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,
#3151
Gabriel Epstein
#36757
Overall Influence
1918 - 2017 (99 years)
Gabriel Epstein , often known as Gabi Epstein, was a British architect and urban planner, particularly noted for his master plan of the University of Lancaster, as well as several other major development plans and social housing plans.
Go to Profile#3152
Lawrence J. DeLucas
#26163
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (74 years)
Lawrence James DeLucas is an American biochemist who flew aboard NASA Space Shuttle mission STS-50 as a Payload Specialist. He was born on July 11, 1950, in Syracuse, New York, and is currently married with three children. His recreational interests include basketball, scuba diving, bowling, model airplanes, astronomy and reading.
Go to Profile#3153
Reginald Coates
#84592
Overall Influence
1920 - 2004 (84 years)
Professor Reginald "Rex" Charles Coates was a British civil engineer, academic and the 114th president of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Early life Coates was born in New Mills, Derbyshire and was educated at New Mills Grammar School, and the Herbert Strutt Grammar School in Belper. He was taken into articled pupilage, a form of apprenticeship, by Mansfield Borough Council and studied for a degree in Civil Engineering at University College Nottingham.
Go to Profile#3154
John T Lis
#110141
Overall Influence
#3155
Keith D Paulsen
#110163
Overall Influence
#3156
John D. Hayes
#110177
Overall Influence
#3157
Bhushan Lal Karihaloo
#110180
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (81 years)
Bhushan Lal Karihaloo, FIEAus MASME FASCE FLSW , is a professor of civil, architectural, and environmental engineering. He is head of the Institute of Theoretical, Applied and Computational Mechanics at Cardiff University and an expert on fracture mechanics. In 2006 he was awarded the European Structural Integrity Society's Griffith Medal for "his outstanding research in the field of theoretical fracture mechanics and fracture of quasi-brittle materials, in particular of concrete, fibre-reinforced cementitious composites, and advanced tough ceramics". In 2012, he was elected a Fellow of the Le...
Go to Profile#3158
Dougal Drysdale
#88272
Overall Influence
Dougal Drysdale is a Professor Emeritus in Fire Safety Engineering at the University of Edinburgh and member of the BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering. Drysdale is one of the leading international authorities in Fire Safety Engineering and is the author of the standard reference text in the field, "An Introduction to Fire Dynamics". He has been involved in teaching and research in the general area of fire dynamics and has published over 100 papers.
Go to Profile#3159
Hiroshi Suga
#76376
Overall Influence
1945 - 2013 (68 years)
was a Japanese photographer who is particularly known for his photography of Bali. Suga was born in Hakata, Fukuoka Prefecture, in 1945. He graduated in photography from Nihon University. He won the Domon Ken Award in 1987 for photographs of Bali and the Higashikawa Domestic Photographers Award in 1998 for photographs of Burma. He has been a professor at Nihon University.
Go to Profile#3160
Neil D. Mathur
#82881
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (24 years)
Neil David Mathur is a Professor in Materials Physics in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge. Education Mathur received his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1995 for research into heavy fermion systems.
Go to Profile#3161
Richard Murphy
#76498
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (69 years)
Richard Murphy OBE is a British architect and businessman. He is the founder and principal architect of Richard Murphy Architects, an architectural firm operating in Edinburgh. He is a winner of the 2016 RIBA House of the year.
Go to Profile#3162
Craig B Taylor
#110226
Overall Influence
#3163
Marek Czosnyka
#110227
Overall Influence
#3164
G. D. J. Forney
#110250
Overall Influence
#3165
B. Devendar Rao
#110255
Overall Influence
#3166
Fei Wei
#110260
Overall Influence
#3167
Jonathan Robert Glass
#110279
Overall Influence
#3168
Nicola Marzari
#110345
Overall Influence
#3169
Shigeo Maruyama
#83228
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (71 years)
is a Japanese professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Tokyo who has published almost 1,000 articles, which have appeared in such journals as the Chemical Physics and Optics Letters, along with Physical Review B and many others. His most cited paper is Low-temperature synthesis of high-purity single-walled carbon nanotubes from alcohol which have over 9840 citations as of 2014. He is currently the president of the Fullerenes, Nanotubes and Graphene Research Society.
