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,
#5851
Bernard De Bruyne
#125338
Overall Influence
#5852
Roelof Willemze
#125341
Overall Influence
#5853
Merrill D. Benson
#125350
Overall Influence
#5854
Richard Greil
#125352
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
#5855
George Lewith
#82702
Overall Influence
1950 - 2017 (67 years)
George Lewith was a professor at the University of Southampton researching alternative medicine and a practitioner of complementary medicine. He was a prominent and sometimes controversial advocate of complementary medicine in the UK.
Go to Profile#5856
Linda Williams
#8261
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (80 years)
Linda Williams is an American professor of film studies in the departments of Film Studies and Rhetoric at University of California, Berkeley. Career Williams graduated from University of California, Berkeley with a B.A in Comparative Literature in 1969, and then earned a PhD at the University of Colorado for her dissertation subsequently published as Figures of Desire: A Theory and Analysis of Surrealist Film. Her main academic areas of interest are: film history, film genre, melodrama, pornography, feminist theory and visual culture; all with an emphasis on women, gender, race, and sexualit...
Go to Profile#5857
Patricia M. Mcnamara
#125380
Overall Influence
#5858
Peng Tee Khaw
#72897
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Sir Peng Tee Khaw is a Chinese-Malaysian British consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, specialising in adult and paediatric glaucoma. Career Khaw was born on 8 October 1957 in Singapore. His father, Tan Sri Khaw Kai Boh, was a cabinet member of Tunku Abdul Rahman. His family moved back to Malaysia soon after, and he studied at Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur before leaving for the UK.
Go to Profile#5859
Gennaro Ciliberto
#125400
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
#5860
Pirjo Helena Mäkelä
#125405
Overall Influence
#5861
Anselm Kampik
#125427
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
#5862
Shafey Kidwai
#13325
Overall Influence
Shafey Kidwai is an Indian academic, bilingual critic, translator, columnist, and author. He is the professor in the Department of Mass Communications at Aligarh Muslim University. He has written twelve books in English and Urdu. His seminal study, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Reason, Religion and Nation has got wide acclaim across the globe. He writes for The Hindustan Times, The Indian Express, The Hindu, The Frontline, The Outlook, Indian Literature, The Book Review, The Stateman, and Siyasat.com .Many reputed literary journals of the subcontinent carry his articles regularly and he ...
Go to Profile#5863
William N. Rom
#114511
Overall Influence
William N. Rom is the Sol and Judith Bergstein Professor of Medicine and Environmental Medicine, Emeritus at New York University School of Medicine and former Director of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at New York University and Chief of the Chest Service at Bellevue Hospital Center, 1989–2014. He is Research Scientist at the School of Global Public Health at New York University and Adjunct Professor at the NYU Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. He teaches Climate Change and Global Public Health and Environmental Health in a Global World.
Go to Profile#5864
Michael P. Vieth
#125437
Overall Influence
#5865
J. Clifton Thompson
#125456
Overall Influence
#5866
Timo Vesikari
#125459
Overall Influence
#5867
John Power Kane
#125488
Overall Influence
#5868
Yves A. Dauvilliers
#125496
Overall Influence
#5869
Sallie Lamb
#108571
Overall Influence
Sarah Elizabeth Lamb is the Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at the University of Exeter, and the Mireille Gillings Professor for Health Innovation. She is also an Honorary Departmental Professor at the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford and was the Foundation Director of the Oxford Clinical Trials Research Unit.
Go to Profile#5870
Peter Bradshaw
#14474
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Peter Nicholas Bradshaw is a British writer, art and film critic. He has been chief film critic at The Guardian since 1999, and is a contributing editor at Esquire. Early life and education Bradshaw was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Hertfordshire and studied English at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he was president of the Cambridge Footlights. He was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1984, followed by postgraduate research in the Early Modern period in which he studied with Lisa Jardine and Anne Barton. He received his PhD in 1989.
Go to Profile#5871
Alden Hood Harken
#125533
Overall Influence
#5872
Thanos Athanasiou
#125541
Overall Influence
#5873
Muthiah Vaduganathan
#125552
Overall Influence
#5874
John Finamore
#120803
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
John Finamore is Roger A. Hornsby Professor of the Classics at The University of Iowa. He is known for his research on Greek and Roman Philosophy, Word Power, Greek, and Latin. Finamore is the editor-in-chief of The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition.
Go to Profile#5875
Leonard Maltin
#24057
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Leonard Michael Maltin is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of film capsule reviews, Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, published annually from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film critic on Entertainment Tonight from 1982 to 2010. He currently teaches at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and has appeared regularly on Turner Classic Movies, and hosts the weekly podcast Maltin on Movies. He has written articles for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Variety, Playboy and TV Guide.
