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 Engineering,
#751
Liangchi Zhang
#42758
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (66 years)
Liangchi Zhang is an Australian mechanical engineer and scientist. Zhang has been Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the Director of the Graduate School of Engineering, University of Sydney, Australia. He is now a Scientia Professor and Australian Professional Fellow at the University of New South Wales.
Go to Profile#752
Bernard J. Lechner
#23109
Overall Influence
1932 - 2014 (82 years)
Bernard J. Lechner was an electronics engineer and formerly vice president, RCA Laboratories, where he worked for 30 years covering various aspects of television and information display technologies.
Go to Profile#753
Sanford Kwinter
#17437
Overall Influence
Sanford Kwinter is a Canadian-born, New York–based writer and architectural theorist, and a co-founder of Zone Books publishers. Kwinter currently serves as Professor of Theory and Criticism at the Pratt Institute. He formerly served as an associate professor at Rice University in Houston, Texas, and has also taught at MIT, Columbia University and Cornell University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and at Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
Go to Profile#754
Edmund Happold
#25588
Overall Influence
1930 - 1996 (66 years)
Sir Edmund "Ted" Happold was a structural engineer and founder of Buro Happold. Career Happold was the son of Frank Happold, Professor of Biochemistry at Leeds University. After an unpleasant time at Leeds Grammar School, , he was sent to Bootham School, York. He studied geology at the University of Leeds. His mother was a lifelong socialist. A lifelong Quaker, he registered as a conscientious objector when called to do National Service, and was directed to work as an agricultural labourer and then truck driver and dragline operator. This aroused his interest in construction, so he returned to Leeds University, where he achieved a BSc in Civil Engineering in 1957.
Go to Profile#755
James D. Meindl
#31266
Overall Influence
1933 - 2020 (87 years)
James Donald Meindl was director of the Joseph M. Pettit Microelectronics Research Center and the Marcus Nanotechnology Research Center and Pettit Chair Professor of Microelectronics at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. He won the 2006 IEEE Medal of Honor "for pioneering contributions to microelectronics, including low power, biomedical, physical limits and on-chip interconnect networks.”
Go to Profile#756
Peter Walker
#19371
Overall Influence
1932 - Present (92 years)
Peter Walker is an American landscape architect and the founder of PWP Landscape Architecture. Early life and education Walker grew up in California, where he attended the University of California, Berkeley. Walker started out studying journalism but quickly changed his field and received a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture in 1955. He did graduate studies at the University of Illinois, where he studied under Stanley White.
Go to Profile#757
Howard Wilson Emmons
#32452
Overall Influence
1912 - 1998 (86 years)
Howard Wilson Emmons was an American professor in the department of Mechanical Engineering at Harvard University. During his career he conducted original research on fluid mechanics, combustion and fire safety. Today he is most widely known for his pioneering work in the field of fire safety engineering. He has been called "the father of modern fire science" for his contribution to the understanding of flame propagation and fire dynamics. He also helped design the first supersonic wind tunnel, identified a signature of the transition to turbulence in boundary layer flows , and was the first to observe compressor stall in a gas turbine compressor .
Go to Profile#758
Manfred R. Schroeder
#8082
Overall Influence
1926 - 2009 (83 years)
Manfred Robert Schroeder was a German physicist, most known for his contributions to acoustics and computer graphics. He wrote three books and published over 150 articles in his field. Born in Ahlen, he studied at the University of Göttingen , earning a vordiplom in mathematics and Dr. rer. nat. in physics. His thesis showed how small regular cavities in concert halls cause unfortunate resonances.
Go to Profile#759
Kerry Vahala
#35736
Overall Influence
Kerry J. Vahala is an American professor of Applied Physics at the California Institute of Technology . He holds the Ted and Ginger Jenkins chair of Information Science and Technology and also serves as the Executive Officer of the Department of Applied Physics and Materials Science. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Applied Physics and an M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering, all from Caltech.
Go to Profile#760
R. Stanley Williams
#13389
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (73 years)
Richard Stanley Williams is a research scientist in the field of nanotechnology and a Senior Fellow and the founding director of the Quantum Science Research Laboratory at Hewlett-Packard. He has over 57 patents, with 40 more patents pending. At HP, he led a group that developed a working solid state version of Leon Chua's memristor.
