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 Philosophy,
#5701
Annie Cohen-Solal
#15953
Overall Influence
Annie Cohen-Solal is a writer, historian, cultural diplomat and public intellectual in a trajectory that spans more than four decades. Born in Algiers, in a Jewish family from multiple Mediterranean origins , she faced numerous geographical displacements and devoted her entire career to issues of migration and creation. For ever, she has been tracking down interactions between art, literature and society with an intercultural twist. An award-winning writer from Sartre: 1905-1980 to Leo & His Circle: the Life of Leo Castelli and A Foreigner Called Picasso , her books, exhibitions, and lectures have been widely covered both by academic reviews and by the press at large.
Go to Profile#5702
Jacek Woroniecki
1878 - 1949 (71 years)
Adam Marian Tomasz Pius Leon duke Korybut Woroniecki, religious name Jacek was a Polish Servant of God. He was a priest and member of the Dominican Order, theologian, teacher, professor of ethics and scholastic philosopher. He was also the rector of the Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski from 1922 to 1924, a member of Polska Akademia Umiejętności , professor of the Angelicum and the founder of Zgromadzenie Sióstr Dominikanek Misjonarek Jezusa i Maryi .
Go to Profile#5703
Thomas C. Chalmers
#48064
Overall Influence
1917 - 1995 (78 years)
Thomas Clark Chalmers, MD, FACP was famous for his role in the development of the randomized controlled trial and meta-analysis in medical research. Chalmers began his higher education as an English major at Yale College. He obtained his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1943. He spent one year as an intern at the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and completed his residency at the Boston City Hospital.
Go to Profile#5704
Dr. David E. Comings
#94311
Overall Influence
#5705
William T. Abraham
#94343
Overall Influence
#5706
Annette C. Baier
#94351
Overall Influence
#5707
W. D. Hart
#80852
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
Wilbur Dyre Hart is an American philosopher and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He taught at the University of Michigan from 1969 to 1974, the University College London from 1974 to 1991, and the University of New Mexico from 1992 to 1993. Hart is known for his research on logic, philosophy of mathematics, metaphysics, and epistemology.
Go to Profile#5708
Urs A. Meyer
#50929
Overall Influence
1938 - Present (88 years)
Urs Albert Meyer is a Swiss physician-scientist and clinical pharmacologist. Life Meyer is professor emeritus of pharmacology at the Biozentrum University of Basel. After clinical and research training at the University of California, San Francisco, USA, he worked as assistant professor in clinical pharmacology at the same institution. In 1974, he became Head of Clinical Pharmacology at the University Hospital of Zurich. From 1983 to 2008, Meyer carried out research and taught as professor of pharmacology at the Biozentrum University of Basel, where he also acted as Chairman. He has served in ...
Go to Profile#5709
Seymour I. Schwartz
#5710
Dale Beyerstein
#94389
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
Dale Beyerstein is a philosopher who has taught at Malaspina College, Douglas College, Kwantlen College, the University of British Columbia, and Langara College. Dale is a co-founder of the BC Skeptics, and director-at-large of the foundation.
Go to Profile#5711
Peter Gershon Isaacson
#94406
Overall Influence
#5712
Divna M. Vuksanović
#87982
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (61 years)
Divna M. Vuksanović is a Serbian philosopher, writer, media theorist and the president of the Aesthetic Society of Serbia. Biography She graduated from the Department of Performing and Organizing Cultural and Artistic Activities of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in 1988 and the Department of Philosophy, University of Belgrade in 1992. She holds a MA in theater studies and a Doctor of Philosophy of Science in the field of contemporary philosophy and aesthetics .
