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 female people in Chemistry,
#451
Marianne Kärrholm
#44745
Overall Influence
1921 - 2018 (97 years)
Ebba Marianne Kärrholm née Hellsten was a Swedish chemical engineer and educator. Conducting research from 1945 at the Swedish Textile Research Institute at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, she collaborated with textile companies. The year 1971 saw publication of a major study she coordinated for the Swedish Consumer Council on consumer-oriented technology, which was also published in English. After earning a Ph.D. in 1960, she became the first woman to be appointed senior lecturer at Chalmers. She became professor of the university's newly established Consumer Technology Department in 1984 until her retirement in 1989.
Go to Profile#452
Nicole Grobert
#111580
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (24 years)
Nicole Grobert FRSC FYAE is a German-British materials chemist. She is a professor of nanomaterials at the Department of Materials at the University of Oxford, fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and a Royal Society industry fellow at Williams Advanced Engineering. Grobert is the chair of the European Commission's Group of Chief Scientific Advisors.
Go to Profile#453
Sandra J. Rosenthal
#122788
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (58 years)
Sandra J. Rosenthal is the Jack and Pamela Egan Professor of Chemistry, professor of physics and astronomy, pharmacology, chemical and biomolecular engineering, and materials science at Vanderbilt University. She is a joint faculty member at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the Materials Science and Technology Division and the director of the Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering.
Go to Profile#454
Sarah Tolbert
#108499
Overall Influence
Sarah Helen Tolbert is an American chemist who is a professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research considers self-assembled nanomaterials, which includes inorganic phases and colloidal materials.
Go to Profile#455
Luisa De Cola
#147809
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (64 years)
#456
Liliana Quintanar Vera
#81947
Overall Influence
1975 - Present (49 years)
Liliana Quintanar Vera is a Mexican chemist. She works on proteins and neurodegenerative diseases. Early life and education Quintanar Vera was born in Mexico City in 1975. She took part in the Mexican Academy of Sciences Chemistry Olympics, representing the country in the International Chemistry Olympiad in 1993. She studied chemistry at National Autonomous University of Mexico in 1998. She was awarded the Gabino Barreda medal. She took part in an exchange program with the University of California, Santa Barbara. She worked on Neurochemistry with Stanley Parsons. Quintanar Vera joined Stanford University for her PhD, working on metalloproteins under the supervision of Edward I.
Go to Profile#457
Kim Renee Dunbar
#127621
Overall Influence
Kim R. Dunbar is an American inorganic chemist and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Texas A&M University. Her research concerns inorganic and coordination chemistry, including molecular magnetism, metals in medicine, supramolecular chemistry Involving anions and anion-pi interactions, and multifunctional materials with organic radicals.
Go to Profile#458
Kathy Martin
#49718
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (75 years)
Kathy Martin is a Canadian ornithologist who is an expert on arctic and alpine grouse and ptarmigan, and on tree cavity-nesting vertebrates. She is a professor in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia and was a senior research scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Go to Profile#459
Unni Olsbye
#148129
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (60 years)
Unni Olsbye is a Norwegian chemist. A professor at the University of Oslo, she has specialized in catalysts for the petrochemical industry. Career Born in Hamar, Olsbye graduated in industrial chemistry from the Norwegian Institute of Technology in 1987, and as dr.scient. in organic chemistry from the University of Oslo in 1991. She was appointed professor at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Oslo in 2002. Her research focus has been catalytic reaction mechanisms in the petrochemical industry.
Go to Profile#460
Rosalind Rickaby
#93879
Overall Influence
Rosalind Emily Majors Rickaby is a professor of biogeochemistry at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford and a Professorial Fellow at University College, Oxford. She is an Emeritus Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford.
Go to Profile#461
Ann M. Valentine
#63773
Overall Influence
Ann M. Valentine is an American bioinorganic chemist whose research focuses on biomineralization, the uptake and transport of metals and their medical applications in areas such as cancer research. She has received awards including the 2014 AICChemical Pioneer Award "for her outstanding contributions towards advancing the science of chemistry and impacting the chemical profession" and the 2009 Paul D. Saltman Award for Metals in Biology for "outstanding contributions to the field of metals in biology" and "groundbreaking work on the structures and reactions of complexes containing titanium."
