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 Chemistry,

#2901

Dimitri Sverjensky

#104135
Overall Influence
Dimitri Alexander Sverjensky is a professor in Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University where his research is focused on geochemistry. Career Dimitri Sverjensky received his B.Sc. from the University of Sydney, Australia in 1974. He went on to Yale University where he received his Masters and Ph.D in Geology in 1977 and 1980. After leaving Yale, Sverjensky worked as a staff scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, before becoming an assistant professor at SUNY Stony Brook. In 1984, he was appointed an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University, and later promoted to associate professor.
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#2902

Hiroyuki Tadokoro

#127904
Overall Influence
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#2903

David A. Shirley

#63824
Overall Influence
1934 - 2021 (87 years)
David Arthur Shirley was an American chemist, best known as the fourth director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory from 1980 to 1989, and for spearheading the funding and creation of the Advanced Light Source.
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#2904

Leo Yaffe

#84775
Overall Influence
1916 - 1997 (81 years)
Leo Yaffe, was a Canadian nuclear chemistry scientist and a proponent of the peaceful uses of nuclear power. Born in Devils Lake, North Dakota, his family moved to Winnipeg in 1920. He studied at the University of Manitoba receiving a B.Sc. in 1940, a M.Sc. in 1941, and was awarded an honorary D.Sc. in 1982. He received a Ph.D. in 1943 from McGill University.
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#2905

Carlo Vandecasteele

#127915
Overall Influence
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#2906

Iseult Lynch

Iseult Lynch
#121991
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (25 years)
Iseult Lynch is an Irish chemist and Professor of Enivornmental Nanoscience at the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham. Her research focuses on the safety of nanoparticles in the environment and their interactions with biological entities.
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#2907

Farid Chemat

#127954
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (57 years)
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#2908

Constantine Pozrikidis

#89661
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (67 years)
Constantine Pozrikidis is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, known for his contributions in the areas of theoretical and computational fluid dynamics, applied mathematics, and scientific computing.
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#2909

John Henderson Knox

#127969
Overall Influence
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#2910

Hubert Lloyd Barnes

#128067
Overall Influence
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#2911

Edward Arnett

#123380
Overall Influence
1922 - Present (103 years)
Edward McCollin Arnett was an American chemist. Early life Born in Philadelphia, to John Hancock Arnett, a physician, and Katherine Williams McCollin, a singer and composer, Arnett was a Quaker and conscientious objector who served in the Civilian Public Service during World War II. Arnett completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1949, earned a Ph.D from the same institution.
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#2912

Malika Jeffries-EL

#94381
Overall Influence
Malika Jeffries-EL is an American chemist and professor of chemistry at Boston University studying organic semiconductors. Specifically, her research focuses on developing organic semiconductors that take advantage of the processing power of polymers and the electronic properties of semiconductors to create innovative electronic devices. She was elected as a Fellow of the American Chemical Society in 2018.
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#2913

Marek Kosmulski

#128133
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (69 years)
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#2914

J. Th. G. Overbeek

#128153
Overall Influence
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#2915

Leonard Francis Lindoy

#60093
Overall Influence
1937 - Present (88 years)
Leonard Francis Lindoy, FAA, is an Australian chemist with interests in macrocyclic chemistry and metallo-supramolecular chemistry, and an Emeritus Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Sydney and James Cook University. He moved to the University of Sydney in 1996 to take up the departmental chair in inorganic chemistry vacated by Hans Freeman.
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#2916

Yuyuan Tian

#128187
Overall Influence
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#2917

Elizabeth Simpson

#55434
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (25 years)
Elizabeth Simpson OBE FRS FMedSci is a British biologist. She is the Emeritus Professor of Transplantation Biology at Imperial College London. Simpson is particularly known for her elucidation of the nature of male-associated minor transplantation antigens, and their roles in the generation of immunological tolerance, graft versus host disease, and transplant rejection.
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#2918

John G. Collier

#94349
Overall Influence
1935 - 1995 (60 years)
John Gordon Collier FRS was a British chemical engineer and administrator, particularly associated with nuclear power for electricity production. He started as an apprentice at Harwell United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and rose to become its chairman.
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#2919

Helen Muir

#128202
Overall Influence
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#2920

Van Ra Rutger Santen

#128231
Overall Influence
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#2921

Stanisław Bielecki

#48202
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (79 years)
Stanisław Bielecki is a Polish chemist who specialises in technical biochemistry, biotechnology and enzymology, since 2008 he has held the position of the Rector of Lodz University of Technology. In 1965 Stanisław Bielecki passed his secondary school leaving exams in Technical Secondary School of Fruit and Vegetable Processing. Since the beginning of studies he has been devoted to the Faculty of Food Sciences, and subsequently to the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences, both at Lodz University of Technology. In 1970 he was awarded the MSc degree and in 1978 he completed his doctoral studies.
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#2922

Robert Hausinger

#128277
Overall Influence
Robert P. Hausinger is an American microbiologist, well-cited in his field, currently at Michigan State University and an Elected Fellow of the American Society for Microbiology.
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#2923