Go to Profile#5713
Joseph E. Parrillo
#94442
Overall Influence
#5714
Hecato of Rhodes
200 BC - 160 BC (40 years)
Hecato or Hecaton of Rhodes was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was a native of Rhodes, and a disciple of Panaetius, but nothing else is known of his life. It is clear that he was eminent amongst the Stoics of the period. He was a voluminous writer, but nothing remains. Diogenes Laërtius mentions six treatises written by Hecato:Περὶ ἀγαθῶν – On Goods, in at least nineteen books.Περὶ ἀρετῶν – On Virtues.Περὶ παθῶν – On Passions.Περὶ τελῶν – On Ends.Περὶ παραδόξων – On Paradoxes, in at least thirteen books.Χρεῖαι – Maxims.In addition Cicero writes that Hecato wrote a work on On Duties, dedicated to Quintus Tubero.
Go to Profile#5715
Stanley T. Crooke
#94452
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (81 years)
#5716
Ludwig Kappos
#94454
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
#5717
Yamunacharya
950 - 1038 (88 years)
Yamunacharya , also known as Alavandar and Yamunaithuraivan, was a Vishistadvaita philosopher based in Srirangam, Tamil Nadu, India. He is best-known for being a preceptor of Ramanuja, one of the leaders of the Sri Vaishnava tradition. He was born in the early 10th century CE, and was the grandson of Nathamuni, a famed yogi, who collected the works of the Tamil Alvars.
Go to Profile#5718
Gail Stine
1940 - 1977 (37 years)
Gail Stine was an American philosopher who specialized in epistemology and philosophy of language. She was born in Schenectady, New York. Before her death at the age of 37, she was a professor of philosophy at Wayne State University. Wayne State now holds the annual Gail Stine Memorial Lecture in her honor.
Go to Profile#5719
Toyoaki Murohara
#94473
Overall Influence
#5720
Paul Devroey
#94501
Overall Influence
#5721
Viktoria Suchantseva
#71587
Overall Influence
1949 - 2019 (70 years)
Viktoria Suchantseva was a Ukrainian philosopher, aesthetician, culturologist, poet and writer, founder of Ukrainian philosophy of music school of thought. Biography Viktoria Suchantseva was born in Luhansk . Her father was a deputy Editor in chief of “Voroshilovgrad truth” newspaper, mother was a music teacher. From 1964 to 1968 she was a student of Gnessin Moscow Special School of Music . From 1968–1973 she was a student of Piano Department of Gnessin Russian Academy of Music. From 1969–1973 she was a student of Maxim Gorky Literature Institute . Her poems were published in “Iynost’” magaz...
Go to Profile#5722
G. Michael Besser
#94517
Overall Influence
#5723
Kuldeep Dhama
#94554
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#5724
Carmine Pariante
#92234
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (60 years)
Carmine Maria Pariante FRCPsych is professor of biological psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College, London, and consultant perinatal psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust. He also works as the lead for the Affective Disorders and Interface with Medicine theme at the National Institute for Health and Care Research Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre .
Go to Profile#5725
František Mareš
1857 - 1942 (85 years)
František Mareš was a Czechoslovak professor of physiology and philosophy, and a nationalist politician. He was rector of the Charles University in 1920–21, and a member of the National Democrats.
Go to Profile#5726
Christian Rätsch
#14817
Overall Influence
1957 - 2022 (65 years)
Christian Rätsch was a German anthropologist and writer on topics like ethnopharmacology, psychoactive plants and animals. Life Rätsch was born in 1957 in a Bohemian community in Hamburg, Germany. His father was an opera singer, his mother a ballet dancer. He started learning about shamanism and sacred plants at 10 and had his first drug experience at 12.
Go to Profile#5727
E. Wesley Ely
#87432
Overall Influence
Eugene Wesley Ely is an American physician specialized in critical care and pulmonary medicine. He is a professor of medicine at the school of medicine of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Go to Profile#5728
Gerald L. Mandell
#94608
Overall Influence
#5729
Henri Langlois
1914 - 1977 (63 years)
Henri Langlois was a French film archivist and cinephile. A pioneer of film preservation, Langlois was an influential figure in the history of cinema. His film screenings in Paris in the 1950s are often credited with providing the ideas that led to the development of the auteur theory.
