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 Earth Sciences,
#1351
Rodolfo Dirzo
#26600
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
Rodolfo Dirzo is a professor, conservationist, and tropical ecologist. He is a Bing Professor in environmental science at Stanford and a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. His research interests mainly focus on plant-animal interactions, evolutionary ecology, and defaunation in the tropics of Latin America, Africa, and the Central Pacific. He was a member of the Committee on A Conceptual Framework for New K-12 Science Education Standards, co-authoring the framework in 2012, and continues to educate local communities and young people about science and environment...
Go to Profile#1352
Qing-rong Huang
#133001
Overall Influence
#1353
Bruce Edward Hobbs
#108336
Overall Influence
1936 - Present (90 years)
Bruce Edward Hobbs AO FAA FGSAust FTSE is an Australian structural geologist and science administrator. He is a research fellow of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and adjunct professor, University of Western Australia. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1991. He was appointed the first Chief Scientist of Western Australia in 2003 but resigned over fundamental differences with the Carpenter Government in 2006.
Go to Profile#1354
Tauno Kukkamäki
#127851
Overall Influence
1909 - 1997 (88 years)
Tauno Johannes Kukkamäki was a Finnish geodesist renowned especially for his research into levelling refraction. He defended his doctoral thesis in University of Turku in 1940 on the metrology of length by means of the Väisälä comparator. He served as the director of the Finnish Geodetic Institute and as the president of the International Association of Geodesy. The minor planet 2159 Kukkamäki was named in his honour.
Go to Profile#1355
Margaret Torn
#114986
Overall Influence
Margaret Torn is an ecologist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory known for her research on carbon cycling, especially with respect to the interactions between soils and the atmosphere. Education and career Torn grew up in Marin county and worked in the family's food business, the Torn Ranch, where they handled nuts and dried fruits. She started college at the College of Marin before transferring to University of California, Berkeley. She earned a B.S. , an M.S. , and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. From 1994 until 1998, Torn was a postdoctoral fellow at University of California Irvine and Stanford University.
Go to Profile#1356
Frans Dieleman
#101242
Overall Influence
1942 - 2005 (63 years)
François Marinus Dieleman was a Dutch geographer and Professor in Urban and Rural Geography at the Utrecht University known for his work in the fields of urban geography and the geography of housing.
Go to Profile#1357
Víctor Alberto Ramos
#94316
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (81 years)
Víctor Alberto Ramos is an Argentine geologist who has contributed to the paleogeography and plate tectonics of South America. He has been a member of the Chilean Academy of Science since 2001 and won in 2013 the Premio México de Ciencia y Tecnología.
Go to Profile#1358
Donald Edward White
#133260
Overall Influence
#1359
Mal Logan
#25243
Overall Influence
1931 - 2022 (91 years)
Malcolm Ian Logan was an Australian geographer and university administrator. He was Vice-Chancellor of Monash University from 1987 to 1996. Logan grew up in country New South Wales, attending secondary school in the remote town of Tamworth. He moved to Sydney to complete an honours degree in geography at the University of Sydney, which he finished in 1951. After spending some time as a teacher in secondary schools, he returned to Sydney to complete his PhD and take up a position as Professor of Geography and Urban Planning. He then spent time at a range of universities overseas, living in the US and Nigeria.
Go to Profile#1360
Richard Eugene Peterson
#133326
Overall Influence
#1361
Jeffrey Frame
#127107
Overall Influence
Jeffrey W. Frame is an American atmospheric scientist known for observational and modeling studies of severe convective storms and for teaching meteorology. He was a scientist for VORTEX2 and other field research programs.
Go to Profile#1362
Marie Price
#86797
Overall Influence
Marie Daly Price is an American geographer, author and specialist in international affairs. Price has been president of the American Geographical Society since 2016, the first female to hold the role. She is co-author of two textbooks on World Geography, as well as over sixty articles in peer-reviewed journals, twelve chapters in anthologies, and two other books.
Go to Profile#1363
Natalie Mahowald
#82530
Overall Influence
1963 - Present (63 years)
Natalie Mahowald is an American Earth scientist who is the Irving Porter Church Professor of Engineering at Cornell University. Her research considers atmospheric transport of biogeochemically-relevant species, and the impact of humans on their environments.
