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.
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List of the most influential people in Medical,
#4401
Carl Conrad Theodor Litzmann
1815 - 1890 (75 years)
Carl Conrad Theodor Litzmann was a German obstetrician and gynecologist born in Gadebusch, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He studied medicine in Halle, Würzburg and Berlin. In 1845 became an associate professor at the University of Greifswald, where during the following year he was appointed professor of general pathology and therapy. During this time period he published a study on the physiology of pregnancy titled "Physiologie der Schwangerschaft und des weiblichen Organismus überhaupt" . In 1849 he became a professor of obstetrics and director of the Frauenklinik in Kiel. In 1862 he ...
Go to Profile#4402
Thomas Fillebrown
1836 - 1908 (72 years)
Dr. Thomas Fillebrown was an American dentist and the head of the American Dental Association from 1897–1898. Life Dr. Fillebrown was born in Winthrop, Maine. He was son of Dr. James Bowdoin and Almira Fillerbrown. He attended Towle Academy and Mount Weslyn Seminary from which he graduated in 1859. He began his career as teacher in a Public School and then began helping his father J. B. Fillebrown, who was a dentist himself. Thomas Fillebrown was a dentist and a professor of dentistry at Harvard University from 1883-1904. He was a successful oral surgeon and performed operations to fix cleft palates.
Go to Profile#4403
Moriz Heider
1816 - 1866 (50 years)
Moriz Heider was an Austrian dentist born in Vienna. He studied medicine in Vienna, where he was an assistant to Georg Carabelli . In 1858 he became an associate professor at the University of Vienna.
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Ernst Grawitz
1860 - 1911 (51 years)
Ernst Grawitz was a German internist remembered for his work in the field of hematology. He was a younger brother of pathologist Paul Grawitz . He studied medicine in Berlin, earning his degree in 1882. Following graduation, he served as a military physician, subsequently working as a prosector at the Augusta Hospital in Berlin . Afterwards, he was an assistant at the Berlin-Charité.
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Charles Wilson Greene
1866 - 1947 (81 years)
Charles Wilson Greene was an American professor of physiology and pharmacology from Indiana. Biography Greene was born in Milltown, Indiana. He graduated from DePauw Normal School in 1889 and from Leland Stanford in 1892. He was a physiology instructor from 1893 to 1896, when he began his Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins with Henry Newell Martin. In 1895, Greene married Flora Hartley. He completed his Ph.D. in 1898 and taught at DePauw Normal and Preparatory schools from 1889 to 1891, and at Stanford University between 1891 and 1900, when he became professor of physiology and pharmacology at the University of Missouri.
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Ralph Frederick Sommer
1898 - 1971 (73 years)
Ralph Frederick Sommer is known as one of the two leading pioneers in the development of endodontics. He is also noted as a pioneer in the treatment of root canal infections and the development of the root canal operation.
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Anthony Todd Thomson
1778 - 1849 (71 years)
Anthony Todd Thomson was a Scottish doctor and pioneer of dermatology. Life Anthony Todd Thomson was the younger son of Alexander Thomson and was born in Edinburgh, where his parents were staying temporarily, on 7 January 1778. His father was postmaster-general and a member of the council of the Province of Georgia, and collector of customs for the town of Savannah. Anthony returned to America with his parents soon after Anthony Todd, postmaster of Edinburgh, had stood sponsor to him as his godson; but when peace was declared after the American War of Independence, his father, in common with ...
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Meta Given
1888 - 1981 (93 years)
Meta Hortense Given was an American entrepreneur, nutritionist, home economist, photographer and best-selling cookbook author. Given grew up working on her family's farm in Missouri. There, little variety in foodstuffs were available, and after studying nutrition as an undergraduate at the University of Missouri and at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and she also did undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Chicago, Given grew interested in devising recipes that maximized the culinary and gustatory value of farm staples but minimized the cost to the consumer.
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Thomas Bell
1792 - 1880 (88 years)
Thomas Hornsey Bell FRS FLS was an English zoologist, dental surgeon and writer, born in Poole, Dorset, England. Career Bell, like his mother Susan, took a keen interest in natural history which his mother also encouraged in his younger cousin Philip Henry Gosse. Bell left Poole in 1813 for his training as a dental surgeon in London. He is listed in 1817 as having an address at number 17 Fenchurch Street, and as being a committee member of the newly formed London Peace Society. By 1819 his address is given as 18 Bucklersbury, also in the city of London. He combined two careers, becoming Professor of Zoology at King's College London in 1836 and lecturing on anatomy at Guy's Hospital.
