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

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List of the most influential people in Chemistry,

#5551

JoAnn Slama Lighty

#175849

Overall Influence

JoAnn Slama Lighty is an American chemical engineer who is a professor at Boise State University. Her research considers carbon capture, chemical looping and black carbon emissions. In 2020 she was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for her air quality research.

#5552

Marilyn Fogel

#152513

Overall Influence

1952 - 2022 (70 years)

Marilyn L. Fogel was an American geo-ecologist and Professor of Geo-ecology at UC Riverside in Riverside, California. She is known for her research using stable isotope mass spectrometry to study a variety of subjects including ancient climates, biogeochemical cycles, animal behavior, ecology, and astrobiology. Fogel served in many leadership roles, including Program Director at the National Science Foundation in geobiology and low-temperature geochemistry.

#5553

Klaus-Dieter Hungenberg

#48811

Overall Influence

1953 - Present (72 years)

Klaus-Dieter Hungenberg is a German chemist and professor at the University of Paderborn. Hungenberg has contributed to the field of reaction kinetics for polymerization processes, and has been honored with Professorship for his contributions in the field of reaction chemistry at the Institute for Polymer Material and Process , University of Paderborn.

#5554

Paul McIntyre

#96359

Overall Influence

Paul C. McIntyre is a Canadian-American Rick and Melinda Reed Professor, Director of Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy. He served as Department Chair in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University from 2014 to 2019. McIntyre is well known for his research in atomic layer deposition for high-k dielectrics, semiconductor/oxide interfaces, and thin film applications. He received his Sc.D. from MIT in 1993. He has won the IBM Faculty Award and was a Charles Lee Powell Foundation Scholar.

#5555

Keith Johnson

#181333

Overall Influence

#5556

Ester H. Segal

#74885

Overall Influence

Ester H. Segal is an Israeli nanotechnology researcher and professor in the Department of Biotechnology and Food Engineering at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, where she heads the Laboratory for Multifunctional Nanomaterials. She is also affiliated with the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. Segal is a specialist in porous silicon nanomaterials, as well as nanocomposite materials for active packaging technologies to extend the shelf life of food.

#5557

Niren Murthy

#115161

Overall Influence

Niren Murthy is a professor of bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley. His laboratory is focussed on the development of new materials for drug delivery and molecular imaging. Career Murthy began his career at Georgia Tech in 2003 and moved to U.C. Berkeley in 2012. He did postdoctoral research in the Chemistry department at U.C. Berkeley from 2001-2003 and received a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Washington, Seattle in 2001. He was an assistant professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, in Biomedical Engineering from 2003-2012.

#5558

Drake

#181347

Overall Influence

#5559

Yang Jinzong

#145789

Overall Influence

1932 - 2008 (76 years)

Yang Jinzong was a Chinese chemical engineer who specialized in fine chemicals. He was a professor of the Dalian University of Technology and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Biography Yang was born 25 August 1932 in Changtai Township , Putian, Fujian, China.

#5560

Oscar Holmes

#91556

Overall Influence

1916 - 2001 (85 years)

Oscar Wayman Holmes was an American naval aviator in World War II and civilian flight controller, the first African-American in each position. Biography Holmes graduated from Garnet High School in Charleston, West Virginia, in 1932, West Virginia State College in 1936 with a B.S. and Ohio State University the following year with a master's degree in chemistry. He taught chemistry for three years at Claflin College, a historically black school in Orangeburg, South Carolina. In 1940, he went to work for the Erie Lighting Company in Erie, Pennsylvania, as a chemical analyst.

#5561

Peter Briggs

#176944

Overall Influence

1944 - Present (81 years)

Peter Briggs OBE was Master of the Company of Educators in the City of London in 2011/2012. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2010 New Year Honours, shortly after his retirement from Roehampton University. At Roehampton, he was both Principal of Southlands College and a Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University. Prior to taking up his role at Roehampton, Briggs had been Chief Executive of the British Association for the Advancement of Science , which was subsequently rebranded the British Science Association in 2009. He spent 22 years at the BA, initially being ...