Go to Profile#462
Carla Ghelardini
#149143
Overall Influence
#463
Sílvia Osuna Oliveras
#148889
Overall Influence
1983 - Present (41 years)
Sílvia Osuna Oliveras is a researcher in the field of computational chemistry at the Institute of Computational Chemistry and Catalysis at the University of Girona. Osuna obtained her PhD in 2010 at the University of Girona under the supervision of Miquel Solà and Marcel Swart. Upon graduation, she moved to the University of California, Los Angeles for a two-year postdoctoral position at the group of Prof. K. N. Houk. In 2013, she was awarded the Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral position, and in 2015 the Ramón y Cajal position. In 2015, she was awarded an ERC-StG project for developing a new...
Go to Profile#464
Signe Kjelstrup
#130199
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (75 years)
Signe Helene Kjelstrup is a Norwegian professor of physical chemistry at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway. She is a principal investigator at PoreLab, a Center of Excellence at NTNU.
Go to Profile#465
Susan Weintraub
#38739
Overall Influence
Susan Weintraub is an American scientist. She is a professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio . She received a BS in chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania in 1967, MS in chemistry from Trinity University in 1970 and a PhD in biochemistry from UTHSCSA in 1979. She was the president of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry for the period of 2012-2014. In 2017 she was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science . She is an associate editor of the Journal of Proteome Research.
Go to Profile#466
Nicki Packer
#90267
Overall Influence
Nicki Packer FRSC is a distinguished professor of glycoproteomics in the School of Natural Sciences at Macquarie University and principal research leader at Griffith University's Institute for Glycomics. Packer is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and in 2021 received the Distinguished Achievement in Proteomic Sciences Award from the Human Proteome Organization. Her research focuses on biological functional of glycoconjugates by linking glycomics with proteomics and bioinformatics.
Go to Profile#467
Carol J. Burns
#145966
Overall Influence
Carol Jean Burns is an American chemist who is Deputy Director of Research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Her research is in actinide coordination and organometallic chemistry. She spent a term at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society. She was awarded the American Chemical Society Garvan–Olin Medal in 2021.
Go to Profile#468
Paola Lettieri
#104391
Overall Influence
Paola Lettieri is a British-Italian chemical engineer who is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and Pro-Provost of UCL East at University College London. Her research considers fluidisation and life-cycle assessment. She has developed novel, sustainable fluid-bed processes.
Go to Profile#469
Olga Dontsova
#55209
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (65 years)
Olga Anatolyevna Dontsova is a Russian biochemist and an academician at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Her research interests includes: structure and functions of RNA-containing cellular machines, functional properties and mechanisms of regulation of Telomerase Ribonucleoprotein particle complexes and non-coding RNAs.
Go to Profile#470
Antje Baeumner
#141603
Overall Influence
Antje Baeumner is a German chemist who is Professor and Director of the Institute of Analytical Chemistry, Chemo- and Biosensors at the University of Regensburg in Germany. Her research considers biosensors and lab-on-a-chip devices for the detection of pathogenic organisms.
Go to Profile#471
Katharina Kohse-Höinghaus
#150475
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (73 years)
Katharina Kohse-Höinghaus is a German chemist. Life Kohse-Höinghaus studied Chemistry at the Ruhr University Bochum from 1970 to 1975. She finished her doctorate at the Ruhr University Bochum in 1978 and her habilitation at the University of Stuttgart in 1992. Since 1994, she is a professor for physical chemistry at the Bielefeld University. She founded one of the first hands-on laboratories for schools. She served as the President of The Combustion Institute between 2012 and 2016.
Go to Profile#472
Nathalie Tufenkji
#144326
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (24 years)
Nathalie Tufenkji is a Canadian chemical engineer. She is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Biocolloids and Surfaces and a professor of Chemical Engineering at McGill University. In 2022, Tufenkji was recognized by the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec with their Honoris Genius award in the Research or Teaching category.
Go to Profile#473
Stefanie Hellweg
#150564
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (53 years)
#474
Claire Anderson
#74802
Overall Influence
Claire Anderson is a British pharmacist who is a professor at the University of Nottingham. She investigates pharmacy practice research, and developed the first diploma in community pharmacy. Early life and education Anderson studied pharmacy at Cardiff University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1982. She then worked as a clinical pharmacist in hospital and a community pharmacist in Oxford. In 1989, she was appointed postgraduate tutor for the Oxford regional health authority and to the pharmacy faculty at King's College London. Whilst at King's, she worked toward a doctorate, where she investigated the role of community pharmacists in promoting health.
Go to Profile#475
Alison Downard
#126832
Overall Influence
Alison Joy Downard is a New Zealand academic, and has been a full professor at the University of Canterbury since 2009. Her work focuses on surface chemistry, electrochemistry and nanoscale grafted layers.
