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 Law,
#3401
Harlan G. Cohen
#168964
Overall Influence
Harlan Grant Cohen is the Gabriel M. Wilner/UGA Foundation Professor in International Law at University of Georgia, where he teaches courses on international law, U.S. foreign relations law, global governance, and international trade. He has also taught the international law colloquium, international human rights law, international business transactions, and international criminal law.
Go to Profile#3402
Ann Tsukamoto
#76867
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (72 years)
Ann Tsukamoto was born in California on July 6, 1952. She is well known now as an Asian American stem cell researcher and inventor. During her career, she co-patented a process that allowed the human stem cell to be isolated, and the patent was granted in 1991. Tsukamoto’s research and contributions in the medical field have led to groundbreaking advancements of stem cell research as it pertains to cancer patients. She is a pioneer in her field, yet is underrepresented for her discoveries.
Go to Profile#3403
Philippe Starck
#98692
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (75 years)
Philippe Starck is a French industrial architect and designer known for his wide range of designs, including interior design, architecture, household objects, furniture, boats and other vehicles. Life Starck was born on 18 January 1949 in Paris. He is the son of André Starck, who was an aeronautics engineer. He says that his father often inspired him because he was an engineer, who made invention a "duty". His family was originally from and lived in the Alsace region, before his grandfather moved to Paris. He studied at the École Nissim de Camondo in Paris.
Go to Profile#3404
Ragnheiður Bragadóttir
#185103
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (68 years)
Ragnheiður Bragadóttir is a professor in law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Iceland. Professional experience Ragnheiður was born in Reykjavik 10 May 1956. She completed her matriculation examination from the Ancient Languages Department of Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík in the spring of 1976 and a master's degree in law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Iceland in the spring of 1982. In addition, she attended graduate courses on criminal law, criminology, and criminal policy at the Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law of the University of Copenhagen from 1982 to 1983 with a scholarship from the Danish Ministry of Education.
Go to Profile#3405
Barbara Mawer
#89705
Overall Influence
1936 - 2006 (70 years)
Elizabeth Barbara Mawer was a British biochemist and medical researcher. She was regarded as a "highly influential figure in the calcium homoeostasis field". Early life and education Barbara Entwistle was born on 6 March 1939 in Blackburn to Thomas Entwistle, a teacher, and Gladys Mary Entwistle . She attended Blackburn High School and Queen Mary School in Lytham St Annes. She received a BSc in biochemistry from the University of Edinburgh in 1957. She stayed there to conduct research, supervised by Guy Marrian, and in 1961 received a PhD for her thesis entitled The metabolism of cholesterol in the animal body.
Go to Profile#3406
Chandra Pal
#181551
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (74 years)
Chandra Pal is Indian legal education administrator, jurist presently working in Baba Mast Nath University as professor. He has previously worked as Head and Dean of the Law Department, Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak, India. He has been distinguished invitees, Chief Guest, Guest of honor in various universities. The Prof. C.P. Sheoran, has published three books and 140 research papers and book reviews. He has guided many Ph.D.'s. He has participated and organised many seminars and conferences. He is alumni of Kurukshetra University. He was awarded Ph.D. in 1980 PG in 1974, UG in 1972...
Go to Profile#3407
Clifford E. Brubaker
#80323
Overall Influence
1938 - Present (86 years)
Clifford E. Brubaker is Dean of the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. Brubaker is also a professor at that institution and an adjunct professor at both Xian Jiaotong University and Carnegie Mellon University.
Go to Profile#3408
Jeremy R. Jass
#188282
Overall Influence
#3409
Rolf Faste
#42226
Overall Influence
1943 - 2003 (60 years)
Rolf A. Faste was an American designer who made major contributions to the fields of human-centered design and design education. He is best known for his contributions to design thinking which he advanced as a 'whole person' approach to problem solving centered on the perception of needs. He was professor of industrial design at the Syracuse University from 1971 to 1983, and professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Stanford Joint Program in Design from 1984 to 2003.
