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 Computer Science,

#12301

Stéphan Barron

#126861

Overall Influence

1961 - Present (65 years)

Stéphan Barron is a contemporary artist. He developed through his artworks since the 1980s the ideas of Planetary Art and Technoromanticism. Planetary Art is an art form which takes the Earth in its planetary dimension as its basis for artistic creation. Technoromanticism is the theory of links between art and new technologies, within the context of the threats posed to Nature by technoscience and economic development. Technoromanticism also seeks to analyse the return of the human body within technological arts, formulating the hypothesis that a technological society needs a corporeal rebalan...

#12302

Chimere Ikoku

#99336

Overall Influence

1928 - 2002 (74 years)

Chimere Eyo-Ita Ikoku, was a Nigerian professor of Pure and Industrial Chemistry who served as the 8th Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He was the first Vice Chancellor of UNN to serve full two term.

#12303

Suzi Gablik

#76844

Overall Influence

1934 - 2022 (88 years)

Suzi Gablik was an American visual artist, author, art critic, and professor of art history and art criticism. She lived in Blacksburg, Virginia. Early life and education Gablik was born in New York City on September 26, 1934. Her interest in art was piqued after visiting museums in her hometown with her father during her childhood. In 1951, after a summer studying at Black Mountain College, she entered Hunter College where she studied with Robert Motherwell. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1955.

#12304

Eileen I. Oliver

#96635

Overall Influence

Eileen I. Oliver is a professor in the University of Florida College of Education. She was the associate dean of the University of Florida Division of Continuing Education and in 2008 she accepted the position as interim dean of the division of continuing education. Oliver earned an undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin in English and education. Prior to moving to the University of Florida, Oliver held a number of professional and academic positions in the California State University System, University of North Carolina System, and Washington State University.

#12305

Patrick Naughton

#186283

Overall Influence

1965 - Present (61 years)

Patrick Naughton is an American software developer and convicted sex offender. He is one of the creators of the Java programming language. Career Early career In 1983, Naughton co-wrote a MacPaint clone, Painter's Apprentice, with Russ Nelson.

#12306

Malabika Sarker

#89327

Overall Influence

Malabika Sarker is a Bangladeshi physician and public health scientist. She is a Professor of Practice of Behavioral and Social Science at Brown School of Public Health, Brown University, USA. She is the former Associate Dean and Director of the Centre of Excellence for Science of Implementation and Scale-Up at the BRAC James P. Grant School of Public Health of BRAC University in Bangladesh.

#12307

Lyall Powers

#108643

Overall Influence

1924 - 2018 (94 years)

Lyall H. Powers was a professor of English at the University of Michigan, where he taught since 1958. He was granted emeritus status by the University's Regents during their October 1992 meeting. Powers wrote widely on modern American authors, and with Leon Edel, edited the complete notebooks of Henry James . One of his most widely circulated books is Alien Heart , a biography of Canadian author Margaret Laurence. A lifelong friend of Laurence, Powers met her when they were students together in the 1940s. The book is described as "the first full-length biography of Margaret Laurence that com...

#12308

Ana Cara

#61993

Overall Influence

Ana C. Cara is an Argentine creolist, translator, and Professor of Hispanic Studies at Oberlin College. She graduated from Middlebury College with a Bachelor of Arts in 1972, from University of Pennsylvania with a Master of Arts in Folklore and Folklife in 1974, and with a Doctor of Philosophy in Folklore and Folklife in 1983. She was visiting scholar at University of California, Berkeley.

#12309

F. Carlton Ball

#106161

Overall Influence

1911 - 1992 (81 years)

Frederick Carlton Ball was an American multidisciplinary artist, author, and educator, who worked as a potter, painter, and jeweler. Ball was the first ceramicist to make large-scale thrown pots in California starting around 1935. He taught at the California College of Arts and Crafts, Mills College, Southern Illinois University, the University of Puget Sound, and the University of Wisconsin. He was elected to the American Craft Council College of Fellows in 1983

#12310

Deryl Northcott

#177011

Overall Influence

Deryl Northcott is a New Zealand accounting academic. She is currently a full professor at the Auckland University of Technology. Academic career After a 1996 PhD titled 'Uses of accounting information in capital investment decision making' at the University of Waikato, she moved to the University of Manchester in the UK, before returning to New Zealand and Auckland University of Technology in 2002 as full professor.

