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,
#5601
Pierre Laconte
#58057
Overall Influence
1934 - Present (92 years)
Pierre Laconte , is a Belgian urbanist. He specialises in urban transport and architectural planning and environmental issues. He has a Doctorate in Law and a Doctorate in Economics from the Catholic University of Louvain and is Dr. honoris causa of the Napier University, Edinburgh.
Go to Profile#5602
Pizhong Qiao
#144841
Overall Influence
#5603
Hans Kuzmany
#144846
Overall Influence
#5604
Hidenori Kimura
#144894
Overall Influence
#5605
Robert F. Wilson
#144905
Overall Influence
#5606
Hai Ying Shen
#144919
Overall Influence
#5607
Brian Smith
#65659
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (67 years)
Brian Smith is an American portrait photographer and photojournalist. He may be known best for portraits of actors, business leaders, politicians, and athletes that are at once stylish and telling. Early life and education Born in Ames, Iowa, Smith got his start in photography in high school as a stringer for the Ames Tribune. He received his bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. As a 20-year-old student there, his first magazine photograph was published in Life magazine, showing the New York Yankees manager Billy Martin crying at the funeral of his player Thurman M...
Go to Profile#5608
Peter Kjær
#115005
Overall Influence
1949 - 2021 (72 years)
Peter Krarup Kjær, born 1949, dead 2021 became director of North Carolina State University's Prague Institute in 2014. Until 2013, he was rector of Umeå School of Architecture and a part of Umeå Arts Campus at Umeå University in Umeå, Sweden, founded in 2009, when the new architecture programme started.
Go to Profile#5609
Rosław Szaybo
#41178
Overall Influence
1933 - 2019 (86 years)
Rosław Szaybo was a Polish painter, photographer and cover designer. He graduated in 1961 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, and was mentored by Wojciech Fangor and Henryk Tomaszewski. In 1966 he moved to United Kingdom where he worked as an independent designer. Between 1968 and 1972 worked as an art director for the advertising company Young & Rubicam.
Go to Profile#5610
Harriet Edquist
#100882
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (86 years)
Harriet Edquist is an Australian historian and curator, and Professor Emerita in the School of Architecture and Urban Design at RMIT University in Melbourne. Born and educated in Melbourne, she has published widely on and created numerous exhibitions in the field of Australian architecture, art and design history. She has also contributed to the production of Australian design knowledge as the founding editor of the RMIT Design Archives Journal and is a member of the Design Research Institute at RMIT University.
Go to Profile#5611
Lawrence Matthies
#144953
Overall Influence
#5612
Jian-dong Li
#144961
Overall Influence
#5613
David William Townsend
#144968
Overall Influence
#5614
J. Nicholas Laneman
#144989
Overall Influence
#5615
Angelo Anthony Caputo
#145014
Overall Influence
#5616
John David Buckmaster
#145016
Overall Influence
#5617
Robert L. Hamlin
#145029
Overall Influence
#5618
Sang-jae Kim
#145043
Overall Influence
#5619
D. N. Prabhakar Murthy
#145059
Overall Influence
#5620
Kawal Rhode
#80219
Overall Influence
Kawal Rhode is an English biomedical engineer. He is a full professor of biomedical engineering and the head of education at the School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences at King's College London , England, United Kingdom.
Go to Profile#5621
Bijan Shirinzadeh
#145069
Overall Influence
#5622
Andrea Remuzzi
#145070
Overall Influence
#5623
Katia Bertoldi
#145071
Overall Influence
#5624
Edgar J. Lesher
#95807
Overall Influence
1914 - 1998 (84 years)
Edgar J. Lesher was an American aircraft designer, pilot and a professor of aerospace engineering. Early life Ed Lesher was born in Detroit, Michigan. A self-described "airport bum", he took his first ride in an airplane at age 13, shortly after Charles Lindbergh's landmark flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Growing up in Columbus, Ohio, he was forced to delay college entrance due to the Great Depression. He eventually entered Ohio State University, where he earned a degree in mathematics. He remained at OSU, doing graduate studies of mathematics and physics. Transferring to the Universit...
Go to Profile#5625
Jian-ren Fan
#145089
Overall Influence
#5626
Roman Hovorka
#145110
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
#5627
Tong‐yi Zhang
#145155
Overall Influence
#5628
Benoit M. M. Macq
#145160
Overall Influence
#5629
Saeid Sahmani
#145166
Overall Influence
#5630
Michael H. Crawford
#145189
Overall Influence
#5631
Wiesław M. Ostachowicz
#145199
Overall Influence
#5632
Elliott R. Brown
#145210
Overall Influence
#5633
Peter Bossier
#145217
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (68 years)
#5634
Babak Fahimi
#145235
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Babak Fahimi from the University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas was named Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2015 for "contributions to modeling and analysis of AC adjustable speed motor drives".
Go to Profile#5635
Jeroan J. Allison
#145240
Overall Influence
#5636
Derek P. Atherton
#145255
Overall Influence
#5637
Simone Mocellin
#145263
Overall Influence
#5638
Steven Jacobson
#145270
Overall Influence
#5639
O. J. Stephansson
#145285
Overall Influence
#5640
Pedram Ghamisi
#145294
Overall Influence
#5641
Mike Gruntman
#114871
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
Mike Gruntman is a physicist, space engineer, and author. He is professor of astronautics and aerospace engineering at the Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California . Biography Born in the USSR, Gruntman grew up as a child at the Soviet Tyuratam Missile Test Range, also known as Baikonur Cosmodrome, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. After graduating from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology with a master's degree in physics, he went on to receive his Ph.D. in physics from the Space Research Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Gruntman came to IKI as a student in 1973 and then worked there from 1977 on as a research fellow.
Go to Profile#5642
Volkan Cevher
#145332
Overall Influence
#5643
Mohammad Qayoumi
#100835
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
Mohammad Humayon Qayoumi is an engineer and professor who formerly served as acting Minister of Finance and as the Chief Adviser on Infrastructure and Technology to the President of Afghanistan. He previously served as President of San José State University where he was appointed on March 23, 2011. Prior to that, he served as the fourth president of California State University, East Bay. He has worked in university administration for more than 30 years and has a background in both engineering and business. Qayoumi was born in Afghanistan and is the first Afghan-American to head a major U.S. u...
Go to Profile#5644
Robert S. Wood
#71927
Overall Influence
1936 - Present (90 years)
Robert S. Wood has had a career in the dual areas of state and religion, both as a leader and advisor to senior civilian and military officials of the United States Government in the area of National security affairs, and as a leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints .
Go to Profile#5645
Junji Watanabe
#145381
Overall Influence
#5646
Charles Russell Middaugh
#145383
Overall Influence
#5647
Benjamin Tycko
#145403
Overall Influence
#5648
Howard L. Kaufman
#145405
Overall Influence
#5649
Gary W. Rubloff
#145409
Overall Influence
#5650
Graham J. Hart
#145419
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
