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 …
See additional learning tools, study tips, features on campus life and much more at our Student Resources Headquarters.
List of the most influential people in Earth Sciences,
#2551
Hou Renzhi
#167849
Overall Influence
1911 - 2013 (102 years)
Hou Renzhi was a Chinese geographer and a pioneer of modern historical geography in China. He made outstanding contributions to the development of historical geography both in theory and in practice.
Go to Profile#2552
Pilar Benejam Arguimbau
#123359
Overall Influence
1937 - Present (89 years)
Pilar Benejam i Arguimbau is a Spanish geographer and pedagogue. In 1961 she graduated in teaching from the School of the Balearic Islands. In 1966 she obtained a licentiate in pedagogy, and another in history from the University of Barcelona in 1972. Finally, in 1985, she received a doctorate in pedagogy from the Autonomous University of Barcelona .
Go to Profile#2553
Joan Kleypas
#177159
Overall Influence
Joan Ann Kleypas is a marine scientist known for her work on the impact of ocean acidification and climate change on coral reefs, and for advancing solutions to environmental problems caused by climate change.
Go to Profile#2554
Trish Fraser
#174469
Overall Influence
Patricia M. Fraser is a New Zealand soil scientist at Crown Research Institute Plant & Food Research in Lincoln. Her work focuses on the role of earthworms in the soil, and nitrate leaching, to further understand soil quality in cropping systems. She won a 2020 New Zealand Woman of Influence Award in the Rural category.
Go to Profile#2555
William A. Cassidy
#83583
Overall Influence
1928 - 2020 (92 years)
William A. Cassidy was an American geologist and professor emeritus of Geology and Planetary Science at the University of Pittsburgh. Cassidy was responsible for recognizing that Antarctica represented the greatest repository of meteorites on earth. Starting in the early 1970s, Cassidy led most major meteorite expeditions to the south polar region, and in 1979, he was awarded the Antarctica Service Medal.
Go to Profile#2556
Deborah Swackhamer
#165074
Overall Influence
1954 - 2021 (67 years)
Deborah Liebl Swackhamer was an environmental chemist and professor emerita at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Swackhamer applied her expertise in studying the effects of exposure to toxic chemicals, as well as the processes that spread those chemicals, to developing policies that address exposure risks.
Go to Profile#2557
Jens O. Herrle
#180345
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (58 years)
Jens Herrle is a German micropaleontologist. He is professor at the institute of earth sciences at the Frankfurter Goethe-Universität. At the German society for polar science, he is speaker of the working group for geology and geophysics.
Go to Profile#2558
Patrick O'Sullivan
#170588
Overall Influence
Patrick O'Sullivan is an Irish-British scholar and author of major works in the field of Military geography. He is the author of the oft-cited texts The Geography of Warfare and The Geography of War in the Post-Cold War World. Though the former was published in 1983 and the latter in 2001, these works remain the seminal texts of Military geography from a civilian publisher, due in large part to the present lack of interest in the subfield among geographers, aside from a small handful who critique militarization through critical theory.
Go to Profile#2559
William A. Clemens Jr.
#94107
Overall Influence
1932 - 2020 (88 years)
William Alvin Clemens Jr. was a paleontologist at the University of California at Berkeley. He was faculty of the Department of Paleontology from 1967, then the Department of Integrative Biology from 1994 to his retirement and curator of the UC Museum of Paleontology. Clemens was also director of the museum and chair of the Department of Paleontology . He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship , a U.S. Senior Scientist Award by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Romer-Simpson Medal , and was made a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences.
Go to Profile#2560
Niklas Höhne
#172736
Overall Influence
1970 - Present (56 years)
Niklas Höhne is a German scientist in the field of national and international climate policy and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. He is founder of the NewClimate Institute in Cologne, Germany and professor at Wageningen University.
Go to Profile#2561
Kathleen Campbell
#177859
Overall Influence
Kathleen Ann Campbell is an American-born New Zealand geology and astrobiology academic. She is currently a full professor at the University of Auckland. Her work is broadly centred in the topic of paleoecology and how ancient organisms interacted with their environment and whether they were capable of surviving under extremely hard conditions. Much of her research carries wide-ranged associations with questions about the origin of life and the possibility of life on Mars. She graduated from the University of Southern California and she is currently a full professor at the University of Auckla...
Go to Profile#2562
Tanja Bosak
#112361
Overall Influence
Tanja Bosak is a Croatian-American experimental geobiologist who is currently an associate professor in the Earth, Atmosphere, and Planetary Science department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her awards include the Subaru Outstanding Woman in Science Award from the Geological Society of America , the James B. Macelwane Medal from the American Geophysical Union , and was elected an AGU fellow . Bosak is recognized for her work understanding stromatolite genesis, in addition to her work in broader geobiology and geochemistry.