Go to Profile#761
Thomas Ruff
#10923
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (66 years)
Thomas Ruff is a German photographer who lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany. He has been described as "a master of edited and reimagined images". Ruff shares a studio on Düsseldorf's Hansaallee, with fellow German photographers Laurenz Berges, Andreas Gursky and Axel Hütte. The studio, a former municipal electricity station, includes a basement gallery.
Go to Profile#762
Calie Pistorius
#27175
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (66 years)
Carl Wilhelm Irene Pistorius is a South African academic who is a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull, Kingston upon Hull, United Kingdom. He announced, on 1 August 2016, that he would be stepping down from this role at the end of January 2017. His successor at Hull was Professor Susan Lea.
Go to Profile#763
Ian H. White
#27220
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (65 years)
Ian Hugh White DL is a British businessman, academic, and engineer who currently serves as vice-chancellor for the University of Bath. His previous roles include Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, deputy vice chancellor of the University of Cambridge, van Eck Professor of Engineering, and head of the Photonic Research Group, comprising CMMPE, Centre for Photonic Systems, and Photonics and Sensors, in the Cambridge University Engineering Department.
Go to Profile#764
Spiro Kostof
#30139
Overall Influence
1936 - 1991 (55 years)
Spiro Konstantine Kostof was a Turkish-born American leading architectural historian, and educator. He was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His books continue to be widely read and some are routinely used in collegiate courses on architectural history.
Go to Profile#765
Bob Bemer
#2561
Overall Influence
1920 - 2004 (84 years)
Robert William Bemer was a computer scientist best known for his work at IBM during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Early life and education Born in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, Bemer graduated from Cranbrook Kingswood School in 1936 and took a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics at Albion College in 1940. He earned a certificate in aeronautical engineering at Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute in 1941.
Go to Profile#766
Naomi Halas
#23303
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (67 years)
Naomi J. Halas is the Stanley C. Moore Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and professor of biomedical engineering, chemistry and physics at Rice University. She is also the founding director of Rice University Laboratory for Nanophotonics, and the Smalley-Curl Institute. She invented the first nanoparticle with tunable plasmonic resonances, which are controlled by their shape and structure, and has won numerous awards for her pioneering work in the field of nanophotonics and plasmonics. She was also part of a team that developed the first dark pulse soliton in 1987 while working...
Go to Profile#767
Rui L. Reis
#46172
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (57 years)
Rui Luís Reis is a Portuguese scientist known for his research in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, biomaterials, biomimetics, stem cells, and biodegradable polymers. Reis is a professor of at the University of Minho in Braga and Guimarães. He is the Founding Director of the 3B's Research Group, part of the Research Institute on Biomaterials, Biodegradables and Biomimetics of UMinho , a group that specializes in the areas of Regenerative Medicine, Tissue Engineering, Stem Cells and Biomaterials. He is also the Director of the ICVS/3B's Associate Laboratory of UMinho. He is the CEO of the European Institute of Excellence on Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine.
Go to Profile#768
Luke Pyungse Lee
#30144
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (65 years)
Luke Pyungse Lee is the Arnold and Barbara Silverman Distinguished Professor of Bioengineering, Biophysics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, at University of California, Berkeley. He is founding director of the Biomedical Institute for Global Health Research and Technology at the National University of Singapore.
Go to Profile#769
Gerhard Kallmann
#24082
Overall Influence
1915 - 2012 (97 years)
Gerhard Michael Kallmann was a German-born American architect and academic. Together with Michael McKinnell, Kallman is best known as the lead designer of Boston City Hall, which was constructed in 1968 by their architectural design firm, Kallmann McKinnell & Wood.
Go to Profile#770
Denice Denton
#29113
Overall Influence
1959 - 2006 (47 years)
Denice Dee Denton was an American professor of electrical engineering and academic administrator. She was the ninth chancellor of the University of California, Santa Cruz. Biography Early years Denton was born in El Campo, Texas, in Wharton County. She was the oldest child of Bob Glenn Denton and Carolyn Irene Drab. Denton earned her bachelor's and master's degrees , EE and PhD in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Denton spent two summers and an academic year in the late 1970s and early 1980s at Fairchild Semiconductor, where her projects included 64K static RAM design.
