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,
#8701
Mehdi Mohaghegh
#20530
Overall Influence
1930 - Present (96 years)
Mehdi Mohaghegh, sometimes transliterated Mahdi Muhaqqiq, is an Iranian scholar specializing in Persian literature, Islamic studies and philosophy. He has a Ph.D. in both Ilahiyyat and Persian language and literature; he joined The Faculty of Literature and Humanities at Tehran University in 1960. He has been teaching at the School of Oriental and African Studies in England , McGill University Institute of Islamic Studies in Canada , and The International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization in Malaysia . He is founder and director of the McGill Institute of Islamic Studies Tehran B...
Go to Profile#8702
Cao Xibin
#183760
Overall Influence
1963 - Present (63 years)
Cao Xibin is a Chinese engineer and professor and doctoral supervisor at Harbin Institute of Technology. Biography Cao was born in Zhaodong, Heilongjiang, in February 1963. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1985, a master's degree in 1988, and a doctor's degree in 1991, all from Harbin Institute of Technology. In October 1991 he pursued advanced studies in Russia, where he graduated from Samara National Research University.
Go to Profile#8703
Kevin M Spencer
#184288
Overall Influence
#8704
John M. Richardson
#58271
Overall Influence
1938 - Present (88 years)
John Martin Richardson, Jr. born on March 12, 1938, is an American academic who writes, lectures, and consults in applied systems analysis, international development, conflict-development linkages, and the sustainability and resilience of political-economic-social institutions. He served as visiting professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and director of outreach and projects at Residential College 4 at the National University of Singapore. He was also professor emeritus of international development at the School of International Service at American University.
Go to Profile#8705
Masahiro Fujita
#184321
Overall Influence
#8706
Bill Burke
#168525
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
William M. Burke is an American photographer and educator known for his 20 years of documentary photography in Vietnam and neighboring countries, detailing the effects of war. Biography William M. Burke was born in 1943 in Derby, Connecticut. In 1966, he received a B.A. degree in Art History from Middlebury College. He continued studies at Rhode Island School of Design , and received a B.F.A degree in 1968 and a MFA degree in 1970, while studying with photographer Harry Callahan.
Go to Profile#8707
Amy Fleischer
#99217
Overall Influence
Amy S. Fleischer is an American mechanical engineer whose research concerns thermal engineering, including sustainable energy, thermal energy storage using phase-change materials, and energy recovery from the heat management of electronic devices. She is dean of the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo College of Engineering.
Go to Profile#8708
Paul Kim
#102237
Overall Influence
1970 - Present (56 years)
Paul Kim is currently a Korean-American Chief Technology Officer and Associate Dean at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and has held this position since 2001. While at Stanford, in addition to teaching graduate level courses in the School of Education, he has been leading projects involving the design of learning technologies, educational research, and community development.
Go to Profile#8709
Alfonso Valenzuela-Aguilera
#181123
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
Alfonso Valenzuela-Aguilera is a Mexican architect, critical theorist and urban planner. Professor of Urban Planning at the State University of Morelos, Mexico, he was trained as an architect at the Universidad Iberoamericana, holding degrees in Urban Planning by the University Institute of Architecture of Venice and a PhD in Urbanism by UNAM, Mexico. Dr. Valenzuela was a postdoctoral Fellow at the French Institute of Urbanism in Paris, a visiting Fulbright scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and for three years a visiting scholar at the Institute of Urban and Regional Development , at the University of California at Berkeley.
Go to Profile#8710
Shao Xinyu
#180663
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (58 years)
Shao Xinyu is a Chinese engineer and politician who is currently serving as a vice governor of Hubei. He previously served as Communist Party Secretary of Huazhong University of Science and Technology from 2017 to 2021, and as a vice minister of Science and Technology from 2021 to 2022.
Go to Profile#8711
Betar Gallant
#180329
Overall Influence
Betar Maurkah Gallant is an American engineer who is an associate professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research investigates the development of new materials for batteries. She worked with Barack Obama on an educational initiative to train young Americans in clean energy.
