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,
#3151
Chris Hall
#65492
Overall Influence
Christopher Hall is an American cryptographer and mathematician, specializing in arithmetic geometry. He is one of the creators of the cryptosystem Twofish. He obtained a BS from the University of Colorado-Boulder Department of Computer Science and a PhD in Mathematics from Princeton University in 2003, under Nick Katz.
Go to Profile#3152
Stephen W. Keckler
#77165
Overall Influence
Stephen W. Keckler is an American computer scientist and the current Vice President of Architecture Research at NVIDIA. Keckler received a BS in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1990 and an MS and PhD in computer science from MIT in 1992 and 1998, respectively. He then joined the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin, where he served from 1998 to 2012. He joined NVIDIA in 2009. In 2003, he received the ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award for his work in leading the TRIPS architecture research group. He became an ACM Senior Member in 2006 and an ACM Fellow in 2011.
Go to Profile#3153
Ravinderpal Singh Sandhu
#92185
Overall Influence
#3154
Huan Liu
#78155
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (68 years)
Huan Liu is a Chinese-born computer scientist. Education and teaching career Liu studied computer science and engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and specialized in computer science while completing his master's and doctoral degrees at the University of Southern California. Liu began his teaching career in the 1990s at the National University of Singapore, and joined the Arizona State University faculty in 2000.
Go to Profile#3155
Eugene Daub
#42058
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (84 years)
Eugene Daub is an American contemporary figure sculptor, best known for his portraits and figurative monument sculpture created in the classic heroic style. His sculptures reside in three of the nation's state capitals and in the National Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol. His work appears in public monuments and permanent collections in the United States and Europe.
Go to Profile#3156
Ayyalusamy Ramamoorthy
#34070
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Ayyalusamy Ramamoorthy is the Robert W. Parry Collegiate Professor of Chemistry and Biophysics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. In 2018, he was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Go to Profile#3157
Takao Koike
#92279
Overall Influence
#3158
Kannan Govindan
#92288
Overall Influence
#3159
Liz Bacon
#79103
Overall Influence
1963 - Present (63 years)
Liz Bacon is Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Abertay University, Dundee. Background Liz Bacon grew up in Kenley, Surrey. She studied for an undergraduate degree in computer science at Thames Polytechnic, spending her third year on an industrial placement at CERN, graduating in 1986. She studied for her PhD in the field of artificial intelligence at the University of Greenwich, and was awarded her doctorate in 1993. Bacon is currently the past President of the BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT , and has had many serious roles, including the Chair of the BCS Academy, a BCS Council member and Trustee of the BCS.
Go to Profile#3160
John M. Lachin
#92320
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (84 years)
#3161
Hannah Dee
#29004
Overall Influence
Hannah-Mary Dee is a British cognitive scientist and computer scientist specialising in computer vision, with specialisms in plant science, navigation, art, and medical imaging. In 2014, she was one of 30 women identified by the British Computer Society in the "BCS Women in IT Campaign.
Go to Profile#3162
Yuichi Sugiyama
#92359
Overall Influence
#3163
Hartmut Ehrig
#54102
Overall Influence
1944 - 2016 (72 years)
Hartmut Ehrig was a German computer scientist and professor of theoretical computer science and formal specification. He was a pioneer in algebraic specification of abstract data types, and in graph grammars.
Go to Profile#3164
Michael Uschold
#59969
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
Michael F. Uschold is an American computer scientist, Artificial Intelligence researcher, and consultant, known for his work on knowledge representation and ontology. Biography Uschold received his BA in Mathematics and Physics in 1977 from the Canisius College, his MS in Computer Science in 1981 from Rutgers University, and his PhD in Artificial Intelligence in 1991 from the University of Edinburgh.
Go to Profile#3165
Ofer Dekel
#83080
Overall Influence
1975 - Present (51 years)
Ofer Dekel is a computer science researcher in the Machine Learning Department of Microsoft Research. He obtained his PhD in Computer Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is an affiliate faculty at the Computer Science & Engineering department at the University of Washington.
Go to Profile#3166
Alain Dufresne
#92435
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
#3167
Feiping Nie
#92474
Overall Influence
#3168
Karsten Schwan
#86336
Overall Influence
1952 - 2015 (63 years)
Karsten Schwan was an American computer pioneer, academic who had held the position of Professor of Computer Science and the director of Center for Experimental Research in Computer Systems at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Go to Profile#3169
Barbara G. Ryder
#82329
Overall Influence
Barbara G. Ryder is an American Computer Scientist noted for her research on programming languages and more specifically, the theoretical foundations and empirical investigation of interprocedural compile-time analysis.
