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,
#3201
Brian Kuhlman
#82668
Overall Influence
Brian A. Kuhlman is an American professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the UNC School of Medicine of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Sloan Research Fellow. Early life Kuhlman obtained Bachelor of Arts degree in chemical physics from Rice University in 1992. From 1993 to 1998 he studied under guidance of Daniel Raleigh to earn his Ph.D. in chemistry from Stony Brook University and from 1999 to 2002 he studied under guidance from David Baker to obtain Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Washington.
Go to Profile#3202
Tamar Seideman
#125237
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (66 years)
Tamar Seideman is the Dow Chemical Company Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Physics at Northwestern University. She specialises in coherence spectroscopies and coherent control in isolated molecules and dissipative media as well as in ultrafast nanoplasmonics, current-driven phenomena in nanoelectronics and mathematical models.
Go to Profile#3203
Hai-Quan Mao
#105718
Overall Influence
Hai-Quan Mao is a Chinese chemist and nanotechnologist. He is a professor at Johns Hopkins University and associate director of the university's Institute for NanoBioTechnology. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and a member of the National Academy of Inventors.
Go to Profile#3204
Lloyd R. Kèlland
#133774
Overall Influence
#3205
David A. Lightner
#133784
Overall Influence
#3206
Arthur Weissbach
#133799
Overall Influence
#3207
Ljubisav Rakić
#23750
Overall Influence
1931 - 2022 (91 years)
Ljubisav Rakić was a Serbian neurobiologist, professor and academic. Life and career Rakić was born in Sarajevo on 11 April 1931, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. His parents were teachers. He graduated from the Belgrade Medical School in 1956. After graduating, he became an Assistant Professor for physiology and biochemistry at the University of Belgrade's School of Medicine. In 1969, he was already a Full Professor. Since 1971, he was a Professor for postgraduate studies in neurobiology at University of Belgrade. Rakić was the founder of the International brain research laboratory in Kotor where ...
Go to Profile#3208
T. Nejat Veziroğlu
#133827
Overall Influence
#3209
Jiali Gao
#133828
Overall Influence
#3210
Debra Bernhardt
#122346
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (60 years)
Debra Bernhardt is an Australian theoretical chemist. She is best known for her contributions towards understanding the fluctuation theorem. This theorem shows the second law of thermodynamics and the zeroth law of thermodynamics can be derived mathematically rather than postulated as laws of nature.
Go to Profile#3211
David T. Attwood
#133889
Overall Influence
#3212
Linda Broadbelt
#122789
Overall Influence
Linda Jean Broadbelt is an American chemical engineer who is the Sarah Rebecca Roland Professor and associate dean for research of the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University. Her research considers kinetics modeling, polymerization and catalysis.
Go to Profile#3213
Hideaki Yamada
#133913
Overall Influence
#3214
Shilpi Agarwal
#133955
Overall Influence
#3215
Robert N. Compton
#133991
Overall Influence
#3216
Ernest W. Johns
#133997
Overall Influence
#3217
Stephen Allen Boyd
#134015
Overall Influence
#3218
R. David Britt
#93815
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (59 years)
R. David Britt is the Winston Ko Chair and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Davis. Britt uses electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy to study metalloenzymes and enzymes containing organic radicals in their active sites. Britt is the recipient of multiple awards for his research, including the Bioinorganic Chemistry Award in 2019 and the Bruker Prize in 2015 from the Royal Society of Chemistry. He has received a Gold Medal from the International EPR Society , and the Zavoisky Award from the Kazan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences . ...
Go to Profile#3219
Scott J. Miller
#134137
Overall Influence
#3220
Hai‐liang Zhu
#134146
Overall Influence
#3221
Nenad Blau
#134206
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (25 years)
#3222
Peter. Warneck
#134243
Overall Influence
#3223
Eleanor Campbell
#110939
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (65 years)
Eleanor Elizabeth Bryce Campbell FRSE FRS FRSC FInstP is a Scottish scientist who holds the Chair of Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh. Education Campbell was born in 1960 in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute in Scotland to Isobel and William Cowan. She was schooled at Rothesay Academy before going on to study for a BSc in Chemical Physics at the University of Edinburgh, passing with first class honours in 1980. She remained at the university for further 4 years studying for a PhD, which she gained in 1986, on the topic of Electronic to rovibrational excitation in fast atom-molecule collisions.
Go to Profile#3224
Fritz Hulliger
#134299
Overall Influence
#3225
Rebecca Abergel
#88674
Overall Influence
Rebecca Abergel is a French inorganic chemist who specializes in the coordination chemistry between lanthanide and actinide complexes. Alongside the effects of heavy element exposure and contamination on different biological systems. Abergel is currently a faculty scientist and heavy element chemistry group leader at the chemical sciences division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California. She is also assistant professor of nuclear engineering at University of California, Berkeley.