Go to Profile#2563
Bin Wang
#86285
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (82 years)
Bin Wang is a Chinese meteorologist who is currently a professor at University of Hawaii in Manoa. He won the Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal 2015. The Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal is the highest award for atmospheric science of the American Meteorological Society. It is presented to individuals on the basis of outstanding contributions to the understanding of the structure or behavior of the atmosphere.
Go to Profile#2564
Gaya Herrington
#68453
Overall Influence
1981 - Present (45 years)
Gaya Herrington is a Dutch econometrician, sustainability researcher, and women's rights activist. Herrington is best known for being the founder of the project and foundation Stop Straatintimidatie, an initiative seeking to criminalize street harassment in the Netherlands, and for her activism and research on sustainability issues.
Go to Profile#2565
Larry Crumpler
#181599
Overall Influence
Larry Crumpler is a geologist and volcanologist. He is Research Curator for Volcanology & Space Science at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, and a member of the Mars Exploration Rover science team. Larry's Lookout on Mars is named after him.
Go to Profile#2566
Philip Crang
#174732
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
Philip Andrew Crang, FAcSS, is a British cultural and human geographer. Since 2005, he has been Professor of Cultural Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London. Life Education and career Crang completed his undergraduate degree at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, graduating with a BA in 1986. He remained at the University of Cambridge to carry out his doctoral studies; his PhD was awarded in 1992 for his thesis "'A new service society?': On the geographies of service employment". After finishing his doctorate, Crang lectured at St David's College, Lampeter, and later moved to University College London, where he was Lecturer in Human Geography.
Go to Profile#2567
Elizabeth May
#47232
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
Elizabeth Evans May is a Canadian politician, environmentalist, author, activist, and lawyer who is serving as the leader of the Green Party of Canada since 2022, and previously served as the leader from 2006 to 2019. She has been the member of Parliament for Saanich—Gulf Islands since 2011. May is the longest serving female leader of a Canadian federal party.
Go to Profile#2568
Constantino Mpodozis
#181668
Overall Influence
Constantino Mpodozis Marin is a Chilean geologist known for his contributions to the economic geology, magmatic activity and tectonics of Chile. As of 2015 he was executive of Antofagasta Minerals. He has been a member of the Chilean Academy of Sciences since 2009.
Go to Profile#2569
Kenneth D. Ridgway
#179988
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (68 years)
Kenneth D. Ridgway is a professor at Purdue University's Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. He has been recognized by the Geological Society of America with the Randolph W. "Bill" and Cecile T. Bromery Award for Minorities. His research interests include sedimentary geology, basin analysis, tectonics, and petroleum geology. Ridgway identifies as a Lenape Indian and has been actively contributing to promoting minority student participation in the earth sciences through professional societies such as the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science ...
Go to Profile#2570
Trude Storelvmo
#149831
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Trude Storelvmo is a Norwegian meteorologist who is a professor at the University of Oslo. She specializes in atmospheric science and studies the impact of aerosols and clouds on the climate of the Earth. She was awarded a European Research Council Starting Grant in 2018. She serves as editor-in-chief of Global and Planetary Change.
Go to Profile#2571
Laura Crispini
#150284
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (60 years)
Laura Crispini is an Italian geologist and an Antarctic researcher. Her areas of expertise are for the Tectonics, Geodynamics and Geological Mapping including the Geology of Antarctica. She has been nominated among 150 International representative of female Antarctic researchers for the SCAR "Celebration of Women in Antarctic Research" wikibomb event. At present she is Professor at the University of Genoa at the Department for Earth Sciences, Envinronment and life .
Go to Profile#2572
Louise Filion
#116004
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (81 years)
Louise Filion is a Canadian professor of biogeography. Life Filion was born in Montreal, Quebec on 6 December 1945, the daughter of Marguerite Bernier and Maurice Filion. She holds a bachelor's degree in geography, a master's degree in agriculture, and a Ph.D. in biology from Laval. She is the former director of the Geography department at Laval University. Her appointment to Professor in the Geography department was a first for a woman at the university. Although she retired in September 2010 she remains an honorary member of the Centre for Northern Studies and has been designated Professor...
Go to Profile#2573
Kenneth Sims
#90545
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
Kenneth W. W. Sims is an American professor of isotope geology in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Wyoming. Sims operates the University of Wyoming High Precision Isotope Laboratory.
Go to Profile#2574
John Whitelegg
#159158
Overall Influence
John Whitelegg is visiting professor of sustainable transport at Liverpool John Moores University and professor of sustainable development at University of York's Stockholm Environment Institute. Academic career From 1990 to 1993 Whitelegg was head of department of geography at Lancaster University and director of the university's Environmental Epidemiology Research Unit. He has written books and over 50 papers, including Transport for a Sustainable Society: the Case for Europe and Critical Mass: Transport, Environment and Society in the 21st Century , and is founder and editor of the Journal...
