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).

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List of the most influential people in Earth Sciences,

#1051

Gernot Grabher

#67919
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
Gernot Grabher is an economic geographer and Professor of Urban and Regional Economic Studies at the HafenCity University Hamburg. He received his Ph.D. in 1987 at Vienna University of Technology, and held positions at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin , King's College London, the University of Konstanz and the University of Bonn. Grabher was Visiting Professor at Columbia University, Copenhagen Business School, Santa Fe Institute, Cornell University and the Institute of Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. Between 2007 and 2011 he was co-editor of Economic Geography. Currently, he is co-editor of the Regions and Cities book series of the Regional Studies Association.
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#1052

Christopher Michael. Frei

#119503
Overall Influence
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#1053

William D. Sellers

#83298
Overall Influence
1928 - 2014 (86 years)
William D. Sellers was an American meteorologist, climate scientist, and pioneer of climate modelling. He created one the earliest climate models and was one of the first scientists to recognize the effects of CO2 in the atmosphere on the earth's climate. He published the textbook "Physical Climatology".
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#1054

Alfred Sherman Mcewen

#119756
Overall Influence
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#1055

John M. Eiler

#119975
Overall Influence
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#1056

Marius Vassiliou

#24307
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Marius Vassiliou is an American computational scientist, geophysicist, and aerospace executive. He is also an authority on the history of petroleum. Vassiliou is of Greek Cypriot descent and was educated at Harvard University and the California Institute of Technology .
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#1057

Bryan L. Isacks

#120126
Overall Influence
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#1058

Arnold Tukker

#120136
Overall Influence
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#1059

Peter Liss

Peter Liss
#57098
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (84 years)
Peter Simon Liss CBE FRS is a British environmental scientist, and professorial fellow, at the University of East Anglia. Background Liss studied at Durham University, earning a BSc. He then completed a PhD at the University of Wales.
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#1060

Tandonga Yao

#120269
Overall Influence
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#1061

Don Easterbrook

#89517
Overall Influence
1935 - Present (91 years)
Don J. Easterbrook is professor emeritus of Geology at Western Washington University. Career Easterbrook was educated at the University of Washington, where he received the BSc in 1958, the MSc in 1959, and the PhD in 1962. His doctoral dissertation was entitled Pleistocene Geology of the Northern Part of the Puget Lowland, Washington. He was chairman of the Geology Department at Western Washington University for 12 years.
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#1062

Randall V Martin

#120293
Overall Influence
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#1063

Hans Thybo

#42573
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
Hans Thybo is a Danish geophysicist and geologist. He is President of International Lithosphere Program since 2017. Early life and education In 1978, Thybo earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Physics from Aarhus University, Denmark. In 1980, he completed his studies at the Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. He earned two more degrees from Aarhus University: a Master of Science in geophysics in 1982 and a PhD in geology in 1987.
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#1064

James G. Moore

#93012
Overall Influence
1930 - Present (96 years)
James Gregory Moore is a geologist and winner of the 2020 Penrose Medal. Moore is a Scientist Emeritus for the U.S. Geological Survey. Education Stanford University University of Washington Johns Hopkins University
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#1065

Kurt J. Marfurt

#120540
Overall Influence
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#1066

Sylvia Chant

#98493
Overall Influence
1958 - 2019 (61 years)
Sylvia Hamilton Chant was a British academic who was professor of Development Geography at the London School of Economics and Political Science and was co-director of the MSc Urbanisation and Development Programme in the LSE's Department of Geography and Environment.
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#1067

David J. Lowe

#120574
Overall Influence
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#1068

Edward Howel Francis

#89287
Overall Influence
1924 - 2014 (90 years)
Edward Howel Francis, BSc, DSc, FRSE, FGS was a British geologist and Emeritus Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Leeds. He was President of the Geological Society of London from 1980 to 1982.
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#1069

Gunter Faure

#120633
Overall Influence
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#1070

Everett Shock

#66607
Overall Influence
Everett L. Shock is an American geochemist and former experimental rock singer and songwriter. He is currently a professor with joint appointments in the School of Earth and Space Exploration and School of Molecular Sciences at Arizona State University. Shock and his research group work within a framework of chemical thermodynamics applied to field, experimental, and theoretical geochemical investigations to understand how geochemical processes provide energy to support microbial life on Earth and potentially on other ocean worlds.
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#1071