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Charles Karsner Mills
1845 - 1930 (85 years)
Charles Karsner Mills, M.D. was an American physician and a pioneer in neurology. He founded the first neurology department in a general hospital in the United States at the Philadelphia General Hospital in 1877 and served as chief of neurology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He was a professor of neurology at the University of Pennsylvania from 1877 to 1915. He founded the Philadelphia Polyclinic and taught there as professor of diseases of the mind and nervous system from 1883 to 1898. He led major reforms to psychiatric hospitals in the Philadelphia area including the cl...
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Joseph Wattmann
1789 - 1866 (77 years)
Joseph Wattmann von Maëlcamp-Beaulieu was an Austrian surgeon. He studied medicine at the surgical academy associated with Vienna General Hospital, afterwards working as a physician and surgeon in Wels. He then served as an assistant to Vincenz Ritter von Kern in Vienna. In 1816 he was appointed professor of theoretical and practical surgery at the Lyceum in Laibach.
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Edgar Hull
1904 - 1984 (80 years)
Edgar Hull Jr. , was a Louisiana physician. He was part of the founding faculty of the Louisiana State University Medical Center in New Orleans, and later served as Dean of the Louisiana State University School of Medicine at Shreveport .
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Trinidad Arroyo
1872 - 1959 (87 years)
Trinidad Arroyo Villaverde was a Spanish ophthalmologist. She was the first woman ophthalmologist in Spain and the third to receive a doctorate degree, obtaining her doctorate in 1896. She was a teacher and researcher at the University of Madrid, and she operated an ophthalmology practice with her husband Manuel Márquez. They were forced to flee the country in 1939 due to the Spanish Civil War, and they resumed their practice in Mexico City, where they lived for the rest of their lives.
Go to Profile#4414
Liverij Darkshevich
1858 - 1925 (67 years)
Liverij Osipovich Darkshevich was a Russian neurologist who was a native of Yaroslavl. His surname is sometimes spelled Darkschewitsch in medical literature. From 1882 to 1887 he studied medicine at the University of Moscow, and afterwards worked and studied at the laboratory of Theodor Meynert in Vienna, the laboratory of Paul Flechsig in Leipzig, Karl Westphal's clinic in Berlin, and at the Salpêtrière in the clinic of Jean-Martin Charcot . During this time period, he also collaborated with Joseph Jules Dejerine and Sigmund Freud on a number of important medical papers.
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Martine J. Piccart
#4416
Leopold Auerbach
1828 - 1897 (69 years)
Leopold Auerbach was a German anatomist and neuropathologist born in Breslau. He is best known for discovering the myenteric plexus aka Auerbach’s plexus, which helps control the GI tract. Education and career Auerbach studied medicine at the Universities of Breslau, Berlin and the Leipzig. He became a physician in 1849, obtained his habilitation in 1863. From 1872 he was an associate professor of neuropathology at the University of Breslau.
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Hermann von Tappeiner
1847 - 1927 (80 years)
Hermann von Tappeiner was an Austrian pharmacologist. He was the son of anthropologist Franz Tappeiner . He studied at the universities of Innsbruck, Göttingen, Leipzig, Heidelberg and Tübingen, receiving his doctorate in 1872. As a student, his influences included Carl Ludwig and Gustav von Hüfner at Leipzig, and Robert Bunsen at the University of Heidelberg. In 1877 he obtained his habilitation at the University of Munich. Two years later, he began teaching classes in physiology and dietetics at the veterinary school in Munich, and in 1884 became an associate professor of medicinal chemistry and pharmacology at the university.
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Heinrich Albers-Schönberg
1865 - 1921 (56 years)
Heinrich Ernst Albers-Schönberg was a German gynecologist and radiologist. He was a native of Hamburg. He studied medicine at the Universities of Tübingen and Leipzig, where in 1891 he earned his medical doctorate under the guidance of Heinrich Curschmann . From 1892 to 1894 he was an assistant at Hamburg-Eppendorf Hospital, afterwards working as an assistant to gynecologist Paul Zweifel at the University of Leipzig. Soon afterwards, he settled in Hamburg as a medical practitioner.