Go to Profile#771
Stuart Dreyfus
#7003
Overall Influence
A native of Terre Haute, Indiana, Stuart E. Dreyfus is professor emeritus at University of California, Berkeley in the Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Department. While at the Rand Corporation he was a programmer of the JOHNNIAC computer. While at Rand he coauthored Applied Dynamic Programming with Richard Bellman. Following that work, he was encouraged to pursue a Ph.D. which he completed in applied mathematics at Harvard University in 1964, on the calculus of variations. In 1962, Dreyfus simplified the Dynamic Programming-based derivation of backpropagation using only the chain rule.
Go to Profile#772
Kenneth H. Keller
#17659
Overall Influence
1934 - Present (90 years)
Kenneth Harrison Keller is professor emeritus and former president of the University of Minnesota . He was the first Jewish president of the university. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2002.
Go to Profile#773
Sim Van der Ryn
#10706
Overall Influence
1935 - Present (89 years)
Sim Van der Ryn is an American architect, researcher and educator. Van der Ryn's professional interest has been applying principles of physical and social ecology to architecture and environmental design.
Go to Profile#774
Arun Majumdar
#19616
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (79 years)
Arunava Majumdar is a materials scientist, engineer, and the inaugural dean of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. He was nominated for the position of Under Secretary of Energy in the United States between November 30, 2011 and May 15, 2012. He was previously the director of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , where he was also deputy director of LBNL as well as professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. He was nominated to be the first director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Re...
Go to Profile#775
Winston Wole Soboyejo
#26241
Overall Influence
Winston Wole Soboyejo commonly known as "Wole" is an American Scientist of Yoruba Nigerian parentage. He is a materials scientist whose research focuses on biomaterials and the use of nanoparticles for the detection and treatment of disease, the mechanical properties of materials, and the use of materials science to promote global development. He was appointed President at SUNY Polytechnic Institute and began his service on October 2, 2023.
Go to Profile#776
Milton Feng
#31544
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (74 years)
Milton Feng co-created the first transistor laser, working with Nick Holonyak in 2004. The paper discussing their work was voted in 2006 as one of the five most important papers published by the American Institute of Physics since its founding 75 years ago. In addition to the invention of transistor laser, he is also well known for inventions of other "major breakthrough" devices, including the world's fastest transistor and light-emitting transistor . As of May, 2009 he is a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and holds the Nick Holonyak Jr. Endowed Chair Professorship...
Go to Profile#777
Takaharu Tezuka
#32553
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (60 years)
is a Japanese architect. In 1994, he and his wife Yui Tezuka founded the Tokyo-based firm Tezuka Architects. Projects by Tezuka Architects include the Roof House, Echigo-Matsunoyama Museum of Natural Science, Fuji Kindergarten and Woods of Net. Their recent awards include Japan Institute of Architects Prize , Association for Children's Environment Design Award , OECD/CELE 4th Compendium of Exemplary Educational Facilities and a Global Award for Sustainable Architecture .
Go to Profile#778
Mohammed Ghanbari
#17270
Overall Influence
Mohammed Ghanbari is an emeritus professor in the Department of Electronic Systems Engineering focused in the areas of Video Networking at the University of Essex. He graduated from Aryamehr University of Technology in Tehran, Iran, with a BSc degree in electrical engineering in 1970, an MSc in telecommunications, and a PhD in electronics from the University of Essex, England in 1976 and 1979 respectively. After ten years of work in radio and television broadcasting, he started his academic career in 1986 as a Research Fellow working on video coding for Packet Networks. He was then appointed...
Go to Profile#779
Wendell Nedderman
#24645
Overall Influence
1921 - 2019 (98 years)
Wendell Herman Nedderman was an American academic administrator who was president of the University of Texas at Arlington for nearly 20 years, first as acting president , then as president, leaving that post in July 1992. He began his 33 years of full-time service at UT Arlington in 1959 as the founding dean of the College of Engineering. This was followed by four years as vice president for academic affairs, and then 20 years as president. A campus engineering building was named Nedderman Hall in 1991 by the UT System board of regents. Campus Street and a portion of Monroe Street were combined and named Nedderman Drive by the City of Arlington in 1992.
