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 …
See additional learning tools, study tips, features on campus life and much more at our Student Resources Headquarters.
List of the most influential people in Computer Science,
#4151
G. Anthony Gorry
#87487
Overall Influence
George Anthony Gorry is an American computer scientist, who served as the Friedkin Professor Emeritus of Management at Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business, Rice University and a member of National Academy of Medicine and Fellow of American College of Medical Informatics.
Go to Profile#4152
Claudia Patrignani
#110293
Overall Influence
#4153
Eleazar Eskin
#71891
Overall Influence
Eleazar Eskin is a computer scientist and geneticist, professor and Chair of the Department of Computational Medicine, and professor of computer science and human genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research focuses on bioinformatics, genomics, and machine learning. A primary research focus is on developing statistical and computational techniques to probe the genetic basis of human disease.
Go to Profile#4154
Nancy Paterson
#63022
Overall Influence
1957 - 2018 (61 years)
For the American jurist, see Nancy Paterson. Nancy Evelyn Paterson was a Canadian artist and writer known for her work in new media. She was an associate professor at the Ontario College of Art and Design University from 1990 to 2018, and was Facilities Coordinator at Charles Street Video, a non-profit, artist-run centre providing production and post-production facilities for digital video and audio.
Go to Profile#4155
Yuanyuan Yang
#107190
Overall Influence
Yuanyuan Yang is a Chinese-American computer scientist whose interests include parallel and distributed computing, and wireless sensor networks. She is SUNY Distinguished Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science at Stony Brook University, Associate Dean for Diversity and Academic Affairs in the Stony Brook College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and program director for software and hardware foundations and principles and practice of scalable systems at the National Science Foundation.
Go to Profile#4156
Qing-ming Huang
#110438
Overall Influence
#4157
Simon Silver
#110448
Overall Influence
#4158
Jill S. Barnholtz-Sloan
#59697
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Jill Suzanne Barnholtz-Sloan is an American biostatistician and data scientist specialized in cancer epidemiology and etiologic investigations of brain tumors. She is a senior investigator and associate director for informatics and data science at the National Cancer Institute.
Go to Profile#4159
Ewan Stafford Page
#22339
Overall Influence
1928 - Present (98 years)
Ewan Stafford Page is a British academic and computer scientist, and former vice-chancellor of the University of Reading. Ewan Page was educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys in Leicester and at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he graduated MA and PhD and won the Rayleigh Prize. After a period of National Service, he was a research student in the field of statistics at the University of Cambridge between 1951 and 1954, at a time when the EDSAC computer was new. In 1957, he was appointed as director of the Durham University's Computing Laboratory, located at King's College, Newcastle....
Go to Profile#4160
Frank Kwang-ming Hwang
#110464
Overall Influence
#4161
Harvey E. Cline
#110494
Overall Influence
#4162
Paolo Arosio
#110534
Overall Influence
#4163
Mohanarajah Gajamohan
#81376
Overall Influence
1980 - Present (46 years)
Mohanarajah Gajamohan is Swiss-based Sri Lankan robot scientist. Gajamohan has made significant contributions to cloud robotics by being the chief developer of Rapyuta robot database. His other notable project being Cubli self-balancing cube.
Go to Profile#4164
Patrick Drew McDaniel
#82497
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (60 years)
Patrick Drew McDaniel is an American computer scientist. He is a William L. Weiss Professor of Information and Communications Technology in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the director of the Institute for Networking and Security Research at the Pennsylvania State University. He has made several contributions in the areas of computer security, operating systems, and computer networks. McDaniel is best known for his work in mobile security as well as in electronic voting security, digital piracy prevention, and cellular networks. In recognition of his contributions and service to the scientific community, he was named IEEE Fellow and ACM Fellow.
Go to Profile#4165
Mark John Francis Gales
#110615
Overall Influence
#4166
Richard E. Ladner
#110632
Overall Influence
#4167
Michael Branicky
#85119
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Michael S. Branicky is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. He was named Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2016 for contributions to switched and hybrid control systems.
Go to Profile#4168
Yu-nong Zhang
#110660
Overall Influence
#4169
Bazon Brock
#11341
Overall Influence
1936 - Present (90 years)
Bazon Brock is a German art theorist and critic, multi-media generalist and artist. He is considered a member of Fluxus. He was a professor of aesthetics at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg, the University of Applied Arts Vienna and the University of Wuppertal.
Go to Profile#4170
Robert W. Doran
#91496
Overall Influence
1944 - 2018 (74 years)
Robert William Doran HFNZCS was a New Zealand-based computer scientist and historian of computing. He was Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Robert W. Doran studied at the University of Canterbury and for a master's degree in computer science from Stanford University in 1967. He taught at City University and Massey University . He first worked with computers in 1963. He was a Principal Computer Architect at Amdahl Corporation during 1976–1982. He joined the Department of Computer Science at the University of Auckland in 1982 and was Head of department.
Go to Profile#4171
David Ferriero
#17081
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (81 years)
David Sean Ferriero is an American librarian and library administrator, who served as the 10th Archivist of the United States. He previously served as the Director of the New York Public Library and as the University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs at Duke University. Prior to his Duke position, he worked for 31 years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology library. Ferriero was the first librarian to serve as Archivist of the United States.
Go to Profile#4172
Chris Adami
#15755
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Christoph Carl Herbert "Chris" Adami is a professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, as well as professor of physics and astronomy, at Michigan State University. Education Adami was born in Brussels, Belgium, and graduated from the European School of Brussels I. He obtained a Diplom in physics from the University of Bonn and an MA and a Ph.D. in theoretical nuclear physics from Stony Brook University in 1991. Adami was a Division Prize Fellow in the lab of Steven E. Koonin at the California Institute of Technology from 1992-1995, and was subsequently on the Caltech faculty as a senior ...