Go to Profile#2575
David Lopez-Carr
#114816
Overall Influence
David Lopez-Carr is a professor of geography at the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he directs the Human-Environment Dynamics Lab and is an affiliate professor in Global and International Studies and Latin American & Iberian Studies . Lopez-Carr also leads the population, health, and environment research group for the Broom Center for Demography and co-directs the Planetary Health Center of Expertise at the University of California Global Health Institute.
Go to Profile#2576
Gemma Narisma
#137151
Overall Influence
1972 - 2021 (49 years)
Gemma Teresa Narisma was a Filipina researcher who served as the executive director of the Manila Observatory in the Philippines and Head of the Regional Climate Systems programme from 2017 to 2021. Narisma was also an associate professor of the Physics Department at the Ateneo de Manila University. She was an author of IPCC Sixth Assessment Report Working Group I.
Go to Profile#2577
Basil Gomez
#176103
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
Basil Gomez is an Anglo-American geomorphologist with a particular interest in fluvial processes and the sources, transport and sinks of riverine sediment and particulate matter. Educated at Maidstone Technical High School for Boys , he studied Geography at Plymouth Polytechnic , and obtained his Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Southampton in 1981.
Go to Profile#2578
Victor Gostin
#109999
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (86 years)
Victor A. Gostin is an Australian geologist, who discovered in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia, a deposit of volcanic material that was ejected from the 300-kilometre distant Acraman crater when the impact was created by a meteorite some 580 million years ago. He is an associate professor at the University of Adelaide, Department of Earth Sciences, School of Physical Sciences.
Go to Profile#2579
Lynnae Quick
#60562
Overall Influence
1983 - Present (43 years)
Lynnae C. Quick is an American planetary geophysicist and Ocean Worlds Planetary Scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Her research centers on theoretical modeling of cryovolcanic processes on the icy moons and dwarf planets in the Solar System as well as modeling volcanic activity on Venus and the Moon. Quick is a member of the Dawn, Europa Clipper, and Dragonfly Mission science teams. She is also a member of the NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute Toolbox for Research and Exploration team, and serves as co-chair of the Earth and Planetary Systems Sciences se...
Go to Profile#2580
Tor Fredrik Rasmussen
#166419
Overall Influence
1926 - 2017 (91 years)
Tor Fredrik Rasmussen was a Norwegian geographer. He was born in Flekkefjord. After finishing his secondary education he studied at the University of Oslo and worked as a geodesist in the Norwegian Geological Survey. He graduated with the mag.art. degree in 1952, and after spells as research assistant at the University of Oslo and research fellow at NAVF he was hired as a lecturer at the University of Oslo in 1960. From 1965 to 1969 he worked at the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research.
Go to Profile#2581
Grover E. Murray
#91068
Overall Influence
1916 - 2003 (87 years)
Grover Elmer Murray was an American geologist, educator, and writer. Early life Grover Murray was born in Maiden, North Carolina. Shortly thereafter, his family moved to Newton where Murray attended public school. Upon graduation, he enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned a degree in geology. He went on to Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he received an M.S. in 1939 and a Ph.D. in 1942.
Go to Profile#2582
Nathalie Cabrol
#52501
Overall Influence
1963 - Present (63 years)
Nathalie A. Cabrol is a French American astrobiologist specializing in planetary science. Cabrol studies ancient lakes on Mars, and undertakes high-altitude scientific expeditions in the Central Andes of Chile as the principal investigator of the "High Lakes Project" funded by the NASA Astrobiology Institute . There, with her team, she documents life's adaptation to extreme environments, the effect of rapid climate change on lake ecosystems and habitats, its geobiological signatures, and relevance to planetary exploration.
Go to Profile#2583
Wei Luo
#182299
Overall Influence
#2584
Barbara Bekins
#170420
Overall Influence
Barbara A. Bekins is a research hydrologist at the United States Geological Survey. She studies the environmental impact of a crude oil spill near Bemidji, Minnesota. She was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2020 for contributions to characterizing subsurface microbial populations related to contaminant degradation.
Go to Profile#2585
Richard Bedford
#65673
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (81 years)
Richard Dodgshun Bedford , also known as Dick Bedford, is emeritus professor in human geography at Auckland University of Technology . He was the president of the Royal Society Te Apārangi from 2015 to 2018.
Go to Profile#2586
John Cook
#182326
Overall Influence
1972 - Present (54 years)
#2587
Diogo Abreu
#143320
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (79 years)
Prof. Diogo José Brochado de Abreu is a Portuguese geographer. After his basic and secondary education at Colégio Militar, he graduated in geography in 1978 at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Lisbon, where he also took a Doctorate in Geography in 1989.