Go to Profile#3170
Frances A. Rosamond
#55427
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
Frances Ann Novak Rosamond is an Australian computer scientist whose research interests include computer education and parameterized complexity. She is the editor of the Parameterized Complexity Newsletter, moderator of the parameterized complexity wiki, and publicity chair of the International Symposium on Parameterized and Exact Computation.
Go to Profile#3171
Renato V. Iozzo
#92590
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
#3172
Reza Ansari
#92597
Overall Influence
#3173
Alexander Reinefeld
#82072
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Alexander Reinefeld is a German computer scientist and games researcher. He is the head of computer science at Zuse Institute Berlin. His contributions to the field include the NegaScout algorithm. Biography Alexander Reinefeld studied physics at the Technical University of Braunschweig and computer science at the University of Hamburg and during two one-year visits in Edmonton at the University of Alberta. In 1982 he concluded his Diplom in computer science and in 1987 he received his Ph.D at the University of Hamburg.
Go to Profile#3174
Miguel Yus
#92627
Overall Influence
#3175
Dirk Brockmann
#36253
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (57 years)
Dirk Brockmann is a German physicist and Professor at the Institute for Biology at Humboldt University of Berlin and the Robert Koch Institute, Berlin. Brockmann is known for his work in complex systems, complex networks, computational epidemiology, human mobility and anomalous diffusion.
Go to Profile#3176
Akihiko Matsui
#50066
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
Akihiko Matsui is a Japanese video game developer and battle designer working for Square Enix. He was one of the directors for Chrono Trigger and worked on several battle systems for the Final Fantasy series.
Go to Profile#3177
Jan Friso Groote
#81636
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (61 years)
Jan Friso Groote is a Dutch computer scientist. Education Groote studied computer science at Twente University obtaining his master's degree in 1988 under supervision of Ed Brinksma. He obtained his PhD thesis in 1991 under Jan Bergstra and Jos Baeten at the University of Amsterdam, while working at the Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science in Amsterdam.
Go to Profile#3178
Chris Lilley
#49494
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (67 years)
Chris Lilley is a British computer scientist known for co-authoring the Portable Network Graphics format, starting the Scalable Vector Graphics format, and his work on HTML2, CSS2, and Web fonts. Education Lilley was educated at Broxburn Academy in West Lothian, Scotland. In 1983, he obtained a bachelor's degree in Biochemistry at the University of Stirling, Scotland.
Go to Profile#3179
Xiaoyuan Tu
#80761
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (59 years)
Xiaoyuan Tu is a Chinese researcher and computer scientist specializing in machine learning, behavior modeling, physics modeling, biomechanical modeling, motion control interfaces, and intelligent virtual characters. She holds a Ph.D in computer science from University of Toronto and currently serves as a lead scientist and software engineer at Apple Inc, researching and developing next generation motions control and recognition technology.
Go to Profile#3180
Sven Koenig
#81071
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
Sven Koenig is a full professor in computer science at the University of Southern California. He received an M.S. degree in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1991 and a Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University in 1997, advised by Reid Simmons.
Go to Profile#3181
Mel Slater
#92811
Overall Influence
#3182
Alexei Efros Alexei Efros
#92815
Overall Influence
#3183
Borka Jerman Blažič
#57080
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (79 years)
Borka Jerman Blažič is a Slovenian Internet pioneer, and the President of the Internet Society - Slovenia. She is also a computer networks scientist, founder and first general secretary of the Yugoslavian Network for the Academic and Education Community , which introduced the first Internet services in SFR Yugoslavia in 1991.
Go to Profile#3184
Kozo Sugiyama
#78295
Overall Influence
1945 - 2011 (66 years)
was a Japanese computer scientist and graph drawing researcher. Biography Sugiyama was born on September 17, 1945, in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. He did both his undergraduate and graduate studies at Nagoya University, earning a doctorate in 1974. He then worked for Fujitsu until 1997, when he became a professor at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. At JAIST, he became a center director in 1998, dean in 2000, and vice president in 2008. He died on June 10, 2011.