Go to Profile#5876
Dr. David F. Ransohoff
#125599
Overall Influence
#5877
George Ertl
#125645
Overall Influence
#5878
José Zalabardo
#124649
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
José Zalabardo is a Spanish-British philosopher who works on epistemology, metaphysics, and related areas. He is a professor of philosophy at University College London. He was Head of the UCL Philosophy Department from 2014 to 2018.
Go to Profile#5879
Patrick Connor O'brien
#125653
Overall Influence
#5880
Jacques de Champlain
#86358
Overall Influence
1938 - 2009 (71 years)
Jacques de Champlain, OC was a scientist, doctor and professor from the Province of Quebec. Jacques de Champlain was a graduate of the Université de Montréal and McGill University and a pioneer in research on the nervous system. He was also a member of the Royal Society of Canada, an Officer of the Order of Canada and an Officer of the Ordre national du Québec. He was a research professor in the Departments of Physiology and Medicine at the Université de Montréal. De Champlain died of a heart attack.
Go to Profile#5881
Donald Hopkins
#21927
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (85 years)
Donald R. Hopkins is a Bahamian American physician, a MacArthur Fellow and is the Vice President and Director of Health Programs at The Carter Center. He graduated from Morehouse College with a B.S., from the University of Chicago with a Doctor of Medicine, and from the Harvard School of Public Health with a Master of Public Health. He studied at the Institute of European Studies, University of Vienna.
Go to Profile#5882
Avan Aihie Sayer
#125730
Overall Influence
#5883
Jerry Young Niederkorn
#125741
Overall Influence
#5884
Eric Winsberg
#76084
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (58 years)
Eric Winsberg is an American philosopher who is a professor of philosophy at the University of South Florida. From 2023 until 2027 he will hold a Global Professorship from the British Academy in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. He is known for his research in philosophy of science, in particular the philosophy of climate science, and the philosophy of physics. He is especially interested in the role of computer simulations in the physical sciences. His work in the philosophy of climate science specifically relates to its application in science policy and ethics.
Go to Profile#5885
Jacques Izopet
#125789
Overall Influence
#5886
Allan Silverman
#112297
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
Allan Jay Silverman is an American philosopher and Professor of Philosophy at the Ohio State University. He is also a Faculty Fellow at Mershon Center for International Security Studies. Silverman is known for his expertise on ancient philosophy.
Go to Profile#5887
Harold Willis Kohl
#125857
Overall Influence
#5888
Frank Miles Collins
#125881
Overall Influence
#5889
Philippe Rougier
#125884
Overall Influence
#5890
Daniel P. Kelly
#82049
Overall Influence
Daniel P. Kelly is an American physician and Willard and Rhoda Ware Professor of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases at the University of Pennsylvania. He is known for his contributions to biomedical research.
Go to Profile#5891
David H. Chestnut
#125910
Overall Influence
#5892
Adrian Walsh
#107362
Overall Influence
1963 - Present (63 years)
Adrian J. Walsh is an Australian philosopher and Professor of Philosophy at the University of New England . He is known for his expertise on political philosophy, philosophy of economics and applied ethics. Walsh is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Applied Philosophy.
Go to Profile#5893
Helen De Cruz
#80391
Overall Influence
1978 - Present (48 years)
Helen De Cruz is a Belgian philosopher and Danforth Chair of Philosophy at Saint Louis University who specialises in philosophy of religion, experimental philosophy, and philosophy of cognitive science. She is also an activist supporting the rights of EU citizens in the context of Brexit.
Go to Profile#5894
Michael Bernd Ranke
#125941
Overall Influence
#5895
Anita Chatarina Aperia
#125942
Overall Influence
#5896
Tsutomu Imaizumi
#125943
Overall Influence
#5897
Morton H. Maxwell
#125976
Overall Influence
#5898
Fu‐chan Wei
#125985
Overall Influence
#5899
Catherine Sherrington
#125987
Overall Influence
#5900
Rebecca Fitzgerald
#74695
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (58 years)
Rebecca Clare Fitzgerald is a British medical researcher whose work focuses on the early detection and treatment of oesophageal cancers. She is a tenured Professor of Cancer Prevention and Program Leader at the Medical Research Council Cancer Unit of the University of Cambridge. In addition to her professorship, Fitzgerald is currently the Director of Medical Studies for Trinity College, Cambridge, where she is also a Fellow. She is also an Honorary Consultant in Gastroenterology and General Medicine at Cambridge's Addenbrooke's Hospital. She is also the co-leader of the CRUK Cambridge Insti...
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