Go to Profile#2588
Derek Wall
#12955
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (61 years)
Derek Norman Wall is a British politician. He was the joint International Coordinator for the Green Party of England and Wales and stood against Prime Minister Theresa May as the Green candidate for Maidenhead at the 2017 general election. Formerly the party's Principal Speaker, he is known as a prominent eco-socialist, campaigning both for environmentalism and socialism. Alongside his political role, Wall is an academic and a writer, having published on the subject of ecosocialism and the wider Green politics movement. He is a contributor to the Morning Star newspaper and a blogger.
Go to Profile#2589
James M. Russell
#78630
Overall Influence
James Michael Russell is an American paleoclimatologist and climatologist. He is the Royce Family Professor of Teaching Excellence and a Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences at Brown University. Russell researches the climate, paleoclimate, and limnology.
Go to Profile#2590
John M. Bremner
#174997
Overall Influence
1922 - 2007 (85 years)
John McColl "Jack" Bremner was a soil scientist and agronomy professor at Iowa State University. An expert on the chemical composition of soil, he was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Go to Profile#2591
G. V. R. Prasad
#89996
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (68 years)
Guntupalli Veera Raghavendra Prasad is an Indian paleontologist and former head of the department of geology at the University of Delhi. He is known for his studies on the Mesozoic vertebrate groups of India and is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies viz. Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and the National Academy of Sciences, India as well as The World Academy of Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize f...
Go to Profile#2592
Sharon Beder
#37826
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Sharon Beder is an environmentalist and former professor in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia. Her research has focused on how power relationships are maintained and challenged, particularly by corporations and professions. She has written 11 books, and many articles, book chapters and conference papers, as well as designing teaching resources and educational websites.
Go to Profile#2593
Patrick Condon
#68827
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Patrick Condon is a Canadian politician, landscape architect, and professor. Education Condon has a BSc and MLA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He has worked as a community organizer in Brockton, Massachusetts and a landscape architect.
Go to Profile#2594
Sarah Bell
#61695
Overall Influence
Sarah Jayne Bell is the City of Melbourne Chair in Urban Resilience and Innovation at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and Honorary Professor of Environmental Engineering at The Bartlett School in University College London . She works on urban water systems. She was the Director of the UCL Engineering Exchange during her 16 years as a Professor of Environmental Engineering at UCL.
Go to Profile#2595
Madelaine Böhme
#144547
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (59 years)
Madelaine Böhme is a German palaeontologist and professor of palaeoclimatology at the University of Tübingen. Böhme was born in 1967 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. She studied at the Freiberg University of Mining and Technology and Leipzig University, completing her doctorate there in 1997 and habilitation at LMU Munich in 2003. In 2009 she became professor of terrestrial palaeoclimatology in Tübingen.
Go to Profile#2596
Daniella Tilbury
#97082
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (59 years)
Daniella Tilbury is a Gibraltarian academic, educator and sustainable development leader who was the first woman in her country to hold the title of university professor. The inaugural Vice-Chancellor and CEO of the University of Gibraltar, Tilbury, who has long been involved in sustainability issues became the first Commissioner for Sustainable Development in May 2018. She was recognized as an honorary don of St Catharine's College, Cambridge in July 2018 because of her scientific and social contributions.
Go to Profile#2597
Dick van de Kaa
#70206
Overall Influence
1933 - Present (93 years)
Dirk Jan "Dick" van de Kaa is a Dutch demographer. From 1970 to 1987 he was the first director of the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute . From 1987 to 1995 he was director and rector of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study. Van de Kaa was professor of demography at the University of Amsterdam between 1978 and 1998.
Go to Profile#2598
Nina Nikolova
#182642
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (58 years)
Nina Vankova Nikolova is a Bulgarian climatologist, and a professor at Sofia University. Biography Nikolova graduated from Sofia University in 1991 with a degree in geography. She defended her doctoral dissertation "Changes in air temperature in the mountainous part of Bulgaria" on 27 February 1991.
Go to Profile#2599
Chip Fletcher
#182549
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Charles H. Fletcher III is an American climate scientist and geologist. He studies sea level rise and shoreline change with a particular focus on how climate change will affect communities in the Pacific Islands. In addition to his research, Fletcher advocates for human adaptation to sea level rise.
Go to Profile#2600
Lenore Newman
#99699
Overall Influence
1973 - Present (53 years)
Lenore Newman is a Canadian author and geographer. She is Associate Professor of Geography and the Environment at the University of the Fraser Valley and Director of the Food and Agriculture Institute. She holds a research chair in food and agriculture innovation and is a past Canada Research Chair in Food Security and the Environment.
Go to Profile