Go to Profile#780
Samuel Mockbee
#23056
Overall Influence
1944 - 2001 (57 years)
Samuel "Sambo" Mockbee was an American architect and a co-founder of the Auburn University Rural Studio program in Hale County, Alabama. After establishing a regular architectural practice in his native Mississippi, Mockbee became interested in the design and construction problems associated with rural housing in Alabama and Mississippi. Soon after joining the faculty of Auburn, Mockbee established the Rural Studio with educator Dennis K. Ruth to provide practical training for architecture students in an environment where their efforts could address the problems of poverty and substandard housing in underserved areas of the southern United States.
Go to Profile#781
Romesh Batra
#21242
Overall Influence
Romesh C. Batra is a University Distinguished Professor and Clifton C. Garvin Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University , Blacksburg, Virginia. He was born in Village Dherowal , Punjab, India. His family migrated from Dherowal to Shahabad Markanda, Haryana, India after India became an independent country. Dr. Batra has authored the book, Elements of Continuum Mechanics, AIAA Educational Series. His research group has published in reputable refereed and widely read journals more than 460 papers of which about 40 are single-authored and...
Go to Profile#782
Andrei Iancu
#25654
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (56 years)
Andrei Iancu is a Romanian-American engineer and intellectual property attorney, who served as the under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office from 2017 to 2021. He was nominated for both positions in 2017 by President Donald Trump. He left office January 20, 2021.
Go to Profile#783
Joseph Barbera
#1366
Overall Influence
1911 - 2006 (95 years)
Joseph "Joe" Roland Barbera was an American animator, cartoon artist, storyboard artist, screenwriter, director and producer who co-founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera.
Go to Profile#784
Deepak B. Phatak
#19784
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (76 years)
Deepak B. Phatak is an Indian computer scientist and academic, and a recipient of the Padma Shri Award for his contribution in science and technology in 2013. He is known for his notable work for upgrading Aakash, advertised by its manufacturer as the 'world's cheapest tablet'. In 2009, he was ranked one of the 50 most powerful people in India.
Go to Profile#785
Gregory Washington
#11867
Overall Influence
Gregory N. Washington is an American university professor and academic administrator. On July 1, 2020, he became the 8th president of George Mason University. Prior to becoming a university president, he was the Stacey Nicholas Dean of Engineering in the Henry Samueli School of Engineering at the University of California, Irvine from 2011 to 2020. He was the first African-American person to be made dean of an engineering school in the University of California system. His research considers dynamical systems, smart materials and devices.
Go to Profile#786
Michael Van Valkenburgh
#14144
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (73 years)
Michael Robert Van Valkenburgh is an American landscape architect and educator. He has worked on a wide variety of projects in the United States, Canada, Korea, and France, including public parks, college campuses, sculpture gardens, city courtyards, corporate landscapes, private gardens, and urban master plans.
Go to Profile#787
Adrian Newey
#13577
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (66 years)
Adrian Martin Newey, is a British Formula One engineer. He is the chief technical officer of the Red Bull Racing F1 team. Newey has worked in both Formula One and IndyCar racing as a race engineer, aerodynamicist, designer and technical director and enjoyed success in both categories.
Go to Profile#788
Ernest S. Kuh
#44266
Overall Influence
1928 - 2015 (87 years)
Ernest Shiu-Jen Kuh was a Chinese-born American electrical engineer. He served as Dean of the College of Engineering of the University of California, Berkeley. Biography Kuh was born in Beijing on 2 October 1928 to Zone S. Keh and Tsai Chu. Kuh was the youngest son of six siblings; he also had a younger sister. His father was a Nationalist government official, and later worked for a bank. Ernest Kuh was raised in Shanghai and attended Nanyang Model High School before enrolling at Shanghai Jiao Tong University from 1945 to 1947 for electrical engineering.
