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,
#2801
Jordan Harrod
#61453
Overall Influence
1996 - Present (28 years)
Jordan Harrod is an American research scientist and YouTuber who works on neuroengineering, brain-machine interfaces, and machine learning for medicine. A current graduate student at Harvard and MIT, Harrod also runs a YouTube channel to educate the public about artificial intelligence. As of January 2023, her YouTube channel has over 84 thousand subscribers and her videos have over 2 million total views.
Go to Profile#2802
Kees Neggers
#50501
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (77 years)
Cornelis Adrianus Maria "Kees" Neggers is a Dutch Internet pioneer. He is best known for starting and promoting many initiatives for international collaboration in research and education networking.
Go to Profile#2803
David Notkin
#74181
Overall Influence
1955 - 2013 (58 years)
David Notkin was an American software engineer and professor of computer science. Early life and education Notkin was born in 1955 in Syracuse, New York, U.S. He pursued his Sc. B. degree from Brown University, graduating in 1977, and later received his doctoral degree from Carnegie Mellon University in 1984. He then moved to Seattle and joined as a faculty at the University of Washington. His interest was in software engineering, with a particular focus on software evolution.
Go to Profile#2804
David Cope
#59929
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (83 years)
David Cope is an American author, composer, scientist, and Dickerson Emeriti Professor of Music at UC Santa Cruz. His primary area of research involves artificial intelligence and music; he writes programs and algorithms that can analyze existing music and create new compositions in the style of the original input music. He taught the groundbreaking summer workshop in Workshop in Algorithmic Computer Music that was open to the public as well as a general education course entitled Artificial Intelligence and Music for enrolled UCSC students. Cope is also co-founder and CTO Emeritus of Recombi...
Go to Profile#2805
Mihaela van der Schaar
#41061
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (53 years)
Mihaela van der Schaar is the John Humphrey Plummer Professor of Machine Learning, AI, and Medicine at the University of Cambridge, where she is director of the Cambridge Centre for AI in Medicine , and a Chancellor's Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Go to Profile#2806
Věra Kůrková
#60573
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (76 years)
Věra Kůrková is a Czech mathematician and computer scientist, affiliated with the Institute of Computer Science of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Her research interests include neural networks, computational learning theory, and nonlinear approximation theory. She formulated the abstract concept of a variational norm in 1997 which puts ideas of Maurey, Jones, and Barron into the context of functional analysis. See V. Kůrková, Dimension-independent rates of approximation by neural networks. In: Warwick, K., Karny, M. Computer-Intensive Methods in Control and Signal Processing. The Curse of Dimensionality, Birkhauser, Boston, MA, pp. 261–270 .
Go to Profile#2807
Jean Bacon
#44570
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (82 years)
Jean Bacon is a British emeritus professor of distributed systems at the Computer Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, where she co-headed the Opera Research Group from its founding in the 1990s. Previously, she taught at Hatfield Technical College where, in the 1970s, she was involved in the design of one of the earliest computer science degree programs offered in the United Kingdom. Bacon retired from her faculty position at Cambridge in 2010 but has continued to work on Opera projects related to distributed systems and security in cloud computing.
Go to Profile#2808
David M. Beazley
#32613
Overall Influence
David Beazley is an American software engineer. He has made significant contributions to the Python developer community, which includes writing the definitive Python reference text Python Essential Reference, the SWIG software tool for creating language agnostic C and C++ extensions, and the PLY parsing tool. He has served on the program committees for PyCon and the O'Reilly Open Source Convention, and was elected a fellow of the Python Software Foundation in 2002.
Go to Profile#2809
Alexander Sotirov
#52515
Overall Influence
Alexander Sotirov is a computer security researcher. He has been employed by Determina and VMware. In 2012, Sotirov co-founded New York based Trail of Bits with Dino Dai Zovi and Dan Guido, where he currently serves as co-CEO.
Go to Profile#2810
Daisuke Takahashi
#34621
Overall Influence
Daisuke Takahashi is a full professor of computer science at the University of Tsukuba, specializing in high-performance numerical computing. Education and career Takahashi received a bachelor's degree in engineering in 1993 and a master's degree in engineering in 1995, both from Toyohashi University of Technology. He completed a Ph.D. in information science from the University of Tokyo in 1999. After working as a researcher at the University of Tokyo and at Saitama University, he joined the University of Tsukuba in 2001.