#5562

Michael J. Alexander

#16943

Overall Influence

1941 - Present (84 years)

Michael Joseph Alexander was a British translator, poet, academic and broadcaster. He held the Berry Chair of English Literature at the University of St Andrews until his retirement in 2003. He is best known for his translations of Beowulf and other Anglo-Saxon poems into modern English verse.

#5563

Emily Parker

#154238

Overall Influence

Emily J. Parker is a New Zealand bio-organic chemist and academic. She is Professor of Chemical Biology at Victoria University of Wellington. Academic career Parker has a BSc from the University of Canterbury. She completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge in 1996 and stayed on there as a research fellow. Parker then returned to New Zealand to take up a position at Massey University. In 2006 she transferred to the University of Canterbury and remained there until June 2017 when she was appointed as full professor at the Ferrier Research Institute within the Victoria University of Wellin...

#5564

Dorthe Ravnsbæk

#114848

Overall Influence

1983 - Present (42 years)

Professor Dorthe Bomholdt Ravnsbæk is an inorganic / materials chemist who has been internationally recognized for her work in battery technology. Background Ravnsbæk received her Ph.D. from the iNANO branch of Aarhus University in 2011, and was a postdoctoral researcher with Yet-Ming Chiang at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ravnsbæk was appointed to the faculty of University of Southern Denmark in 2014. Her research focuses on different Metal hydride combinations that could potentially power batteries from cheap, abundant sodium ions in place of Lithium-ion battery materials. She ...

#5565

David Vocadlo

#154003

Overall Influence

David J. Vocadlo is a Canadian chemical biologist. He is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Chemical Glycobiology and Professor of Chemistry at Simon Fraser University. Early life and education Vocadlo was born in Brantford, Ontario, to a Czech father and a Finnish mother who met in Canada. Due to his father's job, Vocadlo lived overseas and in Montreal and Vancouver. He originally enrolled at the University of British Columbia with the intent on becoming an architect but switched to majoring in chemistry and biology. Following the completion of his undergraduate degree, Vocadlo he worked as a ...

#5566

Roy Evans

#63383

Overall Influence

Hubert Roy Evans FRICE FIStructE FLSW is a Welsh civil engineer and academic. He is a native of Llandysul, in Ceredigion, Wales. A graduate of Swansea University he became Professor of Civil and Structural Engineering at Cardiff University, where he spent 26 years of his career.

#5567

Edwin L. Thomas

#181546

Overall Influence

#5568

Vanesa Gottifredi

Vanesa Gottifredi

#144814

Overall Influence

1969 - Present (56 years)

Vanesa Gottifredi is an Argentine chemist and biologist. She works as a researcher in the Principal Investigator category of the Scientific and Technological Researcher Program of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council . She is also head of the Leloir Institute's Cell Cycle and Genomic Stability Laboratory. She specializes in the mechanisms of tumor cell response to chemotherapy, work for which she was awarded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and L'Oreal-UNESCO.

#5569

Barry V. L. Potter

Barry V. L. Potter

#168202

Overall Influence

1953 - Present (72 years)

Barry Victor Lloyd Potter MAE FMedSci is a British chemist, who is Professor of Medicinal & Biological Chemistry at the University of Oxford, Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator and a Fellow of University College, Oxford.

#5570

Clemens Von Sonntag

#181759

Overall Influence

#5571

Nicola Gaston

#99456

Overall Influence

Nicola Gaston is a Professor and a former President of the New Zealand Association of Scientists. She is a materials scientist who has worked on nanoparticles, and has spoken out on sexism in the scientific research establishment. In 2023 she was awarded the Thomson Medal.

#5572

Yong Ding

#181777

Overall Influence

#5573

Michael Braungart

Michael Braungart

#128034

Overall Influence

1958 - Present (67 years)

Michael Braungart is a German chemist who advocates that humans can make a positive instead of a negative environmental impact by redesigning industrial production and therefore that dissipation is not waste. A former Greenpeace activist who once lived in a tree as protest, he is now considered to be a visionary environmental thinker.

