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,
#3601
Sarah Spurgeon
#92697
Overall Influence
1963 - Present (63 years)
Sarah Katherine Spurgeon is the Head of Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at University College London. She served as President of the Engineering Professors' Council from 2017 to 2019. She has previously served as Head of the Department of Engineering at both the University of Leicester and University of Kent.
Go to Profile#3602
Silvana Cardoso
#59279
Overall Influence
Silvana Cardoso is a Portuguese fluid dynamicist working in Britain. She is professor of Fluid Mechanics and the Environment at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge. She leads the Fluids and the Environment research group at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology.
Go to Profile#3603
Sally Mann
#6096
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
Sally Mann HonFRPS is an American photographer known for making large format black and white photographs of her immediate surroundings—her children, husband, rural landscapes, and self-portraits. Early life and education Born in Lexington, Virginia, Mann was the third of three children. Her father, Robert S. Munger, was a general practitioner, and her mother, Elizabeth Evans Munger, ran the bookstore at Washington and Lee University in Lexington. Mann was introduced to photography by her father, who encouraged her interest in photography; his 5x7 camera became the basis of her use of large format cameras today.
Go to Profile#3604
Jean-Marc Jancovici
#25059
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Jean-Marc Jancovici is a French engineering consultant, energy and climate expert, professor, conference speaker, writer, and independent columnist. He is co-founder and associate at the Carbone 4 consultancy firm, and the founding president of the think-tank The Shift Project.
Go to Profile#3605
Naresh Magan
#117527
Overall Influence
#3606
Ashutosh Sabharwal
#117532
Overall Influence
Ashutosh Sabharwal is a professor and Ph.D of electrical engineering from Rice University, Houston, TX. He was named Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2014 for contributions to the theory and experimentation of wireless systems and networks. He was named to the 2022 class of ACM Fellows, "for the invention of full-duplex wireless and open-source wireless research platforms".
Go to Profile#3607
Thomas E. Spencer
#117550
Overall Influence
#3608
Barnabas Nawangwe
#52871
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Barnabas Nawangwe, is a Ugandan architect, academic and the current vice chancellor of the Makerere University, the largest public university of Uganda. He served his first five-year term from 2017 until August 2022. On 12 August 2022, the Makerere University Council re-appointed him for a second term of five years.
Go to Profile#3609
Zhoupeng Wang
#117581
Overall Influence
#3610
Miguel R. Visbal
#117586
Overall Influence
#3611
Blake S. Wilson
#80251
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
Blake Shaw Wilson is an American research scientist best known for his role in developing signal processing strategies for the cochlear implant. Degrees His undergraduate and Ph.D. degrees from Duke University, are in electrical engineering. He also holds a D. Science degree from the University of Warwick and a D. Engineering degree from University of Technology Sydney. In addition, he has been awarded honorary doctorates from Uppsala University and from the University of Salamanca.
Go to Profile#3612
Fritz Prof. Dr.-ing. Klocke
#117621
Overall Influence
#3613
Michael J. Campbell
#117627
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
#3614
Gregory Beroza
#64667
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (67 years)
Gregory C. Beroza is a seismologist and the Wayne Loel Professor of Earth Sciences at Stanford University. He is also the Co-Director of the Southern California Earthquake Center. He was elected to the fellow of American Geophysical Union in 2008. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2022.
Go to Profile#3615
Surya R. Kalidindi
#117629
Overall Influence
#3616
Andres Cuevas
#107013
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Andres Cuevas is a professor of engineering at the Australian National University, Canberra. He was named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2014 for contributions to the science and technological development of silicon solar cells.
Go to Profile#3617
Douglas K. Lilly
#117674
Overall Influence
#3618
Adrian Long
#52646
Overall Influence
Adrian Ernest Long was a civil engineer from Northern Ireland. A professor at Queen's University Belfast, he had a particular interest in concrete structures and patented FlexiArch, a pre-cast concrete arch product. He served as president of the Institution of Civil Engineers for 2002–03, the first Northern Irish engineer to do so.
Go to Profile#3619
Marc Garneau
#46582
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
Joseph Jean-Pierre Marc Garneau is a Canadian retired politician, retired Royal Canadian Navy officer and former astronaut who served as a Cabinet minister from 2015 to 2021. A member of the Liberal Party, Garneau was the minister of foreign affairs from January to October 2021 and minister of transport from November 2015 to January 2021. He was the Member of Parliament for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount.