Go to Profile#2811
Richard I. Shader
#84150
Overall Influence
1935 - Present (89 years)
#2812
Richard Heeks
#68981
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (64 years)
Richard Heeks is Professor of Digital Development in the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, UK. He is Director of the University's Centre for Digital Development. Background Richard Heeks was born in Reading, England; studied natural sciences at the University of Cambridge, and completed an MPhil at the University of Leicester and a PhD at the Open University, UK.
Go to Profile#2813
Roberto Di Cosmo
#44818
Overall Influence
1963 - Present (61 years)
Roberto Di Cosmo is an italian computer scientist and director of IRILL, the Innovation and research initiative for free software . He graduated from the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and obtained a PhD from the University of Pisa, before becoming tenured professor at the École normale supérieure in Paris, then professor at the Paris 7 University. Since 2010, he has been director of the IRILL.
Go to Profile#2814
Charles E. Perkins
#84265
Overall Influence
#2815
Chris Mattmann
#57230
Overall Influence
1980 - Present (44 years)
Chris Mattmann is an American data scientist currently working as the Principal Data Scientist and Chief Technology and Innovation Officer in the Office of the Chief Information Officer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. He is also the manager of JPL's Open Source Applications office. Mattmann was formerly Chief Architect in the Instrument and Data Systems section at the laboratory.
Go to Profile#2816
Rebecca Grinter
#68137
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (64 years)
Rebecca Elizabeth "Beki" Grinter is a professor in the School of Interactive Computing in the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology . She is affiliated with the RIM@GT, the GVU Center and the Scheller College of Business. Grinter's research lies generally in the fields of human-computer interaction and computer-supported cooperative work . She has chaired and published papers in top-tier academic conferences in these fields. Her research and expert opinion on technology have also been reported in major news media sources.
Go to Profile#2817
Steven Stern
#48696
Overall Influence
Steven Stern is a Professor of Data Science at the Bond Business School, Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia. He is the current custodian of Duckworth–Lewis method , the mathematical formulation designed to calculate the target score for the team batting second in a limited overs cricket match interrupted by weather or other circumstances. The D/L method was devised by two English statisticians, Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis.
Go to Profile#2818
Samuel Krimm
#84352
Overall Influence
1925 - Present (99 years)
#2819
Peter Eckersley
#42473
Overall Influence
1978 - 2022 (44 years)
Peter Daniel Eckersley was an Australian computer scientist, computer security researcher and activist. From 2006 to 2018, he worked at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, including as chief computer scientist and head of AI policy. In 2018, he left the EFF to become director of research at the Partnership on AI, a position he held until 2020. In 2021, he co-founded the AI Objectives Institute.
Go to Profile#2820
Tryggve Fossum
#58677
Overall Influence
Tryggve Fossum is a Norwegian computer architect at Intel. He transferred there from DEC, where he was a lead architect of Alpha processors, after working on several VAX processors.
Go to Profile#2821
Alexander Tomasz
#84382
Overall Influence
#2822
Danica Kragic
#53601
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (53 years)
Danica Kragic is a professor of computer science from the Royal Institute of Technology , Stockholm, Sweden. She was named Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2016 for contributions to vision-based systems and robotic object manipulation.
Go to Profile#2823
Andrew Targowski
#45930
Overall Influence
1937 - Present (87 years)
Andrew Stanislaw Targowski is a Polish–American computer scientist specializing in enterprise computing, societal computing, information technology impact upon civilization, information theory, wisdom theory, and civilization theory. One of the pioneers of applied information systems in Poland, he is an executive, university professor, scientist, civilizationist, philosopher, visionary, writer, and generalist.
Go to Profile#2824
Robert B. Schnabel
#67795
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (74 years)
Robert B. Schnabel is an American computer scientist. He was executive director and CEO of the Association for Computing Machinery from November 1, 2015 to 2017. He is now professor and external chair of computer science at University of Colorado Boulder.
Go to Profile#2825
Jiebo Luo
#81067
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (57 years)
Jiebo Luo is a Chinese-American computer scientist, the Albert Arendt Hopeman Professor of Engineering and Professor of Computer Science at the University of Rochester. He is interested in artificial intelligence, data science and computer vision.