#12311

Frank Pons

#187591

Overall Influence

#12312

Cyriac Abby Philips

#144922

Overall Influence

Cyriac Abby Philips is an Indian hepatologist and clinician-scientist. He is known for his critical views of alternative medicine. He is known as "The Liver Doc" on social media where he frequently discusses his findings and research works on the negative effects caused by alternative medicines and practices.

#12313

Kai-Christian Bruhn

Kai-Christian Bruhn

#183067

Overall Influence

1970 - Present (56 years)

Kai-Christian Bruhn is a German computational archaeologist from the Mainz University of Applied Sciences, with expertise in geoinformatics. He was involved in the discovery of a colossal Ramses II statue in Egypt.

#12314

Michael A Sutton

#187611

Overall Influence

#12315

Bruce Simonson

#65464

Overall Influence

Bruce Simonson is an American planetary scientist and geologist notable for his contributions to meteoroid astronomy and glaciology. He is credited as one of the foremost experts in glacial till plains as well as one of the developers of the E-belt model. He has served as professor of geology at Oberlin College since 1979.

#12316

Diana Gannett

#93331

Overall Influence

Diana Gannett is an American classical double bassist and educator, Professor Emeritus of Double Bass at the University of Michigan School of Music. Career Previous appointments include the faculties of Yale University School of Music, Theatre & Dance and Hartt School of Music, Theatre & Dance in Connecticut, Oberlin College Conservatory in Ohio, University of Iowa School of Music, Theatre & Dance, and the University of South Florida.

#12317

Mike Michalson

#104609

Overall Influence

Gordon E. "Mike" Michalson Jr. is a past president of New College of Florida. He was appointed on January 7, 2003, selected by the board of trustees in a 13-month national search. Michalson, Professor of Humanities at New College, served as Acting President from July 14, 2001, to Sept. 29, 2001 and as president from Sept. 30, 2001 to June 30, 2012. He served as Dean and Warden of the school from 1992 to 1997 . Prior to that, he taught at Oberlin College for 15 years, where he chaired the Department of Religion. He continues to teach at New College.

#12318

Benjamin Aribisala

#184056

Overall Influence

1972 - Present (54 years)

Benjamin Aribisala is a Nigerian academic. He is a professor of Computer Science and the current Vice-Chancellor of Oduduwa University since January 2021. Biography He was born in Ikoyi, Ikole local government area, on 15 August 1972. He had his primary and secondary school education in Ikole Ekiti. For University education, he attended Ekiti State University where he obtained a bachelor's degree in Mathematics in 1994. He obtained a master's degree in Computer Science from Federal University of Technology, Akure in 1999. He obtained a PhD degree in Computer Science from the University of B...

#12319

Don Kulasiri

#86393

Overall Influence

Don Kulasiri is a professor of Computational Modelling and Systems Biology, and the founder and head of the Centre for Advanced Computational Solutions at Lincoln University, New Zealand. Early childhood and education Kulasiri graduated from University of Peradeniya with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical engineering was educated at Nalanda College Colombo. Later on he went on pursuing studying Biosystems engineering gaining a Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Virginia Tech.

#12320

Emily Adams

#187639

Overall Influence

Emily Adams is a Reader in Diagnostics for Infectious Disease at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. She is diagnostic lead for the Centre for Drugs and Diagnostics developing with industry diagnostics for various diseases. She is also the Director for Epidemics and Neglected Tropical Disease at Global Access Diagnostics , a not-for-profit diagnostics company in the UK.

#12321

Jim Warren

#180029

Overall Influence

1936 - 2021 (85 years)

Jim Warren was an American mathematics and computing educator, computer professional, entrepreneur, editor, publisher and continuing sometime activist. Early career From 1957 to 1967, Warren was a mathematics teacher at secondary-school level, and professor at college and university levels, with his last full-time academic position being Chair of the Mathematics Department at the College of Notre Dame, Belmont, a small liberal arts college in Belmont, California. He later taught computer courses at Stanford University, San Jose State University and San Francisco State University.

#12322

Adel F. Halasa

#59600

Overall Influence

Adel F. Halasa is an American scientist noted for his contributions to the development of rubber, particularly in the area of tire tread polymers for the Goodyear AquaTred tire. In 1997, he won the Charles Goodyear Medal, bestowed by the American Chemical Society, Rubber Division to individuals who "have been the principal inventor, innovator, or developer of a significant change or contribution to the rubber industry".