Go to Profile#3410
Alan S. Rau
#164946
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (82 years)
Alan S. Rau is an American lawyer, previously the Mark G. and Judy G. Yudof Chair in Law at University of Texas School of Law, and also previously a Distinguished Professor at Queen Mary University of London and the Fred Paulus Chair in Public Policy and at Willamette University College.
Go to Profile#3411
Shirley Scott
#188364
Overall Influence
Shirley V. Scott is an Australian academic in international law. She is professor of international law and international relations and was Head of School at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy .
Go to Profile#3412
Helen Silving-Ryu
#188370
Overall Influence
1906 - 1993 (87 years)
Helen Silving-Ryu was the first female law professor in the United States Silving-Ryu was the only female scholar mentored by Austrian philosopher and jurist, Hans Kelsen. Silving-Ryu and Kelsen collaborated extensively during her time at Harvard University.
Go to Profile#3413
Peter Alexander
#64857
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (59 years)
Peter Alexander is an Australian fashion designer known for pyjamas, loungewear and giftware. Early life Peter Alexander was born in 1965 in South Africa and then moved to Australia shortly afterwards when he was a baby.
Go to Profile#3414
Gianni Versace
#121764
Overall Influence
1946 - 1997 (51 years)
Giovanni Maria "Gianni" Versace was an Italian fashion designer, socialite and businessman. He was the founder of Versace, an international luxury-fashion house that produces accessories, fragrances, make-up, home furnishings and clothes. He also designed costumes for theatre and films. As a friend of Eric Clapton, Princess Diana, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Madonna, Elton John, Tupac Shakur and many other celebrities, he was one of the first designers to link fashion to the music world. He and his partner Antonio D'Amico were regulars on the international party scene. The place where he was b...
Go to Profile#3415
Susan Close
#112204
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (57 years)
Susan Elizabeth Close is an Australian politician, who is currently the Deputy Premier of South Australia since March 2022. She also holds the ministerial portfolios of Minister for Climate, Environment and Water, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science and Minister for Defence and Space Industries while as Deputy Premier.
Go to Profile#3416
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#3417
Christian Lacroix
#97931
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (73 years)
Christian Marie Marc Lacroix is a French fashion designer. The name may also refer to the company he founded. Lacroix's designs combine luxury and insouciance. He prefers artisanal trades, fringe, bead, and embroidery. He's characterized by a strong sense of colour, and patterns mix.
Go to Profile#3418
Anne Traum
#185091
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (55 years)
Anne Rachel Traum is an American lawyer and academic who is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. She was a professor of law at the William S. Boyd School of Law in 2002 and again from 2008 to 2022.
Go to Profile#3419
Yeh Kuang-shih
#103327
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (67 years)
Yeh Kuang-shih is a Taiwanese politician and management scientist. He was the Minister of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications from 18 February 2013 until 9 January 2015, and one of the three deputy mayors of Kaohsiung within the municipal administration of Han Kuo-yu from 25 December 2018 to 12 June 2020.
Go to Profile#3420
Ellen Kaden
#187293
Overall Influence
Ellen Oran Kaden was the chief legal and government affairs officer at Campbell Soup Company. She joined the company in 1998, after having served as the chief legal officer of CBS, Inc. Prior to joining CBS, Kaden practiced law at Cravath, Swaine & Moore and was a member of the Faculty of Law at Columbia University, where she taught contracts, civil procedure, and commercial law.
Go to Profile#3421
Hideki Noda
#169253
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (69 years)
Hideki Noda is a Japanese actor, playwright and theatre director who has written and directed more than 40 plays in Japan, and is working to bring modern Japanese theatre to an international audience.
Go to Profile#3422
Anthony Adams
#168192
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (53 years)
Anthony Adams is a former California State Assemblyman who represented the 59th district from 2006 to 2010. He re-registered from Republican to No Party Preference in 2012. Receiving his bachelor's degree in political science from California State University, San Bernardino and his law degree from Western State University College of Law in Fullerton, Adams passed the California Bar exam in July 2010.