Benjamin Bley de Brito Neves

#120736
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (85 years)
Benjamin Bley de Brito Neves is a Brazilian geologist who has contributed to the paleogeography and plate tectonics of South America. Brito Neves is member of Sociedade Brasileira de Geologia, National Water Well Association and the Geological Society of America. He is member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.
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#1072

Philippe Le Billon

#31773
Overall Influence
Philippe Le Billon is a researcher known for his work in political ecology and on the political economy of war. A Fulbright Research Chair at UC Berkeley and Scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, Le Billon is a professor at the University of British Columbia with the Department of Geography and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. He earned an MBA at the Pantheon-Sorbonne University in Paris and a doctorate at the University of Oxford. Prior to joining UBC he collaborated with the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Overseas Development Instit...
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#1073

Cuchlaine King

#88327
Overall Influence
1922 - 2019 (97 years)
Cuchlaine Audrey Muriel King was a British geomorphologist known for her work in glaciology and her extensive writings on the geography of coasts and beaches. She, with John P Cole, was one of the first to produce a book on quantitative methods in geography.
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#1074

Chris de Freitas

#67082
Overall Influence
1948 - 2017 (69 years)
Christopher Rhodes de Freitas was a New Zealand climate scientist. He was an associate professor in the School of Environment at the University of Auckland. Education and professional career De Freitas, born in Trinidad, received both his Bachelor's and his Master's at the University of Toronto, Canada, after which he earned his PhD as a Commonwealth Scholar from the University of Queensland, Australia. During his time at the University of Auckland, he served as deputy dean of science, head of science and technology, and for four years as pro vice-chancellor. He also served as vice-president ...
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#1075

Frank Wania

#121318
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
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#1076

Kenneth Jinghwa Hsü

#121342
Overall Influence
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#1077

Carolina Vera

#92306
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Carolina Susana Vera is an Argentine meteorologist. She is the principal investigator of the Argentine research council National Scientific and Technical Research Council , and a professor at the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires . Her research focuses on climate variability and global warming in South America.
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#1078

Gary Paul Nabhan

#21801
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
Gary Paul Nabhan is an agricultural ecologist, Ethnobotanist, Ecumenical Franciscan Brother, and author whose work has focused primarily on the plants and cultures of the desert Southwest. He is considered a pioneer in the local food movement and the heirloom seed saving movement.
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#1079

Elburt F. Osborn

#106490
Overall Influence
1911 - 1998 (87 years)
Elburt Franklin Osborn was an American geochemist and educator. He served as the 13th director of the U.S. Bureau of Mines. Early life Elburt Franklin Osborn was born on August 13, 1911, in Kishwaukee, Illinois to Anna and William Franklin Osborn. Osborn graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in geology from DePauw University in 1932. He received a Master of Science in petrology from Northwestern University in 1934 and a PhD in petrology from the California Institute of Technology in 1938.
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#1080

Zurab Tatashidze

#121382
Overall Influence
1928 - 2011 (83 years)
Zurab Tatashidze was a Georgian geographer. Doctor of Geographical Sciences , professor . Corresponding member of the Georgian Academy of Sciences . Director of the Vakhushti Bagrationi Institute of Geography . President of the Georgian National Speleological Society . He was one of the discoverers of the New Athos Cave in 1961, which became one of the important tourism destinations in Europe.
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#1081

Peter Lynch

Peter Lynch
#77573
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (79 years)
Peter Lynch is an Irish meteorologist, mathematician, blogger and book author. His interests include numerical weather prediction, dynamic meteorology, Hamiltonian mechanics, the history of meteorology, and the popularisation of mathematics.
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#1082

Susan Ustin

#116912
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
Susan Ustin is an American earth scientist who is the Distinguished Professor of Environmental Resource Science at the John Muir Institute for the Environment, University of California, Davis. Her research makes use of remote sensing technology to understand the characteristics of plant communities.
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#1083

Steven Eric Lindberg

#121687
Overall Influence
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#1084

