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).

Methodology: How and Why We Rank by Influence …

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Person Name

School

Gender

Country

Discipline

Subdiscipline

Ranking

List of the most influential people in Earth Sciences,

#1951

Nikoloz Beruchashvili

#129245

Overall Influence

1947 - 2006 (59 years)

Nikoloz Beruchashvili was a famous Georgian geographer and cartographer. Doctor of Geographical Sciences , professor . The Vice president of the Geographical Society of Georgia . He introduced into the landscape science a new term of "STEX".

#1952

Roy Martin Rasmussen

#158355

Overall Influence

#1953

Hervé Le Bras

#13845

Overall Influence

1943 - Present (83 years)

Hervé Le Bras is a French demographer and historian. Early life Hervé Le Bras was born on June 6, 1943, in Paris, France. He graduated from the École Polytechnique. Career Le Bras did an internship in anthropology in Chad from 1966 to 1967. He was a statistician in neurolinguistics at the Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale from 1967 to 1970.

#1954

Gordon Richard Conway

#158447

Overall Influence

#1955

Marvin Eugene Bauer

#158477

Overall Influence

#1956

Hubertus Fischer

#158503

Overall Influence

#1957

Mary C. Hill

#42689

Overall Influence

Mary Catherine Hill is an American hydrologist, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the winner of the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize and of the Dooge Medal of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences, a Darcy Lecturer for the National Ground Water Association, and Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the Geological Society of America. After working for 33 years at the United States Geological Survey, she became a professor of geology at the University of Kansas.

#1958

Wolfgang Dreybrodt

#158621

Overall Influence

#1959

Clayton Brough

#111912

Overall Influence

1950 - Present (76 years)

Robert Clayton Brough is an American climatologist and teacher, best known for his position as a long-time weatherman of KTVX ABC 4 in Salt Lake City, which he held for twenty-eight years. He also worked on the weather team at KUTV. Brough taught middle school for thirty-one years, as well as serving as an Adjunct Instructor at both Brigham Young University and the University of Utah. He is the co-holder of several world records.

#1960

Amory Lovins

#98405

Overall Influence

1947 - Present (79 years)

Amory Bloch Lovins is an American writer, physicist, and former chairman/chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute. He has written on energy policy and related areas for four decades, and served on the US National Petroleum Council, an oil industry lobbying group, from 2011 to 2018.

#1961

Katrina Myrvang Brown

#158730

Overall Influence

#1962

Françoise Gasse

#103607

Overall Influence

1942 - 2014 (72 years)

Françoise Gasse was a French paleobiologist, paleoclimatologist and paleohydrologist. She specialized in environmental phenomena and more specifically the study of lacustrine sediments from ancient lakes in Africa and Asia region. F. Gasse had special impact in starting the first research projects that aim at rebuilding paleoclimatic variations and Quaternary paleoenvironments in different regions and precisely: the Sahara and the Sahel, East Africa and Madagascar, Western and Southern , and in the Middle East . She was a member of PAGES / The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme.

#1963

Charles E. Fairhurst

#158860

Overall Influence

#1964

Britney Schmidt

#64376

Overall Influence

Britney Schmidt is an American earth scientist and astrobiologist at Cornell University. She has conducted research on the melting of ice shelves in Antarctica and studied Jupiter's moon Europa. In 2023, she was included on the Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world for her research on the Thwaites Glacier. She previously worked at Georgia Tech, and has been involved in projects with NASA. Schmidt was educated at the University of Arizona and University of California, Los Angeles.

#1965

Mark B. Peoples

#159058

Overall Influence

#1966

Andrew G. Tindle

#159072

Overall Influence

#1967

Avner Vengosh

#159099

Overall Influence

#1968

Tsutomu Oota Takahashi

#159211

Overall Influence

#1969

Sallie A. Marston

#89620

Overall Influence

1953 - Present (73 years)

Sallie A. Marston is an American social geographer and Regents Professor in the University of Arizona School of Geography, Development and Environment located in Tucson, Arizona. Martson is recipient of the American Association of Geographers Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.

#1970

James Elsner

#104472

Overall Influence

1959 - Present (67 years)

James Brian Elsner is an American atmospheric scientist, geographer, and applied statistician who has made substantial contributions to understanding of the spatial, temporal, and physical relationships of tropical cyclones and tornadoes, and the influence of climate change.

#1971

Craig T. Simmons

#157190

Overall Influence

Craig T. Simmons is an Australian hydrogeologist and was named South Australia's Scientist of the Year in 2015. Career Simmons began working at Flinders University in 1997 at the age of 25. He went on to establish the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training in 2009 and was appointed the inaugural Schultz Chair in the Environment at Flinders University, South Australia. In August 2015, Simmons was named South Australian Scientist of the Year. As of August 2015, Simmons is also The Advertiser's official scientist in residence. He is a member of the Statutory Independent Expert Sci...

#1972

Richard H. Johnson

#159299

Overall Influence

#1973

Godfrey Baldacchino

#64881

Overall Influence

1960 - Present (66 years)

Godfrey Baldacchino is a Maltese and Canadian social scientist. He was Pro Rector and Professor of Sociology at the University of Malta. Between 2016 and 2020, he was the UNESCO Co-Chair in Island Studies and Sustainability at the University of Prince Edward Island, Canada .

#1974

Thomas E. Mckone

#159553

Overall Influence

#1975

John V. Byrne

#57501

Overall Influence

1928 - Present (98 years)

John Vincent Byrne is an American marine geologist and academic. He served as the 12th president of Oregon State University from 1984 to 1995. Early life and education Born in Hempstead, New York, Byrne attended Hamilton College, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in marine geology in 1951. He later earned a Master of Science degree in geology from Columbia University in 1953 and a Ph.D. in marine geology from the University of Southern California in 1957.