Go to Profile#1364
Cornelius H. M. Van Bavel
#133434
Overall Influence
#1365
Alan T. Murray
#133448
Overall Influence
#1366
John Meacham Hunt
#133459
Overall Influence
#1367
Majid Hassanizadeh
#31048
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
Seyed Majid Hassanizadeh is a professor of hydrogeology at Utrecht University, where he heads the Hydrogeology group at the Faculty of Geosciences. His research focuses on flow of fluids and transport of solutes and colloids in porous media, through theory development, experimental studies, and modeling work. In particular, he focuses on two-phase flow, reactive transport in variably-saturated porous media, transport of micro-organisms, and biodegradation.
Go to Profile#1368
John E. Knodel
#133531
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (86 years)
#1369
Tim Patterson
#110929
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
R. Timothy Patterson is a Canadian professor of geology, Chairman of the Department of Earth Sciences at Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and a researcher with specialization in paleolimnology, paleoceanography, and paleoclimatology. He founded and is co-Director of the Carleton Climate and Environmental Research Group He has previously served as Director of the Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Centre and as senior visiting fellow in the School of Geography, Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Go to Profile#1370
Martha Anderson
#102220
Overall Influence
Martha Carol Anderson is research scientist with the United States Department of Agriculture. She is known for her work in using satellite imagery to track droughts and their impact on crops. In 2022, she was elected a fellow of the American Geophysical Union.
Go to Profile#1371
Harry Heil Roberts
#133568
Overall Influence
#1372
Ru‐shan Wu
#133612
Overall Influence
#1373
David Butler
#133636
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (67 years)
#1374
Heinz Wanner
#122952
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (81 years)
Heinz Wanner is a Swiss geographer and climate researcher. He is a professor emeritus and works at the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research of the University of Bern. Biography Wanner studied geography, climatology, geology and mathematics in Bern and Grenoble . His supervisors were Bruno Messerli, Max Schüepp and Charles Peguy. He initially worked on synoptic climatology, mesoscale dynamics and mountain meteorology. After completing his doctorate on fog and cold air dynamics over the Swiss Plateau, he worked from 1981 to 1982 at the Department of Atmospheric Science of the Colorado S...
Go to Profile#1375
Christopher Jackson
#87288
Overall Influence
1977 - Present (49 years)
Christopher Aiden-Lee Jackson is a British geoscientist, science communicator and Director of Sustainable Geoscience at Jacobs Engineering Group. He was previously Professor of Sustainable Geoscience at the University of Manchester, and before that held the Equinor Chair of Basin Analysis at Imperial College, London. He is known for his work in geoscience, especially in the use of 3D seismic data to understand dynamic processes in sedimentary basins.
Go to Profile#1376
Mirosław Żak
#128915
Overall Influence
1936 - Present (90 years)
Mirosław Żak - born 10 September 1936 in Katowice Head of the Department of Geodesy , Head of the Department of Higher Geodesy , Head of the Department of Geodesy .
Go to Profile#1377
Catherine Ritz
#53818
Overall Influence
Catherine Ritz is a French Antarctic researcher, best known for her work on ice sheets and their impact on sea level rise. Early life and education Catherine Ritz received her master's degree Maîtrise de Physique in physics in France in 1975. She conducted her PhD research leading toward the degree Thèse de 3ème cycle in 1980 from the University of Grenoble, and she received her Thèse de Doctorat d’Etat in 1992.
Go to Profile#1378
Ron Martin
#106589
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
Ronald Leonard Martin FBA FAcSS is professor of economic geography at the Department of Geography University of Cambridge. He is a fellow of the Cambridge-MIT Institute, research associate of the Centre for Business Research and professorial fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge.
Go to Profile#1379
Stephen E. Schwartz
#82533
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (85 years)
Stephen E. Schwartz is an atmospheric scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He served from 2004 to 2009 as the Chief Scientist of the Atmospheric Science Program of the United States Department of Energy. He is author of over 100 scientific publications dealing mainly with cloud chemistry and forcing of climate change by atmospheric aerosols.
