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,
#2901
Alan H. Coogan
#122727
Overall Influence
Alan Hall Coogan is a former professor of geology at Kent State University. He received his M.A. in paleontology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1957. Coogan received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana in geology in 1962. He then went on to receive his J.D. from the University of Akron in 1977. He passed on July 28, 2023, at his home in Kent, Ohio.
Go to Profile#2902
Stefan Kröpelin
#177871
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Stefan Kröpelin is a geologist and climate researcher at the University of Cologne who specializes in studying the eastern Sahara desert and its climatic history. In 2017, he was awarded with the Communicator Award of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft for the excellent communication of his research both in Germany and international.
Go to Profile#2903
Sylvie Brunel
#93690
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
Sylvie Brunel is a French economist and geographer, best known for her work for Action Against Hunger from 1989 to 2002, and her various publications in Que sais-je?. She was awarded the Legion of Honour in 2002.
Go to Profile#2904
V. Standish Mallory
#168582
Overall Influence
1919 - 2003 (84 years)
Victor Standish Mallory was a micropaleontologist, biostratigrapher, Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington Department of Geology, and a Curator Emeritus of Invertebrate Paleontology at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.
Go to Profile#2905
Britaldo Silveira Soares Filho
#187809
Overall Influence
Britaldo Silveira Soares Filho is a Brazilian scientist, and Professor in Environment Modeling at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Britaldo is one of winners of the Georg Foster Research Awards because "he has developed innovative methods in the field of geography and cartography which make it possible to precisely predict how tropical rainforests – such as in the Amazon basin – will develop. Based on these models, the government of Brazil has implemented a variety of protective measures and is planning more for the future."
Go to Profile#2906
Marcus R. Ross
#57571
Overall Influence
1975 - Present (51 years)
Marcus R. Ross is an American young earth creationist and vertebrate paleontologist. Ross was featured in a February 2007 New York Times article about the conflict between his young Earth creationist beliefs and his doctoral dissertation . His dissertation was on tracking the diversity, biostratigraphy, and extinction of mosasaurs, an extinct group of marine reptiles whose remains are found in Late Cretaceous period deposits around the world.
Go to Profile#2907
Shari Gallop
#84810
Overall Influence
Shari L. Gallop is a marine environmental scientist and an academic at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. Biography Gallop grew up in the Bay of Plenty region; she was born in Whakatāne and raised in Kawerau and Manawahe. She is New Zealand Māori, of Ngāti Maru and Te Rarawa iwi.
Go to Profile#2908
William Sarjeant
#52882
Overall Influence
1935 - 2002 (67 years)
William Antony Swithin Sarjeant , also known by the pen name Antony Swithin, was a professor of geology at University of Saskatchewan. He was also interested in mystery writing, fantasy writing, folk singing, and heritage preservation. He received the Sue Tyler Friedman Medal in 1990 for his work in the history of geology.
Go to Profile#2909
Brian Axsmith
#98363
Overall Influence
1962 - 2020 (58 years)
Brian J. Axsmith was an American paleobotanist, paleoecologist, and professor of biology at the University of South Alabama, where he taught ecology, evolutionary biology, and the evolution of vascular plants. Axsmith studied the evolutionary history of conifers and vascular plants. He specialized in the Neogene paleobotany of the Gulf Coastal Plain in the present-day United States, especially Alabama and Mississippi, as well as the Mesozoic paleobotany of eastern North America and China.
Go to Profile#2910
Joan S. Whitmore
#189631
Overall Influence
1922 - 2002 (80 years)
Joan Sydney Whitmore was a South African hydrologist specialising in agriculture and water. She wrote a book about drought management on farmland, and many reports on water and agriculture, during her career as a government scientist. She had risen to the rank of Director by 1972, which was an unusual achievement for a woman at that time...
Go to Profile#2911
Jie Chen
#191147
Overall Influence
#2912
Harry Van Loon
#191233
Overall Influence
#2913
Amanda Black
#60124
Overall Influence
Amanda Black is a New Zealand soil chemist who as of 2023 is a full professor at Lincoln University, specialising in soil health and biosecurity. She has worked on kauri dieback and integration of matauranga Māori into science.
Go to Profile#2914
Nathan J. Robinson
#63551
Overall Influence
Nathan Jack Robinson is a marine biologist and science communicator from the United Kingdom. During his career, Robinson has been at the center of several viral videos. These have included videos of him removing a plastic drinking straw from the nostril of a sea turtle as well as a plastic fork from the nostril of a different sea turtle, and a video recorded by him and Edith Widder of a live giant squid. This video is the first-time that a live giant squid has been recorded in US waters and is the second time this species has ever been caught alive on film.
