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 Philosophy,
#5101
Philip. R. Bromage
#116701
Overall Influence
#5102
Charles G. Mullighan
#116702
Overall Influence
#5103
Kurt Huber
#116708
Overall Influence
#5104
John Wyllie Coburn
#116713
Overall Influence
#5105
Richard Horton
#7019
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
Richard Charles Horton is editor-in-chief of The Lancet, a United Kingdom–based medical journal. He is an honorary professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University College London, and the University of Oslo.
Go to Profile#5106
David York Mason
#116718
Overall Influence
#5107
Michael J. Baum
#116721
Overall Influence
#5108
Laurence B. Leonard
#116727
Overall Influence
#5109
Aaron Ridley
#113102
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Aaron Ridley is a British philosopher and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southampton. He is known for his works on aesthetics, particularly the philosophy of music, and on Nietzsche. Books The Deed is Everything: Nietzsche on Will and Action. Oxford University Press. 2018 Arguing about art: contemporary philosophical debates. . Routledge. 2007Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Nietzsche on Art. . Routledge. 2007The Philosophy of Music: Theme and Variations. Edinburgh University Press. 2004Beginning Bioethics. Palgrave Macmillan. 1998Nietzsche's Conscience: Six Character Studies from the Genealogy.
Go to Profile#5110
L. S. Cousins
#9933
Overall Influence
1942 - 2015 (73 years)
Lance Selwyn Cousins was a British scholar who specialised in the field of Buddhist Studies. Biography Born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, he studied history and oriental studies at Cambridge University, and took up a post in the Department of Comparative Religion at Manchester University as lecturer and then senior lecturer. After early retirement in the 1990s he settled in Oxford and continued to publish scholarly papers and reviews including a widely cited historical summary such as "The Dating of the Historical Buddha: A Review article," which was published in The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.
Go to Profile#5111
Nobuyuki Ito
#116783
Overall Influence
#5112
Elias J. Anaissie
#116785
Overall Influence
#5113
Gerardo Van Den Hoek
#116804
Overall Influence
#5114
Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa
#42891
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (58 years)
Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa is a Mexican-American neurosurgeon, author, and researcher. Currently, he is the William J. and Charles H. Mayo Professor and Chair of Neurologic Surgery and runs a basic science research lab at the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville in Florida.
Go to Profile#5115
Cornelis J. H. Van De Velde
#116828
Overall Influence
#5116
Adrian Martin
#25897
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (67 years)
Adrian Martin is an Australian film and arts critic. He now lives in Malgrat de Mar in Spain. He is Adjunct Associate Professor in Film Culture and Theory at Monash University. His work has appeared in many magazines, journals and newspapers around the world, and has been translated into over twenty languages and has regular columns in the Dutch De Filmkrant and in Caiman: Cuadernos de cine.
Go to Profile#5117
John J. Crowley
#116843
Overall Influence
#5118
Dr. D. Vergani
#116849
Overall Influence
#5119
William Uricchio
#25788
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
William Charles Uricchio is an American media scholar and Professor of Comparative Media Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Professor of Comparative Media History at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Together with Henry Jenkins, he helped to build and direct MIT's Comparative Media Studies program. Uricchio was Principal Investigator of the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab. He is founder and Principal Investigator of the MIT Open Documentary Lab. He is also author or editor of several books including We Europeans? Media, Representations, Identity; Media Cultures; Die ...
Go to Profile#5120
R. R. Rockingham Gill
#95541
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (82 years)
Richard Rowan Rockingham Gill was a lecturer of philosophy—in particular, logic—and is an author. Rockingham Gill received a MA from the University of St Andrews and has published variously in the Journal of Symbolic Logic, Archiv für mathematische Logik und Grundlagenforschung and other journals.
Go to Profile#5121
Željko Loparić
#116742
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (87 years)
Željko Loparić is a Yugoslav-born Brazilian philosopher, historian of philosophy and university teacher. Born in modern-day Croatia, he is a naturalized Brazilian, and professor at the University of Campinas.
Go to Profile#5122
Caroline Crowther
#97179
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Caroline Anne Crowther is an Australian/New Zealand medical researcher specialising in maternity and child health. She is associated with both the University of Auckland and the University of Adelaide, being a professor at each institution. Crowther has been the recipient of multiple medical research grants.
Go to Profile#5123
Marcia Stefanick
#21193
Overall Influence
Marcia L. Stefanick is a Professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Director of the Stanford Women's Health and Sex Differences in Medicine Center. Stefanick’s research investigates the role of lifestyle, particularly exercise, diet, weight control, and menopausal hormone therapy, on chronic disease prevention. Her major focus is heart disease, breast cancer, osteoporosis, and dementia.
Go to Profile#5124
William J. Iii Hamilton
#116892
Overall Influence
#5125
Robert J. Heine
#116899
Overall Influence
#5126
Anna Dominiczak
#87626
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
Dame Anna Felicja Dominiczak DBE FRCP FRSE FAHA FMedSci is a Polish-born British medical researcher, Regius Professor of Medicine - the first woman to hold this position, and the Chief Scientist for the Scottish Government. From 2010 to 2020, Dominiczak was the Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. She is an Honourary Consultant Physician and Endocrinologist for the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board, and Health Innovation Champion for the Medical Research Council. From 2013 to 2015, Dominiczak was president of the European Society of Hypertension.