Go to Profile#3170
Gladys Ngetich
#84273
Overall Influence
1991 - Present (33 years)
Gladys Chepkirui Ngetich is a Kenyan engineer, and a Rhodes scholar, pursuing a doctorate degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. She is the recipient of the Tanenbaum Fellowship and the Babaroa Excellence Award.
Go to Profile#3171
Gerald E. Loeb
#82893
Overall Influence
Gerald E. Loeb is an American neurophysiologist, biomedical engineer, academic and author. He is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Pharmacy and Neurology at the University of Southern California, the President of Biomed Concepts, and the co-founder of SynTouch.
Go to Profile#3172
Birgit Cold
#98089
Overall Influence
1936 - 2022 (86 years)
Birgit Cold was a Danish-born Norwegian architect and educator. She established her own practice in Trondheim together with Tore Brantenberg and Edvard Hiorthøy in 1964 and became a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in 1985. Her main areas of interest included the school environment and concern for well-being and health. Cold is also known for her sketching which she often used to express her understanding of architecture.
Go to Profile#3173
Christopher J. Wiernicki
#82735
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (66 years)
Christopher J. Wiernicki is a naval architect, engineer, and businessperson. He is the chairman and CEO of American Bureau of Shipping, an international classification organization, and also serves as Chairman of ABS Group of Companies, a global risk consulting and technical services company. He is a serving member of the President's National Infrastructure Advisory Council .
Go to Profile#3174
Frank Kwang-ming Hwang
#110464
Overall Influence
#3175
Walter Pilkey
#110398
Overall Influence
1936 - 2007 (71 years)
Walter Pilkey was a professor of mechanical engineering at University of Virginia. He earned his PhD from Penn State. Research His areas of professional interest included crash safety, shock and computational mechanics. He wrote or co-authored more than 30 books and 300 professional articles. He founded Shock and Vibration, a journal published in association with SAVIAC and the limited distribution journal Critical Technology in Shock and Vibration, also in association with SAVIAC. He was the editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Finite Elements in Analysis and Design.
Go to Profile#3176
Clive Randall
#109843
Overall Influence
Clive A. Randall is a Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Director of Materials Research Institute at Pennsylvania State University. He is noted for his work on ceramics and functional materials.
Go to Profile#3177
Ratnajeevan Hoole
#48728
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (72 years)
Professor Samuel Ratnajeevan Herbert Hoole is a Sri Lankan Tamil engineer and academic. He was a member of the Election Commission of Sri Lanka. Early life and family Hoole was born on 15 September 1952. He is the son of Rev. Richard Herbert Ratnathurai Hoole and Jeevamany Somasundaram. He was educated at Nallur CMS Practising School and St. John's College, Jaffna. He was offered a position to study at the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya in 1970 but as there were too many Tamil students at Peradeniya he was transferred to the Ceylon College of Technology, graduating from the University of Sri Lanka Katubedda campus in 1975 with a B.Sc degree in electrical engineering.
Go to Profile#3178
Gerard Joseph Foschini
#110567
Overall Influence
#3179
William T. Cannady
#107062
Overall Influence
1937 - Present (87 years)
William T. Cannady is an American architect who has designed over two hundred projects. He is also a professor of architecture who has taught design to over one thousand students. Cannady was born in Houston, Texas. He attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur, Texas, receiving his diploma in 1956. He attended Texas A&M College from 1956 to 1960, he received his B.Arch. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1961, and his M.Arch. from Harvard University in 1962. Spouse was named Mollie Cannady. From there they had two daughters. Sarah Cannady and Lucinda Cannady. An architect in practice in Houston, Texas since 1965, he founded Wm.
Go to Profile#3180
Dushan Boroyevich
#110593
Overall Influence
#3181
Mark John Francis Gales
#110615
Overall Influence
#3182
Margherita Spiluttini
#92131
Overall Influence
1947 - 2023 (76 years)
Margherita Spiluttini was an Austrian photographer specializing in architecture. Spiluttini’s photo archive is one of the most important collections of photographs of architecture in Austria from 1980 to 2005.