Go to Profile#2826
Regan Mandryk
#50371
Overall Influence
1975 - Present (49 years)
Regan Lee Mandryk is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Saskatchewan. She specializes in Human-computer interaction. Early life and education Mandryk was born on December 9, 1975, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Mandryk earned her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Winnipeg in 1997. She completed her Master's degree and PhD at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. Mandryk's PhD dissertation applied physiological measures to model user emotion in interactive play environments. She was awarded the 2005 Dean of Graduate Studies Convocation Medal in Applied Sciences and was nominated for the Canadian Association of Graduate Studies Distinguished Dissertation Award.
Go to Profile#2827
Michael Ortiz
#84569
Overall Influence
#2828
Bob Galliers
#38555
Overall Influence
Robert D. Galliers is Bentley University's Distinguished Professor Emeritus having previously served as Provost 2002-2009. Previously, he held professorships at the London School of Economics , Warwick Business School , and Curtin University, Western Australia . He has been an Associate Director/Senior Advisor for EFMD Quality Services, Belgium since 2018. He has held a number of visiting professorships internationally. He serves on various university advisory boards . He is the founding editor-in-chief of The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, which he led from 1991 to December 2018. ...
Go to Profile#2829
Gordon Rugg
#37732
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (69 years)
Gordon Rugg is a British academic, head of the Knowledge Modelling Group at Keele University and a visiting senior research fellow at the Open University, known for his work on the Voynich manuscript.
Go to Profile#2830
Arun Netravali
#10925
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (78 years)
Arun N. Netravali is an Indian–American computer engineer credited with contributions in digital technology including HDTV. He conducted research in digital compression, signal processing and other fields. Netravali was the ninth President of Bell Laboratories and has served as Lucent's Chief Technology Officer and Chief Network Architect. He received his undergraduate degree from IIT Bombay, India, and an M.S. and a Ph.D. from Rice University in Houston, Texas, all in electrical engineering. Several global universities, including the Ecole Polytechnique Federale in Lausanne, Switzerland, hav...
Go to Profile#2831
Erik Proper
#39853
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (57 years)
Henderik Alex Proper is a Dutch computer scientist, an FNR PEARL Laureate, and a senior research manager within the Computer Science department of the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology . He is also adjunct professor in data and knowledge engineering at the University of Luxembourg. He is known for work on conceptual modeling, enterprise architecture and enterprise engineering.
Go to Profile#2832
K. Mathai Johnson
#84704
Overall Influence
#2833
Stephen Emmott
#37299
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (64 years)
Stephen Emmott is a British scientist, entrepreneur and chief scientist of Scientific. Emmott was named one of London's most influential scientists, and one of the most influential people in London by the Evening Standard in 2012.
Go to Profile#2834
Steven H. Low
#59656
Overall Influence
Steven H. Low is a Professor of the Computing and Mathematical Sciences Department and the Electrical Engineering Department at the California Institute of Technology. He is known for his work on the theory and mathematical modeling of Internet congestion control, algorithms, and optimization in power systems.
Go to Profile#2835
Xavier Serra
#29806
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (65 years)
Xavier Serra is a researcher in the field of Sound and Music Computing and professor at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. He is the founder and director of the Music Technology Group at the UPF.
Go to Profile#2836
John Todd
#24206
Overall Influence
1911 - 2007 (96 years)
John Todd was a Northern Irish mathematician most of whose career was spent in England and the USA; he was a pioneer in the field of numerical analysis. He was born in Carnacally, County Down, Ireland, and grew up near Belfast. He attended Methodist College Belfast after winning a scholarship. In his final year at the College he only studied maths as a result of his desire to become an engineer. He received his BSc degree from Queen's University in 1931, and went to St. John's College at Cambridge University, studying for 2 years with J. E. Littlewood, who advised him against getting a doctor...
Go to Profile#2837
Hiroaki Shimokawa
#84793
Overall Influence
#2838
Rob A. Rutenbar
#47082
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (67 years)
Rob A. Rutenbar is an American academic noted for contributions to software tools that automate analog integrated circuit design, and custom hardware platforms for high-performance automatic speech recognition. He is Senior Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Pittsburgh, where he leads the university's strategic and operational vision for research and innovation.
Go to Profile#2839
Frank Leymann
#76710
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (67 years)
Frank Leymann is a German computer scientist and mathematician. He is professor of computer science at the University of Stuttgart, Germany, and director and founder of the Institute of Architecture of Application Systems .
