Search People Result | Academic Influence

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).

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List of the most influential people in Communications,

#5551

Susan Tully

#90714

Overall Influence

1967 - Present (59 years)

Susan Tully is an English actress, television producer, and television director. Her most prominent television acting roles were those of rebellious teenager Suzanne Ross in Grange Hill and single mother Michelle Fowler in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Tully played one of the original EastEnders characters, appearing in the first episode on 19 February 1985 and remaining central to the series until 1995.

#5552

Aaron Rhyne

#116343

Overall Influence

Aaron Rhyne is an American video and projection designer for live theater. He is best known for his designs in the Broadway productions of Anastasia, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, and Bonnie and Clyde, as well as The Ghosts of Versailles at LA Opera. He won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Projection Design in 2014 and 2017.

#5553

Miodrag Živković

#82440

Overall Influence

1928 - 2020 (92 years)

Miodrag Živković was a Serbian sculptor and university professor. He is well-known for his work on memorial complexes throughout Yugoslavia. Biography Živković was born in Leskovac. After moving to Belgrade with his family in 1944, he graduated from the Academy of Applied Arts in Belgrade in 1952. After working as an arts teaching instructor in Mladenovac and Novi Beograd, he was employed as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Applied Arts within the University of Arts in Belgrade, becoming Dean in 1974, a position he occupied until 1977. From 1977 to 1984 he was head of the Faculty's sculpture department.

#5554

Harvey Mason

#62222

Overall Influence

1947 - Present (79 years)

Harvey William Mason is an American jazz drummer, record producer, and member of the band Fourplay. He was the original drummer for Herbie Hancock’s band The Headhunters. Mason, who attended Berklee in the 1960s, received an Honorary Doctorate at Berklee's 2015 Commencement Ceremony for his achievement and influence in music and for his enduring contributions to American and international culture.

#5555

Brooks Haxton

#81596

Overall Influence

1950 - Present (76 years)

Brooks Haxton is an American poet and translator. His publications include nine books of original poems and four books of translations from the German, the French, and ancient Greek. In 2014 he published Fading Hearts on the River, a book of nonfiction about his son's professional poker career.

#5556

Jay Farrar

#72625

Overall Influence

1966 - Present (60 years)

Jay Stuart Farrar is an American songwriter and musician currently based in St. Louis. A member of two critically acclaimed music groups, Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt, he began his solo music career in 2001. Beyond his established talents as a songwriter, he is a guitarist, pianist, harmonicist, and a vocalist.

#5557

Paul Verhoeven

#80744

Overall Influence

1938 - Present (88 years)

Paul Verhoeven is a Dutch filmmaker. His blending of graphic violence and sexual content with social satire is a trademark of both his drama and science fiction films. After receiving attention for the TV series Floris in his native Netherlands, Verhoeven got his film breakthrough with the romantic drama Turkish Delight , starring frequent collaborator Rutger Hauer. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and later received the award for Best Dutch Film of the Century at the Netherlands Film Festival. Verhoeven later directed successful Dutch films including the pe...

#5558

Candice Breitz

#69292

Overall Influence

1972 - Present (54 years)

Candice Breitz is a South African white artist who works primarily in video and photography. She won a 2007 Prince Pierre de Monaco Prize. Her work is often characterized by multi-channel moving image installations, with a focus on the “attention economy” of contemporary media and culture, often represented in the parallelism of the identification with fictional characters and celebrity figures and widespread indifference to global issues. In 2017, she was selected to represent South Africa at the 57th Venice Biennale.

#5559

Virginia Grey

#88513

Overall Influence

1917 - 2004 (87 years)

Virginia Grey was an American actress who appeared in more than 100 films and a number of radio and television shows from the 1930s to the early 1980s. Biography Grey was born on March 22, 1917, in Edendale, California, the youngest of three daughters of Florence Anna Grey and director Ray Grey. One of her early babysitters was film star Gloria Swanson. Grey debuted at the age of 10 in the silent film Uncle Tom's Cabin as Little Eva. She continued acting for a few more years, but then left acting for three years to finish her education.

#5560

Steven Staryk

#63397

Overall Influence

1932 - Present (94 years)

Steven Sam Staryk, OC is a Canadian violin virtuoso. He had a distinguished solo career and was concertmaster of several major orchestras, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He appeared frequently as soloist in violin concertos with these orchestras. Staryk also had an extensive and awarded teaching career.