Go to Profile#3226
Miqin Zhang
#129421
Overall Influence
Miqin Zhang is an American materials scientist who is the Kyocera Professor of Materials Science at the University of Washington. Her research considers the development of new biomaterials for medical applications. Her group develops nanoparticles for cancer diagnosis and imaging, biocompatible materials for drug delivery and cell-based biosensors.
Go to Profile#3227
Karim Zaghib
#95398
Overall Influence
Karim Zaghib is an Algerian-Canadian electrochemist and materials scientist known for his contributions to the field of energy storage and conversion. He is currently Professor of Chemical and Materials Engineering at Concordia University. As former director of research at Hydro-Québec, he helped to make it the world’s first company to use lithium iron phosphate in cathodes, and to develop natural graphite and nanotitanate anodes.
Go to Profile#3228
Viktor V. Zhdankin
#134413
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (69 years)
#3229
Leiv Kristen Sydnes
#122123
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (77 years)
Leiv Kristen Sydnes is a Norwegian chemist, specializing in organic chemistry. He was born in Haugesund, and took his education at the University of Oslo. He has the dr.philos. degree from 1978. He was hired as an associate professor at the University of Tromsø in 1978, and was later promoted to professor. In 1993 he moved to the University of Bergen. He presided over the Norwegian Chemical Society from 1992 to 1996 and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry from 2004 to 2005. He is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and the Norwegian Academy of Technolog...
Go to Profile#3230
Frederick J. De Serres
#134464
Overall Influence
#3231
Rudolf Krska
#134473
Overall Influence
#3232
Ole Engholm Buchardt
#134482
Overall Influence
#3233
Piotr Zelenay
#134491
Overall Influence
#3234
Daniel Martin Ziegler
#134527
Overall Influence
#3235
Ulrich Mohr
#134529
Overall Influence
#3236
Eric Beckman
#125290
Overall Influence
Eric J. Beckman is an American engineer. Beckman was born around 1959, and is married to Joanne. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1980, with a degree in chemical engineering. He worked for Monsanto Plastics and Resins and Union Carbide before opting to pursue further study, specializing in polymer chemistry and processing at the University of Massachusetts. Beckman earned his doctorate in 1988, and was a postdoctoral researcher at Battelle Memorial Institute's Pacific Northwest Laboratory. He joined the University of Pittsburgh faculty in 1989, and was named an associate professor in 1994, followed by a promotion to full professor in 1997.
Go to Profile#3237
Stanislav Miertuš
#134545
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (77 years)
#3238
Herschel H. Cudd
#84780
Overall Influence
1912 - 1992 (80 years)
Herschel Herbert Cudd was the director of the Georgia Institute of Technology's Engineering Experiment Station from 1952 to 1954, succeeding Gerald Rosselot in that position. He would later become the president of Amoco Chemical Company and serve on the board of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.
Go to Profile#3239
Carl R. Krüger
#134563
Overall Influence
#3240
Kazuo Takimiya
#134574
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (25 years)
#3241
Zoe Pikramenou
#26520
Overall Influence
Zoe Pikramenou is Professor of Inorganic Chemistry and Photophysics at the University of Birmingham, where she is the first female professor in the chemistry department. Education and career Pikramenou graduated in 1987 with a B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Athens in Greece. She then moved to Michigan State University where she worked in the lab of Daniel G. Nocera, graduating with a Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1993. She then conducted post-doctoral studies at University of Strasbourg in France as a Marie Curie and Collège de France fellow working with Nobel prize-winner Jean-Marie Lehn. ...
Go to Profile#3242
Richard Anthony Cox
#134585
Overall Influence
#3243
Robert E. Huie
#134588
Overall Influence
#3244
Koichi Shudo
#134599
Overall Influence
#3245
And Andrew J. Lovinger
#134607
Overall Influence
#3246
Charles A. Wilkie
#134629
Overall Influence
#3247
Karl Schügerl
#61530
Overall Influence
1927 - 2018 (91 years)
Karl Schügerl was a Hungarian-German chemical engineer. He was a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He also was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Budapest University. In 1992 vol. 46 of the Springer book series Advances in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology was dedicated to Karl Schügerl's 65-th birthday. Schügerl was awarded the DECHEMA Medal in 1997.
Go to Profile#3248
Masayoshi Watanabe
#52121
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (71 years)
is a Japanese chemist and professor of Yokohama National University. Academic career He studied chemistry at Waseda University, Japan, and gained his Ph.D. in engineering there in 1983. He joined the faculty at Yokohama National University, Japan, in 1992 as a lecturer and was promoted to associate, then full Professor in 1994 and 1998, respectively. From 1999–2002, he also served as a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo, Japan.
Go to Profile#3249
Hilmi Volkan Demir
#134725
Overall Influence
#3250
Marian Mikołajczyk
#134783
Overall Influence