Go to Profile#5730
Brian Holmes
#32124
Overall Influence
Brian Holmes is a professor of philosophy at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, where he teaches an intensive summer seminar. He has worked with the French graphics collective Ne Pas Plier from 1999 to 2001 and the French cartography collective Bureau d'Études.
Go to Profile#5731
Nancy Hartsock
#60136
Overall Influence
1943 - 2015 (72 years)
Nancy C. M. Hartsock was a professor of Political Science and Women Studies at the University of Washington from 1984 to 2009. Personal life and education Hartsock was born in 1943 in a Methodist lower-middle class family, in Ogden, Utah. She attended Wellesley College. While there, Hartsock was involved in the Wellesley Civil Rights Group. This group provided tutoring in Roxbury and Boston, Massachusetts, as well as working with the Boston NAACP.
Go to Profile#5732
Eric Schwitzgebel
#78583
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (58 years)
Eric Schwitzgebel is an American philosopher and professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Riverside. His main interests include connections between empirical psychology and philosophy of mind and the nature of belief. He received his PhD from University of California, Berkeley under the supervision of Elisabeth A. Lloyd, Alison Gopnik, and John Searle.
Go to Profile#5733
Asbjørn Hróbjartsson
#27210
Overall Influence
Asbjørn Hróbjartsson is a Danish medical researcher. He is Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine and Clinical Research Methodology at the University of Southern Denmark, as well as head of research at Odense University Hospital's Center for Evidence-Based Medicine. He is the former editor-in-chief of the Danish journal Bibliotek for Læger. He is also affiliated with the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen. He received his Ph.D. in June 2001 from the University of Copenhagen, with a thesis entitled Are placebo interventions associated with clinically important effects? He is best-known for a 2001 article he co-authored with Peter C.
Go to Profile#5734
Denis J. Gospodarowicz
#94674
Overall Influence
#5735
Andrzej Towiański
1799 - 1878 (79 years)
Andrzej Tomasz Towiański was a Polish philosopher and messianic religious leader. Life Towiański was born in Antoszwińce, a village near Vilnius, which after Partitions of Poland belonged to the Russian Empire. He was the charismatic leader of the Towiańskiite sect, known also as . In 1839 he experienced a vision in which the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary urged him to act as a messenger of the Apocalypse. The Poles, the French—particularly Napoleon—and Jews were to play leading roles. Among those influenced by his thinking were the Polish Romantic poets Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki, and Seweryn Goszczyński.
Go to Profile#5736
Alan Wayne Partin
#94687
Overall Influence
#5737
Horace L. Friess
1900 - 1975 (75 years)
Horace L. Friess was an American ethicist. He was the Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Human Relations at Columbia University, and a Guggenheim Fellow. Early life Friess was born on March 4, 1900, in New York City. He attended Columbia University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1918 and a PhD in 1926.
Go to Profile#5738
P. Parameswaran
#37744
Overall Influence
1927 - 2020 (93 years)
P. Parameswaran , often referred to as Parameswarji, was a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh pracharak from Kerala, India who was erstwhile Vice‑President of the Jan Sangh. He was president of Vivekananda Kendra, and has been conferred with Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, in 2018. He died on 9 February 2020 due to age-related illnesses
Go to Profile#5739
Piers Benn
#42627
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Piers Benn is a British philosopher. His research interests include medical ethics, philosophy of religion, and the philosophy of psychiatry. Life and career Benn grew up in Blackheath, southeast London, with parents June, a romantic novelist, and David Wedgwood Benn, a BBC producer and Russian specialist. David was a brother of Labour politician Tony Benn. Piers was educated at Eltham College in Mottingham until 1980 and gained his B.A. Hons. degree in Philosophy & Modern Languages from the University of Oxford . He received his PhD in philosophy from Birkbeck College, University of London, in 1992.
Go to Profile#5740
Adil Shamoo
#49059
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (85 years)
Adil E. Shamoo is an Iraqi biochemist with an interest in biomedical ethics and foreign policy. He is currently a professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Maryland.