#5561

Aone van Engelenhoven

#121203

Overall Influence

1962 - Present (64 years)

Aone van Engelenhoven is a Dutch linguist and anthropologist who teaches at Leiden University. He conducts research in the field of linguistics and anthropology, with a focus on smaller languages from Indonesia. He has carried out extensive research about languages and traditions of Maluku and East Timor.

#5562

Oswald Werner

#62326

Overall Influence

1928 - 2023 (95 years)

Oswald J. Werner , better known as Ossy Werner, was a Czechoslovakian-born American linguist. He was Professor of Anthropology and Linguistics for thirty years at Northwestern University and retired in 1998 as Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Linguistics. During this period he researched the Navajo language and culture. Although specializing in their medicine and science, he impacted anthropology, linguistics, ethnography, ethnographic methodology, ethnoscience, and cognitive anthropology.

#5563

Jorja Smith

#89432

Overall Influence

1997 - Present (29 years)

Jorja Alice Smith is an English singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Walsall, West Midlands, she has been writing songs since the age of 11. In 2012, Smith's friend uploaded her cover of Labrinth's "Earthquake" to YouTube, which led to her discovery by record producer Guy Moot. After her first two singles received broader recognition, she signed with Sony/ATV in early 2016, releasing two EPs throughout later that year and into 2017.

#5564

Jeanine Tesori

#71718

Overall Influence

1961 - Present (65 years)

Jeanine Tesori, known earlier in her career as Jeanine Levenson, is an American composer and musical arranger best known for her work in the theater. She is the most prolific and honored female theatrical composer in history, with five Broadway musicals and six Tony Award nominations. She won the 1999 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in a Play for Nicholas Hytner's production of Twelfth Night at Lincoln Center, the 2004 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music for Caroline, or Change, the 2015 Tony Award for Best Original Score for Fun Home , making them the first female writing team to win that award, and the 2023 Tony Award for Best Original Score for Kimberly Akimbo .

#5565

Paul Marcotte

#121992

Overall Influence

Paul Marcotte is a Canadian horn player, music pedagogue, and music director. He is the former director of personnel and principal horn player of the Montréal Chamber Orchestra, and currently serves as horn player and librarian to the Orchestre Métropolitain of which he is a founding member. He is also the current artistic director of the jazz brass ensemble Omnitonique, and has played as a freelance musician with many notable music organizations in the Montreal area, including the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the Opéra de Montréal.

#5566

Toshio Matsumoto

Toshio Matsumoto

#89519

Overall Influence

1932 - 2017 (85 years)

Toshio Matsumoto was a Japanese film director and video artist. Biography Matsumoto was born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan and graduated from Tokyo University in 1955. His first short was Ginrin, which he made in 1955. His most famous film is Funeral Parade of Roses . The film was loosely inspired by Oedipus Rex, featuring a transgender woman trying to move up in the world of Tokyo Hostess clubs.

#5567

Mike Edwards

#105443

Overall Influence

1948 - 2010 (62 years)

Michael Edwards , later known as Swami Deva Pramada or simply Pramada, was an English cellist and music teacher. He was a member of the Electric Light Orchestra in their early years. Early life Mike Edwards was born on 31 May 1948 in West London to Frank and Lillian Edwards. The family lived in South Ealing and he went to school at Grange Primary School. He passed the Eleven-plus exam and went to Ealing Grammar School for Boys where an inspirational music teacher John Railton encouraged his love of music.

#5568

Jem Bendell

#45504

Overall Influence

1972 - Present (54 years)

Jem Bendell is an emeritus professor of sustainability leadership with the University of Cumbria in the UK. He is best known for originating in 2018 the concept of "deep adaptation" for individuals and communities anticipating the consequences of ongoing climate change. In 2019 he founded the Deep Adaptation Forum to support peer-to-peer communications in developing positive responses at the individual and community levels to societal disruptions induced by climate change.

#5569

Arca

#66077

Overall Influence

1989 - Present (37 years)

Alejandra Ghersi Rodríguez , known professionally as Arca, is a Venezuelan musician and record producer based in Barcelona, Spain. She initially began releasing music under the name of Nuuro. After attending the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, Ghersi first released the EP Baron Libre under the name Arca and subsequently released the EPs Stretch 1 and Stretch 2; the latter experimented with hip hop and brought her attention from prominent music publications.