Enrico Bonatti

#121745
Overall Influence
1936 - Present (90 years)
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#1085

Jeroen Tromp

#121750
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (60 years)
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#1086

Michael W. Mcelhinny

#121757
Overall Influence
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#1087

Paula Reimer

#116679
Overall Influence
Paula Jo Reimer is a radiocarbon and archaeological scientist. Reimer is the former director of the 14Chrono Centre for Climate, the Environment, and Chronology at Queen's University Belfast. Biography Reimer has a BSc in Physics and MSc in Biophysics from Iowa State University. She was awarded her PhD in Geological Sciences, working with Minze Stuiver, from University of Washington in 1998. She worked at the Quaternary Isotope Lab at Washington from 1977 to 1998, after which she moved to Queen's University Belfast for a Postdoctoral fellowship in 1998–2001. This was followed by a second postdoctoral fellowship at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 2001 to 2004.
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#1088

Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher

#23427
Overall Influence
1940 - 2023 (83 years)
Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher was an Ethiopian scientist who won the Right Livelihood Award in 2000 "for his exemplary work to safeguard biodiversity and the traditional rights of farmers and communities to their genetic resources."
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#1089

Gordon J. F. Macdonald

#121801
Overall Influence
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#1090

Ulf Dieckmann

#121888
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (60 years)
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#1091

David Rothery

#83127
Overall Influence
David A. Rothery is professor of planetary geosciences at the Open University, where he chairs a level 2 module Planetary Science and the Search for Life and a level 1 module Volcanoes, Earthquakes and Tsunamis. He serves on the Open University's Senate.
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#1092

Bobby Alton. Stewart

#122019
Overall Influence
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#1093

David Stewart Jenkinson

#119556
Overall Influence
1928 - 2011 (83 years)
David Stewart Jenkinson FRS was a soil scientist whose career was based at Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK. His first role in soil science was a three-year assistant lectureship in the Department of Agricultural Chemistry at the University of Reading. His research at Rothamsted included the development of a method to measure the organic carbon content of soil microorganisms, the development of a computer model for soil organic carbon turnover , and work with nitrogen-15 isotope for investigating the efficiency of nitrogen fertilizer. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1991, and ...
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#1094

Gilles F. Billen

#122129
Overall Influence
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#1095

Tom Segalstad

#97408
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
Tom Victor Segalstad is a Norwegian geologist. He has taught geology and geophysics at the University of Oslo, Norway, and at Pennsylvania State University, United States. Career Positions He is the past head of the Geological Museum at the University of Oslo and the past head of the Natural History Museums and Botanical Garden of the University of Oslo.
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#1096

David J. Bottjer

#122277
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
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#1097

Kenneth G. Miller

#97639
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Kenneth G. Miller is an American geologist who is currently a distinguished professor at Rutgers University. Early life and education Born in 1956, Miller grew up in Medford, New Jersey. In 1978, he received an A.B. from Rutgers College, and in 1982, received a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in Oceanography.
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#1098

Mathilde Cannat

#120144
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Mathilde Cannat is a French geologist known for her research on the formation of oceanic crust and the tectonic and magmatic changes of mid-ocean ridges. Education and career Cannat earned her Ph.D. in 1983 from University of Nantes where she worked on ophiolites and tectonic processes. Following her Ph.D., she was a postdoc at Durham University and then she joined the French National Centre for Scientific Research in 1986. In 1992 she obtained a position at the Pierre and Marie Curie University where she remained until she moved to a position at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris in...
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#1099

Ruth Fincher

#100275
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
Ruth B. Fincher is a leader in the field of feminist geography and urban geography. She is an Emeritus Foundation Professor of Geography at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Background Fincher was born on 27 March 1951 in Boort, Western Victoria, Australia, to school teacher parents who moved between Terang, Coleraine, Moonee Ponds and Mildura. She completed schooling at University High School in Melbourne. She received her undergraduate degree at the University of Melbourne , her master's degree in geography at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, and her PhD at the Graduate School of Geography at Clark University, Massachusetts, United States, in 1979 .
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#1100

Vincent E. Courtillot

#122514
Overall Influence
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