Go to Profile#8712
Claire Freeman
#144313
Overall Influence
Claire Freeman is a New Zealand geography and urban planning academic. Career After a PhD at Leeds, Freeman worked at University of the North West, Leeds Metropolitan University and Massey University before moving to Otago University, where she's been a full professor since 2015
Go to Profile#8713
Blanche Capel
#106841
Overall Influence
Blanche Capel is an American biologist and James B. Duke Professor of Cell Biology at Duke University. Her research focuses on vertebrate sex determination. Education After graduating with a BA in Literature and Art History from Hollins College, Capel married and focused on raising her children. She became interested in further study by the time her children reached school age and took various undergraduate classes at Haverford and Bryn Mawr College. Following two years in Haverford's molecular biology program, she started to work towards a PhD in genetics at the laboratory of Beatrice Mintz at the Fox Chase Cancer Center.
Go to Profile#8714
Mahsa Mohaghegh
#151411
Overall Influence
Mahsa Mohaghegh is an Iranian-born New Zealand computer engineer specialising in artificial intelligence and natural language processing. She is a professor of information technology and software engineering at Auckland University of Technology.
Go to Profile#8715
Neil Armfield
#68070
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
Neil Geoffrey Armfield is an Australian director of theatre, film and opera. Biography Born in Sydney, Armfield is the third and youngest son of Len, a factory worker at the nearby Arnott's Biscuits factory and Nita Armfield. He was brought up in the suburb of Concord, adjacent to Exile Bay. He was educated at the Homebush Boys High School where, in 1972, he was the Vice-Captain. In that year, Armfield directed the school's production of Milne's "Toad of Toad Hall" which garnered him the award of "Best Director" at the NSW High Schools Drama Festival. When asked in 2019: “Who or what was yo...
Go to Profile#8716
Yun Fu
#184515
Overall Influence
#8717
Marc Fontoynont
#183102
Overall Influence
Marc Fontoynont is French academic who has been professor in the Danish national building research institute at Aalborg University in Copenhagen, Denmark and Ecole nationale des travaux publics de l’Etat in Lyon, France. He led research energy efficient lighting, window and shading systems, innovative electric lighting and lighting quality assessment using visual psychometric tests.
Go to Profile#8718
Hossein Malek-Afzali
#108614
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (87 years)
Hossein Malek-Afzali is an Iranian scientist, physician, and an associate of World Health Organization. He is currently professor at the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Tehran University. He also acted as deputy health minister of Iran.
Go to Profile#8719
Vladimir Pletser
#97977
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Vladimir Pletser is Director of Space Training Operations at Blue Abyss since 2018, where he is in charge of developing astronaut training programs. From 2016 to early 2018, he was a Visiting Professor and Scientific Adviser at the Technology and Engineering Centre for Space Utilization of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China. He supported the preparation of scientific experiments in microgravity for the Chinese Tiangong space station and for aircraft parabolic flights. He worked previously from 1985 till early 2016 as a senior Physicist Engineer at the European Space Research a...
Go to Profile#8720
Renetta Garrison Tull
#175896
Overall Influence
Renetta Garrison Tull is an American electrical engineer, global policy strategist, and works to advance diversity and inclusion in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics . Tull is the inaugural Vice Chancellor of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at University of California, Davis and a founding Director of the National Science Foundation funded program PROMISE: Alliances for Graduate Education and Professoriate, which aims to increase the number of underrepresented students in STEM. Tull previously served as Vice Provost for Strategic Initiatives at the University of Maryland, Balt...
Go to Profile#8721
George Mueller
#170487
Overall Influence
1918 - 2015 (97 years)
George Edwin Mueller , was an American electrical engineer who was an associate administrator at NASA, heading the Office of Manned Space Flight from September 1963 until December 1969. Hailed as one of NASA's "most brilliant and fearless managers", he was instrumental in introducing the all-up testing philosophy for the Saturn V launch vehicle, which ensured the success of the Apollo program in landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth by the end of 1969. Mueller also played a key part in the design of Skylab, and championed the Space Shuttle's development, which earned ...
Go to Profile#8722
Bow-sim Mark
#56268
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (84 years)
Bow-sim Mark is a Chinese martial arts grandmaster who lives in Newton, Massachusetts, US. She is the mother of martial arts film star, Donnie Yen. Training Mark was born in Guangzhou, Republic of China in 1942. She began studying martial arts at elementary school, training seriously in high school and then at Wushu training schools, specialising in tai chi and Northern Shaolin. Mark learned Fu Style Wudangquan by training under Fu Wing Fay for 10 years; Wing Fay was the eldest son and top student of Grandmaster Fu Chen Sung. She was an instructor at Wing Fay's school from 1968 to 1974.