#5570

Chris Watson

#92251

Overall Influence

1952 - Present (74 years)

Christopher Richard Watson is an English musician and sound recordist. A founding member of the Sheffield-based industrial band Cabaret Voltaire, Watson's subsequent work in field recordings since 1981 has included television documentaries and experimental musical collaborations.

#5571

Rich Mullins

#77693

Overall Influence

1955 - 1997 (42 years)

Richard Wayne Mullins was an American contemporary Christian music singer and songwriter best known for his worship songs "Awesome God" and "Sometimes by Step". Some of his albums were listed by CCM Magazine in their ranking of the 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music, including A Liturgy, a Legacy, & a Ragamuffin Band at No. 3, The World As Best As I Remember It, Volume One at No. 7, and Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth at No. 31. His songs have been performed by numerous artists, including Caedmon's Call, Five Iron Frenzy, Amy Grant, Carolyn Arends, Jars of Clay, Michael W. Smith, John Tesh, Chris Rice, Rebecca St.

#5572

Odysseas Dimitriadis

#84400

Overall Influence

1908 - 2005 (97 years)

Odysseas Dimitriadis was a Georgian of Greek descent and Soviet classical music conductor. During his 70-year career, Odysseas had conducted a number of the world's leading orchestras, as well as being a main conductor of Georgia, USSR state orchestra and the Bolshoy Theatre orchestra. In 1980 he conducted during the opening and closing ceremony of the 1980 Summer Olympics, held in Moscow. He has received a number of awards and titles, including Ambassador of Hellenism, National Artist of the Soviet Union and Golden Medal of Athens.

#5573

MC Lars

#63597

Overall Influence

1982 - Present (44 years)

Andrew Robert Nielsen , known professionally as MC Lars, is an American record producer, rapper, cartoonist, podcaster and educator. Lars is one of the self-proclaimed originators of "lit-hop", and is the founder and CEO of the independent record label Horris Records. Lars has been cited as the creator of the term "iGeneration", which he was credited with doing in 2003.

#5574

Bibhuti Bhusan Nandy

#47505

Overall Influence

1940 - 2008 (68 years)

Bibhuti Bhusan Nandy was an Indian IPS officer, intelligence agent, former National Security Advisor of Mauritius and a columnist. He served in the Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police in various capacities, playing a key role in the Bangladesh Liberation War.

#5575

David A. Whetten

#28260

Overall Influence

1946 - Present (80 years)

David Allred Whetten is an American organizational theorist and Professor of Organizational Leadership and Strategy at the Marriott School of Management at the Brigham Young University. He is known for his work on organizational identity research methodology, and organizational effectiveness.

#5576

Elizabeth Henstridge

Elizabeth Henstridge

#86158

Overall Influence

1987 - Present (39 years)

Elizabeth Frances Henstridge is an English actress and model. She starred as Jemma Simmons in the ABC superhero action drama series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. , set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

#5577

Johnny McDaid

#61885

Overall Influence

1976 - Present (50 years)

John McDaid is a singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer from Northern Ireland. He is a member of the band Snow Patrol and has written songs with other artists, including Ed Sheeran, P!nk, and Robbie Williams.

#5578

Iestyn George

#45252

Overall Influence

1966 - Present (60 years)

Iestyn George is a Welsh journalist, who previously worked as an editor at both NME and GQ and is now a lecturer at University of Brighton. Journalism career During the 1990s, George was a writer for NME magazine, and became news editor. He became the marketing manager for Welsh band the Manic Street Preachers between 1999 and 2003. By 2001, George was also the music editor for GQ magazine, and became deputy editor at Golf Punk magazine.

#5579

John Robb

#79193

Overall Influence

1961 - Present (65 years)

John David Robb is an English musician and journalist best known as the bassist and singer for the mid-1980s post-punk band The Membranes. He writes for and runs the Louder Than War website and a monthly music magazine of the same name. He has written several books on music and occasionally makes media appearances as a music commentator. He is also the vocalist in the punk rock band Goldblade. Since 2014 Robb has run the music writing festival Louder Than Words which is held in Manchester every November, and is a TEDx speaker and spoken word artist.

