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 …
See additional learning tools, study tips, features on campus life and much more at our Student Resources Headquarters.
List of the most influential people in Chemistry,
#4151
Martin Lutz,
#151726
Overall Influence
#4152
John A. Quinn
#123142
Overall Influence
1932 - 2016 (84 years)
John A. Quinn, Ph.D. was the Robert D. Bent Professor Emeritus of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science. He was a leader in the fields of mass transfer and membrane transport in synthetic membranes since the 1960s. In the early phase of his career at the University of Illinois, Quinn and his students devised simple, elegant experiments to elucidate the role of the interface in mass transfer between phases. In later work at Penn, he applied these insights to problems of engineering and biological significance involving chemical reaction and diffusion within and through both finely porous and reactive membranes.
Go to Profile#4153
Leslie V. Woodcock
#113725
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (80 years)
Leslie Victor Woodcock is Emeritus Professor of Chemical Thermodynamics at the University of Manchester. He has also held appointments at the University of Cambridge, the University of Amsterdam, and the University of Bradford. He has worked with simulations for the U.S. Air Force.
Go to Profile#4154
Winfried Boos
#151762
Overall Influence
#4155
Alison Rodger
#130566
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (66 years)
Alison Rodger FRSC FRACI FAA CChem is a professor of chemistry at Macquarie University. Her research considers biomacromolecular structures and their characterisation. She is currently developing Raman Linear Difference Spectroscopy and fluorescence detected liner dichroism to understand biomacromolecular structure and interactions with application to the division of bacterial cells.
Go to Profile#4156
Winston Jonas Brill
#151781
Overall Influence
#4157
John H. Enemark
#151787
Overall Influence
#4158
Michael A. Henderson
#151807
Overall Influence
#4159
Debabrata Maiti
#151814
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (25 years)
#4160
Phyllis R. Brown
#151825
Overall Influence
#4161
Gerardine Botte
#113320
Overall Influence
Gerardine "Gerri" Botte is a Venezuelan-American chemist who is a Professor and the Whitacre Department Chair in Chemical Engineering at Texas Tech University. Her research considers electrochemical engineering and the development of sustainable manufacturing processes. Botte is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Applied Electrochemistry and a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society.
Go to Profile#4162
Alain Celzard
#151860
Overall Influence
#4163
Martin Schoell
#151869
Overall Influence
#4164
Nina McClelland
#75577
Overall Influence
1930 - 2020 (90 years)
Nina Irene McClelland was an American chemist. She was dean emeritus and professor of chemistry at the University of Toledo. Early life and education McClelland was raised by her mother Lillian McClelland, who worked as a foreign language teacher. Growing up, McClelland took vocal lessons and was taught six languages by her mother. McClelland's aunt, Fern Mervos, was a professor in the department of mathematics at the University of Toledo. McClelland says she was very close to her aunt and as a child would visit her at work.
Go to Profile#4165
Michael Hodson Gordon
#151928
Overall Influence
#4166
De Ming Chen
#151929
Overall Influence
#4167
Timothy J. Rink
#151979
Overall Influence
#4168
Georgia Chenevix-Trench
#88731
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (66 years)
Georgia Chenevix-Trench is an Australian cancer researcher who investigates genetic predispositions to cancer. Chenevix-Trench was born in Nairobi, Kenya. She received her undergraduate degree in 1980 from the department of genetics at Trinity College in Ireland and was subsequently awarded her PhD in 1985 from the department of human genetics at the Medical College of Virginia, USA. and in 1986 she commenced her post-doctoral work there. In 1989 she moved to Australia where she started working as a research officer at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research . She currently works at th...