Go to Profile#4173
Philip K. Thornton
#110688
Overall Influence
#4174
Jinqiao Duan
#101279
Overall Influence
Jinqiao Duan is a professor of mathematics at Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, USA. He is known for scientific contributions to stochastic and nonlinear dynamics, stochastic partial differential equations, non-equilibrium statistical physics, and applications to biophysical & geophysical sciences. His current research also includes data science & stochastic dynamics, stochastic Hamilton/Contact dynamics & geometric mechanics, and open quantum dynamics & stochastic dynamics. His particular contributions include a random invariant manifold framework, effective reduction and approximat...
Go to Profile#4175
Roel Vertegaal
#80513
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (58 years)
Roeland "Roel" Vertegaal is a Dutch-Canadian interaction designer, scientist, musician and entrepreneur working in the area of Human-Computer Interaction. He is best known for his pioneering work on flexible and paper computers, with systems such as PaperWindows , PaperPhone and PaperTab .
Go to Profile#4176
Tao A. Xiang
#110753
Overall Influence
#4177
Moshe Zviran
#37543
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
Moshe Zviran is professor at the Coller School of Management at Tel Aviv University. He currently serves as chief entrepreneurship and innovation officer of Tel Aviv university as well as the Head and Academic Director of the Bloomberg-Sagol Center for City Leadership at Tel Aviv University. He is also the founder of “The Zviran Index” for comparative compensation and benefits surveys in Israel.
Go to Profile#4178
Yulong Ding
#110779
Overall Influence
#4179
Michael McClelland
#56890
Overall Influence
Michael McClelland is an academic. He is a professor of microbiology and genetics at the University of California, Irvine. Early and education Mcclelland had his early education at the University of Ghana Primary School, Methodist College, Belfast, and Boynton Junior High School in Ithaca, New York.
Go to Profile#4180
Markku Kaste
#110825
Overall Influence
#4181
Levent Gürel
#86406
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
Levent Gürel is a Turkish scientist and electrical engineer. He was the director of Computational Electromagnetics Research Center and a professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at the Bilkent University, Turkey until November 2014. Currently, he is serving as an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is also serving as the founder and CEO of ABAKUS Computing Technologies.
Go to Profile#4182
Cheol Seong Hwang
#110858
Overall Influence
#4183
Lukas Nellen
#110860
Overall Influence
#4184
Brian H. Rowe
#110874
Overall Influence
#4185
Wanli Ouyang
#110893
Overall Influence
#4186
Junior A. Abildskov
#110900
Overall Influence
#4187
Jeffrey Xu Yu
#110901
Overall Influence
#4188
Charles G Drake
#110908
Overall Influence
#4189
Douglas Lenat
#97438
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Douglas Bruce Lenat was an American computer scientist and researcher in artificial intelligence who was the founder and CEO of Cycorp, Inc. in Austin, Texas. Lenat was awarded the biannual IJCAI Computers and Thought Award in 1976 for creating the machine-learning program AM. He has worked on machine learning , knowledge representation, "cognitive economy", blackboard systems, and what he dubbed in 1984 "ontological engineering" . He has also worked in military simulations, and numerous projects for the US government, military, intelligence, and scientific organizations. In 1980, he published a critique of conventional random-mutation Darwinism.
Go to Profile#4190
Eric Sun
#69535
Overall Influence
Eric Sun was the Engineering Manager of the Entity Data and Ranking team at Facebook. He built Facebook's knowledge graph and oversaw engineering for Facebook's entity graph efforts. Prior to Facebook, he received a master's degree in Statistics and bachelor's degrees in Computer Science and Economics from Stanford University. His thesis was supervised by Susan Athey.
Go to Profile#4191
Laurie Williams
#105410
Overall Influence
Laurie Williams is an American software engineer known for her writings on pair programming and agile software development. She is a distinguished professor of computer science at North Carolina State University, and interim head of the Department of Computer Science at North Carolina State University.
Go to Profile#4192
Shiguang Shan
#111058
Overall Influence
#4193
Xin-dong Wu
#111079
Overall Influence
#4194
Tara Javidi
#72487
Overall Influence
Tara Javidi is an Iranian electrical engineer and computer scientist who studies networked information, stochastic control, machine learning, hypothesis testing, network optimization, and network routing, among other topics. She is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, San Diego, where she co-directs the Center for Machine-Integrated Computing and Security with Farinaz Koushanfar.
Go to Profile#4195
Joseph Avruch
#111083
Overall Influence
#4196
Bill. Triggs
#111113
Overall Influence
#4197
Stanislas Pol
#111132
Overall Influence
#4198
Denis Jacquemin
#111133
Overall Influence
#4199
Francesc Graus
#111137
Overall Influence
#4200
Kristin Lauter
#50887
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (57 years)
Kristin Estella Lauter is an American mathematician and cryptographer whose research interest is broadly in application of number theory and algebraic geometry in cryptography. She is particularly known for her work in the area of elliptic curve cryptography. She was a researcher at Microsoft Research in Redmond, Washington, from 1999–2021 and the head of the Cryptography Group from 2008–2021; her group developed Microsoft SEAL. In April 2021, Lauter joined Facebook AI Research as the West Coast Head of Research Science. She became the President-Elect of the Association for Women in Mathema...
Go to Profile