takuji Sasaki
#158644
Overall Influence
#911
William C. Miller
#158646
Overall Influence
#912
Everett Lee
#50845
Overall Influence
1916 - 2022 (106 years)
Everett Astor Lee was an American symphonic conductor, opera music director, violinist and music scholar. He was the first African American to conduct a Broadway musical, the first to "conduct an established symphony orchestra below the Mason–Dixon line", and the first to conduct a performance by a major American opera company.
Go to Profile#913
Franklin M. Loew
#61302
Overall Influence
1939 - 2003 (64 years)
Franklin Martin Loew, was president of Becker College, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University and dean of Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine . Early career Loew grew up in Syracuse, New York. He received his undergraduate degree and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Cornell and a doctorate in nutrition from the University of Saskatchewan. During the 1970s, Loew was one of the many members of the research team that developed canola oil. In 1977, the Governor-General of Canada awarded Loew a Queen's Jubilee Medal. In the same year, he became the head o...
Go to Profile#914
John. W. Goodell
#158927
Overall Influence
#915
Marcus Wagner
#159236
Overall Influence
1973 - Present (51 years)
#916
Walter Plowright
#32267
Overall Influence
1923 - 2010 (87 years)
Walter Plowright CMG FRS FRCVS was an English veterinary scientist who devoted his career to the eradication of the cattle plague rinderpest. Plowright received the 1999 World Food Prize for his development of tissue culture rinderpest vaccine , the key element in the quest to eliminate rinderpest. Rinderpest became the first animal disease to be eliminated worldwide.
Go to Profile#917
David Earl Bowen
#159376
Overall Influence
#918
William M. Batten
#116574
Overall Influence
1909 - 1999 (90 years)
William M. Batten was an American businessman. He served as chairman and chief executive officer of the J. C. Penney Company from 1964 to 1974, and as chairman of the New York Stock Exchange from 1976 to 1984.
Go to Profile#919
Paull C. Nutt
#159528
Overall Influence
#920
Mitt Romney
#99650
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (77 years)
Willard Mitt Romney is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer who has served as the junior United States senator from Utah since 2019. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and was the Republican Party's nominee for president of the United States in the 2012 election, losing to incumbent Barack Obama.
Go to Profile#921
Mahdieh Salehi
#159664
Overall Influence
#922
Gene A. Rowe
#159761
Overall Influence
#923
Jr. J. Joseph Cronin
#159802
Overall Influence
#924
Kenichi Ohmae
#128616
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (81 years)
is a Japanese organizational theorist, management consultant, Former Professor and Dean of UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, and author, known for developing the 3C's Model. Biography Born in 1943 in Kitakyūshū, Ohmae earned a BS in chemistry in 1966 from Waseda University, an MS in nuclear physics in 1968 from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, and a doctorate in nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1970.
Go to Profile#925
Danny A. Samson
#160285
Overall Influence
#926
Jacqueline Grennan Wexler
#69811
Overall Influence
1926 - 2012 (86 years)
Jacqueline Grennan Wexler , commonly known as Sister J, was an American Catholic religious sister who rose to prominence when she, as President of Webster College, strove to convince the Holy See allow the transferral of the college's ownership to a lay board of trustees. Webster College became the first Catholic university to legally split from the Catholic Church. She later left her religious order, the Sisters of Loretto, and was President of Hunter College in New York City from 1970 to 1980. She went on to serve as President of the National Conference of Christians and Jews from 1982 to 19...
Go to Profile#927
Christopher James Earley
#160419
Overall Influence
#928
Ilan Alon
#160706
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (53 years)
#929
Kenneth H. Blanchard
#160712
Overall Influence
#930
Nathan Philip Podsakoff
#161185
Overall Influence
#931
Linda Elizabeth Deangelo
#161244
Overall Influence
#932
Bruce W. Calnek
#161291
Overall Influence
#933
Thorsten Hennig‐thurau
#161331
Overall Influence
#934
Murray E. Fowler
#161384
Overall Influence
#935
Gilles Poitras
#97753
Overall Influence
Gilles Poitras is a Canadian author of books relating to anime and manga. He is a librarian at Golden Gate University in San Francisco. In addition to the books he has authored, Poitras also regularly contributed columns to Newtype USA, a former monthly magazine which covered anime and manga industry and related popular culture.
Go to Profile#936
Deborah J. Macinnis
#161737
Overall Influence
#937
Marshall Goldsmith
#130341
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (75 years)
Marshall Goldsmith is an American executive leadership coach and author. Early life and education Goldsmith was born in Valley Station, Kentucky, and received a degree in mathematical economics from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana in 1970; where he was also a brother of the Theta Xi Kappa Chapter Fraternity. He then earned an MBA from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business in 1972, and a PhD from UCLA Anderson School of Management in Los Angeles, California in 1977.
Go to Profile#938
Chrysanthos Nicholas Dellarocas
#161825
Overall Influence
#939
Joseph Amankwah‐amoah
#162012
Overall Influence
#940
Robert L. Mcdonald
#162013
Overall Influence
#941
Snejina Michailova
#150899
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (59 years)
Snejina Michailova is a New Zealand business academic. She is currently a full professor at The University of Auckland. Academic career After a 1997 PhD titled 'INERTIA: organizational culture of Bulgarian industrial companies between stability and change' at the Copenhagen Business School she joined the staff there, before moving to The University of Auckland, rising to full professor.
Go to Profile#942
Kjell Grønhaug
#162353
Overall Influence
#943
Timothy James Loughran
#162427
Overall Influence
#944
Ananth Narayan Madhavan
#162813
Overall Influence
#945
Charles A. B. Boucher
#162824
Overall Influence
#946
Maryam Alavi
#162869
Overall Influence
#947
Stephen J. Withrow
#162904
Overall Influence
#948
Francesco Chirico
#162914
Overall Influence
#949
Jean‐claude Willer
#163221
Overall Influence
#950
Yves Lucien Doz
#163447
Overall Influence
