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,
#7001
Charles J. Farrugia
#161754
Overall Influence
#7002
Dirk Gevers
#161770
Overall Influence
#7003
Sam Jones
#86782
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (60 years)
Sam Jones is an American photographer and director whose portraits of U.S. President Barack Obama, Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Bob Dylan, Kristen Stewart, Robert Downey Jr., Amy Adams, and Jack Nicholson have appeared on the covers of Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Esquire, GQ, Time, Entertainment Weekly and Men's Journal.
Go to Profile#7004
Keqin Gu
#161807
Overall Influence
#7005
Chaim Putterman
#161823
Overall Influence
#7006
Thomas Keller
#161827
Overall Influence
#7007
Humberto Varum
#161842
Overall Influence
1970 - Present (56 years)
#7008
James Anthony Greenwood
#161881
Overall Influence
#7009
Henry Krakauer
#161926
Overall Influence
#7010
O. H. Howard Frazier
#161930
Overall Influence
#7011
Michael L. Seibert
#161948
Overall Influence
#7012
Louis Charles Gerstenfeld
#161957
Overall Influence
#7013
Fernando Calamante
#161958
Overall Influence
#7014
Robert Cohen
#43707
Overall Influence
1938 - Present (88 years)
Robert Cohen is an American university professor, theatre director, playwright, and drama critic. Now a Claire Trevor Professor emeritus after 50 years teaching at the University of California, Irvine since 1965, he continues to write, and has published many books on theatre, along with articles, dramatic anthologies and many plays, and has conducted advanced teaching residencies in numerous countries and much of the United States. He has been called a Master Teacher by the Voice and Speech Trainers Association, has been praised as a "walking theatre directory and encyclopedia" by his fellow...
Go to Profile#7015
Ting-yu Chen
#161973
Overall Influence
#7016
Scott E. Hensley
#161975
Overall Influence
#7017
Yi-yan Wu
#161981
Overall Influence
#7018
Robi Polikar
#162011
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#7019
Si‐chee Tsay
#162027
Overall Influence
#7020
José Luis Torero
#162030
Overall Influence
#7021
Kiel Moe
#136897
Overall Influence
1976 - Present (50 years)
Kiel Kenneth Moe . is a registered practicing American architect. Moe has taught architecture and energy at University of Illinois at Chicago, Syracuse University, Northeastern University and Harvard Graduate School of Design. He holds the Gerald Sheff Chair of Architecture in McGill University.
Go to Profile#7022
Eric A. Rose
#162069
Overall Influence
#7023
Kevin M. Shakesheff
#162092
Overall Influence
#7024
Joseph Engelberger
#134960
Overall Influence
1925 - 2015 (90 years)
Joseph Frederick Engelberger was an American physicist, engineer and entrepreneur. Licensing the original patent awarded to inventor George Devol, Engelberger developed the first industrial robot in the United States, the Unimate, in the 1950s. Later, he worked as entrepreneur and vocal advocate of robotic technology beyond the manufacturing plant in a variety of fields, including service industries, health care, and space exploration.
Go to Profile#7025
Jusef Hassoun
#162111
Overall Influence
#7026
Harold Henry Messer
#162124
Overall Influence
#7027
David M. Irwin
#162129
Overall Influence
#7028
James L. N. Wood
#162157
Overall Influence
#7029
Abraham Noordergraaf
#162167
Overall Influence
#7030
Marjan Goodarzi
#162179
Overall Influence
#7031
Chi‐wai Chow
#162207
Overall Influence
#7032
Ben Davidson
#162217
Overall Influence
#7033
Simon Thurley
#44027
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Simon John Thurley, is an English academic and architectural historian. He served as Chief Executive of English Heritage from April 2002 to May 2015. In April 2021, he became Chair of the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Go to Profile#7034
Sharmistha Bagchi Sen
#162231
Overall Influence
#7035
Mircea R. Stan
#162275
Overall Influence
#7036
Joy Hirsch
#162294
Overall Influence
#7037
Jean-Luc Gaudiot
#89719
Overall Influence
Jean-Luc Gaudiot is a professor at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. Education In 1977, he earned his M.S. at the University of California, Los Angeles and his Ph.D. there in 1982.
Go to Profile#7038
Julie Linsey
#134620
Overall Influence
1979 - Present (47 years)
Julie Stahmer Linsey is an American mechanical engineer whose research concerns creativity in the early phases of engineering design. She is a professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech.
Go to Profile#7039
David L. Bourell
#162332
Overall Influence
#7040
Todd F. Dupont
#162333
Overall Influence
#7041
Hrvoje Jasak
#162371
Overall Influence
1970 - Present (56 years)
#7042
Pentti Kujala
#162373
Overall Influence
#7043
Rajiv Khosla
#55609
Overall Influence
Rajiv Khosla is an Indian-American scientist and professor of precision agriculture. He is best known for his work on measurement and management of in-field soil and crop spatial variability for nutrients.
Go to Profile#7044
Henri E. Kulbertus
#162375
Overall Influence
#7045
Ertan Mayatepek
#162383
Overall Influence
#7046
Paul Hunter Peckham
#107921
Overall Influence
Paul Hunter Peckham is a professor of biomedical engineering and orthopedics at the Case Western Reserve University, and holds eight patents related to neural prosthetics. Peckham's research involves developing prostheses to restore function in the upper extremities for paralyzed individuals with spinal cord injury.
Go to Profile#7047
Kurt Walter Leucht
#103303
Overall Influence
1913 - 2001 (88 years)
Kurt Walter Leucht was a German architect and city planner. He is mostly known for his design of the planned city Eisenhüttenstadt. In 1952 Leucht was appointed Director of the Institute for Urban Development and Settlement which included work on Berlin's Stalinallee, Stalinstadt and with Hartmut Colden, Joachim Nätherand and Konrad Braun, the planning of residential areas in Rostock.
Go to Profile#7048
Jorge G. Zornberg
#145712
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Jorge G. Zornberg is Professor and Joe E. King Chair in Engineering in the geotechnical engineering program at the University of Texas at Austin. He has over 35 years' experience in geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering. He is also one of the pioneers of geosynthetics.
Go to Profile#7049
Sharon E. Sutton
#111336
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (85 years)
Sharon Egretta Sutton , is an American architect, educator, visual artist, and author. Her work is focused on community-based participatory research and design. She is a professor emerita at the University of Washington. In 1984, she became the first African American woman to become a full professor in an accredited architectural degree program while teaching at the University of Michigan. She has also taught at Parsons School of Design, and Columbia University.
Go to Profile#7050
Ferdinando A. Mussa-ivaldi
#162442
Overall Influence