Go to Profile#3620
Manfred Curbach
#110290
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Manfred Curbach is a German civil engineer and university professor. He is a leading researcher in the development of textile-reinforced concrete and carbon reinforced concrete respectively. Life and career Manfred Curbach completed his A Levels in June 1976 at the Albert-Einstein-Gymnasium in Dortmund. From 1977 to 1982 he studied Civil Engineering at the Technische Universität Dortmund, specialising in structural engineering. In 1980 he was admitted to the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes . After his graduation, he took up the scholarship to work for David. P. Billington at the Universi...
Go to Profile#3621
Andrew G. Alleyne
#108396
Overall Influence
Andrew G. Alleyne is the Dean of the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota. He was previously the Ralph M. and Catherine V. Fisher Professor in Engineering and Director of the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center on Power Optimization of Electro Thermal Systems at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His work considers decision making in complex physical systems. He is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Go to Profile#3622
Dirk Durrer
#117764
Overall Influence
#3623
Flora Ruchat-Roncati
#83427
Overall Influence
1937 - 2012 (75 years)
Flora Ruchat-Roncati was a Swiss architect and professor. She was from Ticino, and became a pioneering figure in the Ticinese School of architecture, which was influential in the mid-1970s, mixing the sensitivity to the traditional with modernism.
Go to Profile#3624
Randolph T. Hester
#88407
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (82 years)
Randolph T. Hester is a professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at the University of California at Berkeley. Hester is also a sociologist, practicing landscape architect and co-director of Community Development by Design, a neighborhood planning organization focused on community participation and input. Randolph Hester has also published a number of books central to the topic of designing neighborhoods, cities and landscapes; his most recent book Design for Ecological Democracy was published in September 2010.
Go to Profile#3625
Michael Constantinou
#116369
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
Michael C. Constantinou is an American structural engineer who is a Samuel P. Capen Professor and State University of New York Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering at the University at Buffalo. He also serves an editor of the Journal of Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics
Go to Profile#3626
Jeffrey B. Kopp
#117822
Overall Influence
#3627
Caroline Baillie
#78287
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
Caroline Baillie is a materials scientist and specialist in engineering education, since 2017 the inaugural Professor of Praxis in the School of Engineering at the University of San Diego, USA. Background Baillie was born and educated in south-east UK. She has a Bachelors in Materials Technology, University of Surrey . Her first job after undergraduate study was in public relations, and she resigned when asked to promote asbestos despite its carcinogenic properties. She returned to Surrey for a PhD in materials science and engineering . She has one son born in 2012.
Go to Profile#3628
Oskar Kaibyshev
#52596
Overall Influence
1939 - 2017 (78 years)
Oskar Akramovich Kaibyshev was a Soviet and Russian metal physicist, founder and director of Institute of Metals Superplasticity Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences , academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Bashkortostan and member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, member of the Soviet of Nationalities of 11th Supreme Soviet convocation from the Bashkir ASSR.
Go to Profile#3629
Mergen H. Ghayesh
#117844
Overall Influence
#3630
Reginald I. Vachon
#98206
Overall Influence
1937 - 2020 (83 years)
Reginald Irenee Vachon was an American mechanical engineer, business executive, lawyer and inventor, known as former president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Biography Youth, education and early career Vachon was born in Norfolk, Virginia, son of Rene Albert Vachon and Regina Radcliffe Vachon. After his high school graduation in 1954, he attended the United States Naval Academy in 1954-55. He continued his studies at Auburn University, where he obtained his BSc in mechanical engineering in 1958, and his MSc in nuclear science in 1960.
Go to Profile#3631
Sheldon Lee Semiatin
#117900
Overall Influence
#3632
Harold Marshall
#48539
Overall Influence
1931 - Present (95 years)
Sir Arthur Harold Marshall is a New Zealand expert in acoustics design and research. He is Professor Emeritus of the University of Auckland School of Architecture, and co-founder of Marshall Day Acoustics Ltd in 1981 with Chris Day. He currently resides in Auckland New Zealand, and continues work with Marshall Day Acoustics as a group consultant.
Go to Profile#3633
Din Ping Tsai
#116118
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Din Ping Tsai is a physicist known for his work in the fields of photonics. He is currently a Distinguished Professor at the National Taiwan University and Director of the Research Center for Applied Sciences, Academia Sinica. He has been President of Taiwan Information Storage Association since 2015.
