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).
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List of the most influential people in Medical,
#4101
E. Marilyn Schaeffer
#4102
Alan John Flisher
#4103
Ilo E. Leppik
#4104
Beatrice Edna Tucker
1898 - 1984 (86 years)
Beatrice Edna Tucker was an American obstetrician and gynecologist. Tucker was the medical director of the Chicago Maternity Center for over forty years, providing access to home births for poor people in Chicago. She also worked as an advocate for equitable access to reproductive healthcare, lobbying for legalized abortion and access to birth control.
Go to Profile#4105
Alfred Hardy
1811 - 1893 (82 years)
Alfred Louis Philippe Hardy was a French dermatologist. In 1836 he received his medical doctorate in Paris, where in 1839 he became chef de clinique under Pierre Fouquier at the Hôpital de la Charité. In 1847 he obtained his agrégation at the faculty of medicine in Paris, and four years later, succeeded Jean Guillaume Auguste Lugol as chef de service at the Hôpital Saint-Louis. For several years he held classes in dermatology at the hospital. In 1867 he succeeded Jules Béhier as chair of internal pathology at the university, and in 1876 attained the chair of clinical medicine at Hôpital Necke...
Go to Profile#4106
Pascal James Imperato
#4107
T. Jacob John
#4108
Petrus Adrianus Fre Doevendans
#4109
Károly Schaffer
1864 - 1939 (75 years)
Károly Schaffer was a Hungarian anatomist and neurologist. He was born in Vienna. The axon projection from CA3 to CA1 neurons in hippocampus, Schaffer collateral, is named after him. He was involved in the early studies of Tay–Sachs disease.
Go to Profile#4110
Anthony J. Raimondi
#4111
Alfred Jefferis Turner
1861 - 1947 (86 years)
Alfred Jefferis Turner was a pediatrician and amateur entomologist. He was the son of missionary Frederick Storrs-Turner. He introduced the use of diphtheria antitoxin to Australia in 1895. He resided in Dauphin Terrace, Highgate Hill, Brisbane, and was known by the nickname "Gentle Annie".
Go to Profile#4112
Edith Bülbring
1903 - 1990 (87 years)
Edith Bülbring, FRS was a British scientist in the field of smooth muscle physiology, one of the first women accepted to the Royal Society as a fellow . She was professor of pharmacology at the University of Oxford and professorial fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, later emeritus professor .
Go to Profile#4113
Carl Schiøtz
1877 - 1938 (61 years)
Carl Schiøtz was a Norwegian physician and professor of hygiene and bacteriology at the University of Oslo. Biography He was born in Hamar, Norway. His parents were Jonas Schanche Kielland Schiøtz and his wife Hanna Minda Constance Øvergaard. His brother was military officer Johannes Henrik Schiøtz . In 1906, he was married to Borghild Hannestad . After graduating in 1896 from Hamar Cathedral School, he became a cand.med. in 1904 at the University of Kristiana From 1907 to 1914 he worked at Nes in Ringsaker. He moved to Kristiania to work at the Rikshospitalet as a reserve doctor, university fellow and health inspector.
Go to Profile#4114
Cecil Kent Drinker
1887 - 1956 (69 years)
Cecil Kent Drinker was an American physician and founder of the Harvard School of Public Health. He was professor at Harvard School of Public Health from 1923 till 1935. Drinker was involved in the effect of radium on the women painting luminous dials. Drinker's father was railroad man and Lehigh University president Henry Sturgis Drinker; his siblings included lawyer and musicologist Henry Sandwith Drinker, Jr., industrial hygienist Philip Drinker and biographer Catherine Drinker Bowen.
Go to Profile#4115
Daniel H. Lowenstein
Daniel H. Lowenstein is an American neurologist who is the Robert B. and Ellinor Aird Professor of Neurology and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost at the University of California, San Francisco . He is known for his work in the field of epilepsy including laboratory-based and clinical research, the clinical care of patients with epilepsy, and advocacy for the needs of patients and family members living with epilepsy. He was the originator of the “Academy of Medical Educators” concept, and is the recipient of teaching awards both at UCSF and nationally. He has served as the Dean for Medical Education at Harvard Medical School, and as President of the American Epilepsy Society.
Go to Profile#4116
Maury Massler
1912 - 1990 (78 years)
Maury Massler was a pioneer in developing two dental specialty areas. He established the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry, serving as head of the department from 1946 to 1965. A prolific researcher, he co-authored two textbooks, contributed to four others, and published more than 275 papers in scientific journals. Along with Isaac Schour, he created a chart of tooth development. He was a renowned expert on abnormal tooth development. Dr. Massler shared his expertise with the world, serving as a visiting professor and consultant in Italy, Germany, South America, India, Australia, Scandinavia, South Africa, and Israel.