Go to Profile#8723
Berna Dengiz
#181525
Overall Influence
Berna Dengiz is a Turkish industrial engineer, the dean of engineering and professor of industrial engineering at Başkent University. Her research involves the heuristic optimization of complex systems.
Go to Profile#8724
Terence Donovan
#88132
Overall Influence
1936 - 1996 (60 years)
Terence Daniel Donovan was an English photographer and film director, noted for his fashion photography of the 1960s. A book of his fashion work, Terence Donovan Fashion, was published 2012. He also directed many TV commercials and oversaw the music video to Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" and "Simply Irresistible". The Guardian labelled “Addicted to Love“ as being "fashion's favourite video" since it was released.
Go to Profile#8725
Silvia Ferrari
#174570
Overall Influence
1973 - Present (53 years)
Silvia Ferrari is an Italian-American aerospace engineer. She is John Brancaccio Professor at the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University and also the director of the Laboratory for Intelligent Systems and Control at the same university.
Go to Profile#8726
Yang-Tse Cheng
#179698
Overall Influence
Yang-Tse Cheng is an American materials scientist currently the University of Kentucky Frank J. Derbyshire Professor of Materials Science at University of Kentucky and an Elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors Materials Research Society and American Physical Society.
Go to Profile#8727
Monika Ivantysynova
#184541
Overall Influence
1955 - 2018 (63 years)
Monika Ivantysynova was an East German-born engineer specializing in fluid power, known for her design of piston pumps and valveless hydraulic actuators and more generally for her leadership in the field of fluid power research. She was Maha Named Professor in Fluid Power Systems for Mechanical Engineering and Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Purdue University.
Go to Profile#8728
Peter Gregson
#179835
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Sir Peter John Gregson, FREng is a British research engineer and Chair of the Henry Royce Institute. He was previously the Vice-Chancellor of Cranfield University from 2013-2021 and President and Vice-Chancellor of Queen's University Belfast from 2004. Prior to that he was deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Southampton from 2000-2004.
Go to Profile#8729
Sonia Martínez Díaz
#180299
Overall Influence
Sonia Martínez Díaz is a Spanish mechanical engineer whose research applies control theory to the coordinated motion of robot swarms and mobile wireless sensor networks. She is a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, San Diego.
Go to Profile#8730
Adah Almutairi
#170830
Overall Influence
1976 - Present (50 years)
Adah Almutairi is a scientist and professor at the University of California, San Diego . Her work focuses on nanomedicine, nanotechnology, chemistry and polymer science. Early life and education Almutairi was born on November 1, 1976, in Portland, Oregon, United States to Saudi parents.
Go to Profile#8731
Peter Chen
#184682
Overall Influence
#8732
Jin Kim Montclare
#137494
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Jin Kim Montclare is a Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at New York University. She creates novel proteins that can be used in drug delivery, tissue regeneration and as medical treatment. She is a 2019 AAAS Leshner Leadership Fellow and has been inducted to the AIMBE College of Fellows.
Go to Profile#8733
Hiroshi Kimura
#184729
Overall Influence
#8734
Kevin O'Connell
#81605
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Kevin O'Connell is a sound re-recording mixer. He held the record for most Academy Award nominations without a win at 20, until he finally won his first Academy Award for Hacksaw Ridge at the 89th Academy Awards in 2017.
Go to Profile#8735
Victoria Morgan
#171986
Overall Influence
Victoria L. Morgan is an American biomedical engineer who is a professor of neurology and radiology at Vanderbilt University. She makes use of functional magnetic resonance imaging to understand neural activation and function. Her research looks to quantify and understand the impact of epilepsy in the brain.
Go to Profile#8736
Richard Benson
#52452
Overall Influence
1943 - 2017 (74 years)
Richard Mead Atwater Benson was an American photographer, printer, and educator who used photographic processing techniques of the past and present. "He is perhaps best known for his innovations in photographic offset printing techniques and, later, ink-jet printing."
Go to Profile#8737
David A. Wood
#184755
Overall Influence
#8738
Ian MacDonald
#167962
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
<noinclude></noinclude> Ian MacDonald is a Canadian architect. He studied architecture at the University of Waterloo and graduated in 1978 from Carleton University. He worked for Ronald Thom at the Thom Partnership', where he developed a foundation for his own approach to site, structure and the importance of landscape in architecture. In 1984 he established the firm of Ian MacDonald Architect, best known for its residential projects.