#5574

Padmasree Warrior

Padmasree Warrior

#152003

Overall Influence

1961 - Present (64 years)

Padmasree Warrior is an Indian-American businesswoman and technology executive. She is known for her leadership roles in technology firms like Cisco where she served as the CTO for seven years, and at Motorola where she was the CTO for five years. She also served as the CEO of Nio USA, an electric car maker. Currently, she is the founder and CEO of Fable, a curated reading platform focused on mental wellness. She also serves on the board of directors of Microsoft and Spotify.

#5575

Samir Kumar Saha

#60070

Overall Influence

1955 - Present (70 years)

Samir Kumar Saha is an eminent Bangladeshi microbiologist and public health expert. He is the professor, senior consultant and head of the department of Diagnostic Division of Microbiology at the Dhaka Shishu Hospital for children and also the executive director of The Child Health Research Foundation at the Bangladesh Institute of Child Health.

#5576

Linda Columbus

#173797

Overall Influence

Linda Columbus is an American chemist who is Professor of Chemistry and Molecular Physiology at the University of Virginia. Her research considers the structure-function properties of membrane proteins.

#5577

Elizabeth Rhoades

#182069

Overall Influence

#5578

Lynette Cegelski

#141495

Overall Influence

Lynette Cegelski is an American physical chemist and chemical biologist who studies extracellular structures such as biofilms and membrane proteins. She is an associate professor of chemistry and, by courtesy, of chemical engineering at Stanford University. She is a Stanford Bio-X and Stanford ChEM-H affiliated faculty member.

#5579

Amanda Morris

#180893

Overall Influence

Amanda Morris is an American chemist who is the Patricia Caldwell Faculty Fellow and professor of inorganic and energy chemistry at Virginia Tech. Her research considers next-generation materials for catalysis and light-harvesting. She was elected chair of the American Chemical Society Gay and Transgender Chemists and Allies committee in 2021.

#5580

Anthony Lowe

#81528

Overall Influence

1962 - Present (63 years)

Anthony Peter Lowe AP is a British-Australian mathematical physicist and actuary. He previously served as chief executive officer of the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, and is a frequent media commentator on prostate cancer and prostate specific antigen testing.

#5581

Manfred Wagner

#182206

Overall Influence

#5582

David J. Adams

#182208

Overall Influence

#5583

Eloy Rodriguez

#14923

Overall Influence

1947 - Present (78 years)

Eloy Rodriguez is an American biochemist. He is the James Perkins Professor of Environmental Studies at Cornell University. He was born in Edinburg, Texas. Collaborating with primatologist Richard Wrangham, Rodriguez introduced the concept of zoopharmacognosy.

#5584

Mark B. Allen

#182317

Overall Influence

#5585

Henry Lee

#11655

Overall Influence

1938 - Present (87 years)

#5586

Jing Li

#107364

Overall Influence

2000 - Present (25 years)

Jing Li is a professor at Rutgers University. She and her team are engaged in solid-state, inorganic and inorganic-organic hybrid materials research. Her current research focuses on designing and developing new materials for applications in the field of renewable and sustainable energy.

#5587

Jean-Louis Salager

#177218

Overall Influence

1944 - Present (81 years)

Jean-Louis Salager was born in Montpellier, France, on May 22, 1944. He obtained the titles of BSc. in chemistry and chemical engineering at the University of Nancy , MSc. in chemical engineering and PhD in chemical engineering at the University of Texas and postdoctorate at the University of Texas . Admitted as assistant professor at the School of Chemical Engineering Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida, Venezuela , where he recently obtained the professor emeritus category. He has supervised over 100 undergraduate and 60 MSc & Dr/PhD dissertations. He has written 20 book chapters and more than 600 articles and communications.

#5588

Aliasger K. Salem

#112928

Overall Influence

1976 - Present (49 years)

Aliasger K. Salem is the Associate Vice President for Research at the University of Iowa and Bighley Chair and Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy. Salem's academic appointment at the University of Iowa is based in the College of Pharmacy, with additional secondary appointments in the College of Dentistry, Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Chemistry, and the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center. Prior to joining the University of Iowa in 2004, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the J...