Go to Profile#5741
Günther Jacoby
1881 - 1969 (88 years)
Friedrich Günther Jacoby was a German theologian and philosopher. Life Born in Königsberg, Jacoby studied Protestant theology there from 1900 to 1903. He acquired the licentiate degree with a text interpretation of the Biblical book of Jeremiah. After the state examination for the higher school service in religion, Hebrew and German, which he passed in 1904, he studied philosophy in East Prussia and Berlin while working as an assistant teacher and received his doctorate in 1906 under Friedrich Paulsen with the work Herders "Kalligone" und ihre Verhältnis zu Kants "Kritik der Urteilskraft". Tw...
Go to Profile#5742
George R. Knight
#24301
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (85 years)
George Raymond Knight is a leading Seventh-day Adventist historian, author, and educator. He is emeritus professor of church history at Andrews University. As of 2014 he is considered to be the best-selling and influential voice for the past three decades within the denomination.
Go to Profile#5743
Michael Selgelid
#75013
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Michael J. Selgelid is a bioethicist and moral philosopher who has written on ethics and public health, biotechnology, and infectious diseases. He is the current director of the Centre for Human Bioethics at Monash University and of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Bioethics therein.
Go to Profile#5744
Henry C. Morrison
1871 - 1945 (74 years)
Henry Clinton Morrison was the New Hampshire state superintendent of public instruction from 1904 to 1917, superintendent of University of Chicago Laboratory Schools from 1919 to 1928, professor of education, and an author.
Go to Profile#5745
Mark Stephen Tremblay
#94844
Overall Influence
#5746
Fan Zhen
450 - 515 (65 years)
Fàn Zhěn was a Chinese philosopher, politician, and writer. He was an atheist of the Southern Qi Dynasty, remembered today for his treatise Shén Miè Lùn . Fàn was born into a poor family in today's Zhumadian, Henan province. He was a member of a cadet branch of the elite Fàn family, and became a high-ranking official thanks to his erudition. In response to the prevailing Buddhist movement of his time, he wrote Shen Mie Lun in 507, a treatise denying the ideas of reincarnation and body-soul dualism. A courtier tried to persuade Fàn to give up his opinion, in exchange for a higher official title, but Fàn refused.
Go to Profile#5747
Marie-Dominique Philippe
#37460
Overall Influence
1912 - 2006 (94 years)
Marie-Dominique Philippe, OP was a Dominican philosopher and theologian. He was ordained in 1936. He was a professor of philosophy at the University of Fribourg from 1945 to 1982 where he held the chair of Metaphysics. Before becoming the subject of sexual allegations, he was considered one of the most important French Catholic theologians after Vatican II. While remaining a Dominican friar, he founded the Community of St. John in 1975. In 2013, the community's prior general, Br. Thomas Joachim, made known the first complaints of sexual abuse against Philippe.
Go to Profile#5748
Elizabeth Grosz
#49878
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
Elizabeth A. Grosz is an Australian philosopher, feminist theorist, and professor working in the U.S. She is Jean Fox O'Barr Women's Studies Professor at Duke University. She has written on 20th-century French philosophers Jacques Lacan, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Luce Irigaray and Gilles Deleuze, as well as on gender, sexuality, temporality, and Darwinian evolutionary theory.
Go to Profile#5749
Barry Bozeman
#44208
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (79 years)
Barry Bozeman is a professor emeritus at Arizona State University where he was founding Director, Center for Organization Research and Design, Regents' Professor and Arizona Centennial Professor of Technology Policy and Public Management. He specializes in two disparate fields, organization theory and science and technology policy.
Go to Profile#5750
Julia Ward Howe
1819 - 1910 (91 years)
Julia Ward Howe was an American author and poet, known for writing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and the original 1870 pacifist Mother's Day Proclamation. She was also an advocate for abolitionism and a social activist, particularly for women's suffrage.
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