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,
#3651
Thomas R. Ziegler
#142305
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (70 years)
#3652
Sidney Hemming
#123431
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (65 years)
Sidney Hemming is an analytical geochemist known for her work documenting Earth's history through analysis of sediments and sedimentary rocks. She is a professor of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University.
Go to Profile#3653
Konstantin Bryliakov
#65645
Overall Influence
1977 - Present (48 years)
Konstantin P. Bryliakov is a Russian chemist and author of monographs and over 170 research papers, textbooks, and patents. He is a professor at Russian Academy of Sciences and Novosibirsk State University.
Go to Profile#3654
Chris Mack
#73216
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (65 years)
Chris Mack is an expert in photolithography. He received multiple undergraduate degrees from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in 1982, a master of science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1989, and a PhD in chemical engineering from The University of Texas in 1998.
Go to Profile#3655
Francesc Borrull
#142342
Overall Influence
#3656
Philip D. Whanger
#142379
Overall Influence
#3657
Truls Norby
#142382
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (70 years)
#3658
Noemí Zaritzky
#120475
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (74 years)
Noemí Elisabet Zaritzky is an Argentine chemistry professor and researcher. She holds a degree in chemical engineering by the Engineering Faculty of the Universidad Nacional de La Plata . In addition, she has a PhD in chemistry from the University of Buenos Aires and is senior lecturer at the Engineering Faculty of the Universidad Nacional de La Plata and the director of the CIDCA.
Go to Profile#3659
Sylvaine Neveu
#41982
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (57 years)
Sylvaine Neveu, born on 6 January 1968, is a French chemist and scientific director of the Solvay group. She received an Irène-Joliot-Curie Prize in 2016. Life and work Born in Rennes, France, Neveu attended Châteaubriand high school before enrolling at the ParisTech School of Chemistry. She went on to earn her doctorate in process engineering from the École Nationale Supérieure des mines in Paris and joined the Belgian company Solvay group in 1994. There, she is works at the Research and Innovation organization in charge of the development of products and processes for the Group’s Global Busi...
Go to Profile#3660
Lilli Hornig
#66552
Overall Influence
1921 - 2017 (96 years)
Lilli Hornig was a Czech-American scientist who worked on the Manhattan Project, as well as a feminist activist. Early life Hornig was born in Ústí nad Labem in 1921 to Erwin Schwenk, an organic chemist, and the former Rascha Shapiro, a pediatrician.
Go to Profile#3661
R. Eugene Moore
#142511
Overall Influence
#3662
Prasad L. Polavarapu
#142549
Overall Influence
#3663
Emīlija Gudriniece
#88084
Overall Influence
1920 - 2004 (84 years)
Emīlija Gudriniece was a Soviet and Latvian chemist who specialized in organic synthesis. She focused on the practical use of substances and synthesized furacilin, for which she won a state prize. She was one of the first to recognize the potential of using vegetable oils as biofuels and initiated the study of rapeseed oil refining in Latvia. She was a prolific publisher, edited the Latvian Journal of Chemistry, and published a Latvian language textbook on organic synthesis methods. She was awarded multiple prizes and recognition for her work.
Go to Profile#3664
J. A. M. (hans) Kuipers
#142567
Overall Influence
#3665
D. J. Wally Geldart
#142569
Overall Influence
#3666
Akiko Kobayashi
#142572
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (82 years)
Professor is a Japanese chemist born in Tokyo. She is the designer and creator of Ni2, the world's first single-component molecular metal. Biography Kobayashi was born in 1943. Her mother was a musician and her father was a physicist. Kobayashi graduated with a B.Sc from the University of Tokyo, Department of Chemistry in 1967 and earned her Ph.D. at the University of Tokyo in 1972. Staying at the university, she became a research associate , associate professor , and full professor . In 2006, Kobayashi became a Professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo and accepted a position at Nihon ...
Go to Profile#3667
Winslow S. Caughey
#142608
Overall Influence
#3668
Richard D. McCullough
#86971
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (66 years)
Richard Dean McCullough is an American chemist, entrepreneur, first-generation college graduate, and president of Florida State University. He previously served as Vice Provost for Research at Harvard University, where he was also a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering in the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. In 2021 McCullough was selected to serve as the 16th president of Florida State University after the departure of former President John E. Thrasher. He assumed office on August 16, 2021.
Go to Profile#3669
Derek Owen. Northwood
#142613
Overall Influence
#3670
Yuyang Shao
#142614
Overall Influence
#3671
Claire E. Eyers
#93967
Overall Influence
Claire Eyers is a British biological mass spectrometrist who is professor of biological mass spectrometry at the University of Liverpool, where she heads up the Centre for Proteome Research. Her research publications list her either as Claire E Haydon or Claire E Eyers .
Go to Profile#3672
Julia Rice
#132296
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (65 years)
Julia Elizabeth Rice is a British-American computational chemist who works for IBM Research at their Almaden Research Center in San Jose California. Her work their involves the study of nonlinear optics in the simulation of organic molecules, the development of the Mulliken software package for quantum chemistry, the management of scientific data, and connections to statistical mechanics.