Arnold Fredrickson

#99415
Overall Influence
1932 - 2017 (85 years)
Arnold Gerhard Fredrickson was an American chemical engineer and professor in the department of chemical engineering and materials science at the University of Minnesota. He was known for his work in transport phenomena, bioengineering and population dynamics. Fredrickson was the author of over 100 scientific publications and advisor to over 50 graduate students. He was recognized for his contributions to chemical engineering with election as fellow to the American Association for the Advancement of Science and fellow and founding member of the American Institute of Medical and Biological ...
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#2924

Frank Maley

#128321
Overall Influence
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#2925

Anil Virkar

#81428
Overall Influence
Anil Vasudeo Virkar is an American materials scientist and engineer, currently Distinguished Professor at University of Utah. He is a Fellow of the ASM International. Publications
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#2926

Hirotsugu K. Yasuda

#128327
Overall Influence
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#2927

Maria Skyllas-Kazacos

#89518
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (74 years)
Maria Skyllas-Kazacos AM FTSE is an Australian chemical engineer best known for her pioneering work of the vanadium redox battery, which she created at the University of New South Wales in the 1980s. Her design used sulfuric acid electrolytes and was patented by the university. In 1999 she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia "for service to science and technology, particularly in the development of the vanadium redox battery as an alternative power source".
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#2928

Keiichi Tomishige

#128354
Overall Influence
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#2929

Johan Hofkens

#128366
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (59 years)
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#2930

Mark D. Ediger

#128398
Overall Influence
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#2931

Scott K. Silverman

#119925
Overall Influence
1972 - Present (53 years)
Scott K. Silverman is a professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He joined the department of chemistry in 2000 as assistant professor, was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2006, and was promoted to professor in 2010.
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#2932

Hong Gil Nam

#86271
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (68 years)
Hong Gil Nam is a South Korean biologist teaching in the Department of New Biology of Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology and leading research as director of the Center for Plant Aging Research. His research interests include comparative aging in diverse kingdoms, including plant and animals, to reveal aging mechanisms among species, cross-kingdom interaction between plants and animals, and biochemistry at nano and micro levels. He is the founder and former director of the Biological Research Information Center, a member of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology, and has ...
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#2933

Robert. E. Hecky

#128445
Overall Influence
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#2934

Adelbert Bacher

#128465
Overall Influence
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#2935

Tomislav Friščić

#125916
Overall Influence
1978 - Present (47 years)
Tomislav Friščić holds the Leverhulme International Professorship and Chair in Green and Sustainable chemistry at the University of Birmingham. His research focus is at the interface of green chemistry and materials science, developing solvent-free chemistry and mechanochemistry for the cleaner, efficient synthesis of molecules and materials, including organic solids such as pharmaceutical cocrystals, coordination polymers and Metal-Organic Frameworks , and a wide range of organic targets such as active pharmaceutical ingredients. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry , member of th...
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#2936

Morris J. Robins

#128580
Overall Influence
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#2937

Theodor Wieland

#128601
Overall Influence
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#2938

Jennifer Wilcox

Jennifer Wilcox
#106053
Overall Influence
1974 - Present (51 years)
Jennifer Wilcox is an American chemical engineer and an expert carbon capture and storage and removal of CO2 from the atmosphere. She is the Presidential Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and Energy Policy at University of Pennsylvania and a former James H. Manning Chaired Professor of Chemical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Wilcox conducts research focused on minimizing the environmental and climate impacts of our dependence on fossil fuels. In January 2021, she became acting Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy and Carbon Management and Principal Deputy Assist...
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#2939

C. A. Mac Kay

#128660
Overall Influence
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#2940

Christopher Alan Reed

#128710
Overall Influence
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#2941

Ya-ping Suny.-p. Sun

#128725
Overall Influence
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#2942

Hans Bock

#128726
Overall Influence
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#2943

Keiichiro Fukumoto

#128758
Overall Influence
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#2944

Robert F. Stewart

#128797
Overall Influence
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#2945

William H. Casey

#117495
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (70 years)
William Howard Casey is distinguished professor of chemistry and professor of geology at the University of California, Davis. He has made major contributions in the fields of aqueous geochemistry and inorganic solution chemistry. He has in particular received international awards for his work on the use of heteronuclear ambient and high-pressure NMR spectroscopic and mass spectrometric techniques in elucidation the solution chemistry of discrete metal oxide clusters such as aluminum hydroxides and polyoxoniobates, and has been elected Fellow of the American Chemical Society and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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#2946

Frederic J. Seidler

#128882
Overall Influence
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#2947

Gideon Schreiber

#128883
Overall Influence
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#2948

Heather Maynard

Heather Maynard
#75947
Overall Influence
Heather D. Maynard is the Dr Myung Ki Hong Professor in Polymer Science at the University of California, Los Angeles. She works on protein-polymer conjugates and polymeric drugs. Maynard is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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#2949

Ariel Anbar

#125975
Overall Influence
Ariel Anbar is an isotope geochemist and President's Professor at Arizona State University. He has published over 180 refereed papers on topics ranging from the origins of Earth's atmosphere to detecting life on other worlds to diagnosing human disease.
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#2950

Jierong Yin

#129007
Overall Influence
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