Go to Profile#4169
Yu Wei Deng
#151994
Overall Influence
#4170
Milton L. Sunde
#152009
Overall Influence
#4171
Thomas C. Hamilton
#152017
Overall Influence
#4172
Kingo Itaya
#152024
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (76 years)
#4173
Andrzej Korneliusz Bledzki
#152026
Overall Influence
#4174
Keisuke Suzuki
#152032
Overall Influence
#4175
J. P. Adler Moore
#152038
Overall Influence
#4176
Donald S. Burnett
#152040
Overall Influence
1937 - Present (88 years)
#4177
Stanisław Penczek
#152055
Overall Influence
#4178
Norman Marvin. Edelstein
#152094
Overall Influence
#4179
Francesca M. Kerton
#75192
Overall Influence
Francesca M. Kerton is a green chemist and Professor of Chemistry at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. Early life Kerton completed her B.Sc. in chemistry with environmental science at the University of Kent. She then completed her D.Phil. at the University of Sussex.
Go to Profile#4180
Elizabeth A. Winzeler
#136555
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (63 years)
Elizabeth Ann Winzeler is an American microbiologist and geneticist. She is a professor in the Division of Host-Microbe Systems and Therapeutics of the School of Medicine at the University of California at San Diego. Although she works in a variety of different disease areas, most research focuses on developing better medicines for the treatment and eradication of malaria.
Go to Profile#4181
Svetlana Mintova
#152179
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (63 years)
#4182
Evgeny Katz
#152217
Overall Influence
#4183
Baowei Hu
#152246
Overall Influence
#4184
Colin Vincent
#116079
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (25 years)
Colin Angus Vincent, OBE, FRSE, is a British electrochemist with a specific interest in high energy batteries. He attended Oban High School and Glasgow University where he was medallist in Chemistry and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree, a Ph.D. and later a D.Sc. During his academic career he has held posts at the University of Glasgow and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Chiefly, though, he was Master and Deputy Principal at St Andrews University, with a spell as Acting Vice-Chancellor.
Go to Profile#4185
Cheng‐chun Tang
#152292
Overall Influence
#4186
Jackie Akhavan
#112774
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (75 years)
Jacqueline Akhavan is a British chemist and expert in the chemistry of explosives. Early life and education Akhavan grew up in a house in Bermondsey, South London where there was an outdoor toilet and a tin bath. of postdoctoral research, she decided that her future lay in academia. She was then advised against going directly into a university career. She was instead told by her PhD advisor to go into the industry, as experience in industry would help her gain an understanding of the commercial environment. This advice helped her move back into academia once she decided to become a lecturer. A...
Go to Profile#4187
Alfred Rieche
#74869
Overall Influence
1902 - 2001 (99 years)
Alfred Rieche was a German chemist.
Go to Profile#4188
Ivan H. El‐sayed
#152318
Overall Influence
#4189
Joachim Mayer
#152364
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (57 years)
#4190
Richard Leslie Harlow
#152392
Overall Influence
#4191
Charles David Stout
#152394
Overall Influence
#4192
Heidar‐ali Tajmir‐riahi
#152436
Overall Influence
#4193
Ya‐wen Tang
#152495
Overall Influence
#4194
Thomas Leisinger
#152654
Overall Influence
#4195
Detlev Prof. Dr. Stöver
#152663
Overall Influence
#4196
Charmian O'Connor
#125813
Overall Influence
1937 - Present (88 years)
Dame Charmian Jocelyn O'Connor is a New Zealand physical organic chemist. She became the first female professor of chemistry at the University of Auckland in 1986, and retired in 2004. Early life and education Born in Woodville on 4 August 1937, the daughter of Cecil and Kathrene Bishop, O'Connor was educated at Hastings High School and Auckland Girls' Grammar School. She went on to study chemistry at Auckland University College, graduating Bachelor of Science in 1957, Master of Science with first-class honours in 1958, and completing a PhD in physical organic chemistry in 1963 at what by t...
Go to Profile#4197
Alberto Credi
#152706
Overall Influence
1970 - Present (55 years)
#4198
Ezio Martuscelli
#152758
Overall Influence
#4199
Alexander V. Nichols
#152788
Overall Influence
#4200
Vadim Cherezov
#152797
Overall Influence