Go to Profile#2915
Rex Gibbons
#181880
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (80 years)
Rex Vincent Gibbons is a geologist, educator and former politician in Newfoundland. He represented St. John's West in the Newfoundland House of Assembly from 1989 to 1997. Biography He was born in Lumsden and was educated at Memorial University of Newfoundland and the California Institute of Technology, receiving a PhD in Geology. He went on to study Moon rocks and lunar soils at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. In 1976, Gibbons returned to Newfoundland, becoming head of the Publications and Information section of the Newfoundland Department of Mines and Energy, also serving as coordinator of public relations and advertising for the Mines branch of the department.
Go to Profile#2916
James P. M. Ntozi
#180152
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (80 years)
James Patrick Manyenye Ntozi was an Ugandan retired academic and farmer. He worked as a researcher in demographics and statistics at Makerere University in Uganda, with his main research projects focusing on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa, fertility, census-taking, and aging and the life cycle. A medical demographer and statistician by training, his areas of expertise include gauging needs assessment, conducting evaluations, and creating baseline studies. After retirement, he took up work as a farmer. In 2011, the book Demography of Uganda and Selected African Countries was published in honor of his research contributions.
Go to Profile#2917
Elin Lerum Boasson
#169413
Overall Influence
1978 - Present (48 years)
Elin Lerum Boasson is a Norwegian environmentalist and was chairman of Natur og Ungdom in 2001 and 2002. She became active in the organisation in 1991, and joined the board in 1997 before she was elected deputy chairman in 1999. She has a Master of Political Science degree from the University of Oslo and has since 2005 worked at Nansen Institute as a researcher .
Go to Profile#2918
Li Ping
#176989
Overall Influence
1924 - 2019 (95 years)
Li Ping was a Chinese geologist and earthquake engineer. He was an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Biography Li Ping was born on 20 March 1924 in Dawu County, Hubei, Republic of China. He entered National Central University in 1943, and became a faculty member after graduating in 1947.
Go to Profile#2919
Alison Nimmo
#61285
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
Dame Alison Nimmo DBE is a Scottish Chartered Surveyor who was chief executive of The Crown Estate, from 2012 to 2019. Early life Nimmo was born in Edinburgh but raised in Wales where she attended the Bishop Gore School, Swansea. She is a graduate of Manchester University, and of the College of Estate Management. After graduation, Nimmo visited Australia and worked in Sydney's planning department.
Go to Profile#2920
Katharine Giles
#173306
Overall Influence
1978 - 2013 (35 years)
Katharine Anne Giles was a British climate scientist. Her research considered sea ice cover, ocean circulation and wind patterns. She was a passionate science communicator, and since 2015, the Association of British Science Writers has held a science communication award in her honour.
Go to Profile#2921
Bret Wallach
#65609
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
Bret Wallach is an American cultural geographer, and professor at University of Oklahoma. He graduated from University of California, Berkeley with an A.B. in 1964, M.A. in 1966, and Ph.D. in 1968. He taught at the University of Victoria, Pennsylvania State University, University of California, Riverside, and University of Maine at Fort Kent.
Go to Profile#2922
Jayanta Bandyopadhyay
#65417
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (79 years)
Jayanta Bandyopadhyay , is a researcher, analyst and author. He is now a Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, Kolkata. He is a Former Professor of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. An internationally renowned professional on public interest research, mountain environment and water governance in south Asia, Bandyopadhyay has authored sixteen critically acclaimed books and monographs, in addition to 150 papers and articles. He has delivered invited lectures in many parts of the world.
Go to Profile#2923
George Ter-Stepanian
#170024
Overall Influence
1907 - 2006 (99 years)
George Ter-Stepanian was a Soviet Armenian scientist in the field of soil mechanics and engineering geology, one of the founders of the landslide studies, and the originator of the theories of the depth creep of slopes, the structural composition of post-ice-age clay and suspension pressure acting against filtration. Ter-Stepanian was a member of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia.
Go to Profile#2924
Joan Latchman
#40691
Overall Influence
Joan L. Latchman is a seismologist from Trinidad and Tobago who was the first woman to lead the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre. She was awarded the 2019 Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency Council Award.
Go to Profile#2925
Helen ApSimon
#131528
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (84 years)
Helen Mary ApSimon, is an English air pollution scientist and academic. She is a Professor of Air pollution Studies at Imperial College London. Her research includes the impact of acid rain, nuclear accidents and fine particulates on human health and ecosystems.
Go to Profile#2926
Henri Grissino-Mayer
#177958
Overall Influence
Henri Grissino-Mayer was a tenured faculty member in the department of Geography at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville who resigned in lieu of termination on Oct. 1st, 2018 due to his own admission of sexual misconduct at the school.
