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,
#1651
Hubert Staudigel
#145127
Overall Influence
#1652
Frank Biermann
#145259
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (59 years)
#1653
Bill Mathews
#56527
Overall Influence
1919 - 2003 (84 years)
William Henry Mathews was a Canadian geologist, volcanologist, engineer, and professor. He is considered a pioneer in the study of subglacial eruptions and volcano-ice interactions in North America. Many of his publications continue to be regarded as classics in their field.
Go to Profile#1654
Harry A. Roels
#145555
Overall Influence
#1655
Christopher Kim Wikle
#145599
Overall Influence
#1656
Martin Scheringer
#145611
Overall Influence
#1657
Dale Richard Durran
#145711
Overall Influence
#1658
Carolyn Gallaher
#94772
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (57 years)
Carolyn Gallaher is an American academic who is a political geographer and associate professor at the American University School of International Service. Her scholarship is focused on the role of paramilitaries in irregular warfare and the influence of the religious right in U.S. foreign policy.
Go to Profile#1659
Michael Bouchon
#145771
Overall Influence
#1660
Robert J. Díaz
#145773
Overall Influence
#1661
Robert N. Colwell
#145855
Overall Influence
#1662
Francesco Billari
#53731
Overall Influence
1970 - Present (56 years)
Francesco C. Billari is an italian sociologist and demographer, and the Rector of Bocconi University in Milan, as well as Professor of Demography in the Department of Social and Political Sciences Biography He graduated from Bocconi University with a degree in Political Economy in 1994, with a specialization in Statistics and Operations Research. In 1997 he was a Doctoral Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, and obtained a PhD in Demography from the University of Padua in 1998. From 1999 to 2002 he was the leader of a research group at the Max Planck Institute ...
Go to Profile#1663
Philip M. Haygarth
#145941
Overall Influence
#1664
Uwe Stilla
#146075
Overall Influence
1957 - 2023 (66 years)
#1665
Bernd Lottermoser
#58079
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
Bernd Georg Lottermoser is university professor with expertise in the sustainable extraction of mineral resources. Life and education Bernd Lottermoser earned a Diploma of Science in geology from the University of Newcastle and a PhD in ore deposit geology from the same university. His doctoral thesis was titled Rare earth elements and ore formation processes.
Go to Profile#1666
Rosemary Askin
#109136
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
Rosemary Anne Askin , also known as Rosemary Askin Cully, is a New Zealand geologist specialising in Antarctic palynology. She was a trailblazer for women in Antarctic science, becoming the first New Zealand woman to undertake her own research programme in Antarctica in 1970.
Go to Profile#1667
Nicholas A. J. Graham
#146229
Overall Influence
#1668
Jerry Michael Neff
#146239
Overall Influence
#1669
John Harris Stewart
#146246
Overall Influence
#1670
Angela H. Arthington
#146262
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
#1671
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
#54612
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist, policy expert, and conservation strategist. She is the founder and president of Ocean Collectiv, a consulting firm that helps find ocean "conservation solutions grounded in social justice", and the founder of Urban Ocean Lab, a think tank for climate change and ocean conservation policy in coastal cities.
Go to Profile#1672
Samantha Hall
#47804
Overall Influence
1982 - Present (44 years)
Samantha "Sam" Hall is an Australian environmental researcher. She is also an Antarctic scientist and entrepreneur. Biography As a child, Hall had her first epileptic seizure when she was 11. In 2002, Hall graduated from Curtin University with a bachelor's degree in commerce. Around 2007, when she was 27, she was able to have surgery for her seizures. While she was still working in Thailand, she decided she was going to pursue environmental science. She returned to Curtin University in 2009 and earned a master of science in sustainability management. She went on to get her doctorate in sustai...
Go to Profile#1673
Frank Pattyn
#93799
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (60 years)
Frank Jean-Marie Léon Pattyn is a Belgian glaciologist and professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles. He is best known for developing ice-sheet models and leading model intercomparisons. Early life and education Frank Pattyn was born in Etterbeek on 4 March 1966. He completed his Bachelor and Master degrees in geography at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 1986 and 1988, respectively. He then obtained his PhD in ice sheet modelling from the same institution in 1998. His doctoral thesis is entitled “ Ice-sheet dynamics in eastern Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica”.
Go to Profile#1674
Claire C. Chenu
#146428
Overall Influence
#1675
Lester Russell Brown
#146449
Overall Influence
#1676
Patrick J. Bartlein
#146505
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
#1677
Joseph B. Walsh
#146588
Overall Influence
#1678
Emilio Chuvieco
#146590
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
#1679
Robert L. Gawthorpe
#146614
Overall Influence
#1680
David W. Orr
#12347
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (82 years)
David W. Orr is the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics Emeritus at Oberlin College, and presently Professor of Practice at Arizona State University. During his tenure at the Environmental Studies Center at Oberlin College, Orr demonstrated how institutions of higher learning can teach ecological literacy while practicing sustainable design and encouraging more eco-friendly lifestyles on campus. Orr's books, Ecological Literacy: Education and the Transition to a Postmodern World and Earth in Mind , proposed ways in which education should evolve to emphasiz...