#12323

Karl Benjamin

#48027

Overall Influence

1925 - 2012 (87 years)

Karl Stanley Benjamin was an American painter of vibrant geometric abstractions, who rose to fame in 1959 as one of four Los Angeles-based Abstract Classicists and subsequently produced a critically acclaimed body of work that explores a vast array of color relationships. Working quietly at his home in Claremont, CA, he developed a rich vocabulary of colors and hard-edge shapes in masterful compositions of tightly balanced repose or high-spirited energy. At once intuitive and systematic, the artist was, in the words of critic Christopher Knight, "a colorist of great wit and inventiveness."

#12324

Al Vezza

#184095

Overall Influence

Albert Vezza was a computer science professor and a founder of video game company Infocom. Career Vezza was the assistant director of MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science and in charge of LCS's Dynamic Modeling group in the late 1970s when group members Dave Lebling, Marc Blank, Tim Anderson, and Bruce Daniels began creating the game that would become Zork. By 1979, many of the graduating students in the DM group were interested in continuing to work together by establishing a company, and Vezza, who had long wanted to bring together his former students in a commercial venture, agreed to h...

#12325

Antonio Hernando

#187682

Overall Influence

#12326

Hongyi Li

#187697

Overall Influence

#12327

Robert Lethbridge

#101195

Overall Influence

1947 - Present (79 years)

Robert Lethbridge is a New York City-born British academic who was Master of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge from 2005 to 2013 and Provost of the Gates Cambridge Trust from 2010 to 2013. Career Born in the US in 1947, Lethbridge received a bachelor's degree at the University of Kent at Canterbury in 1969, a master's at McMaster University in Canada 1970, and a PhD at Cambridge University in 1975.

#12328

Katherine Barbeau

#185709

Overall Influence

Katherine Barbeau is a professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography known for her work on trace metals and the linkages between trace metals and biology. Education and career Barbeau graduated from Mercy High School in Middleton, Connecticut. She has a B.S. from Southampton College , and then moved to the Université libre de Bruxelles for one year. She earned a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1998. Following her Ph.D. she was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara until 2001 when she joined t...

#12329

Rylie Green

#118096

Overall Influence

Rylie Green is an Australian biomedical engineer who is a Professor at Imperial College London. She works on bioactive conducting polymers for applications in medical electronics. Education Green is Australian. She received her PhD in neural interfaces from the School of Biomedical Engineering, University of New South Wales in 2008. She remained at UNSW for her postdoctoral studies, focussing on bioactive and cellular components for tissue engineering.

#12330

Edward F. Sherman

#81145

Overall Influence

1937 - Present (89 years)

Edward F. Sherman served as the 20th dean and is currently the W.R. Irby Chair in Law at the Tulane University Law School. He teaches Civil Procedure and Alternative Dispute Resolution. He was previously the Moise F. Steeg, Jr. Professor of Law at Tulane. He has taught at several other schools, including the University of Texas , Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, and the University of London. Through the United States Agency for International Development he helped Vietnam write a new code of civil procedure. In 1970, he was a founding board member of the Lawyers Military Defense Committee, which provided free-of-charge civilian counsel to U.S.

#12331

Patrick O'Brien

#119198

Overall Influence

1960 - Present (66 years)

Patrick Lyons O’Brien is an American artist and writer, known for his children's books and for his maritime paintings. The National Maritime Historical Society awarded O’Brien their Distinguished Service Award for his body of artwork in 2012.

#12332

Aza Raskin

#181728

Overall Influence

1984 - Present (42 years)

Aza Raskin is the co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology and of the Earth Species Project. He is also a writer, entrepreneur, inventor, and interface designer. He is the son of Jef Raskin, a human–computer interface expert who was the initiator of the Macintosh project at Apple.

#12333

David Weir

#95291

Overall Influence

1947 - Present (79 years)

David Weir is an American scholar who has written widely on the Decadent movement in literature and its impact in America. Weir is Professor Emeritus on the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.

#12334

Ruth Weisberg

#147154

Overall Influence

1942 - Present (84 years)

Ruth Weisberg is an American artist and Professor of Fine Arts at the University of Southern California, where she is also former dean of the USC Roski School of Art and Design. Weisberg's work is influenced by her Jewish heritage and its traditions, the human body, and feminist themes. She works primarily in painting, and her recent work is produced in scroll formats.