Go to Profile#3423
Duncan G. Sinclair
#88299
Overall Influence
1933 - Present (91 years)
Duncan Gordon Sinclair is an American-born Canadian academic. He was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 2015. He was born in Rochester, New York, and received a DVM from the Ontario Veterinary College, an MSc from the University of Toronto and a PhD in physiology from Queen's University. From 1963 to 1965, he pursued post-doctoral medical research at St John's College, Cambridge. From 1974 to 1983, Sinclair was dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Queen's. He later served as vice-principal of Institutional Relations, vice-principal of services, vice-principal of Heal...
Go to Profile#3424
Lev Hakak
#114387
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (80 years)
Lev Hakak is an Israeli-born American lawyer, academic, novelist and poet. He is a Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles and the author of several books on Hebrew literature. He has written four poetry collections and two novels.
Go to Profile#3425
Davina Cooper
#182564
Overall Influence
Davina Copper is a legal scholar and research professor in Law and Political Theory at King's College London. Biography Cooper was Research Dean for Social Sciences at Keele University from 2000 to 2003. From 2004 to 2009 she was a director of the AHRC Research Centre in Law, Gender, and Sexuality. She was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in 2021 and is also a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.
Go to Profile#3426
Māmari Stephens
#124410
Overall Influence
Māmari Stephens is a law academic best known for her work creating He Papakupu Reo Ture: A Dictionary of Māori Legal Terms, a Māori-English a bi-lingual dictionary of legal terms. She identifies as being of Te Rarawa and Ngāti Pākehā descent.
Go to Profile#3427
Daniel Mann
#170601
Overall Influence
1980 - Present (44 years)
Daniel Mann is a lawyer in Newark, New Jersey and a fellow of the Seton Hall Center for Policy and Research at Seton Hall University School of Law. He also gained public exposure beyond the legal and academic communities with his co-authorship of "Report on Guantanamo Detainees, A Profile of 517 Detainees through Analysis of Department of Defense Data," co-authored with Professor Mark Denbeaux, son, Joshua Denbeaux, and four credited co-authors, commonly referred to as the "Denbeaux Study." Additional Guantanamo studies were to follow, including:Inter- and Intra-Departmental Disagreement...
Go to Profile#3428
Jose Luis Valenzuela
#120523
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (24 years)
José Luis Valenzuela is a theater and film director and emeritus distinguished professor at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Valenzuela has directed theater plays, which were appreciated by critics. His theater plays were performed in the important regional theaters like Los Angeles Theatre Center, where he founded in 1985 Latino Theater Initiative and moved to the Mark Taper Forum in 1991.
Go to Profile#3429
Valmaine Toki
#114553
Overall Influence
Valmaine Toki is a New Zealand barrister and solicitor, and professor of law at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. Early life and education Professor Toki is a Māori woman, of Ngati Rehua, Ngati Wai, Ngāpuhi and Ngati Whatua descentiwi. In 2011, Professor Toki was the first New Zealander and first Måori appointed by the President of the UN Economic and Social Council as an independent expert on the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues where she served two terms of three years. Her recent appointment, in 2022, by the president of the UN Human Rights Council to the UN Expert ...
Go to Profile#3430
Dario Sorrentino
#129591
Overall Influence
1957 - 2021 (64 years)
Dario Rosario Sorrentino was an Italian medical researcher. In 2021, Sorrentino was Professor of Medicine and Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Center at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and had held a Faculty position at the University of Udine Medical School in Italy.
Go to Profile#3431
Manolo Blahnik
#137621
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (82 years)
Manuel "Manolo" Blahnik Rodríguez is a Spanish fashion designer and founder of the eponymous high-end shoe brand. Biography Blahnik was born in Santa Cruz de la Palma, in the Canary Islands , to a Czech father and Spanish mother. His father left Prague in the 1930s to avoid rising fascism; his grandparents disappeared in the 1950s after the Communists took charge. His mother's family owned a banana plantation in the island city of Santa Cruz de la Palma, where he grew up alongside his sister, Evangelina. He was homeschooled as a child before eventually attending a Swiss boarding school. Late...