Go to Profile#476
Alison Rodger
#130566
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (65 years)
Alison Rodger FRSC FRACI FAA CChem is a professor of chemistry at Macquarie University. Her research considers biomacromolecular structures and their characterisation. She is currently developing Raman Linear Difference Spectroscopy and fluorescence detected liner dichroism to understand biomacromolecular structure and interactions with application to the division of bacterial cells.
Go to Profile#477
Gerardine Botte
#113320
Overall Influence
Gerardine "Gerri" Botte is a Venezuelan-American chemist who is a Professor and the Whitacre Department Chair in Chemical Engineering at Texas Tech University. Her research considers electrochemical engineering and the development of sustainable manufacturing processes. Botte is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Applied Electrochemistry and a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society.
Go to Profile#478
Nina McClelland
#75577
Overall Influence
1930 - 2020 (90 years)
Nina Irene McClelland was an American chemist. She was dean emeritus and professor of chemistry at the University of Toledo. Early life and education McClelland was raised by her mother Lillian McClelland, who worked as a foreign language teacher. Growing up, McClelland took vocal lessons and was taught six languages by her mother. McClelland's aunt, Fern Mervos, was a professor in the department of mathematics at the University of Toledo. McClelland says she was very close to her aunt and as a child would visit her at work.
Go to Profile#479
Georgia Chenevix-Trench
#88731
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (65 years)
Georgia Chenevix-Trench is an Australian cancer researcher who investigates genetic predispositions to cancer. Chenevix-Trench was born in Nairobi, Kenya. She received her undergraduate degree in 1980 from the department of genetics at Trinity College in Ireland and was subsequently awarded her PhD in 1985 from the department of human genetics at the Medical College of Virginia, USA. and in 1986 she commenced her post-doctoral work there. In 1989 she moved to Australia where she started working as a research officer at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research . She currently works at th...
Go to Profile#480
Francesca M. Kerton
#75192
Overall Influence
Francesca M. Kerton is a green chemist and Professor of Chemistry at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. Early life Kerton completed her B.Sc. in chemistry with environmental science at the University of Kent. She then completed her D.Phil. at the University of Sussex.
Go to Profile#481
Elizabeth A. Winzeler
#136555
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (62 years)
Elizabeth Ann Winzeler is an American microbiologist and geneticist. She is a professor in the Division of Host-Microbe Systems and Therapeutics of the School of Medicine at the University of California at San Diego. Although she works in a variety of different disease areas, most research focuses on developing better medicines for the treatment and eradication of malaria.
Go to Profile#482
Svetlana Mintova
#152179
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (62 years)
#483
Jackie Akhavan
#112774
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (74 years)
Jacqueline Akhavan is a British chemist and expert in the chemistry of explosives. Early life and education Akhavan grew up in a house in Bermondsey, South London where there was an outdoor toilet and a tin bath. of postdoctoral research, she decided that her future lay in academia. She was then advised against going directly into a university career. She was instead told by her PhD advisor to go into the industry, as experience in industry would help her gain an understanding of the commercial environment. This advice helped her move back into academia once she decided to become a lecturer. A...
Go to Profile#484
Charmian O'Connor
#125813
Overall Influence
1937 - Present (87 years)
Dame Charmian Jocelyn O'Connor is a New Zealand physical organic chemist. She became the first female professor of chemistry at the University of Auckland in 1986, and retired in 2004. Early life and education Born in Woodville on 4 August 1937, the daughter of Cecil and Kathrene Bishop, O'Connor was educated at Hastings High School and Auckland Girls' Grammar School. She went on to study chemistry at Auckland University College, graduating Bachelor of Science in 1957, Master of Science with first-class honours in 1958, and completing a PhD in physical organic chemistry in 1963 at what by t...
Go to Profile#485
Juliane Hollender
#153593
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (60 years)
#486
Greta Patzke
#153788
Overall Influence
1974 - Present (50 years)
Greta R. Patzke is Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Zurich. Life From 1993 to 1997 she studied chemistry at Leibniz University Hannover. Her diploma thesis dealt with solid-state chemistry and computational chemistry. From 1997 to 1999 she completed her dissertation at Leibniz University in the group of Michael Binnewies. This dissertation dealt with the synthesis, characterization and properties of mixed oxides. In the group of Reinhard Nesper at the ETH Zurich she worked on her habilitation from 1999 on. During this time she worked on inorganic structural chemistry, th...