Go to Profile#1380
Dorrik Andrew Vincent Stow
#134057
Overall Influence
#1381
Orlando Ribeiro
#76934
Overall Influence
1911 - 1997 (86 years)
Orlando Ribeiro was a Portuguese geographer and historian. Biography Orlando Ribeiro was born in Lisbon, Portugal. Ribeiro devoted his life to the teaching and research of geography and is often described as one of the main reformers of this science in Portugal. He graduated in Geography and History in 1932, and completed his doctorate at the University of Lisbon in 1935. Between 1937 and 1940 , he lived in Paris and worked at the Sorbonne University, alongside March Bloch, Emmanuel de Martonne and A. Demangeon. In 1940 he taught at the University of Coimbra, although he soon settled in his native city of Lisbon.
Go to Profile#1382
Richard Rotunno
#134096
Overall Influence
#1383
Katherine Calvin
#67220
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Katherine Calvin is NASA's Chief Scientist and Senior Climate Advisor. In July 2023, she was elected co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group III. As an earth scientist at the Joint Global Change Research Institute , she has researched human use of global resources using Earth modeling systems at JGCRI under the direction of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of Maryland. She has contributed to the third US National Climate Assessment as well as two special reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change .
Go to Profile#1384
Yingwei Fei
#134166
Overall Influence
#1385
Paul Boyle
#55325
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
Paul Joseph Boyle, , FRSGS, FLSW is a British geographer, academic, and academic administrator. He was the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leicester between 2014 and 2019. He had been Professor of Human Geography at the University of St Andrews from 1999 to 2014, and Chief Executive of the Economic and Social Research Council from 2010 to 2014. He took over as Vice-Chancellor of Swansea University at the end of the 2018/2019 academic year.
Go to Profile#1386
Robert Orville Fournier
#134226
Overall Influence
#1387
Zhi-chao Dang
#134285
Overall Influence
#1388
André Revil
#134338
Overall Influence
#1389
Anthony Jude Devaney
#134381
Overall Influence
#1390
Christopher Mark Fanning
#134532
Overall Influence
#1391
Marc McGinnes
#26525
Overall Influence
J. Marc McGinnes is an environmental leader, lawyer, and educator. He became a public interest environmental lawyer and led the founding of the Community Environmental Council and the Environmental Defense Center .
Go to Profile#1392
Edward LaChapelle
#90361
Overall Influence
1926 - 2007 (81 years)
Edward Randle "Ed" LaChapelle was an American avalanche researcher, glaciologist, mountaineer, skier, author, and professor. He was a pioneer in the field of avalanche research and forecasting in North America.
Go to Profile#1393
Derek C. Ford
#134673
Overall Influence
#1394
Piotr Eberhardt
#85797
Overall Influence
1935 - 2020 (85 years)
Piotr Eberhardt was a Polish geographer, a professor at the Polish Academy of Science and author of studies in the field of demography and population geography. His works included the ethnic problems of Central and Eastern Europe in the 20th century. He also specialized in the field of geopolitics.
Go to Profile#1395
Arden Leroy Albee
#134705
Overall Influence
#1396
Alan Wilson
#46396
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (87 years)
Sir Alan Geoffrey Wilson FAcSS is a British mathematician and social scientist, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds and a professor at University College London. Early life and education Wilson was born in Bradford on 8 January 1939, and educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Darlington and the University of Cambridge where he was an undergraduate student of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and studied the Mathematical Tripos, graduating in 1960.
Go to Profile#1397
Claude P. M. A. Jaupart
#134734
Overall Influence
#1398
Douglas Sheil
#134738
Overall Influence
#1399
Stanley B. Goldenberg
#114852
Overall Influence
Stanley B. Goldenberg is a meteorologist with NOAA/AOML's Hurricane Research Division in Miami , Florida. Goldenberg received his associate degree from Miami Dade College and a bachelor's degree in 1978 and a master's degree in 1980 both in meteorology from Florida State University. One of his main graduate advisors was James O'Brien, one of the world's leading experts on El Niño.
Go to Profile#1400
Larry Bourne
#86495
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (87 years)
Larry Stuart Bourne FRSC FCIP FRCGS DLitt DES is a Canadian academic geographer. He has been called a "leading expert on Canadian urban issues." Bourne's academic career has been based in geography/planning at the University of Toronto with interest primarily in North American cities.
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