Go to Profile#3432
Teresa Miller
#184116
Overall Influence
1962 - 2021 (59 years)
Teresa Ann Miller was an American professor, author, legal scholar, educator, and administrator. At the time of her death in August 2021, she was senior vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and chief diversity officer to State University of New York Chancellor Jim Malatras. She previously served as vice chancellor and chief of staff to Chancellor Kristina M. Johnson.
Go to Profile#3433
Lev L. Dassin
#178395
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (59 years)
Lev L. Dassin was the acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York serving in the position from December 2008 until August 2009. Sources Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton bio
Go to Profile#3434
Juan Cruz Alli
#143191
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (82 years)
Juan Cruz Alli Aranguren is a Spanish politician and former President of Navarre between 1991 and 1995 and again for a few months in 1996.
Go to Profile#3435
Joseph E. Schmitz
#182516
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (68 years)
Joseph Edward Schmitz is an American lawyer, former inspector general of the United States Department of Defense and a former executive with Blackwater Worldwide. After working as a watchdog at the Pentagon for three and a half years, Schmitz resigned to return to the private sector. Although allegations questioning his stewardship of the inspector general's office surfaced nine months after his resignation, he later claimed that a high-level review board, the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency, cleared him of wrongdoing in 2006. He was named one of Donald Trump's foreign policy...
Go to Profile#3436
Susan Watson
#188009
Overall Influence
Susan Mary Watson is a New Zealand law academic specialising in company law. She is currently a full professor at the University of Auckland. Academic career After an undergraduate at the University of Auckland, she practiced for two city law firms before joining the staff, rising to full professor.
Go to Profile#3437
Bhim Singh
#174956
Overall Influence
1941 - 2022 (81 years)
Bhim Singh was an Indian politician, activist, lawyer and author. He was the founder, president and chief patron of the socialist and secular Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party . Singh was Panthers Party chairman for 30 years from 1982-2012, chief patron from 2012-2021, and president from 14 February 2021-31 May 2022. In effect with over 40 years of controlling leadership, he was India’s longest serving political party leader, and one of the longest serving leaders in the world.
Go to Profile#3438
Louise de La Fayette
#187918
Overall Influence
1948 - 2009 (61 years)
Louise Angélique de La Fayette was a Canadian expert in the law of the sea who worked for the Canadian government, the University of Southampton, and the United Nations. She was known for her expertise on marine environmental law, on international nuclear law, and on the operations of the International Maritime Organization, and she became "one of the foremost legal authorities on maritime matters and liability for environmental damage".
Go to Profile#3439
Michael Barr
#132612
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (24 years)
Michael S. Barr is an American legal scholar who has been serving as second vice chair of the Federal Reserve for supervision since 2022. From 2009 to 2011, he was assistant secretary of the treasury for financial institutions under President Barack Obama. At the University of Michigan, he has been serving as faculty member since 2001, professor of law since 2006, professor of public policy since 2014.
Go to Profile#3440
Stephen Gard
#183709
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (72 years)
Stephen W. Gard is a Professor of Law at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in Cleveland, Ohio. After earning his B.A. from DePauw University he went on to earn his J.D. from Indiana University and subsequently an LL.M. from the University of Chicago.
Go to Profile#3441
Ian Kennedy
#141433
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (83 years)
Sir Ian McColl Kennedy is a British academic lawyer who has specialised in the law and ethics of health. He was appointed to chair the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority in 2009. Education and academic career 1952–1959: He attended King Edward VI College, Stourbridge, Worcestershire where he spent four years in the sixth form.
Go to Profile#3442
Erek Barron
#182697
Overall Influence
1974 - Present (50 years)
Erek Lawrence Barron is an American attorney and politician serving as the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland since 2021. He is a former member of the Maryland House of Delegates from the 24th district.
