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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Person Name

School

Gender

Country

Discipline

Subdiscipline

Ranking

List of the most influential people in Earth Sciences,

#1151

Charles R. Stelck

#100846

Overall Influence

1917 - 2016 (99 years)

Charles Richard Stelck, O.C., Ph.D., F.R.S.C., P.Geol. was a Canadian petroleum geologist, paleontologist, stratigrapher, and university professor. He is known for his pioneering work on unraveling the stratigraphy of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, and his inspired use of biostratigraphy as an exploration tool for finding petroleum and natural gas fields.

#1152

Eystein Jansen

#90688

Overall Influence

1953 - Present (73 years)

Eystein Jansen is a Norwegian professor in marine geology and paleoceanography at the University of Bergen, and researcher and former Director of the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research . He is also the vice-president of the European Research Council , as the scientific leader of the EU's commitment to basic research in the fields of physical sciences and engineering.

#1153

Harry Thode

#45885

Overall Influence

1910 - 1997 (87 years)

Henry George Thode was a Canadian geochemist, nuclear chemist, and academic administrator. He was president and vice-chancellor of McMaster University from 1961 to 1972. Thode built a cyclotron capable of making radioactive isotopes and, along with C. H. Jaimet, investigated the use of radioactive iodine in the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid disease in humans, the first medical application of radioactive iodine in Canada.

#1154

Bohumil Volesky

#124601

Overall Influence

#1155

R. Vance Hall

#124605

Overall Influence

#1156

Angela Gurnell

#115530

Overall Influence

1948 - Present (78 years)

Angela Gurnell is a British geoscientist who is Professor of Physical Geography at Queen Mary University of London. Her research considers hydrology, geomorphology and plant ecology. She is particularly interested in how vegetations and fluvial processes interact, and developing novel methodologies to monitor and assess rivers. She was awarded the Royal Geographical Society Victoria Medal in 2002 and the European Geosciences Union Alfred Wegener medal in 2021.

#1157

Andrew Ball

#55331

Overall Influence

Andrew Ball was a pioneer in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. He is also credited with the European discovery of its site. Early life Andrew Ball was the son of James Creighton Ball and his wife Hannah .

#1158

Roger Lhermitte

Roger Lhermitte

#67612

Overall Influence

1920 - 2016 (96 years)

Roger M. Lhermitte was a French meteorologist who "pioneered the development of meteorological Doppler radar." His career extended from the 1950s until his death where he made numerous contributions to the field of radar meteorology resulting in over 100 publications and numerous patents.

#1159

Ellie Highwood

#98264

Overall Influence

1961 - Present (65 years)

Ellie Highwood is a diversity and inclusion consultant and coach to academics, researchers and scientists. She was formerly Professor of Climate Physics at the University of Reading and was head of that department from 2012 until 2015. She was previously a member of the RMetS Council and Education Committee. On 1 October 2016 she became the 81st President of the Royal Meteorological Society , serving until 2018.

#1160

Lesley Head

#92301

Overall Influence

1957 - Present (69 years)

Lesley Head is an Australian geographer specialising in human-environment relations. She is active in geographical debates about the relationship between humans and nature, using concepts and analytical methods from physical geography, archaeology and cultural geography. She retired from the University of Melbourne in 2021.

#1161

Andreas Matzarakis

#124910

Overall Influence

1960 - Present (66 years)

#1162

Guo‐chun Zhao

#124980

Overall Influence

#1163

Lučka Kajfež Bogataj

Lučka Kajfež Bogataj

#71445

Overall Influence

1957 - Present (69 years)

Lučka Kajfež Bogataj is a Slovenian climatologist, specialist in agricultural meteorology. Early life and education She graduated in 1980 from the Ljubljana Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology and received her doctorate from the Faculty of Biotechnology. She then pursued post-doctoral training in the U.S. and Sweden.

#1164

Jeffrey C. Wynn

Jeffrey C. Wynn

#79314

Overall Influence

2000 - Present (26 years)

Jeffrey C. Wynn is a research geophysicist with the United States Geological Survey . He is currently based in the Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, WA, one of the five USGS volcano observatories in the United States .

#1165

Leigh Royden

#77595

Overall Influence

Leigh "Wiki" H. Royden is an American Geologist. Early life Royden was born in Palo Alto, California. Royden's father was Halsey Royden, a mathematician. Education Royden received an A.B. degree in physics from Harvard University and a PhD in geology and geophysics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology .

#1166

Mikhail Molodenskii

#109544

Overall Influence

1909 - 1991 (82 years)

Mikhail Sergeyevich Molodenskii was a Russian physical geodesist. He was once said to be "probably the only geodesist who would have deserved a Nobel Prize". He graduated from Moscow State University , since 1946 he worked for the Institute of Earth Physics . He created an original theory for determining the figure of the Earth and its gravity field based on measurements done on the topographic surface, built the first Soviet gravimeter, developed a theory of the nutation of Earth. He won the Stalin Prize and the Lenin Prize . His legacy includes the Molodensky transformations, which are com...

#1167

Stephen E. Haggerty

#122988

Overall Influence

1938 - Present (88 years)

Stephen E. "Steve" Haggerty is an American geophysicist and Fulbright scholar. He served as a principal investigator in the U.S. Apollo and the Soviet Luna sample return programs. The metallic mineral known as "haggertyite" is named in his honor.

#1168

Chris Chapman

#112469

Overall Influence

1945 - Present (81 years)

Christopher Hugh Chapman is a British seismologist, an emeritus honorary professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge. Biography He was awarded a first degree in theoretical physics and a Ph.D in geophysics by Cambridge University. He then moved to Canada to be an Assistant and Associate Professor at the University of Alberta, and an Associate and Full Professor at the University of Toronto. He returned to Cambridge in 1984 to take up an appointment as Professor of Geophysics.

#1169

Francisca Oboh Ikuenobe

#26142

Overall Influence

Francisca Oboh-Ikuenobe is a geologist from Ubiaja in Esan South East Local Government Area of Edo State. She was born August 1962 She specialises in palynology and sedimentology, and is Professor of Geology in the Department of Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering, and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs in the College of Engineering and Computing, Missouri University of Science and Technology.

#1170

Joyeeta Gupta

#120343

Overall Influence

1964 - Present (62 years)

Joyeeta Gupta is an Dutch environmental scientist who is professor of Environment and Development in the Global South at the University of Amsterdam, professor of Law and Policy in Water Resources and Environment at IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, and co-chair of the Earth Commission, set up by Future Earth and supported by the Global Challenges Foundation. She was co-chair of UNEP’s Global Environment Outlook-6 , published by Cambridge University Press, which was presented to governments participating in the United Nations Environment Assembly in 2019. She is a member of the Amsterdam Global Change Institute.

#1171

Stuart G. Wakeham

#125224

Overall Influence

#1172

Arthur Will Warrick

#125276

Overall Influence

#1173

Sarah A. Radcliffe

#99425

Overall Influence

1960 - Present (66 years)

Sarah Anne Radcliffe is a geographer and academic, who is Professor in Latin American Geography at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge. She is an editor at the Progress in Human Geography journal. In 2020 she was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.

#1174

John Renton

#71949

Overall Influence

1933 - 2020 (87 years)

John J. "Jack" Renton was a professor of geology at West Virginia University, known for the quality of the teaching in his introductory geology courses and in the video version of the course, Nature of Earth. In 2001 he received the WVU Eberly College of Arts & Sciences Outstanding Teacher Award, the WVU Foundation Outstanding Teaching Award, and was named “West Virginia Professor of the Year” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. In 2002, he was named an Eberly Family Professor for Distinguished Teaching, one o...

#1175

Richard A.F. Grieve

#125508

Overall Influence

#1176

Donald H. Lindsley

#125559

Overall Influence

1934 - Present (92 years)

#1177

Asmeret Asefaw Berhe

Asmeret Asefaw Berhe

#64016

Overall Influence

Asmeret Asefaw Berhe is a soil biogeochemist and political ecologist who is the current Director of the Office of Science at the US Department of Energy. She was previously the Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry and the Ted and Jan Falasco Chair in Earth Sciences and Geology in the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences; University of California, Merced. Her research group worked to understand how soil helps regulate the earth's climate.

#1178

Miriam Diamond

#80051

Overall Influence

1955 - Present (71 years)

Miriam Diamond is an environmental chemist and a professor at the University of Toronto. She started the Professor Diamond's Environmental Research Group which works to develop strategies that reduce dangerous contaminants in the environment.

#1179

Raymond F. Dasmann

#45222

Overall Influence

1919 - 2002 (83 years)

Raymond Fredric Dasmann was an American biologist and environmental conservationist whose works were formative to the field of environmental science. Among other achievements, he helped develop the idea of sustainable development and wrote an influential textbook, Environmental Conservation, first published in 1959; it was in its fifth edition at the time of Dasmann's death in 2002.