#5580

Danny Kelly

#88702

Overall Influence

1956 - Present (70 years)

Danny Kelly is a British music journalist, sports presenter, and internet publisher. He is the former editor of the music weekly New Musical Express and Q magazine. Early life Danny Kelly was born in Islington to Irish parents and attended Our Lady of Sacred Heart in Eden Grove and then St Aloysius College, Highgate. Kelly has worked in print and radio journalism for over thirty years. He began writing for New Musical Express in about 1983 and was its editor from the late 1980s to 1992.

#5581

Melba Liston

#105007

Overall Influence

1926 - 1999 (73 years)

Melba Doretta Liston was an American jazz trombonist, arranger, and composer. Other than those playing in all-female bands, she was the first woman trombonist to play in big bands during the 1940s and 1960s, but as her career progressed she became better known as an arranger, particularly in partnership with pianist Randy Weston. Other major artists with whom she worked include Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, John Coltrane, and Count Basie.

#5582

Peggy Lee

#86572

Overall Influence

1920 - 2002 (82 years)

Norma Deloris Engstrom , known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress, over a career spanning seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, Lee created a sophisticated persona, writing music for films, acting, and recording conceptual record albums combining poetry and music. Called the "Queen of American pop music," Lee recorded over 1,100 masters and composed over 270 songs.

#5583

Richard Hudson

#99793

Overall Influence

1948 - Present (78 years)

Richard William Stafford Hudson is an English musician who played drums and sitar for the Strawbs. He later joined forces with bassist John Ford to form a duo, Hudson Ford, in which he played guitar and sang.

#5584

György Sándor

#92339

Overall Influence

1912 - 2005 (93 years)

György Sándor was a Hungarian pianist and writer. Early years Sándor was born in Budapest. He studied at the Liszt Academy in Budapest under Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, and debuted as a performer in 1930. He toured as a concert pianist through the 1930s, making his Carnegie Hall debut in 1939. He became an American citizen and served in the Army Signal Corps and the Intelligence and Special Services from 1942 to 1944.

#5585

Kazumi Watanabe

#97551

Overall Influence

1953 - Present (73 years)

Kazumi Watanabe is a Japanese guitarist. Other guitarists such as Luke Takamura and Sugizo have cited him as an influence. Career Watanabe learned guitar at the age of 12 from Sadanori Nakamure at the Yamaha Music School in Tokyo. He released his first album in 1971. In 1979, he formed a jazz rock band with some of Japan's leading studio musicians, and recorded the album Kylyn. During that year, he toured with the pop band Yellow Magic Orchestra.

#5586

Marsha Thomason

Marsha Thomason

#100271

Overall Influence

1976 - Present (50 years)

Marsha Lisa Thomason Sykes is an English television and film actress who is best known for playing Sara Evers in Disney's The Haunted Mansion, Nessa Holt in the first two seasons of the NBC series Las Vegas, Naomi Dorrit on the ABC series Lost, FBI agent Diana Berrigan on the USA Network series White Collar and DS Jenn Townsend in ITV crime series The Bay.

#5587

David S. Ward

#89878

Overall Influence

1945 - Present (81 years)

David Schad Ward is an American screenwriter and film director. He was nominated for two Academy Awards for his screenplays for the films The Sting and Sleepless in Seattle , winning for the former. He was also nominated for a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and two Writers Guild of America Awards.

#5588

O. P. Nayyar

#72264

Overall Influence

1926 - 2007 (81 years)

Omkar Prasad Nayyar was an Indian film music composer, singer-songwriter, music producer, and musician. He is considered to be one of the most rhythmic and melodious music directors of the Hindi film industry. He won the 1958 Filmfare Award for Best Music Director for Naya Daur. Nayyar worked extensively with singers Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhosle, Mohammed Rafi, though not with leading Bollywood female singer Lata Mangeshkar.

#5589

Arthur van Essen

#119068

Overall Influence

1938 - Present (88 years)

Arthur Joseph van Essen is a Dutch linguist, academic and author. Career Van Essen received his BA teaching certificate in Modern English in 1962, and his MA in English Language and Literature in 1968. He received his BA in English Language and Literature in 1974 and an MA in General Linguistics in 1977 from the University of Leiden. He completed a PhD in General Linguistics in 1983 from the University of Utrecht.

