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,
#3601
Johan Wilhelm Geus
#141289
Overall Influence
#3602
Paul Braterman
#73706
Overall Influence
1938 - Present (87 years)
Paul Sydney Braterman is Emeritus Professor of chemistry at the University of North Texas and honorary senior Research Fellow in Chemistry at the University of Glasgow. Braterman is also a science writer and education campaigner. The author of "From Stars to Stalagmites", and over 120 technical publications, Braterman is a board member of the British Centre for Science Education, and the Scottish Secular Society. Braterman has campaigned successfully against creationism in the classroom in both England and Scotland.
Go to Profile#3603
Guy Lloyd-Jones
#92292
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (59 years)
Guy Charles Lloyd-Jones FRS FRSE is a British chemist. He is the Forbes Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom. His research is largely concerned with the determination of organometallic reaction mechanisms, especially those of palladium-catalyzed coupling reactions such as Suzuki-Miyaura coupling.
Go to Profile#3604
Rigoberto Hernandez
#99548
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (58 years)
Rigoberto Hernandez is an American chemist and academic. He is The Gompf Family Professor at the Johns Hopkins University and was formerly a board member of the American Chemical Society . Before his appointment at Johns Hopkins, Hernandez spent 20 years as a faculty member at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he became a full professor. In addition to his work as a professor, Hernandez is also the director of the Open Chemistry Collaborative in Diversity Equity, a program dedicated to creating more diversity in academia.
Go to Profile#3605
Gareth R. Eaton
#141390
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (85 years)
#3606
Abdul Kariem Bin Hj Mohd Arof
#141395
Overall Influence
#3607
Andreas Luch
#141417
Overall Influence
#3608
Michael C. Pirrung
#141431
Overall Influence
#3609
Robert R. Birge
#141437
Overall Influence
#3610
Denis D. Dochain
#141438
Overall Influence
#3611
And Anders Holmén
#141447
Overall Influence
#3612
Maria D Luque de Castro
#141455
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (81 years)
#3613
Witold Brostow
#141524
Overall Influence
#3614
Hitoshi Tamiaki
#141528
Overall Influence
#3615
Chun‐hui Huang
#141539
Overall Influence
#3616
James L. Leighton
#139830
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (61 years)
James Lincoln Leighton is a Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at Columbia University. He is known for his non-aldol approaches to polyketides. As an undergraduate at Yale University , Leighton worked for synthetic chemist Samuel J. Danishefsky. After 2 years with Merck Research Laboratories, Leighton began his graduate studies with Abbott and James Lawrence Professor David A. Evans at Harvard University , culminating in the total syntheses of both Calyculin A and Zaragozic acid. Leighton continued his chemical studies as an NSF postdoctoral fellow with Sheldon Emery Professor Eric N.
Go to Profile#3617
Paul W. Ayers
#141583
Overall Influence
#3618
Wolfgang Rettig
#141589
Overall Influence
#3619
J. Michael Newton
#141706
Overall Influence
#3620
Georges Hadziioannou
#141728
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (75 years)
#3621
Claire J. Carmalt
#139998
Overall Influence
Claire Jane Carmalt is a British chemist who is a Professor of Inorganic Chemistry and Head of the Department of Chemistry at University College London. Her research considers the synthesis of molecular precursors and the development of thin film deposition techniques.
Go to Profile#3622
Emilie Ringe
#105361
Overall Influence
1984 - Present (41 years)
Emilie Ringe is an American chemist who is an assistant professor at the University of Cambridge. She was selected by Chemical & Engineering News as one of its "Talented Twelve" young scientists in 2021.
Go to Profile#3623
Allan L. Myers
#141787
Overall Influence
#3624
Andrew P. Abbott
#141789
Overall Influence
#3625
Mohsen Adeli
#73843
Overall Influence
1972 - Present (53 years)
Mohsen Adeli is an Iranian chemist and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Lorestan University and guest professor at the Free University of Berlin. He is known for his research works in the field of macromolecular chemistry, nanomaterials and materials chemistry.