Go to Profile#487
Cynthia Jameson
#144698
Overall Influence
Cynthia J. Jameson is an Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois. She works on nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and quantum chemistry. Jameson dedicated her academic career to supporting women scientists. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Go to Profile#488
Sally Brooker
#137941
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (24 years)
Sally Anne Brooker is a New Zealand inorganic chemist. She has been a full professor at the University of Otago since 2006. Education Brooker was educated at Hawarden Area School in North Canterbury from 1970 to 1982, and was dux of the school in her final year there. She went on to study chemistry at the University of Canterbury, first graduating Bachelor of Science with first-class honours, and then completing a PhD titled Synthesis and characterisation of polynuclear complexes with macrocyclic and related ligands under the supervision of Vickie McKee in 1989.
Go to Profile#489
Judith Herzfeld
#89660
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (76 years)
Judith Herzfeld is Professor Emerita at Brandeis University. Known for her work in statistical thermodynamics, solid state NMR and chemical education, she is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Massachusetts Academy of Sciences. She is the author or coauthor of more than 180 scientific papers and a book.
Go to Profile#490
Thuc-Quyen Nguyen
#77365
Overall Influence
1970 - Present (54 years)
Thuc-Quyen Nguyen is director and Professor at the Center for Polymers and Organic Solids , and a professor of the Chemistry & Biochemistry department at the University of California Santa Barbara. Her research focuses on organic electronic devices, using optical, electrical, and structural techniques to understand materials and devices such as photovoltaics, LEDs, and field-effect transistors.
Go to Profile#491
Maria Rosa Palacín
#154210
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (56 years)
#492
Mikiko Sodeoka
#154679
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (24 years)
#493
Rachel Ann Mills
#124815
Overall Influence
Rachel Ann Mills is a Professor of Ocean Chemistry at the University of Southampton. She is a deep-sea oceanographer who works on the chemistry of the seafloor and its impact on life in the sea. She has led research expeditions using submersibles and remotely operated vehicles to remote and deep, unexplored parts of the ocean.
Go to Profile#494
Caroline Chick Jarrold
#153414
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (57 years)
Caroline Chick Jarrold is a physical chemist who was named the Class of 1948 Herman B Wells Endowed Professor ats at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, in 2018. The research done by her group aims to alleviate issues with energy and the environment.
Go to Profile#495
Amie K. Boal
#120271
Overall Influence
Amie Kathleen Boal is an American chemist. She is an associate professor of chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular biology at Pennsylvania State University. In 2020, Boal was the recipient of the Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry from the American Chemical Society.
Go to Profile#496
Bess Ward
#129546
Overall Influence
Bess Ward is an American oceanographer, biogeochemist, microbiologist, and William J. Sinclair Professor of Geosciences at Princeton University. Ward studies include marine and global nitrogen cycles, and how marine organisms such as phytoplankton and bacteria influence the nitrogen cycle. Ward was the first woman awarded the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award from the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography for her pioneering work on applying molecular methods for nitrogen and methane conversions as well as scaling up organismal biogeochemical rates to whole ecosystem rates.
Go to Profile#497
Elspeth McLachlan
#84710
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (82 years)
Elspeth McLachlan , an Australian neuroscientist, is a world authority on neural pathways within the autonomic nervous system. Her work has included detailed analyses of transmission in autonomic ganglia to studies of the organisation of autonomic nervous pathways and their disorder in pathological states, particularly injuries to peripheral nerves and the spinal cord.
Go to Profile#498
Karen Goldberg
#118638
Overall Influence
Karen Ila Goldberg is an American chemist, currently the Vagelos Professor of Energy Research at University of Pennsylvania. Goldberg is most known for her work in inorganic and organometallic chemistry. Her most recent research focuses on catalysis, particularly on developing catalysts for oxidation, as well as the synthesis and activation of molecular oxygen. In 2018, Goldberg was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
Go to Profile#499
Nathalie Gontard
#155664
Overall Influence
#500
Lisa Pratt
#103968
Overall Influence
Lisa Pratt is a biogeochemist and astrobiologist who previously served as the 7th Planetary Protection Officer for NASA from 2018 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. Her academic work as a student, professor, and researcher on organisms and their respective environments prepared her for the position, in which she is responsible for protecting the Earth and other planets in the solar system from traveling microbes. Originally, Pratt did not see a place for herself in science, but with encouragement from her academic mentors and family members along the way, she has been able to accomplish much work as a scientist.
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