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 Engineering,
#5101
Shelley-anne Peleg
#138825
Overall Influence
#5102
Jianyong Ouyang
#138835
Overall Influence
#5103
Chimay J. Anumba
#138839
Overall Influence
#5104
Ralph Bakshi
#20838
Overall Influence
1938 - Present (88 years)
Ralph Bakshi is an American animator, film-maker and painter. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, predominantly urban dramass and fantasy films, five of which he wrote. He has also been involved in numerous television projects as director, writer, producer and animator.
Go to Profile#5105
Chuan-zeng Zhang
#138909
Overall Influence
#5106
Bing Xue
#138916
Overall Influence
#5107
Ali Mortazavi
#138938
Overall Influence
#5108
William G. Honer
#138940
Overall Influence
#5109
James Michael Carpenter
#138945
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
#5110
Andrew C. Tam
#138978
Overall Influence
#5111
Isobel Pollock-Hulf
#132685
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
Isobel Anne Pollock-Hulf is visiting professor in Engineering and Design at the University of Leeds. Early life Pollock is the daughter of Wilson and Margaret Pollock, she was educated at Dalriada School, Ballymoney, Northern Ireland and then attended Imperial College in London graduating in 1976. Subsequently, she became a Chartered Engineer in 1981.
Go to Profile#5112
Leonid Shkadov
#128070
Overall Influence
1927 - 2003 (76 years)
Leonid Mikhailovich Shkadov scientist, engineer in aircraft development and optimisation, one of the TsAGI deputy directors , Doctor of Engineering, professor, recipient of the USSR State Prize . Shkadov came up with the idea of the Shkadov Thruster.
Go to Profile#5113
Tom Luedde
#139055
Overall Influence
#5114
Hiroshi Shiku
#139064
Overall Influence
#5115
Song-can Chen
#139092
Overall Influence
#5116
Stephen J Smith
#72346
Overall Influence
Stephen J Smith is Meritorious Investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science [1] and Emeritus Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford University [2]. He held faculty and Howard Hughes Medical Institute positions at the Yale University School of Medicine 1980-1989. He served 1990-2014 as a Stanford Professor, teaching many courses in synaptic physiology and cellular microscopy while mentoring many students and fellows [3]. He also taught in many expert workshops and summer courses at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory and the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Go to Profile#5117
Christopher Kin Ying Leung
#139104
Overall Influence
#5118
George R. Merriam
#139110
Overall Influence
#5119
Yasser Zare
#139118
Overall Influence
#5120
Juerg Leuthold
#139135
Overall Influence
#5121
Margaret O'Mahony
#79758
Overall Influence
Margaret O'Mahony is an Irish civil engineer. She is the Professor of Civil Engineering at Trinity College Dublin. O'Mahony completed a bachelor of engineering in civil engineering at NUI Galway and a doctorate from the Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford.
Go to Profile#5122
Xiqi Gao
#129337
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
This is a Chinese name; the family name is Gao. Xiqi Gao is currently the Deputy Director of the State Key Laboratory for Mobile Communications and member of the Academic Committee of Southeast University in Nanjing, China.
Go to Profile#5123
Peter Gill
#13310
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (87 years)
Peter Gill OBE, is a Welsh theatre director, playwright, and actor. He was born in Cardiff to George John and Margaret Mary Gill, and educated at St Illtyd's College, Cardiff. Career An actor from 1957–65, he directed his first production without décor, at the Royal Court Theatre in August 1965, A Collier's Friday Night by D. H. Lawrence. Having begun his career as an actor, he is now best known for his work as a director and playwright.
Go to Profile#5124
Clara Camaschella
#139196
Overall Influence
#5125
Emil. M. Petriu
#139201
Overall Influence
#5126
Kell Mortensen
#139209
Overall Influence
#5127
Terry Allen Howell
#139221
Overall Influence
#5128
Zhongxiang. Shen
#139224
Overall Influence
#5129
Rex B. Mclellan
#139227
Overall Influence
#5130
Henri Nussbaumer
#87253
Overall Influence
1931 - Present (95 years)
Henri J. Nussbaumer is a French engineer born in Paris, France in 1931. After graduating in 1954 from the Ecole Centrale Paris, he joined IBM in the Paris development laboratory where he initially worked on solid state circuits. In 1960, he transferred to the IBM Poughkeepsie laboratory and worked on electrodeposition of magnetic films. In 1962, he returned to IBM France in La Gaude as manager of an advanced development group.
Go to Profile#5131
André Bardow
#139282
Overall Influence
1974 - Present (52 years)
#5132
Eugene P. Frenkel
#139288
Overall Influence
#5133
Suresh Kumar Mukherji
#139299
Overall Influence
#5134
Evelyn N. Wang
#139300
Overall Influence
#5135
Jian Song
#139314
Overall Influence
#5136
Arul Arulrajah
#139322
Overall Influence
#5137
Ari Glezer
#139348
Overall Influence
#5138
Antonio C. Wolff
#139363
Overall Influence
#5139
Stuart Rich
#139366
Overall Influence
#5140
Joseph M. Sussman
#93190
Overall Influence
1939 - 2018 (79 years)
Joseph Martin Sussman was an American engineer who was the JR East Professor the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Institute of Data, Systems and Society at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1980 to 1985, he served as Head of the Department of Civil Engineering at MIT. In 2007, he was elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Go to Profile#5141
Yinhai Wang
#139374
Overall Influence
#5142
Eric Michielssen
#139377
Overall Influence
#5143
Brian Olshansky
#139385
Overall Influence
#5144
Takayuki Kitamura
#139392
Overall Influence
#5145
Ervin Y. Galantay
#102749
Overall Influence
1930 - 2011 (81 years)
Ervin Y. Galantay was a Hungarian-American architect. He married Karla Jay Noell in 1959. They had two sons Roy and Richard . He lived most of his life in Cossonay, Switzerland, where he was a Professor Emeritus at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.
Go to Profile#5146
Willis J. Tompkins
#139437
Overall Influence
#5147
Naoto Tsukuba Hirosaki
#139448
Overall Influence
#5148
X. George Xu
#108963
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Xie George Xu was the Edward E. Hood Chair Professor of Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute , Troy, New York, United States, before he relocated in 2020 to China and joined the faculty of the University of Science and Technology of China .
Go to Profile#5149
Thomas P. Davis
#139471
Overall Influence
#5150
Zdeněk Sekanina
#139500
Overall Influence