Go to Profile#2840
Jim Spohrer
#44419
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (74 years)
James C. Spohrer is a computer scientist best known for having led the development of a new science of service systems, often known as service science, management and engineering. In spring 2017, Spohrer was named as Director, Cognitive OpenTech for IBM. From 2009 through 2016, he had been the Director of IBM Global University Programs Worldwide. Between 2003 and 2009, he was the Director of Almaden Services Research with IBM at the IBM Almaden Research Center. He was an advocate of the service science, management and engineering initiative across companies, governments and academics. His r...
Go to Profile#2841
Michael Gruninger
#33650
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (58 years)
Michael Gruninger is a Canadian computer scientist and Professor of Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto, known for his work on Ontologies in information science. particularly with the Process Specification Language, and in enterprise modelling on the TOVE Project with Mark S. Fox.
Go to Profile#2842
Ileana Streinu
#43006
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (24 years)
Ileana Streinu is a Romanian-American computer scientist and mathematician, the Charles N. Clark Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics at Smith College in Massachusetts. She is known for her research in computational geometry, and in particular for her work on kinematics and structural rigidity.
Go to Profile#2843
Bhavani Thuraisingham
#43096
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (70 years)
Bhavani Thuraisingham is the Louis A. Beecherl, Jr. Distinguished Professor of computer science and the executive director of the Cyber Security Research and Education Institute at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is a visiting senior research fellow in the Department of Informatics at Kings College University of London and a 2017–2018 Cyber Security Policy Fellow at New America.
Go to Profile#2844
Wayne Thiebaud
#6120
Overall Influence
1920 - 2021 (101 years)
Morton Wayne Thiebaud was an American painter known for his colorful works depicting commonplace objects—pies, lipsticks, paint cans, ice cream cones, pastries, and hot dogs—as well as for his landscapes and figure paintings. Thiebaud is associated with the pop art movement because of his interest in objects of mass culture, although his early works, executed during the fifties and sixties, slightly predate the works of the classic pop artists. Thiebaud used heavy pigment and exaggerated colors to depict his subjects, and the well-defined shadows characteristic of advertisements are almost al...
Go to Profile#2845
Ben Delo
#28679
Overall Influence
1984 - Present (40 years)
Ben Delo is a British entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and former executive of BitMEX. In 2022, Delo pleaded guilty to a United States Bank Secrecy Act violation and received a 30-month probation sentence.
Go to Profile#2846
John Domingue
#75709
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (24 years)
John Domingue is a British academic, and Professor of Computer Science at the Knowledge Media Institute at the Open University in Milton Keynes, and researcher in the semantic web, linked data, services, blockchain and education.
Go to Profile#2847
Kianping Loh
#85042
Overall Influence
#2848
Joel S. Birnbaum
#36939
Overall Influence
1935 - Present (89 years)
Joel Samuel Birnbaum is a technology executive who served as senior vice president of Hewlett-Packard. Birnbaum earned a bachelor's degree in engineering physics from Cornell University, and a doctorate in nuclear physics from Yale University in 1966. He worked at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center from 1965 to 1980, eventually becoming director of computer sciences there. From 1980 until his retirement he worked for Hewlett-Packard, where he directed the Computer Research Center of HP Labs. In 1984 he was promoted to vice president at HP and director of HP Labs. He became a senior vice...
Go to Profile#2849
Roberta Smith
#7665
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (77 years)
Roberta Smith is co-chief art critic of The New York Times and a lecturer on contemporary art. She is the first woman to hold that position. Early life Born in 1948 in New York City and raised in Lawrence, Kansas. Smith studied at Grinnell College in Iowa. Her career in the arts started in 1968, while an undergraduate summer intern at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.
Go to Profile#2850
Deborah Raji
#53701
Overall Influence
Inioluwa Deborah Raji is a Nigerian-Canadian computer scientist and activist who works on algorithmic bias, AI accountability, and algorithmic auditing. Raji has previously worked with Joy Buolamwini, Timnit Gebru, and the Algorithmic Justice League on researching gender and racial bias in facial recognition technology. She has also worked with Google’s Ethical AI team and been a research fellow at the Partnership on AI and AI Now Institute at New York University working on how to operationalize ethical considerations in machine learning engineering practice. A current Mozilla fellow, she has...
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