#12335

Robert Weinstein

#187779

Overall Influence

#12336

James Strombotne

#131774

Overall Influence

1934 - Present (92 years)

James S. Strombotne is an American painter. He is known for his figurative work. Early life and education Strombotne was born in Watertown, South Dakota, but was raised and educated in Southern California, receiving his Bachelor of Arts from Pomona College in 1956 and his Master of Fine Arts from the Claremont Graduate School in 1959. He received a fellowship from Pomona College to study in Italy, and in 1962 was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for further study in Rome. The same year, a feature article about his work appeared in Time Magazine.

#12337

Michael Frary

#151734

Overall Influence

1918 - 2005 (87 years)

Michael Frary was an American Modernist artist from Santa Monica, California, who was known for his interest in structural forms and architectural compositions, as well as for his Surrealist impulses. A versatile artist, Frary experimented with a range of mediums and constantly refined his approach to his subjects.

#12338

Michael Phillips

#187793

Overall Influence

#12339

Gerard T. Indelicato

#135892

Overall Influence

1946 - Present (80 years)

Gerard Thomas Indelicato is an American academic administrator who served as education advisor to Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis and president of Bridgewater State College. He was convicted on federal and state conspiracy, fraud, and tax evasion charges.

#12340

Melissa Williams

Melissa Williams

#80710

Overall Influence

1960 - Present (66 years)

Melissa S. Williams is an American academic who specialises in democratic theory and comparative political theory. She was the founding director of the University of Toronto's Centre for Ethics. As of 2018, she is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto.

#12341

Bjørn Pedersen

#134126

Overall Influence

1933 - Present (93 years)

Bjørn Pedersen is a Norwegian chemist. He has been research leader at SI , and was professor of chemistry at the University of Oslo for 24 years. He also served three years as pro-rector at the university.

#12342

Noor Shaker

#184945

Overall Influence

1950 - Present (76 years)

Noor Shaker is a Syrian British entrepreneur and computer scientist who co-founded the AI for drug discovery start-up Glamorous AI. Glamorous AI was acquired by the US-based company X-Chem in Nov 2021. Before Glamorous AI, Noor founded the drug discovery start-up GTN Ltd and served as CEO for more than two years. She stepped down as CEO in August 2019. The company entered liquidation in March 2020. In 2018, she received a CogX UK Rising Star Award from Prime Minister Theresa May for "AI technology that will transform drug discovery to treat chronic diseases".

#12343

David Mba

#134189

Overall Influence

David Mba is the Vice-Chancellor Designate of Birmingham City University and Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Computing and Engineering at De Montfort University. He was awarded the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Ludwig Mond Prize in 2010 for his contributions to the chemistry industry. He serves on the advisory board of the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers .

#12344

David Meyer

#187819

Overall Influence

#12345

Edgardo Rotman

#73195

Overall Influence

Edgardo Rotman is an international lecturer and author. He has done research and taught at the University of Buenos Aires, the University of El Salvador , Boston University, the University of Miami, the Max-Planck Institute for Criminal Law in Germany, and Harvard Law. He represents the United States at the International Penal and Penitentiary Foundation, where he has been a voting member of the Council since 1996.

#12346

Shiba Kumar Rai

#82312

Overall Influence

1953 - Present (73 years)

Shiba Kumar Rai is a Professor of medical microbiology and member of National Planning Commission of the government of Nepal. He is also founding chairman of Shi-Gan Health Foundation, Shi-Gan Int’l College of Science & Technology , Nat’l Institute of Tropical Medicine & Public Health Research, DASHIMURA Foundation & DEVIS Multipurpose Ltd.

#12347

Noa Eshkol

#66553

Overall Influence

1924 - 2007 (83 years)

Noa Eshkol was an Israeli dance composer and textile artist. Eshkol is best known for her co-invention, alongside architect Avraham Wachman, of the Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation System. She and Wachman worked together for over two decades to refine the system and develop its various applications.

#12348

Hong-jiang Zhang

#187835

Overall Influence

#12349

Shani Peters

#156127

Overall Influence

1981 - Present (45 years)

Shani Peters is an artist from Lansing, Michigan based in New York. She received her BA from Michigan State University and her MFA from the City College of New York, where she taught as of 2020. Her work often addresses issues related to social justice in a range of media and processes including printmaking, interpretations of record-keeping, collaborative projects, video, and collage. In 2019, she was a Joan Mitchell Foundation artist-in-residence in New Orleans. In 2017, she exhibited at Columbia University's Wallach Gallery.

#12350

Ludovic Ferrière

#92606

Overall Influence

1982 - Present (44 years)

Ludovic Ferrière is a geologist and curator of the meteorite collection and of the impactite collection at the Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria. He is known for his research on meteorite impact craters.

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