Go to Profile#3185
Arnon Nagler
#92898
Overall Influence
#3186
Demetrius Albanes
#92958
Overall Influence
#3187
Shawn Bayern
#56559
Overall Influence
Shawn J. Bayern is an American law professor. Before his legal career, he created several widely used computer-software systems and wrote several widely cited books on computer programming. Biography After graduating from Yale University, Bayern worked as a researcher at Yale University's Technology and Planning group, there developing the Central Authentication Service.
Go to Profile#3188
Clarence L. "Ben" Coates
#62510
Overall Influence
1923 - 2000 (77 years)
Clarence Leroy “Ben” Coates was an American computer scientist and engineer known for his work on waveform recognition devices, circuit gates and accumulators. Early life He was born November 5, 1923, in Hastings, Nebraska, the son of Clarence Leroy Coates and Mildred Creighton. He earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Kansas in 1944. After completing his bachelor's degree, he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II from 1944–1946. He then returned to the University of Kansas to obtain his master's degree in electrical engineering in 1948.
Go to Profile#3189
Mark de Berg
#81480
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (60 years)
Mark de Berg is a Dutch computational geometer, known as one of the authors of the textbook Computational Geometry: Algorithms and Applications . De Berg completed his Ph.D. in 1992 at Utrecht University. His dissertation, Efficient Algorithms for Ray Shooting and Hidden Surface Removal, was supervised by Mark Overmars. He is a professor of computer science at the Eindhoven University of Technology.
Go to Profile#3190
David Cheriton
#83385
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
David Ross Cheriton is a Canadian computer scientist, businessman, philanthropist, and venture capitalist. He is a computer science professor at Stanford University, where he founded and leads the Distributed Systems Group.
Go to Profile#3191
Pascal Mayer
#17200
Overall Influence
1963 - Present (63 years)
Pascal Mayer is a french scientist who was awarded Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences in 2022 for researching paved way for inexpensive and rapid DNA sequencing around the world.
Go to Profile#3192
Hai-nan Jin
#93084
Overall Influence
#3193
Purusottam Jena
#93143
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
#3194
Thomas Stützle
#93153
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (58 years)
#3195
Cristina Conati
#59773
Overall Influence
Cristina Conati is an Italian and Canadian computer scientist specializing in artificial intelligence and computer-human interaction. She is a professor of computer science at the University of British Columbia, and has served as president of the Association for the Advancement of Affective Computing.
Go to Profile#3196
John Little
#13360
Overall Influence
1928 - Present (98 years)
John Dutton Conant Little is an Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology best known for his result in operations research, Little's law. Biography Born in Boston, he earned a S.B. in physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked at General Electric . His PhD on Use of Storage Water in a Hydroelectric System used dynamic programming, and advised by Philip M. Morse, was the first ever awarded in operations research . Next, he taught at the Case Institute of Technology from 1957 to 1962, before joining the faculty at MIT in 1962 where he since has worked.
Go to Profile#3197
Pedro Felipe Felzenszwalb
#89801
Overall Influence
Pedro Felipe Felzenszwalb is a computer scientist and professor of the School of Engineering and Department of Computer Science at Brown University. Career Felzenszwalb studied computer science at Cornell University, receiving his B.S. in 1999. There, he began researching computer vision and artificial intelligence with Daniel P. Huttenlocher. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2001 and 2003, respectively.
Go to Profile#3198
Grigory Yaroslavtsev
#86208
Overall Influence
1987 - Present (39 years)
Grigory Yaroslavtsev is a Russian-American computer scientist. He is an assistant professor of computer science at George Mason University. Previously he was an assistant professor of computer science at Indiana University and the founding director of the Center for Algorithms and Machine Learning at Indiana University.
Go to Profile#3199
David James Skellern
#33073
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
David Skellern is an Australian electronic engineer and computer scientist credited, along with colleagues, for the first chip-set implementation of the IEEE 802.11a wireless networking standard. He is credited with a number of important technology innovations. developed with colleagues which include John O'Sullivan, Terence Percival and Neil Weste, and in particular the first chip-set implementation of the IEEE 802.11a wireless networking standard. This innovation has been described as a revolution in world communications, allowing high speed wireless communications.
Go to Profile#3200
Gerry Stahl
#37945
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (81 years)
Gerry Stahl is an American computer scientist specializing in computer-supported collaborative learning. He is professor emeritus of computing and informatics at Drexel University, and was the founding editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning.
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