#1180

Robert Corell

#46322

Overall Influence

1934 - Present (92 years)

Robert W. Corell is an American global climate scientist, principal for the Global Environment & Technology Foundation, an ambassador for ClimateWorks, professor II at the University of the Arctic's new Institute of Circumpolar Reindeer Husbandry, a professor II at the University of Tromso, and director of the Sarasota, Florida-based Climate Adaptation Center . He is a partner of the Sustainability Institute and its C-ROADS Climate Interactive Initiative, and head of US Office for the Global Energy Assessment. In 1996 he was Awarded Brazilian Order of Scientific Merit by the President of Brazil.

#1181

Alan R. Longhurst

#125993

Overall Influence

#1182

Fausto Guzzetti

#126215

Overall Influence

#1183

J. David. Allan

#126216

Overall Influence

#1184

Bridget Scanlon

#88903

Overall Influence

1959 - Present (67 years)

Bridget R. Scanlon is an Irish and American hydrogeologist known for her work on groundwater depletion and groundwater recharging, and of the effects of climate change and land usage patterns on groundwater. She is a senior research scientist in the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin, where she is head of the Sustainable Water Resources Program. Her research has included the use of GRACE satellite data to compare drought conditions in Texas and California.

#1185

Sally Benson

#61243

Overall Influence

Sally M. Benson is a professor of energy engineering at Stanford University. In 2014, she was appointed as director of the Precourt Institute for Energy, the university's hub of energy research and education. Benson will continue on as director of Stanford's Global Climate and Energy Project , a position she has had since 2007.

#1186

David Atlas

#126384

Overall Influence

#1187

Sergio Martín Vicente-serrano

#126586

Overall Influence

#1188

Muki Haklay

#52749

Overall Influence

Muki Haklay FAcSS is Professor of Geographical Information Science at the Department of Geography in University College London . Education Haklay received a BSc in Computer Science and Geography in 1994 and an MA in Geography in 1997 from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Haklay was awarded a PhD in Geography in 2002 from UCL.

#1189

Dabo Guan

#126600

Overall Influence

#1190

József Barnabás Tóth

#126698

Overall Influence

#1191

Vicki Colvin

#65582

Overall Influence

1965 - Present (61 years)

Vicki Leigh Colvin is a professor of engineering and molecular pharmacology at Brown University. She is the director of the Centre for Biomedical Engineering. Her work focuses on the synthesis and characterisation of nanomaterials. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

#1192

Toby Nahum Carlson

#126733

Overall Influence

#1193

Song‐you Hong

#126773

Overall Influence

#1194

Yongcheng Song

#126777

Overall Influence

#1195

Hrvoje Tkalčić

#86283

Overall Influence

1970 - Present (56 years)

Hrvoje Tkalčić is Australian and Croatian scientist and Professor at the Australian National University in Canberra. Biography Hrvoje Tkalčić studied physics and geophysics at the University of Zagreb , from which he gained a Diploma of Engineering in Physics degree in 1996. He continued his postgraduate study at the University of California at Berkeley in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science, and defended a PhD thesis entitled "Study of deep Earth structure using seismic body waves" in 2001. He was employed as a research assistant at the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory , as a...

#1196

Witold F. Krajewski

#126817

Overall Influence

#1197

Janice Monk

#66944

Overall Influence

1937 - Present (89 years)

Janice Jones Monk is an Australian-American feminist geographer and researcher in the South West United States, and an Emeritus Professor at the University of Arizona School of Geography, Development and Environment.

#1198

David Stephenson

#100487

Overall Influence

1963 - Present (63 years)

David B. Stephenson is a British academic and Professor of Statistical Climatology at the University of Exeter known for his use of statistical modelling in atmospheric and climate science. He is founder and director of the Exeter Climate Systems research centre and also the Head of Statistical Science at the University of Exeter.

#1199

Timo Vesala

#126949

Overall Influence

1963 - Present (63 years)

#1200

Sangwon Suh

#53160

Overall Influence

Sangwon Suh is an American industrial ecologist. Early life and education Suh was born to Kyongja An and Jaeyong Suh in Seoul, South Korea, where he spent his childhood. Suh served the South Korean military and was discharged as a sergeant. Suh completed his Bachelor of Science and Master's degree in environmental engineering from Ajou University in South Korea. Following this, he moved to the Netherlands and enrolled at Leiden University for his PhD.

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