Go to Profile#4117
Philip Handler
1917 - 1981 (64 years)
Philip Handler was an American nutritionist, and biochemist. He was President of the United States National Academy of Sciences for two terms from 1969 to 1981. He was also a recipient of the National Medal of Science.
Go to Profile#4118
William F. Windle
1898 - 1985 (87 years)
William Frederick Windle was an American anatomist and experimental neurologist. Biography Windle graduated in 1921 with a B.S. from Denison University. At Northwestern University Medical School , he graduated with an M.S. in 1923 and a Ph.D. in anatomy in 1926. His Ph.D. thesis Studies on the trigeminal nerve with particular reference to the pathway for painful afferent impulses was supervised by S. Walter Ranson .
Go to Profile#4119
Thomas Francis Jr.
1900 - 1969 (69 years)
Thomas Francis Jr. was an American physician, virologist, and epidemiologist who guided the discovery and development of the polio vaccine being worked on by his student Jonas Salk. Francis was the first person to isolate influenza virus in the United States, and in 1940 showed that there are other strains of influenza, and took part in the development of influenza vaccines.
Go to Profile#4120
Felix Fleischner
1893 - 1969 (76 years)
Felix G. Fleischner was an Austrian-American radiologist from Boston. The Fleischner Society for thoracic imaging and diagnosis is named after him. Biography Felix Fleischner was born in Vienna. He became an expert in the field of radiology, and most of his work centered on the chest x-ray. He served as professor and head of radiology of the Second Medical Clinic of the University of Vienna.
Go to Profile#4121
Photinos Panas
1832 - 1903 (71 years)
Photinos Panas was an ophthalmologist born on the Greek island of Cefalonia. In 1860 he obtained his medical degree at Paris, where he would later spend his entire medical career. He was the first professor of ophthalmology at the University of Paris, and in 1879 established the ophthalmology clinic at the Hôtel-Dieu de Paris. In 1881 with Edmund Landolt and Antonin Poncet , he founded the Archives d'ophtalmologie.
Go to Profile#4122
Johann Hoffmann
1857 - 1919 (62 years)
Johann Hoffmann was a German neurologist born in Hahnheim. He is remembered for describing Hoffmann's reflex and Werdnig–Hoffmann disease . He is also known for the adult-onset hypothyroid myopathy, Hoffmann syndrome. He was educated at Worms and studied medicine at Heidelberg. He worked under Professor Wilhelm Erb, and succeeded him as head of neurology at Heidelberg.
Go to Profile#4123
Alexander Carl Otto Westphal
1863 - 1941 (78 years)
Alexander Carl Otto Westphal was a German neurologist and psychiatrist. He was the son of the psychiatrist Karl Friedrich Otto Westphal and Clara Mendelssohn and the grandson of Otto Carl Friedrich Westphal.
Go to Profile#4124
Tito Vanzetti
1809 - 1888 (79 years)
Tito Vanzetti was a famous surgeon and professor of medicine of the 19th century. He studied surgery at the University of Padua under Bartolomeo Signoroni and at the University of Vienna with Joseph Wattmann . Several years later, he was appointed professor of clinical surgery and ophthalmology at the University of Kharkiv. In 1853 he returned to Padua as a professor of clinical surgery.
Go to Profile#4125
Rudolf Boehm
1844 - 1926 (82 years)
Rudolf Albert Martin Boehm was a German pharmacologist, known for his work in the field of experimental pharmacology. He studied medicine at the universities of Munich and Würzburg, and in 1868–70 served as an assistant to Franz von Rinecker at the Juliusspital in Würzburg. In 1871 he obtained his habilitation under Adolf Fick, then during the following year was named a professor of pharmacology, dietetics and history of medicine at the University of Dorpat. Later on, he worked as professor of pharmacology at the universities of Marburg and Leipzig , where on four separate occasions he was named dean to the medical faculty.
Go to Profile#4126
Pierre Dominique Delmas
#4127
Roy R. Grinker Sr.
1900 - 1993 (93 years)
Roy Richard Grinker Sr. was an American neurologist and psychiatrist, Professor of Psychiatry at University of Chicago, and pioneer in American psychiatry and psychosomatics. Biography Grinker was born in Chicago, where his father was a neuropsychiatrist. He received a B.S. from the University of Chicago in 1919 and a M.D. in 1921 from Rush Medical College. Directly afterwards he spent a postgraduate year in Europe. In 1933 back in Europe he took psychoanalytic training with Sigmund Freud.
Go to Profile#4128
Francesco Flarer
1791 - 1859 (68 years)
Francesco Flarer was an Italian ophthalmologist born near Merano, South Tyrol. He initially planned to study theology at Innsbruck, but instead enrolled to take classes in medicine, later relocating to the University of Landshut. Political turmoil made his stays at both institutions brief, and in 1809 transferred to the University of Pavia. In 1815 he received his degree in medicine, followed by a doctorate in surgery shortly afterwards.