Go to Profile#3183
Ali Jadbabaie
#110637
Overall Influence
#3184
Mieczyslaw S. Ostojski
#78525
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (70 years)
Mieczyslaw Stefan Ostojski was the second vice-president of the World Meteorological Organization and former director general of the Polish Institute of Meteorology and Water Management. Early life Mieczyslaw S. Ostojski was born on 1 January 1954 at Sławno. He graduated from the Gdansk University of Technology, where in 1988 he received the degree of Doctor of Environmental Engineering. In 2012 he obtained a postdoctoral degree of environmental engineering at the Faculty of Environmental Engineering at Wroclaw University of Technology.
Go to Profile#3185
Yu-nong Zhang
#110660
Overall Influence
#3186
Leslie H. Sperling
#110668
Overall Influence
#3187
Philip K. Thornton
#110688
Overall Influence
#3188
Antonella Ferrara
#97377
Overall Influence
1963 - Present (61 years)
Antonella Ferrara is an Italian control theorist and engineer, known for her work on sliding mode control. Education and career Ferrara is originally from Genoa, and studied electrical engineering at the University of Genoa, earning a laurea in 1987 and completing a Ph.D. in 1992. She became an assistant professor at the University of Genoa in 1992, and moved to the University of Pavia in 1998 as an associate professor. She was named professor of automatic control in 2005. At Pavia, she was originally affiliated with the department of computer engineering and systems science, and in 2011 beca...
Go to Profile#3189
Randal Beard
#102855
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (24 years)
Randal W. Beard from the Brigham Young University, Provo, UT was named Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2015 for contributions to the theory and practice of guidance, control, and team coordination of unmanned aerial vehicles.
Go to Profile#3190
Paul Suetens
#110713
Overall Influence
#3191
Ali Akbar Salehi
#50918
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (75 years)
Ali Akbar Salehi is an Iranian academic, diplomat and former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, who served in this position from 2009 to 2010 and also from 2013 to 2021. He served for the first time as head of the AEOI from 2009 to 2010 and was appointed to the post for a second time on 16 August 2013. Before the appointment of his latter position, he was foreign affairs minister from 2010 to 2013. He was also the Iranian representative in the International Atomic Energy Agency from 1998 to 2003.
Go to Profile#3192
Kung Yao
#94712
Overall Influence
1938 - Present (86 years)
Kung Yao is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Electrical Engineering Department of UCLA known for his contributions in Communication Theory, Signal and array processing, and Systolic algorithms...
Go to Profile#3193
Leung Tsang
#110744
Overall Influence
#3194
Karsten Stahl
#104928
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (55 years)
Karsten Stahl is a German mechanical engineer. He is a Professor in the TUM School of Engineering and Design at the Technical University of Munich and is considered a specialist in machine elements, transmissionss and drivetrain technologies.
Go to Profile#3195
Silviu‐iulian Niculescu
#110778
Overall Influence
#3196
Anuradha Mathur
#76405
Overall Influence
1960 - 2022 (62 years)
Anuradha Mathur was a practicing architect, landscape architect and a professor in the Landscape Architecture department at the University of Pennsylvania. She was based in Philadelphia and Bangalore but has worked all over the world. Her professional focus was water, particularly how its utilization can lead to its excess or scarcity and its opportunities for resilience-based design.
Go to Profile#3197
James Berardinelli
#28296
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (57 years)
James Berardinelli is an American film critic and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ReelViews. Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of reviews of movies on DVD and video. He is also a fantasy novelist, publishing a trilogy from 2015 through 2016 known as The Last Whisper of the Gods.
Go to Profile#3198
Sennur Ulukus
#110822
Overall Influence
Sennur Ulukus from the University of Maryland, College Park, MD was named Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2016 for contributions to characterizing performance limits of wireless networks.
Go to Profile#3199
Karen M'Closkey
#93570
Overall Influence
Karen M'Closkey is a landscape architect and Associate Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. Her artistic and academic focus is the relationship between digital media and landscape architecture design, and M'Closkey is considered one of the leaders in this subfield. She is also the co-founder of PEG Office of Landscape + Architecture, a Philadelphia design and research firm.
Go to Profile#3200
Colin R. McInnes
#79335
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (56 years)
Colin Robert McInnes is a Scottish engineer known for his work in solar sails. He is currently one of the leading figures in the field, being the author of over 50 solar sail papers since 2001. He also wrote a book on the subject, Solar Sailing: Technology, Dynamics and Mission Applications, which is commonly referenced in solar sail journal papers.
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