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Trevor J. Orchard
Trevor J. Orchard is a British-American hold epidemiologist currently a Distinguished Professor at University of Pittsburgh. He received the Kelly West Award in 1993.
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Heinz Otto Schild
1906 - 1984 (78 years)
Heinz Otto Schild , was a pharmacologist now known for the development of the Schild plot. Life H.O. Schild was born into a Jewish family in what was Fiume, Austria-Hungary, and is now Rijeka, Croatia. During the rise of fascism he was schooled in Munich then Budapest . He studied medicine in Munich and Berlin in the 1920s, with later studies focused on Pharmacology. In 1932s he moved to England to work in Henry Dale's laboratory, working also with John Gaddum.
Go to Profile#4421
Ludwig Andreas Buchner
1813 - 1897 (84 years)
Ludwig Andreas Buchner was a German pharmacologist. His father was pharmacologist Johann Andreas Buchner . Academic background After attending classes in Munich, he continued his education at the Universities of Giessen and Paris. In 1839, he obtained his PhD, followed by his doctorate of medicine in 1842. In 1847, he became an associate professor of physiological and pathological chemistry at Munich, followed by a full professorship of pharmacy and toxicology in 1852.
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Suzi Gage
Suzanne H. Gage is a British psychologist and epidemiologist who is interested in the nature of associations between lifestyle behaviours and mental health. She is a senior lecturer at the University of Liverpool and has a popular science podcast and accompanying book, Say Why to Drugs, which explores substance use.
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Ernst Kromayer
1862 - 1933 (71 years)
Ernst Kromayer was a German dermatologist. He was the younger brother of historian Johannes Kromayer . He studied medicine at the universities of Strasbourg, Würzburg, and Bonn, receiving his doctorate in 1885. From 1888 he worked as an assistant to Karl Koester at the pathology clinic in Bonn, and in 1890 qualified as a lecturer at the University of Halle. At Halle he established a clinic for skin and venereal diseases that eventually acquired the status of a university clinic. In 1901 he received the title of professor at the university, then in 1904 relocated to Berlin, where he opened a p...
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William Ogilvy Kermack
1898 - 1970 (72 years)
William Ogilvy Kermack FRS FRSE FRIC was a Scottish biochemist. He made mathematical studies of epidemic spread and established links between environmental factors and specified diseases. He is noteworthy for being blind for the majority of his academic career. Together with Anderson Gray McKendrick he created the Kermack-McKendrick theory of infectious diseases.
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Henry Kaplan
1918 - 1984 (66 years)
Henry Seymour Kaplan was an American radiologist who pioneered in radiation therapy and radiobiology. Career Kaplan earned his degree from Rush Medical College in Chicago, after which he trained at the University of Minnesota, Yale University and the National Cancer Institute. He once said he became interested in oncology after his father died of lung cancer, the same disease which killed Dr. Kaplan, a non-smoker.
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Clay Johnston
S. Claiborne "Clay" Johnston is the former Dean of the Dell Medical School and Frank and Charmaine Denius Distinguished Dean's Chair at the University of Texas, Austin, United States. Dell Medical School opened in 2016 with Johnston being named as the inaugural dean in January 2014 In July 2021, Johnston announced that he would step down as the dean of the Dell Medical School. He officially left his position on August 31, 2021.
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Cornelius P. Rhoads
1898 - 1959 (61 years)
Cornelius Packard "Dusty" Rhoads was an American pathologist, oncologist, and hospital administrator who was involved in a racist scandal and subsequent whitewashing in the 1930s. Beginning in 1940, he served as director of Memorial Hospital for Cancer Research in New York, from 1945 was the first director of Sloan-Kettering Institute, and the first director of the combined Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center. For his contributions to cancer research, Rhoads was featured on the cover of the June 27, 1949 issue of Time magazine under the title "Cancer Fighter".
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Abraham Lilienfeld
1920 - 1984 (64 years)
Abraham Morris Lilienfeld was an American epidemiologist and professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. He is known for his work in expanding epidemiology to focus on chronic diseases as well as infectious ones.
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André Barbeau
1931 - 1986 (55 years)
André Barbeau, was a French Canadian neurologist. He was known for his research into Parkinson's disease and Friedreich's ataxia and taurine research. Born in Montreal, Quebec, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Collège Stanislas and his medical degree from the Université de Montréal.