Go to Profile#4129
Alexis Boyer
1757 - 1833 (76 years)
Alexis Boyer was a French surgeon, born in Corrèze. He was the son of a tailor, and he obtained his first medical knowledge in the shop of a barber surgeon. When he moved to Paris, he had the good fortune to attract the attention of renowned surgeons Antoine Louis and Pierre-Joseph Desault . Boyer persevered at his profession, and became notorious for his anatomical knowledge and surgical dexterity. At the age of 37 he was appointed second surgeon to the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris. On the establishment of the École de Sante, he was named chair of operative surgery, but soon exchanged it for the chair of clinical surgery.
Go to Profile#4130
Julius Geppert
1856 - 1937 (81 years)
August Julius Geppert was a German pharmacologist born in Berlin. He studied medicine at the Universities of Heidelberg and Berlin, earning his doctorate in 1880 with a thesis titled . From 1880 to 1885 he worked as an assistant at the second medical clinic in Berlin, becoming a lecturer at the University of Bonn during the following year. From 1893 he was an associate professor of pharmacology, attaining the title of "full professor" in 1899 at the University of Giessen.
Go to Profile#4131
Klaus Conrad
1905 - 1961 (56 years)
Klaus Conrad was a German neurologist and psychiatrist with important contributions to neuropsychology and psychopathology. He joined the Nazi Party in 1940. He was best known as a professor of psychiatry and neurology, and director of the University Psychiatric Hospital in Göttingen from 1958 until his death.
Go to Profile#4132
Karl Fürstner
1848 - 1906 (58 years)
Karl Fürstner was a German neurologist and psychiatrist born in Strasburg, Uckermark. He studied medicine in Würzburg and Berlin, where he received his doctorate in 1871. In 1872 he was an assistant at the pathological institute of the University of Greifswald, and afterwards worked under Karl Westphal in the psychiatric department at the Berlin-Charité. In 1878 he became the first physician to hold the chair of psychiatry at the University of Heidelberg. He kept this position until 1890, when he became professor of nervous and mental diseases at the University of Strasbourg. At Heidelberg his vacancy was filled by Emil Kraepelin .
Go to Profile#4133
Charles Loomis Dana
1852 - 1935 (83 years)
Charles Loomis Dana was an American physician, professor of nervous and mental disease at Cornell Medical College. Early and personal life Dana was born in Woodstock, Vermont. He was a descendant of Richard Dana .
Go to Profile#4134
Paul Leopold Friedrich
1864 - 1916 (52 years)
Paul Leopold Friedrich was a German surgeon and bacteriologist born in the town of Roda, Saxe-Altenburg. In 1888 he received his doctorate at the University of Leipzig, and as a young assistant worked under Robert Koch at the Reich Health Office in Berlin. From 1894 he worked as a privat-docent of surgery in Leipzig, where in 1896 he became an associate professor. Later he served as a professor at the Universities of Greifswald , Marburg and Königsberg . At Greifswald he succeeded August Bier as director of the Surgical University Hospital. Two of Friedrich's well-known assistants were Fer...
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Albert Narath
1864 - 1924 (60 years)
Albert Narath was an Austrian surgeon and anatomist. He was an assistant of Theodor Billroth at the University of Vienna, and from 1896 to 1906 was a professor of surgery at Utrecht. In 1906 he succeeded Vincenz Czerny as chair of surgery at the University of Heidelberg surgical clinic. He resigned this position in 1910 due to health reasons, but continued to contribute articles to scientific publications during the ensuing years.
Go to Profile#4136
R. C. Williams
1888 - 1984 (96 years)
Ralph Chester Williams was an Assistant Surgeon General with the U.S. Public Health Service, with rank of rear admiral. He also served as the national president of Tau Kappa Epsilon and Theta Kappa Psi fraternities.
Go to Profile#4137
Malcolm Harold Lader
#4138
Morinosuke Chiwaki
1870 - 1947 (77 years)
Morinosuke Chiwaki was a dentist and the Chairman of the Japan Dental Association. He was one of the founders of Takayama Dental School , which was later named Tokyo Dental College . He was known as Hideyo Noguchi's patron.
Go to Profile#4139
Joseph Hasner
1819 - 1892 (73 years)
Joseph Hasner, Ritter von Artha was an Austrian ophthalmologist born in Prague. His brother, Leopold Hasner von Artha , was an influential Austrian politician. He studied medicine at the University of Prague, and subsequently worked at the local general hospital . In 1843 he was an assistant at Johann Fischer's eye clinic. In 1848 he gained his habilitation, and in 1852 he became an associate professor. From 1856 he was a "full professor" of ophthalmology and a primary physician in Prague. Starting in 1869 he was an editor of the Vierteljahrsschrift für die praktische Heilkunde .