Go to Profile#3673
Myrna Simpson
#60735
Overall Influence
Myrna Simpson is a Canadian research chemist who is the Canada Research Chair in Integrative Molecular Biogeochemistry at the University of Toronto. She is also Director of the Environmental Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Centre. Her research consider the molecular level mechanisms that underpin environmental processes, and the development of advanced analytical tools to better understand environmental health.
Go to Profile#3674
Jerzy Cioslowski
#142656
Overall Influence
#3675
Nobuo Yanagisawa
#142660
Overall Influence
#3676
Klaus B. Jann
#142674
Overall Influence
#3677
B. M. Choudary
#43433
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (79 years)
Boyapati Manoranjan Choudary is an Indian inorganic chemist and a former senior scientist at Indian Institute of Chemical Technology. He is known for his studies on Nanomaterials to Nanomedicine and is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, and the Indian Academy of Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1990, for his contributions to chemical sciences.
Go to Profile#3678
Henri D. Chanzy
#142715
Overall Influence
#3679
Arthur G. Maki
#142740
Overall Influence
#3680
Peter Hamm
#142782
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (59 years)
#3681
Stuart Rowan
#116100
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (56 years)
Stuart J. Rowan is a Scottish chemist. Early life and education Rowan was born in Edinburgh in 1969, and raised in Troon, South Ayrshire. He completed a Bachelor of Science in chemistry at the University of Glasgow.
Go to Profile#3682
Peter J. H. Scott
#82689
Overall Influence
1979 - Present (46 years)
Peter J. H. Scott FRSC CChem is a British and American chemist and radiochemist who is a professor of radiology, professor of pharmacology and professor of medicinal chemistry, as well as a core member of the Rogel Cancer Center at the University of Michigan in the United States. He is Chief of Nuclear Medicine and director of the University of Michigan Positron Emission Tomography Center, and runs a research group developing new radiochemistry methodology and novel PET radiotracers.
Go to Profile#3683
Leroy. Eyring
#142849
Overall Influence
#3684
Matthias Ernzerhof
#142852
Overall Influence
#3685
Pavel Jandera
#142860
Overall Influence
#3686
Michal Otyepka
#142921
Overall Influence
1975 - Present (50 years)
#3687
Alexandre Fabiato
#142928
Overall Influence
#3688
Katharina Lodders
#137823
Overall Influence
Katharina Lodders is a German-American planetary scientist and cosmochemist who works as a research professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, where she co-directs the Planetary Chemistry Laboratory. Her research concerns the chemical composition of solar and stellar environments, including the atmospheres of planets, exoplanets, and brown dwarfs, and the study of the temperatures at which elements condense in stellar environments.
Go to Profile#3689
Jean‐pierre Genêt
#142939
Overall Influence
#3690
Kathleen J. Stebe
#113554
Overall Influence
Kathleen Stebe is a scientist with areas of expertise in Nanostructured Materials, as well as Surface and Colloidal Science. She is also a Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at The University of Pennsylvania.
Go to Profile#3691
Noboru Sonoda
#142972
Overall Influence
#3692
Philip J. Bray
#142973
Overall Influence
#3693
Guy G. Dodson
#142998
Overall Influence
#3694
Helmar Görls
#143000
Overall Influence
#3695
Amy Prieto
#73861
Overall Influence
Amy Prieto is a Professor of Chemistry at Colorado State University and the Founder and Chief Technical Officer of Prieto Battery. Education and early career Prieto received her Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry and philosophy from Williams College in 1996. There, she undertook an honors thesis entitled "The Synthesis and Characterization of Precursors to Zirconium-Containing Liquid Crystals" under the mentorship of Lee Young Park. Before beginning her doctoral work, she was a summer research fellow at Bell Labs, which she credits with fostering an appreciation for cross-disciplinary collaboration.
Go to Profile#3696
Shlomo Margel
#134613
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (80 years)
Shlomo Margel is a Professor of Chemistry at Bar Ilan University specializing in polymers, biopolymers, functional thin films, encapsulation, surface chemistry, nanotechnology, nanobiotechnology and agro-nanotechnology.
Go to Profile#3697
Amnon Albeck
#108986
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (67 years)
Amnon Albeck is an organic and bioorganic chemist. Biography Amnon Albeck was born in Jerusalem, Israel, to Michael and Shulamit Albeck on August 1, 1958. Amnon's father is the chemist Prof. Michael Albeck, the fifth president of Bar Ilan University and former president of The Israel Chemical Society . His grandfather, Hanoch Albeck was a professor of Talmud at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who was one of the founders of the scientific approach to the study of the Mishna.
Go to Profile#3698
Alastair Charles Lewis
#118736
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (54 years)
Alastair Charles Lewis is a professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at the University of York and the National Centre for Atmospheric Science . He has been Chair of the UK Government's independent science advisory body on air pollution, the Defra Air Quality Expert Group, since 2019.
Go to Profile#3699
Dennis G. Hall
#143098
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (57 years)
#3700
Cristina Nerín
#143122
Overall Influence