Go to Profile#2927
Joy Carter
#52474
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
Joy E. Carter, is a British geologist and academic, specialising in geochemistry. From 2006 to 2021 she held the position of Vice-Chancellor of the University of Winchester. She previously taught at the University of Reading, University of Derby, and the University of Glamorgan; she served as a pro-vice-chancellor at Glamorgan. She has additionally served as the chair of GuildHE since 2013, an organisation representing the heads of British higher education institutions, and was chair of the Cathedrals Group from 2011, an association of British universities and university colleges with religi...
Go to Profile#2928
José Hipólito Monteiro
#185181
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (87 years)
José Hipólito da Costa Monteiro , is a geologist and oceanographer who excelled as a Portuguese pioneer of marine geology. J. H. Monteiro main fields of scientific research were sedimentology dynamics of the continental shelf and coastal records, maritime geologic maps. Other scientific interests including Environmental marine geology, application of autonomous underwater vehicles, deep-sea polymetallic sandstones and the Law of the Sea.
Go to Profile#2929
Alireza Shokoohi
#183972
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
Alireza Shokoohi is an Iranian hydrologist, Professor at Imam Khomeini International University and guest researcher at the University of Oklahoma. He is best known for his innovative methods in analysis of fluids, water resource management, and investigation of climate change which mostly deals with using mathematical methods in analysis of flood alarm system.
Go to Profile#2930
George H. Taylor
#117494
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (79 years)
George H. Taylor is the former director of the Oregon Climate Service at Oregon State University in Corvallis, a position he held from 1989 until his retirement on 1 May 2008. Education and career Born in Santa Barbara, California, Taylor holds a B.A. in mathematics from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a M.S. in meteorology from the University of Utah . In 1989, he became the director of the Oregon Climate Service at Oregon State University ; in this capacity, he tracked weather and issued long-range weather forecasts for the state of Oregon. Beginning in 1991, he was popula...
Go to Profile#2931
Elwira Żmudzka
#190693
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
Elwira Żmudzka is a Polish climatologist. She is president of the Association of Polish Climatologists. She is a research and teaching fellow at the University of Warsaw. Works
Go to Profile#2932
Li Zuixiong
#104403
Overall Influence
1941 - 2019 (78 years)
Li Zuixiong was a Chinese conservation scientist. An expert in the conservation of ancient murals, cave temples, and architecture, he served as vice president of the Dunhuang Research Academy and as an adjunct professor at Lanzhou University.
Go to Profile#2933
Cy A Adler
#129178
Overall Influence
1927 - 2018 (91 years)
Cy A Adler was an author, organizer and conservationist, known for his work over the course of several decades in raising awareness for shoreline issues in and around New York City, United States, and especially for his early work on the initiative that would result in the creation of The Great Saunter, an annual walk which goes through Hudson River Park, Riverside Park, East River Park, and some 20 other parks around the island of Manhattan. For his efforts to see to completion a park stretching almost the entire circumference of the Hudson River shore of the island of Manhattan, Adler was...
Go to Profile#2934
Paul Liu
#190773
Overall Influence
Jingpu "Paul" Liu is a geologist and professor at North Carolina State University. Education Ph.D. 2001 , Virginia Institute of Marine Science , College of Williams & Mary , Williamsburg. M.S. 1995 , Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. B.E., 1992 , Ocean University of China.
Go to Profile#2935
Jon Christensen
#190754
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
Jon Allan Christensen is an American freelance journalist with a focus of writing about California, from his Venice home in coastal Los Angeles County. He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, where he periodically teaches a class, Environmental journalism, for undergraduate Environmental Science majors at UCLA. In January 2020 he authored an op-ed opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times about bulldozing the Ballona Wetlands, which would harm endangered native wildlife and rare native wildflowers, as well as removing living soil.
Go to Profile#2936
John W. Sutherland
#106387
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (68 years)
John William Sutherland is professor and Fehsenfeld Family Head of Environmental and Ecological Engineering at Purdue University who specializes in the application of sustainability principles to design, manufacturing, and other industrial issues.
Go to Profile#2937
Halka Chronic
#158769
Overall Influence
1923 - 2013 (90 years)
Halka Chronic was a geologist who traveled and wrote books about the geology of the western United States. She studied the Grand Canyon, Walnut Canyon and then resided in Boulder, Colorado where she continued to study the Rocky Mountains.
Go to Profile#2938
Tony Juniper
#27042
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
Anthony Juniper is a British campaigner, writer, sustainability adviser and environmentalist who served as Executive Director of Friends of the Earth, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. He was Vice Chair of Friends of the Earth International from 2000 to 2008.
Go to Profile#2939
Meimanat Hosseini-Chavoshi
#185373
Overall Influence
Meimanat Hosseini-Chavoshi is an Iranian demographer and a Research Fellow at the Australian National University. She won Iran's Book of the Year Award for the book The Fertility Transition in Iran: Revolution and Reproduction .