#1976

Natalia Dubrovinskaia

#113612

Overall Influence

1961 - Present (65 years)

Natalia Dubrovinskaia is a Swedish geologist of Russian origin. Education In 1983, Natalia Dubrovinskaia earned a Master of Science degree in geochemistry from Moscow State University and she received her PhD in crystallography and crystal physics at the same institution 6 years later. Working as a senior researcher fellow until 2007, she finished the Habilitation of crystallography and Umhabilitation the following year at University of Bayreuth, Germany.

#1977

Michael F. Hutchinson

#159817

Overall Influence

#1978

Christian Detlef Kummerow

#159820

Overall Influence

#1979

Charles W. Naeser

#159945

Overall Influence

#1980

William H. Frey

#6159

Overall Influence

1947 - Present (79 years)

William Henry Frey is a noted American demographer and author. He is currently a Senior Fellow with Brookings Metro at the Brookings Institution and a Research Professor at the University of Michigan's Population Studies Center. According to Michael Barone, "Frey is widely acknowledged as America’s leading demographer."

#1981

Saleem Ali

#30606

Overall Influence

1973 - Present (53 years)

Saleem H. Ali is a Pakistani American Australian academic who is the Blue and Gold Distinguished Professor of Energy and the Environment at the University of Delaware and also directs the university's Minerals, Materials and Society program. He has also held the chair in Sustainable Resources Development at the University of Queensland in Brisbane Australia where he retains affiliation as an Honorary Professor. He is also a senior fellow at Columbia University's Center on Sustainable Investment. Previously he was Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont's Rubenstein Sc...

#1982

Henning Rodhe

#160183

Overall Influence

#1983

W. Robert A. Baragar

#160270

Overall Influence

#1984

Randolph Bromery

#67324

Overall Influence

1926 - 2013 (87 years)

Randolph Wilson Bromery was an American educator and geologist, and a former Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst . While Chancellor, Bromery established the W.E.B. Du Bois Archives at the University of Massachusetts, and was one of the initiators of the Five College Consortium. He was also President of the Geological Society of America, and has made numerous contributions as a geologist and academic. During World War II, he was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, flying missions in Italy.

#1985

David Donald Swinbanks

#160311

Overall Influence

#1986

Edgar L. Andreas

#160321

Overall Influence

#1987

Timothy A. Cohn

#101833

Overall Influence

1957 - 2017 (60 years)

Timothy A. Cohn was an American hydrologist with the US Geological Survey, USGS Science Advisor for Hazards , and lecturer at Johns Hopkins University . Cohn served in the office of Senator Bill Bradley in 1995-97 as a AAAS Congressional Science Fellow, and worked on the unsuccessful Bradley presidential campaign in 2000. After 2005, Cohn was a member of the Governing Board of the American Institute of Physics.

#1988

Fran¸cois Holtz

#160413

Overall Influence

#1989

Robin Butlin

#117251

Overall Influence

1938 - Present (88 years)

Robin Alan Butlin is emeritus professor of geography, and visiting research fellow, based in the School of Geography at the University of Leeds. Robin was a professor of historical geography and started work at Leeds in 1998 as a visiting professor of geography after working as principal and professor of historical geography at the University College of Ripon and York St John in York.

#1990

Aaron J. Ridley

#147419

Overall Influence

Aaron J. Ridley is an American atmospheric researcher and Professor at the University of Michigan. He is known for his works on magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling. Ridley is a winner of NASA Group Achievement Award .

#1991

Stanley Bowie

#110957

Overall Influence

1917 - 2008 (91 years)

Stanley Hay Umphray Bowie FRS was a Scottish geologist. He was considered a "world authority on uranium geology and a leader in the field of geochemistry and mineralogy". He developed methods and tools to identify opaque minerals using micro-indentation hardness and optical reflectance. He worked for the British Geological Survey between 1946 and 1977. The mineral bowieite was so named in recognition of his work on identification of opaque minerals.

#1992

Jan Tullis

#157902

Overall Influence

1943 - Present (83 years)

Julia Ann “Jan” Tullis is an American structural geologist and emerita Professor at Brown University. Tullis is known for her work in structural geology, especially for her experimental work in deformation mechanisms, microstructures, and rheology of crustal rocks.

#1993

Gordon R. Waitt

#160471

Overall Influence

#1994

Yasuo Ohishi

#160520

Overall Influence

#1995

Josef Cihlar

#160525

Overall Influence

#1996

Hans J. Hofmann

#159545

Overall Influence

1936 - 2010 (74 years)

Hans J. Hofmann was a paleontologist, specializing in the study of Precambrian fossils using computer modelling and image analysis to quantify morphologic attributes. Born in Germany, Hofmann immigrated to Montreal, Quebec, Canada and studied geology at McGill University, where he earned a Ph.D. under the supervision of T. H. Clark. He taught for three years at the University of Cincinnati and then worked at the Geological Survey of Canada. He was a professor in the geology department of the Université de Montréal for 31 years . He spent the last ten years of his life as a researcher in the ...

#1997

J. Michael Fritsch

#160785

Overall Influence

#1998

Peter Dulski

#160823

Overall Influence

#1999

Patricia Quinn

#161032

Overall Influence

Patricia K. Quinn is a atmospheric chemist working at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency's Pacific Marine Environmental Lab. She is known for her work on the impact of atmospheric aerosol particles on air quality and climate.

#2000

Steven C. Cande

#161096

Overall Influence

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