Go to Profile#3443
Allan Myers
#182888
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (77 years)
Allan James Myers is an Australian barrister, academic, businessman, landowner and philanthropist, and the previous Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. Biography Early life Allan Myers was born in 1947 in Hamilton, Victoria. He was raised in Dunkeld, Victoria, where his father, John Norman Myers, worked as a butcher following his service as a stoker in the Royal Australian Navy Reserve during World War II. He has five siblings. He graduated from the University of Melbourne, where he received a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws, and resided at Newman College. He was editor of the Melbourne University Law Review from 1967 to 1969.
Go to Profile#3444
Cesario Azucena
#183223
Overall Influence
Cesario Alvero Azucena Jr., popularly known as Ces Azucena or C.A. Azucena, is a prominent labor lawyer, professor, management consultant, and author in the Philippines. Education Azucena obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree from Ateneo Law School, a Master of Public Administration from the University of the Philippines, and has attended courses in the Master of Business Administration program of De La Salle Professional Schools.
Go to Profile#3445
Samantha Womack
#170836
Overall Influence
1972 - Present (52 years)
Samantha Zoe Womack is an English actress, singer, model and director who has worked in film, television and stage. Womack initially planned a career in singing and she represented the United Kingdom in the 1991 Eurovision Song Contest. Her song for the contest, "A Message to Your Heart", was released as her first single in April 1991 and reached number 30 in the UK Singles Chart.
Go to Profile#3446
Al Said Mustafa Ahmad Abu Al Kheir
#187701
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (67 years)
Al Said Mustafa Ahmad Abu Al Kheir is an Egyptian lawyer and writer, specialized in legal literature, and author of many research papers and published books. Education He obtained a Bachelor of Laws from the Faculty of Law at Zagazig University in 1983. He then obtained a master of law degree in public international law in 1997 from the Faculty of Law at Ain Shams University, and a PhD in public international law from the Faculty of Law at Zagazig University in 2005 with a thesis entitled “The General Theory of Military Blocs According to the Rules of Public International Law” . He also got a...
Go to Profile#3447
Guy Davidov
#189141
Overall Influence
1970 - Present (54 years)
Guy Davidov is the Elias Lieberman Professor of Labour Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Davidov completed his LLB studies at Tel-Aviv University, and his LLM and SJD degrees at the University of Toronto. From 2002 he was a faculty member at the University of Haifa, before moving to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2007, and assuming the Elias Lieberman Chair in Labour Law in 2009. In 2015 he became full professor.
Go to Profile#3448
Robert R. Rose Jr.
#160181
Overall Influence
1915 - 1997 (82 years)
Robert R. Rose, Jr. was an American jurist who served as a justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court from March 15, 1975, to November 1, 1985. Rose was born in Evanston, Illinois in 1915 to Robert R. and Eleanor Rose. In 1941, he received a law degree from the University of Wyoming and entered private practice in Casper, Wyoming. He served as mayor of Casper in 1949 and 1950 and was elected to a term in the Wyoming House of Representatives in 1949. He ran for a seat in the 1952 United States House of Representatives elections, but was defeated by the incumbent, William H. Harrison. Rose was appointed to the Wyoming Supreme Court by Governor Edgar J.
Go to Profile#3449
Carolyn Goodman
#66413
Overall Influence
1915 - 2007 (92 years)
Carolyn Elizabeth Goodman was an American clinical psychologist who became a prominent civil rights advocate after her son, Andrew Goodman and two other civil rights workers, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in Neshoba County, Mississippi, in 1964.
Go to Profile#3450
Thomas A. Ballantine Jr.
#187916
Overall Influence
1926 - 1992 (66 years)
Thomas Austin Ballantine Jr. was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. Education and career Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Ballantine received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Kentucky in 1948 and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Louisville School of Law in 1954. He was in private practice in Louisville from 1954 to 1964. He was then a deputy commissioner for the Jefferson Circuit Court from 1958 to 1962, a commissioner for the Jefferson Fiscal Court from 1962 to 1964, and a judge on the Jefferson County Circuit Court in Louisville from 1964 to 1977.
Go to Profile