#5590

Gabriele Evertz

Gabriele Evertz

#49529

Overall Influence

1945 - Present (81 years)

Gabriele Evertz is an American painter, curator and professor who is applying the history and theory of color in her work. She is known for abstract color painting and Geometric abstraction. Life and work Gabriele Evertz emigrated to the United States at the age of 19. She holds an M.F.A. in painting and a B.A. in art history, both from Hunter College, where she has taught since 1998. She is a member of the American Abstract Artists. Evertz lives and works in New York. In 2012, she received the Basil H. Alkazzi Award for Excellence in Painting.

#5591

Caryl Rivers

#75867

Overall Influence

1937 - Present (89 years)

Caryl Rivers is an American novelist and journalist. Her 1984 novel Virgins was a New York Times Best Seller and sold millions of copies around the world. Her articles have appeared in major publications such as The Huffington Post, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and the Los Angeles Times.

#5592

Elizabeth A. Barnes

#61313

Overall Influence

Elizabeth A. Barnes is an American climate scientist. Barnes is best known for her work and expertise on the use of statistical methods to understand the variability of Earth's short- and long-term climate. Her work is characterized by an integration of both physics and computer science approaches. She is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union.

#5593

Audrey Totter

#90275

Overall Influence

1917 - 2013 (96 years)

Audrey Mary Totter was an American radio, film, and television actress and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player in the 1940s. Early life Audrey – some sources indicate "Audra" – Totter was born in 1917 and grew up in Joliet in Will County in northeastern Illinois. Her parents were John Totter, who was born in Slovenia with birth name Janez, and Ida Mae Totter. Her father was of Austro-Slovenian descent and her mother was Swedish American. She had two brothers, Folger and George, and a sister, Collette.

#5594

Wei Chen

#46357

Overall Influence

1901 - Present (125 years)

Wei Chen is a Canadian television and radio journalist. Born in Taiwan, she started her career with stations in London and Hamilton. She has worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation before moving to Canada AM, the morning show at the CTV Television Network. She was also an anchor on CTV News Channel and a correspondent for the network's newsmagazine series W5, receiving Gemini Award nominations in 2000 and 2002 for her work with W5.

#5595

Shakti Samanta

#58047

Overall Influence

1926 - 2009 (83 years)

Shakti Samanta was an Indian film director and producer, who founded Shakti Films in 1957, which is most known for films such as Anand Ashram , Anusandhan /Barsaat Ki Ek Raat , Anyay Abhichar , Howrah Bridge , Insan Jaag Utha , China Town , Kashmir Ki Kali , An Evening in Paris , Aradhana , Kati Patang , and Amar Prem , Amanush.

#5596

Shirin Neshat

#58044

Overall Influence

1957 - Present (69 years)

Shirin Neshat is an Iranian visual artist who lives in New York City, known primarily for her work in film, video and photography. Her artwork centers on the contrasts between Islam and the West, femininity and masculinity, public life and private life, antiquity and modernity, and bridging the spaces between these subjects.

#5597

Emily Jeremiah

#110134

Overall Influence

1975 - Present (51 years)

Emily Jeremiah is a British academic and literary translator. She studied modern languages at Exeter College, Oxford, and obtained her PhD from Swansea University. She has taught at Helsinki University, Goldsmiths College and finally Royal Holloway University where she is Professor of Contemporary Literature and Gender Studies.

#5598

Lucky Thompson

#85676

Overall Influence

1924 - 2005 (81 years)

Eli "Lucky" Thompson was an American jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist whose playing combined elements of swing and bebop. Although John Coltrane usually receives the most credit for bringing the soprano saxophone out of obsolescence in the early 1960s, Thompson embraced the instrument earlier than Coltrane.

#5599

Ursula Holliger

#80972

Overall Influence

1937 - 2014 (77 years)

Ursula Holliger, née Hänggi, was a Swiss harpist, known for her commitment to contemporary music. Career Born in Basel, Holliger studied at the Basel Academy and then at the Conservatoire de Bruxelles. She subsequently went on to pursue a solo career, alone or with her husband, oboist, conductor and composer, Heinz Holliger.

#5600

Lee Holdridge

#78265

Overall Influence

1944 - Present (82 years)

Lee Elwood Holdridge is a Haitian-born American composer, conductor, and orchestrator. A 18-time Emmy Award nominee, he has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Daytime Emmy Awards, two News and Documentary Emmy Awards, and one Sports Emmy Award. He has also been nominated for two Grammy Awards.

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