Go to Profile#2940
Emily Lakdawalla
#43387
Overall Influence
1975 - Present (51 years)
Emily Stewart Lakdawalla is an American planetary geologist and former Senior Editor of The Planetary Society, contributing as both a science writer and a blogger. She has also worked as a teacher and as an environmental consultant. She has performed research work in geology, Mars topography, and science communication and education. Lakdawalla is a science advocate on various social media platforms, interacting with space professionals and enthusiasts on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. She has appeared on such media outlets as NPR, BBC and BBC America.
Go to Profile#2941
Dale Lightfoot
#190464
Overall Influence
Dale R. Lightfoot is an American geographer, academic and researcher. He is Professor Emeritus of Geography and a former Fulbright Program Advisor at Oklahoma State University. Lightfoot has authored more than 50 publications. His research interests include resource management, cultural ecology, and historical water systems in North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Since 1992, he has conducted country-wide surveys of qanats in Morocco, Tunisia, Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, and Uzbekistan.
Go to Profile#2942
André Heinz
#43940
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (57 years)
André Thierstein Heinz is an American environmentalist. A descendant of Henry J. Heinz, he is the son of John Heinz and Teresa Heinz. Biography Heinz has been active in the field of sustainable development since 1993, when he began working for William McDonough, the noted green architect and designer, on sustainable design issues and projects. At the same time, Heinz joined the board of The Heinz Endowments, where he oversaw the creation of an environmental grant-making program through a series of 14 topical environmental colloquia that convened leaders from around the world. He continues to ...
Go to Profile#2943
Heather Joshi
#89691
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (80 years)
Heather Evelyn Joshi, is a British academic, economist, and demographer. She is Emeritus Professor of Economic and Developmental Demography at the University of London. She was Director of the Centre for Longitudinal Studies from 2003 to 2010.
Go to Profile#2944
Reynir Böðvarsson
#191820
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Reynir Böðvarsson is an Icelandic seismologist working at Uppsala University in Sweden. He is responsible for the Swedish National Seismology Network. External Seismology Institute Uppsala UniversitySwedish National Seismology Net Homepage
Go to Profile#2945
Edwin Mervyn Patterson
#171850
Overall Influence
1920 - 1997 (77 years)
Edward Mervyn Patterson FRSE FRGS FGS FSAScot was an Irish-born research chemist and geologist. He was president of the Geological Society of Glasgow from 1964 to 1967. Early life and education He was born in Northern Ireland on 14 March 1920, the son of John Wilson Patterson, a civil servant, and his wife, Dorothy Mary Ekin. He was educated at Bangor Grammar School. He then studied chemistry at Queen's University Belfast, earning a BSc in 1941.
Go to Profile#2946
Tom Traves
#34675
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
Thomas Donald Traves is a Canadian academic professor and administrator. He was the 10th President of Dalhousie University, serving from 1995 to 2013. He was appointed for a one year term as Interim President of Brock University on October 1, 2016.
Go to Profile#2947
Na'Taki Osborne Jelks
#191201
Overall Influence
Na'Taki Osborne Jelks is an American environmental scientist. She is an assistant professor of environmental and health sciences at Spelman College, and a visiting professor of public health at Agnes Scott College. She is known for her activism in environmental justice and urban sustainability, for which she was named a Champion of Change by the White House in 2014.
Go to Profile#2948
Zakri Abdul Hamid
#117438
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
Tan Sri Zakri bin Abdul Hamid has had a distinguished career in science as a researcher, educator, administrator and diplomat. Awarded the federal honorific title "Tan Sri" by Malaysia's head of state in 2014, he served until 2016 as the founding Chair at the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services , as the Science Advisor to Malaysia's Prime Minister, and was one of 26 members of the UN Secretary-General's Scientific Advisory Board.
Go to Profile#2949
Michel Gelobter
#189802
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
Michel Gelobter is an American born social entrepreneur especially in the field of clean technology, who is also known for his research into and advocacy for environmental justice and social sector innovation.
Go to Profile#2950
Bryan Nelson
#98386
Overall Influence
1932 - 2015 (83 years)
Joseph Bryan Nelson MBE FRSE was a British ornithologist, environmental activist and academic. He was a prominent authority on seabirds, publishing numerous books and articles on gannets, cormorants and other species, teaching zoology at the University of Aberdeen, and conducting pioneering ornithological research in Jordan, Christmas Island and the Galápagos Islands. In his lifetime, Nelson was "acclaimed as the world's leading expert on the northern gannet". He also contributed to the creation of Christmas Island National Park, which helped to preserve the habitat of the endangered Abbott'...
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