Go to Profile#3634
Shalender Bhasin
#117983
Overall Influence
#3635
Sumio Sakka
#117991
Overall Influence
#3636
Ananya Roy
#38043
Overall Influence
1970 - Present (56 years)
Ananya Roy is a scholar of international development and global urbanism. Born in Calcutta, India , Roy is Professor and Meyer and Renee Luskin Chair in Inequality and Democracy at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. She has been a professor of City and Regional Planning and Distinguished Chair in Global Poverty and Practice at the University of California, Berkeley. She holds a Bachelor of Comparative Urban Studies degree from Mills College, and Master of City Planning and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of California a...
Go to Profile#3637
Juan González Gómez
#94025
Overall Influence
1973 - Present (53 years)
Juan González Gómez "Obijuan" is a doctor in computer science and telecommunications publicly recognized for having become the first Spanish winner of the O'Reilly Open Source Award. Juan is one of the pioneers of open source educational robotics in Spain. Inspired in the RepRap community created by Adrian Bowyer in 2004, Juan pioneered the diffusion of free 3D printing and is credited with being the founder of the CloneWars community, which brought together up to 4,000 Spanish-speaking members. Juan acquired the eighth RepRap 3D printer of the world and he edited a series of 63 video-tutori...
Go to Profile#3638
Kensall D. Wise
#118162
Overall Influence
1928 - Present (98 years)
#3639
Nhan Phan‐thien
#118169
Overall Influence
#3640
Michael H. Carr
#118173
Overall Influence
1935 - Present (91 years)
#3641
Oliver Ambacher
#118188
Overall Influence
#3642
Tara Javidi
#72487
Overall Influence
Tara Javidi is an Iranian electrical engineer and computer scientist who studies networked information, stochastic control, machine learning, hypothesis testing, network optimization, and network routing, among other topics. She is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, San Diego, where she co-directs the Center for Machine-Integrated Computing and Security with Farinaz Koushanfar.
Go to Profile#3643
Frances Ligler
#103023
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
Frances S. Ligler is a biochemist and bioengineer who was a 2017 inductee of the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Ligler's research dramatically improved the effectiveness of biosensors while at the same time reducing their size and increasing automation. Her work on biosensors made it easier to detect toxins and pathogens in food, water, or when airborne.
Go to Profile#3644
Allan Sekula
#29773
Overall Influence
1951 - 2013 (62 years)
Allan Sekula was an American photographer, writer, filmmaker, theorist and critic. From 1985 until his death in 2013, he taught at California Institute of the Arts. His work frequently focused on large economic systems, or "the imaginary and material geographies of the advanced capitalist world."
Go to Profile#3645
Marco Piva
#103292
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
Marco Piva, Italian architect, interior designer and product designer, born on February 15, 1952, in Milan. Biography He graduated in architecture at Politecnico di Milano and founded STUDIODADA in 1977, that was one of the main design offices of the radical period.
Go to Profile#3646
Kumar Wickramasinghe
#79347
Overall Influence
Hemantha Kumar Wickramasinghe is Nicolaos G. and Sue Curtis Alexopoulos Presidential Chair in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine. Education He graduated from King's College London with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering in 1970 and a PhD in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from University College London in 1974 where his advisor was Eric Ash.
Go to Profile#3647
Lei Stanley Qi
#92249
Overall Influence
1983 - Present (43 years)
Lei "Stanley" Qi is an associate professor in the department of bioengineering, and the department of chemical and systems biology at Stanford University. Qi led the development of the first catalytically dead Cas9 lacking endonuclease activity , which is the basis for CRISPR interference . His laboratory subsequently developed CRISPR-Genome Organization .
Go to Profile#3648
David G. Streets
#118326
Overall Influence
#3649
Alfred S. Yue
#113711
Overall Influence
1918 - 2014 (96 years)
Alfred Shui-Choh Yue , was an American materials science engineer. Yue was a professor emeritus of engineering at the University of California in Los Angeles, having concluded a career of discovery regarding crystal growth as it relates to semi-conductor and solar-power devices.
Go to Profile#3650
Peide Ye
#96026
Overall Influence
Peide "Peter" Ye is the Richard J. and Mary J. Schwartz Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University, and was named Fellow of American Physical Society in 2016, and Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2013 "for contributions to compound semiconductor MOSFET materials and devices".
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