Go to Profile#4140
James Spence
1812 - 1882 (70 years)
James Spence FRSE FRCSEd was a Scottish surgeon. He served as President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh 1867/68. Life He was born on 31 March 1812 at 12 South Bridge in Edinburgh, the son of James Spence, a perfumer, and his third wife.
Go to Profile#4141
Zheng Ji
1900 - 2010 (110 years)
Zheng Ji also known as Libin T. Cheng , was a Chinese nutritionist and a pioneering biochemist. He was reputed to be the world's oldest professor and the founder of modern nutrition science in China, having lived to the age of 110.
Go to Profile#4142
Alfred Goldscheider
1858 - 1935 (77 years)
Johannes Karl Eugen Alfred Goldscheider was a German neurologist born into a Jewish family in Sommerfeld, Kingdom of Prussia. He studied medicine at Friedrich-Wilhelm Medical-Surgical Institute in Berlin , and subsequently spent the next seven years as a military physician. During this period of time, he also served as an assistant to physiologist Emil du Bois-Reymond . He later became a professor at the University of Berlin.
Go to Profile#4143
Anton von Frisch
1849 - 1917 (68 years)
Anton von Frisch , full name Anton Ritter von Frisch, was an Austrian urologist. Frisch was born in Vienna. He studied at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, afterwards returning to Vienna, where he served as a demonstrator under Josef Hyrtl and as an assistant to Theodor Billroth . In 1874 he became a professor at the University of Vienna. In 1899 he was appointed head of the department of urology at the Allgemeine Poliklinik Wien . Through Frisch's efforts, urology became recognized as an independent subject at the medical faculty in Vienna.
Go to Profile#4144
Jacob Fidelis Ackermann
1765 - 1815 (50 years)
Jacob Fidelis Ackermann was a German professor of anatomy and surgery. Ackermann was born in Rüdesheim am Rhein. He began his studies at Würzburg and earned his doctorate in Mainz in 1787. After extensive research travel he was promoted to private lecturer for forensic medicine in 1789. He acquired the regular professorship in botanics and later in anatomy when Samuel Thomas von Sömmering resigned his office.
Go to Profile#4145
Rudolf Kobert
1854 - 1918 (64 years)
Rudolf Kobert was a German pharmacologist and toxicologist born in Bitterfeld. In 1877 he graduated from the University of Halle, afterwards working as an assistant to physiologist Friedrich Goltz and pharmacologist Oswald Schmiedeberg at the University of Strasbourg. In 1887 he was appointed professor of pharmacology, dietetics and history of medicine at the University of Dorpat. One of his students was Peter Hermann Stillmark who was the founder of lectinology with the publication of his thesis about ricin.
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Ida Mann
1893 - 1983 (90 years)
Professor Dame Ida Caroline Mann, Mrs Gye, DBE, FRCS was "a distinguished ophthalmologist ... equally well known for her pioneering research work on embryology and development of the eye, and on the influences of genetic and social factors on the incidence and severity of eye disease throughout the world". Only six other women were Fellows at this time.
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Bernice Eddy
1903 - 1989 (86 years)
Bernice Eddy was born on September 30, 1903. She is best-known for her work as an epidemiologist and virologist, particularly her work with polio vaccine trials. Eddy was born in Glen Dale, West Virginia. She attended Marietta College for her undergraduate work and pursued a master’s degree and PhD in bacteriology from the University of Cincinnati. After graduation, Eddy began working for the Biologics Control Division National Institutes of Health. She tested polio vaccines for 5 different companies in this capacity. One of the five vaccines tested was made by Cutter Laboratories. Eddy disco...
Go to Profile#4148
Lynne Warner. Stevenson
#4149
Jacob Hermann Knapp
1832 - 1911 (79 years)
Jacob Hermann Knapp , also known as Hermann Knapp, was a German-American ophthalmologist and otolaryngologist. Biography Knapp was born in Dauborn, Nassau. He earned his medical degree from the University of Giessen in 1854. As a young physician he studied with Franciscus Cornelis Donders in Utrecht, William Bowman in London, Albrecht von Graefe in Berlin and Hermann von Helmholtz in Heidelberg. From 1860 until 1868 he was a professor of ophthalmology at Heidelberg.
Go to Profile#4150
Gabriel Steiner
1883 - 1965 (82 years)
Gabriel Steiner was a German-American neurologist known for his research of multiple sclerosis. In his studies, he postulated a link between multiple sclerosis and certain forms of spirochetes. Of Jewish ancestry, he studied medicine at the universities of Munich, Würzburg, Freiburg and Strasbourg, receiving his doctorate at the latter university in 1910. In 1913 he qualified as a lecturer in neurology and psychiatry, and from 1920, worked as an associate professor at the University of Heidelberg. Here, he was also head of the laboratory for pathological anatomy at the psychiatric-neurologica...
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