#5589

Akira Suzuki

#182438

Overall Influence

#5590

Adriana Lita

#65696

Overall Influence

2000 - Present (25 years)

Adriana Eleni Lita is a materials scientist. She works in the Faint Photonics Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where her research has included Bell test experiments and the practical implementation of quantum key distribution. She completed a Ph.D. at University of Michigan in 2000. Her dissertation was titled Correlation between microstructure and surface structure evolution in polycrystalline films. Her doctoral advisor was John E. Sanchez, Jr.

#5591

Éric Derouane

#178057

Overall Influence

1944 - 2008 (64 years)

Éric Gérard Joseph Derouane was a French-speaking Belgian catalyst scientist. In 1968 he obtained his MSc in Chemistry at Princeton University and his PhD at the University of Liège. He then became a Research Associate of the National Fund for Scientific Research . In 1973, he was appointed as Professor at the Facultés universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix in Namur, Belgium, where he has been the Director of the Laboratory of Catalysis. In 1995, he became Full Professor and Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Innovative Catalysis at the University of Liverpool. In 1994, he was awarded the Francqui Prize on Exact Sciences.

#5592

Pilar González i Duarte

#42071

Overall Influence

1945 - Present (80 years)

Pilar González i Duarte is a Spanish chemist. She is a member of the Institute for Catalan Studies . In 2004, she was the recipient of the Jaume Vicens i Vives distinction awarded by the Government of Catalonia.

#5593

Wei-min Liu

#182525

Overall Influence

#5594

Kristin Bowman-James

#181585

Overall Influence

1946 - Present (79 years)

Kristin Susan Bowman-James is an American chemist who is a distinguished professor at the University of Kansas. Her research makes use of host–guest chemistry to design new molecules for biology and the environment. She was awarded the 2021 American Chemical Society Award in Inorganic Chemistry.

#5595

Benjamin A. Garcia

#172523

Overall Influence

1976 - Present (49 years)

Benjamin Aaron Garcia is an American chemist and Professor at the Washington University in St. Louis. His research interests revolve around developing novel mass spectrometry methods to analyze post-translational modifications of proteins and epigenetics. His work has resulted in over 250 publications and he has been recognized with numerous honors including the American Society for Mass Spectrometry Biemann Medal in 2018.

#5596

Jennifer Love

#181961

Overall Influence

Jennifer Ann Love is an American professor of chemistry at the University of Calgary. She is a Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada. Early life and education Love was born in New England. She grew up in Rochester, New York. Love realized she was interested in science whilst at high school, but it was not until the second year of college that she realized her favourite science was chemistry. She was an undergraduate student at Allegheny College, and graduated magna cum laude. She moved to Stanford University for graduate studies, where she studied metal-catalyzed reactions to generate seven membered rings.

#5597

Melvyn Usselman

#165786

Overall Influence

1944 - 2015 (71 years)

Melvyn Charles Usselman was a professor of chemistry at the University of Western Ontario , with a particular focus on the history of chemistry. Life and career He studied for his BSc, MA and PhD at UWO. He married Trixie Sennema. They had four children, Jasper, Charlotte, Richard and David.

#5598

David Reay

#90541

Overall Influence

1972 - Present (53 years)

David S. Reay is a climate change scientist, author, and professor of carbon management and education at the University of Edinburgh. He serves as co-chair of the Just Transition Commission, executive director of the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute and policy director of ClimateXChange.

#5599

Pierre Margot

#77868

Overall Influence

1950 - Present (75 years)

Pierre Margot is a Swiss forensics scientist known for his contribution to the invention of the first forensic light source Polilight for the detection of fingerprint, biological fluids and other evidence on the crime scene. This new technology was named by the Powerhouse Museum as one of the top 100 Australian innovations of the 20th century. It was a great revolution in the field of forensic identification since this light could be used at the crime scene, unlike lasers at that time.

#5600

Hayat Sindi

#10243

Overall Influence

1967 - Present (58 years)

Dr. Hayat Al Sindi is a Saudi Arabian medical scientist and one of the first female members of the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia. She is famous for making major contributions to point-of-care medical testing and biotechnology. She was ranked by Arabian Business as the 19th most influential Arab in the world and the ninth most influential Arab woman. In 2018, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.

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