Go to Profile#3626
Muhammad Akhtar
#84056
Overall Influence
1933 - Present (92 years)
Muhammad Akhtar FRS is a British-Pakistani biochemist, and former Director General of the School of Biological Sciences, at the University of the Punjab. Biography He spent the years 1959 to 1963 doing science research in Cambridge, Massachusetts before moving to the University of Southampton, UK as a lecturer, then reader and then Professor of Biochemistry . From 1978 until 1991 he was head of the Department of Biochemistry. He was chairman of the School of Biochemical and Physiological Sciences from 1983 to 1987 and chairman of the Institute of Biomolecular Sciences from 1989 to 1991. He w...
Go to Profile#3627
Robert Marc Mazo
#140925
Overall Influence
1930 - Present (95 years)
Robert Marc Mazo is a theoretical physical chemist who specialized in statistical mechanics. Educated at Harvard and Yale, he was a research associate at the University of Chicago, and he taught at the California Institute of Technology prior to joining the University of Oregon faculty in 1962. He was designated a professor emeritus in 1996. He is a member of the American Association of University Professors and a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
Go to Profile#3628
Tomoko Ohnishi
#141826
Overall Influence
#3629
Joseph S. Wall
#141865
Overall Influence
#3630
Mortimer M. Labes
#141879
Overall Influence
#3631
Ron Heeren
#85979
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (60 years)
Ron M.A. Heeren is a Dutch scientist in mass spectrometry imaging. He is currently a distinguished professor at Maastricht University and the scientific director of the Multimodal Molecular Imaging Institute , where he heads the division of Imaging Mass Spectrometry.
Go to Profile#3632
Nikolaos Mihalopoulos
#141969
Overall Influence
#3633
Peter Clive Hayes
#142008
Overall Influence
#3634
Branko N. Popov
#142011
Overall Influence
#3635
Steen Hansen Mørup
#142024
Overall Influence
#3636
Douglas Philp
#132877
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (58 years)
Douglas Philp is a Scottish chemist who is currently Professor in Chemistry at the University of St Andrews. He was previously a Reader in Physical Organic Chemistry at the University of Birmingham.
Go to Profile#3637
Masa‐aki Kakimoto
#142063
Overall Influence
#3638
Franklin Hutchinson
#142103
Overall Influence
#3639
Martin D. Burke
#108173
Overall Influence
1976 - Present (49 years)
Martin D. Burke is the May and Ving Lee Professor for Chemical Innovation at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, and Associate Dean of Research in the Carle Illinois College of Medicine. His research has involved the development of antifungal treatments for cystic fibrosis, and the development of a COVID-19 test that the University of Illinois has used over one million times.
Go to Profile#3640
Antonio Tiripicchio
#142123
Overall Influence
#3641
Pascal Richet
#142126
Overall Influence
#3642
Peter. J. Steel
#142153
Overall Influence
#3643
Ali Akbar Moosavi‐movahedi
#142156
Overall Influence
#3644
Kazuo Achiwa
#142168
Overall Influence
#3645
Arvind Varma
#142203
Overall Influence
#3646
Oluwole Babafemi Familoni
#121456
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (68 years)
Oluwole Babafemi Familoni is a professor of Chemistry at the University of Lagos and member of the Governing Council of the Institute of Chartered Chemists of Nigeria. Between 2000 and 2002, he was the Sub-Dean of the Faculty of Science of the University of Lagos. He was appointed the Head of the Department of Chemistry between 2002 and 2005. He later became the dean of science between 2008 and 2012. He is a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science, elected into the academy's fellowship at its Annual General Meeting held in January 2015. He is currently the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of University of Lagos.
Go to Profile#3647
Shin-ichi Fujita
#142225
Overall Influence
#3648
Emilio Benfenati
#142226
Overall Influence
#3649
Robert Prof. Dr. Vaßen
#142231
Overall Influence
#3650
Nicolas Dauphas
#142182
Overall Influence
1975 - Present (50 years)
Nicolas Dauphas is a planetary scientist and isotope geochemist. He is a professor of geochemistry and cosmochemistry in the Department of the Geophysical Sciences and Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago, where he a Louis Block professor, being appointed to that professorship in 2016. His research focuses on isotope geochemistry and cosmochemistry. He studies the origin and evolution of planets and other objects in the solar system by analyzing the natural distributions of elements and their isotopes using mass spectrometers.
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