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Isaac Schour
1900 - 1964 (64 years)
Isaac Schour was a dental scholar, educator, researcher, and administrator. He is best known for his tooth development chart. By studying the histolotgic sections of the teeth of animals, he inspired a new discipline: the histo-physiology of teeth and surrounding structures.
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Carl Pfeiffer
1908 - 1988 (80 years)
Carl Curt Pfeiffer was a physician and biochemist who researched schizophrenia, allergies and other diseases. He was Chair of the Pharmacology Department at Emory University and considered himself a founder of what two-time Nobel prize winner, [Pauling, PhD.], named orthomolecular psychiatry and published in the Journal Science. 1968 Apr 19;160:265-71.
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Moritz Benedikt
1835 - 1920 (85 years)
Moritz Benedikt also spelt Moriz was a Hungarian-Austrian neurologist who was a native of Eisenstadt. He was an instructor and professor of neurology at the University of Vienna. Benedikt was a physician with the Austrian army during the Second Italian War of Independence and the Austro-Prussian War.
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Friedrich Ludwig Meissner
1796 - 1860 (64 years)
Friedrich Ludwig Meissner was a German obstetrician, gynecologist and pediatrician. He studied medicine in Leipzig, earning his PhD in 1819. From 1821, he taught classes at the University of Leipzig, becoming a professor of obstetrics and gynecology in 1831. In 1838, he founded an obstetrics clinic.
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Patrick Russell
1726 - 1805 (79 years)
Patrick Russell was a Scottish surgeon and naturalist who worked in India. He studied the snakes of India and is considered the "Father of Indian Ophiology". Russell's viper, Daboia russelii, is named after him.
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Harold Stiles
1863 - 1946 (83 years)
Sir Harold Jalland Stiles was an English surgeon who was known for his research into cancer and tuberculosis and for treatment of nerve injuries. Early years Harold Stiles was born in Spalding, Lincolnshire in 1863 the son of Henry Tournay Stiles MD and his wife, Elizabeth Ellen Jalland. He came from a family of doctors. He studied Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, graduating MB ChB in 1885. He earned the Ettles scholarship for the most distinguished graduate of the year. For two years he then taught anatomy at Edinburgh. He was House Surgeon to Professor John Chiene FRSE, Demonstrat...
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C. U. Ariëns Kappers
1877 - 1946 (69 years)
Cornelius Ubbo Ariëns Kappers was a Dutch neurologist and anatomist. Life As a student, Ariëns Kappers was influenced by the work of the German neurologist Ludwig Edinger and Dutch anatomist Louis Bolk . During his career, he amassed around 450 whole brains from over 300 species and over 30,000 brain slices.
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Adolphe-Marie Gubler
1821 - 1879 (58 years)
Adolphe-Marie Gubler was a French physician and pharmacologist born in Metz. Originally a student of botany, he began his medical studies in 1841 at Paris, where he was a pupil of Armand Trousseau . In 1845 he became an interne des hôpitaux, earning his doctorate in 1849. Afterwards he worked as a physician at the Hôpital Beaujon, and in 1853 earned his agrégation with a thesis on cirrhosis of the liver. In 1868 he was appointed professor of therapy to the medical faculty in Paris, maintaining this position until his death in 1879.
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Ōmori Harutoyo
1852 - 1912 (60 years)
Ōmori Harutoyo was a Japanese surgeon who became the first president of the Fukuoka Medical College that was founded in 1903 as a branch of the Medical Faculty of Kyōto University . Ōmori was born in Edo, but he grew up in the domain Kaminoyama where his father Ōmori Kaishun served as a physician to lord Matsudaira Nobumichi. In 1879 he graduated from Tokyo University; the same year he went to a new post in the newly established Fukuoka Medical School. In 1888 when this school was abolished, he was appointed as the first director of the Fukuoka Prefectural Hospital. In 1885, he performed the first cesarean operation in Japan.
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Stanley Sarnoff
1917 - 1990 (73 years)
Stanley J. Sarnoff was an American doctor who produced over 200 papers and 60 patents during his long career. His work included the development of such widely used devices as the "auto-injector," which included the AtroPen, which was filled with Atropine Hydrochloride as an anti-nerve-gas antidote for military use; the LidoPen, which was filled with Lidocaine hydrochloride, for cardiac patients, the EpiPen, containing Epinephrine, for people whose allergies cause anaphylaxis, and the 24-hour cardiac monitor. In addition to his own work, he was devoted to philanthropy and, though the creation...
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