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 Computer Science,
#6151
Bernard Meltzer
#74878
Overall Influence
1916 - 2008 (92 years)
Bernard Meltzer was a British computer scientist, who with Donald Michie was one of the main founders of research on artificial intelligence at the University of Edinburgh. Meltzer studied physics at the University of Cape Town with a bachelor's degree in 1934, and was briefly a physics demonstrator in Cape Town. He emigrated to Great Britain, where he worked for the Marconi Company and, after the start of the Second World War, for the Telecommunications Research Establishment conducting research on radar. In 1941 he enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and from 1943 taught radar and electronics to military personnel at the University of Aberdeen.
Go to Profile#6152
Keat Teong Lee
#135102
Overall Influence
#6153
Huaxi Xu
#135111
Overall Influence
#6154
Shosuke Ito
#135113
Overall Influence
#6155
Bessem Samet
#135135
Overall Influence
#6156
Mark Nemenman
#91342
Overall Influence
1936 - 2022 (86 years)
Mark Nemenman was a Soviet computer scientist, notable as a pioneer in systems programming and programming language research. He was one of the main developers of the AKI language in 1964, before BASIC became known. He led the development of system software for Minsk-32, the most popular of Minsk family of computers.
Go to Profile#6158
Carmela Troncoso
#110724
Overall Influence
1982 - Present (44 years)
Carmela González Troncoso is a Spanish telecommunication engineer and researcher specialized in privacy issues, and an LGBT+ activist. She is currently a tenure track assistant professor at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland and the head of the SPRING lab . Troncoso gained recognition for her leadership of the European team developing the DP-3T protocol that aims at the creation of an application to facilitate the tracing of COVID-19 infected persons without compromising on the privacy of citizens. Currently she is also member of the Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force in the expert group on Digital Epidemiology.
Go to Profile#6159
Wendy Grace Lehnert
#135231
Overall Influence
#6160
Feng Xia
#135237
Overall Influence
#6161
Ping Zhang
#63833
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Ping Zhang is a mathematician specializing in graph theory. She is a professor of mathematics at Western Michigan University and the author of multiple textbooks on graph theory and mathematical proof.
Go to Profile#6162
Gerhard Eisenbrand
#135241
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (86 years)
#6163
Thorfinnur Gunnlaugsson
#135254
Overall Influence
#6164
Nizar Bouguila
#135274
Overall Influence
#6165
Guang-tao Zhai
#135287
Overall Influence
#6166
Changlei Xia
#135293
Overall Influence
#6167
Liang-horng Lin
#135303
Overall Influence
#6168
Massimiliano Di Penta
#135313
Overall Influence
#6169
Ramesh Karri
#135314
Overall Influence
#6170
Akitoshi Hayashi
#135332
Overall Influence
#6171
Tahir Mahmood
#135363
Overall Influence
#6172
Nikolay V. Kuznetsov
#80454
Overall Influence
1979 - Present (47 years)
Nikolay Vladimirovich Kuznetsov is a specialist in nonlinear dynamics and control theory. Academic career He graduated from the St. Petersburg University, Department of Theoretical Cybernetics chaired by V.A. Yakubovich, in 2001. In 2004 he received Candidate of Science degree and in 2016 Doctor of Science degree from St. Petersburg University. From 2003 Nikolay Kuznetsov has been working in St. Petersburg University and now he is Full professor and Head of the Department of Applied Cybernetics there. Since 2018 the research group chaired by Kuznetsov has been awarded the status of the Leading Scientific School of Russia in the field of mathematics and mechanics.
Go to Profile#6173
Bertil Lindahl
#135375
Overall Influence
#6174
Antero Salminen
#135382
Overall Influence
#6175
Ruth Silverman
#91915
Overall Influence
1936 - 2011 (75 years)
Ruth Silverman was an American mathematician and computer scientist known for her research in computational geometry. She was one of the original founders of the Association for Women in Mathematics in 1971.
Go to Profile#6176
Jie Xiong
#135402
Overall Influence
#6177
Min Tan
#135403
Overall Influence
#6178
David J. Field
#135411
Overall Influence
#6179
Alexander Heger
#135430
Overall Influence
1970 - Present (56 years)
#6180
Willy Emile Zwaenepoel
#135441
Overall Influence
#6181
Marek Michalak
#135476
Overall Influence
#6182
Alfred Ayala
#135482
Overall Influence
#6183
Guanghui Wen
#135485
Overall Influence
#6184
Christophe Lacroix
#135511
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (68 years)
#6185
Jacob Weiner
#135517
Overall Influence
#6186
Tom Phillips
#12616
Overall Influence
1937 - 2022 (85 years)
Trevor Thomas Phillips was an English visual artist. He worked as a painter, printmaker and collagist. Life Trevor Thomas Phillips was born on 25 May 1937 in Clapham, London to David and Margaret Phillips . He was the younger of two sons.
Go to Profile#6187
Edward Angel
#99728
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (82 years)
Edward Stanley Angel is an emeritus professor of computer science at the University of New Mexico. He has published numerous books and journal articles including many successful titles on OpenGL.
Go to Profile#6188
King Ngi Ngan
#135523
Overall Influence
#6189
Chunying Duan
#135538
Overall Influence
#6190
Alireza Badiei
#135547
Overall Influence
#6191
Ikumi Tamai
#135550
Overall Influence
#6192
Vittorio Defendi
#135559
Overall Influence
#6193
Philippe Mathurin
#135568
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
#6194
Phillip J. Isola
#135569
Overall Influence
#6195
Helmut Ehrenberg
#135576
Overall Influence
#6196
Bernard Levin
#4493
Overall Influence
1928 - 2004 (76 years)
Henry Bernard Levin was an English journalist, author and broadcaster, described by The Times as "the most famous journalist of his day". The son of a poor Jewish family in London, he won a scholarship to the independent school Christ's Hospital and went on to the London School of Economics, graduating in 1952. After a short spell in a lowly job at the BBC selecting press cuttings for use in programmes, he secured a post as a junior member of the editorial staff of a weekly periodical, Truth, in 1953.
Go to Profile#6197
Luis von Ahn
#108623
Overall Influence
1978 - Present (48 years)
#6198
Pengxiang Ning
#135595
Overall Influence
#6199
Takehiko Mori
#135602
Overall Influence
#6200
Oliver Razum
#135608
Overall Influence