Go to Profile#5127
Marco Pahor
#116954
Overall Influence
#5128
Elena Topuridze
#102930
Overall Influence
1922 - 2004 (82 years)
Elena Topuridze was a prominent Georgian philosopher and writer. Born in Batumi, Georgia, her family moved to Tbilisi during her childhood. In 1945, she graduated from the faculty of philosophy of the M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University. As a postgraduate student, Topuridze studied at the Institute of History of Art of Academy of Sciences of the USSR, in Moscow. In 1951, she returned to Tbilisi and took a position of professor at the Shota Rustaveli Theatrical Institute of Georgia. From 1961 to the end of her life she worked at S. Tsereteli Institute of Philosophy of Georgian National Ac...
Go to Profile#5129
Per‐anders Mårdh
#116966
Overall Influence
#5130
Lawrence H. Kushi
#116972
Overall Influence
#5131
Constantin E. Orfanos
#116980
Overall Influence
#5132
Giovanni Rezza
#116991
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
#5133
Richard Phillip Dellinger
#117003
Overall Influence
#5134
Andrea Lenzi
#117015
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
#5135
Troy Jollimore
#78305
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (55 years)
Troy Jollimore is a poet, philosopher, and literary critic. Career and education Troy Jollimore was born in 1971 in Liverpool, Nova Scotia and attended the University of King's College in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Princeton University in 1999, under the direction of Harry Frankfurt and Gilbert Harman. He has lived in the U.S. since 1993 and is currently Professor of Philosophy at California State University, Chico. He has been an External Faculty Fellow at the Stanford Humanities Center , the Stanley P. Young Fellow in Poetry at the Bread Loaf Writers' Confe...
Go to Profile#5136
Lester Breslow
#117081
Overall Influence
#5137
Kanta Subbarao
#99409
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Kanta Subbarao is an Indian virologist, molecular geneticist, and physician-scientist. She is director of the World Health Organization collaborating centre for reference and research on influenza. Subbarao is also a professor at the Doherty Institute.
Go to Profile#5138
Margaret R. Spitz
#117123
Overall Influence
#5139
John Elefteriades
#68179
Overall Influence
John Alex Elefteriades is a medical doctor and cardiac surgeon. He is the William W. L. Glenn Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery in the Yale School of Medicine and Yale-New Haven Hospital. He serves as the Director of the Yale Center for Thoracic Aortic Disease.
Go to Profile#5140
Gerd Prof. Dr. Dr. Geißlinger
#117135
Overall Influence
#5141
Lars Bergström
#79051
Overall Influence
1935 - Present (91 years)
Lars Bergström is a Swedish philosopher and professor of practical philosophy at Stockholm University. Biography Bergström received his PhD in 1966. His dissertation The Alternatives and Consequences of Actions attracted considerable international attention and sparked a lively and extensive discussion in professional philosophical journals. He served as a professor of practical philosophy at the University of Uppsala from 1974 until 1987, when he assumed his current position as a professor of practical philosophy at Stockholms University.
Go to Profile#5142
Kyuya Kogure
#117184
Overall Influence
#5143
Togas Tulandi
#117185
Overall Influence
#5144
Ronald G. Tompkins
#62021
Overall Influence
1951 - 2022 (71 years)
Ronald G. Tompkins was an American physician and academic. He served as Sumner M. Redstone Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and chief of Surgery, Science and Bioengineering at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Division of Surgery. He was also the founding director of The Institute for Bioengineering and Biotechnology and of the Center for Engineering in Medicine & Surgery at MGH.
Go to Profile#5145
Jerome Segal
#69661
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
Jerome Michael Segal is an American philosopher, political activist, and perennial candidate who resides in Silver Spring, Maryland. He was the founder of the socialist Bread and Roses Party, which achieved ballot access in Maryland, and which Segal ran from 2018 to 2021.
Go to Profile#5146
G. N. Devy
#24805
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Ganesh Narayandas Devy is an Indian cultural activist, literary critic and former professor of English. He is known for the People's Linguistic Survey of India and the Adivasi Academy created by him. He is credited with starting the Bhaashaa research and Publication Centre. He writes in three languages—Marathi, Gujarati and English. His first full-length book in English is After Amnesia . He has written and edited close to ninety books in areas including Literary Criticism, Anthropology, Education, Linguistics and Philosophy.
Go to Profile#5147
Leonard M. Fleck
#102885
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (82 years)
Leonard Michael Fleck is an American philosophy professor and medical ethicist. He earned his Ph.D. from St. Louis University in 1975 and taught courses at St. Mary's College before going on to teach and at Michigan State University where he currently holds a dual appointment with the philosophy department and the Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences. Fleck was also a member of Hillary Clinton's Task Force on Health Reform in 1993 and the staff ethicist for the Michigan governor's task force on access to health care in 1989-1990.
Go to Profile#5148
Melvin Chris Fitting
#117246
Overall Influence
#5149
Dr David G. Shand
#117253
Overall Influence
#5150
Leslie Greengard
#13245
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Leslie Frederick Greengard is an American mathematician, physicist and computer scientist. He is co-inventor with Vladimir Rokhlin Jr. of the fast multipole method in 1987, recognized as one of the top-ten algorithms of the 20th century.
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