Go to Profile#1681
Maria Seton
#109744
Overall Influence
Maria Seton is an Australian geologist in the Faculty of Science EarthByte Group School of Geosciences at the University of Sydney. Seton's research is in the field of geophysics and geodynamics. Her main focus is the link between plate tectonic and mantle processes. Seton also works on kinematic controls on subduction and back-arc basin formation and the relationship between tectonics and palaeo-climate.
Go to Profile#1682
Petrus Johannes Maria Van Oosterom
#146815
Overall Influence
#1683
John Cole
#106260
Overall Influence
1928 - 2020 (92 years)
John Peter Cole was a British geographer. Cole was born in Sydney, Australia. He graduated from the University of Nottingham in 1950. He later returned there to join the staff of the Geography Department, rising to become professor of urban and regional geography. He was emeritus professor of geography at the university. From 1957 he wrote or co-authored over 25 books on geography, including Geography of World Affairs, first published in 1959. His work ran from school texts to academic papers, and he was an early adopter of computers in geographical studies. He was a visiting professor at the Universities of Washington, Columbia, Mexico, Valparaiso, Nanjing and Beijing.
Go to Profile#1684
Nigel Howard Woodcock
#146891
Overall Influence
#1685
Graeme Bonham-Carter
#111426
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (87 years)
Graeme Bonham-Carter is a UK-born Canadian mathematical geologist. He served as president of the International Association for Mathematical Geosciences from 2000 to 2004. He was Editor-in-Chief of the journal Computers & Geosciences from 1996 to 2005. He received the William Christian Krumbein Medal in 1998 from the IAMG.
Go to Profile#1686
Tim Callahan
#66304
Overall Influence
Timothy J. Callahan is an associate professor of geology and environmental geosciences at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. He is director of the college's Master of Environmental Studies program and has interests in hydrogeology, wetlands and water resources.
Go to Profile#1687
Juan‐ignacio López‐moreno
#146922
Overall Influence
#1688
Olivier Honnay
#146924
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#1689
Helmut Erlenkeuser
#146948
Overall Influence
#1690
Derek W. G. Sears
#146952
Overall Influence
#1691
J. Brendan Murphy
#146969
Overall Influence
#1692
Paul Wheatley
#55899
Overall Influence
1921 - 1999 (78 years)
Paul Wheatley was a geographer who came to specialize in the historical geography of Southeast Asia and East Asia. He was Professor of Geography and History, University of California at Berkeley 1958–1966; Professor of Geography, University College London 1966–1971; Professor of Geography and History, University of Chicago 1971–1977, where he was Irving B. Harris Professor and Chairman of the Committee on Social Thought 1977–1991 .
Go to Profile#1693
Vesselina Breskovska
#127989
Overall Influence
1928 - 1997 (69 years)
Vesselina Vassileva Breskovska was a 20th-century Bulgarian geologist, mineralogist and crystallographer. Biography Vesselina Breskovska was born in Granit, the only daughter of educators Vassil Stoychev Breskovski and Paraskeva Breskovska. Her younger brother was the late paleontologist, Stoycho Vassilev Breskovski. After successfully completing Second Young Women's High School in Plovdiv she was admitted to study in the Soviet Union. In 1952, she took her degree in mineralogy at Leningrad State University. Upon her return to Bulgaria she was appointed assistant professor in mineralogy at Sofia University.
Go to Profile#1694
Warren D. Huff
#145886
Overall Influence
1937 - Present (89 years)
Warren D. Huff is Professor of Geology at the University of Cincinnati . He specializes in clay mineralogy, researching the remnants of ancient volcanic eruptions. He received his BA from Harvard College, 1959 and his PhD from University of Cincinnati, 1963. He has served as assistant professor at UC 1963-1969, associate professor 1969-1985, full professor 1985 to date. He teaches introductory geology sequence.
Go to Profile#1695
Catherine Constable
#132720
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (68 years)
Catherine G. Constable is an Australian earth scientist who is a professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Her research considers palaeo- and geo-magnetism. Constable was awarded the American Geophysical Union William Gilbert Award in 2013 and elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2017.
Go to Profile#1696
Jacob Kalff
#147252
Overall Influence
#1697
Thomas F. Eck
#147262
Overall Influence
#1698
Véronique Dehant
#113977
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (67 years)
Véronique Dehant is a Belgian geodesist and geophysicist. She specializes in modeling the deformation of the Earth's interior in response to the planet's rotation and the gravitational forces exerted upon it by the Sun and Moon. She has used similar techniques to study Mercury, Venus, Mars and the icy satellites of the outer planets. She primarily works at the Royal Observatory of Belgium, but also serves as an Extraordinary Professor at the Université Catholique de Louvain.
Go to Profile#1699
Stephen Graham
#111860
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (61 years)
Stephen Graham FBA. is a British scholar of cities and urban life. Since 2010, he has been Professor of Cities and Society at Newcastle University's School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. A qualified urban planner, he has an interdisciplinary background in human geography, urbanism and the sociology of technology. A widely cited author in contemporary urban studies and related fields, Graham’s work explores how cities and urban life are being reshaped by increased movement and mobility, intensifying social inequalities, the widespread application of digital technology, and the widening insecurities that characterise urban life.
Go to Profile#1700
Walter J. Rawls
#147551
Overall Influence