Go to Profile#8739
Wiebe Draijer
#171844
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (61 years)
Wiebe Draijer is a Dutch engineer, civil servant and management consultant who served as Chairman of the Social and Economic Council from 2012 to 2014. Since 1 October 2014, he has been CEO of the Rabobank.
Go to Profile#8740
Carmen Espegel
#183562
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
Carmen Espegel Alonso, is a Doctor of Architecture at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid , where she teaches Architectural Project classes representing the Espegel Teaching Unit. She has been working at her own studio since 1985 and in 2003 she founded the firm espegel-fisac arquitectos. Her reference work, "Heroines of Space. Women Architects in the Modern Movement" , is a theoretical and historical synthesis of the role of women in Architecture.
Go to Profile#8741
Howard Davies
#88173
Overall Influence
1945 - 2016 (71 years)
Stephen Howard Davies, was a British theatre and television director. Early life Davies was the son of miner and glassblower Thomas Emrys Davies, from Maesteg, and Hilda Bevan. He was born in Reading, England. He was educated at Christ's Hospital school, Horsham and then studied at Durham University and Bristol University, where he developed an appreciation for the works of Bertolt Brecht.
Go to Profile#8742
Cinzia Zuffada
#182531
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Cinzia Zuffada is an Italian-American engineer who is the Associate Chief Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Her role considers the strategic planning of scientific programs for JPL and the development of reflectometry technologies for Global navigation satellite systems. She is the chair of the Board of the Italian Scientists & Scholars in North America Foundation.
Go to Profile#8743
Lily Elefteriadou
#183991
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
Ageliki Elefteriadou is a Greek-American civil engineer specializing in traffic flow, including route capacity, phase transitions from fast to slow traffic flow , traffic optimization, and traffic simulation. She is Barbara Goldsby Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Florida, where she directs the University of Florida Transportation Institute.
Go to Profile#8744
Steven Barnes
#184874
Overall Influence
#8745
Farah Al Qasimi
#172087
Overall Influence
1991 - Present (35 years)
Farah Al Qasimi is a photographer from the United Arab Emirates, living in Brooklyn, New York. She is known for her photographs of life in the Persian Gulf. Life and work Al Qasimi earned a BA from Yale University. In 2018 she moved to New York City and worked as an administrator for New York University Abu Dhabi before returning to Yale for her MFA.
Go to Profile#8746
Marilyn da Silva
#160273
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
Marilyn da Silva is an American sculptor, metalsmith, jeweler, and educator. She teaches and serves as a department head at the California College of the Arts in the San Francisco Bay Area. Da Silva has won numerous awards including honorary fellow by the American Craft Council .
Go to Profile#8747
Joel Moskowitz
#72728
Overall Influence
Joel M. Moskowitz is a researcher on the faculty of the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. He has worked on public health issues that include cell phone risk, tobacco control, and alcohol abuse. He helped the city of Berkeley, California to draft an ordinance mandating safety warnings on cell phones. In 2018, Moskowitz won the James Madison Freedom of Information Award for his work in bringing to light previously publicly unknown California Department of Public Health guidance documents about cell phone safety.
Go to Profile#8748
Vetrimaaran
#81949
Overall Influence
1975 - Present (51 years)
Vetrimaaran is an Indian film director, film producer and screenwriter who primarily works in Tamil cinema. As of 2021, he has won five National Film Awards, eight Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards and two Filmfare South Awards.
Go to Profile#8749
Barys Kit
#15684
Overall Influence
1910 - 2018 (108 years)
Boris Uladzimiravich Kit was a Belarusian-American rocket scientist. Biography Kit was born on April 6, 1910, in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire to the family of an employee at the Post and Telegraph Department of Belarusian origin. His true surname is Kita. In 1918 Kit's family moved to their native village of Aharodniki, now the town of Karelichy, Grodno Region. In 1921 this area became a part of the Second Polish Republic.
Go to Profile#8750
Scott Marr
#101111
Overall Influence
Scott Marr is an American lacrosse coach. He is currently the head coach for the University at Albany Great Danes men's lacrosse team. He previously served as the offensive coordinator at the University of Maryland and University of Delaware. Marr led the Great Danes to the school's first ever NCAA tournament appearance in 2003. In 2007, Albany won its first NCAA tournament game, and the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association named Marr the Coach of the Year.
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