Go to Profile#789
Rodney S. Ruoff
#37246
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (67 years)
Rodney S. "Rod" Ruoff is an American physical chemist and nanoscience researcher. He is one of the world experts on carbon materials including carbon nanostructures such as fullerenes, nanotubes, graphene, diamond, and has had pioneering discoveries on such materials and others. Ruoff received his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin and his Ph.D. in chemical physics at the University of Illinois-Urbana . After a Fulbright Fellowship at the MPI fuer Stroemungsforschung in Goettingen, Germany and postdoctoral work at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center , Ruoff became a staff scientist in the Molecular Physics Laboratory at SRI International .
Go to Profile#790
Candida Höfer
#21860
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (80 years)
Candida Höfer is a German photographer. She is a former student of Bernd and Hilla Becher. Like other Becher students, Höfer's work is known for technical perfection and a strictly conceptual approach. From 1997 to 2000, she taught as professor at the Hochschule für Gestaltung, Karlsruhe. Höfer is the recipient of the 2018 Outstanding Contribution to Photography award, as part of the Sony World Photography awards. She is based in Cologne.
Go to Profile#791
Richard Saul Wurman
#7880
Overall Influence
1935 - Present (89 years)
Richard Saul Wurman is an American architect and graphic designer. Wurman has written, designed, and published 90 books and created the TED conferences, the EG Conference, and TEDMED. Education and honors Wurman received both his B.Arch. and M.Arch. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, completing his graduate degree with honors in 1959.
Go to Profile#792
Salvatore Pais
#11949
Overall Influence
Salvatore Cezar Pais is an American aerospace engineer and inventor, currently working for the United States Space Force. He formerly worked at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River. His patent applications for the US Navy attracted attention for their potential energy-producing applications, but also doubt about their feasibility, and speculation that they may be scams, pseudoscience, or disinformation intended to mislead the United States' adversaries.
Go to Profile#793
Barbara Bielecka
#33442
Overall Influence
1931 - Present (93 years)
Barbara Bielecka is a Polish Functionalist architect and a member of the Faculty of Architecture at the Gdańsk University of Technology. She designed the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lichen, Poland's largest church, the sixth largest by area in the world. It was constructed between 1994 and 2004. In May 1985, she joined the Commission of Urban Planning and Architecture at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kraków.
Go to Profile#794
Ernst Mohr
#21832
Overall Influence
Ernst Mohr was a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Wuppertal. He developed the meteorological Mohr Rocket, on behalf of the German Rocket Society. The rocket was first launched successfully on September 14, 1958 near Cuxhaven.
Go to Profile#795
Susan Hackwood
#40969
Overall Influence
Susan Hackwood is the executive director of the California Council on Science and Technology . She is a professor and researcher of electrical engineering credited for inventing the concept of electrowetting with Gerardo Beni in 1981.
Go to Profile#796
Ravi V. Bellamkonda
#31024
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (56 years)
#797
Isao Hosoe
#49435
Overall Influence
1942 - 2015 (73 years)
Isao Hosoe was a Japanese engineer and designer. Biography Born in Tokyo, Hosoe studied there at Nihon University where he graduated in 1965 with a major in aerospace engineering with a thesis on a human-powered aircraft, followed by a Master in Sciences in 1967. From the same year he moved to Milan where he still lived until his death, mainly collaborating with Alberto Rosselli and Gio Ponti of the Studio Ponti-Fornaroli-Rosselli from 1967 to 1974. In 1985 he founded his own studio Isao Hosoe Design.
Go to Profile#798
Deborah Berke
#20433
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (70 years)
Deborah Berke is an American architect and academic. She is the founder of TenBerke, formerly Deborah Berke Partners, a New York City-based architectural design firm. Berke is currently Dean and J.M. Hoppin Professor at the Yale School of Architecture, where she began teaching as an associate professor in 1987. At the time of her appointment in 2016, Berke became the first woman Dean of the school. In 2022, Deborah received the AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education.
Go to Profile#799
Roger F. Harrington
#49763
Overall Influence
#800
Suresh Garimella
#21663
Overall Influence
Suresh Garimella is an Indian American mechanical engineer and university administrator. He is the current and 27th president of the University of Vermont. Before assuming the presidency in 2019, Garimella was executive vice president for research and partnerships at the Purdue University College of Engineering at Purdue University.
Go to Profile