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,
#5901
Stephanie Lee
#124216
Overall Influence
Stephanie J. Lee is an American haematologist and physician scientist who is Professor and Associate Director at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Lee works to improve the lives of blood stem cell transplant and bone marrow patients by better understanding the chronic form of graft-versus-host disease. Lee is the former President of the American Society of Hematology.
Go to Profile#5902
Adrian M. Di Bisceglie
#126039
Overall Influence
#5903
John Whenham
#67664
Overall Influence
John Whenham is an English musicologist and academic who specializes in early Italian baroque music. He earned both a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music from the University of Nottingham, and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Oxford. He is a leading expert on the life and works of Claudio Monteverdi, and is the author of the books Duet and Dialogue in the Age of Monteverdi Monteverdi, 'Orfeo' , Monteverdi, Vespers , and The Cambridge Companion to Monteverdi . For five years he was co-editor of the journal Music & Letters. He currently serves on the board of the Birmingham E...
Go to Profile#5904
Daniel Federman
#49949
Overall Influence
1928 - 2017 (89 years)
Daniel David Federman, was an American endocrinologist and the Carl W. Walter Distinguished Professor of Medicine and the dean for medical education at Harvard Medical School. He helped change medical education at through its New Pathway curriculum around the early 1990s, and his work helped create the field of genetic endocrinology. Federman also worked for over thirty years at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital, a Harvard teaching hospital in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area.
Go to Profile#5905
Miquel Porta
#45917
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Miquel Porta is a Catalan physician, epidemiologist and scholar. He has promoted the integration of biological, clinical and environmental knowledge and methods in health research and teaching, which he has conducted internationally; notably, in Spain, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Harvard, Imperial College London, and several other universities in Europe, North America, Kuwait, and Brazil. Appointed by the International Epidemiological Association , in 2008 he succeeded the Canadian epidemiologist John M. Last as Editor of "A Dictionary of Epidemiology". In the Preface to this book he argues for an inclusive and integrative practice of the science of epidemiology.
Go to Profile#5906
Usha Menon
#46052
Overall Influence
Usha Menon is Professor of Gynaecological Cancer at University College London, described as "one of Britain’s foremost specialists in gynaecological cancer". She has been a lead investigator on UK ovarian cancer screening trials and on studies of ovarian cancer symptoms notably the UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening , which forms the evidence base for current ovarian cancer screening guidelines. UKCTOCS involved over 200,000 participants and 650,000 yearly screenings over a period of fourteen years with mortality as the endpoint.
Go to Profile#5907
Mikkael Aaron Sekeres
#126132
Overall Influence
#5908
Hirofumi Makino
#126135
Overall Influence
#5909
Douglas Gairdner
#41022
Overall Influence
1910 - 1992 (82 years)
Douglas Montagu Temple Gairdner FRCP was a Scottish paediatrician, research scientist, academic and author. Gairdner was principally known for a number of research studies in neonatology at a time when that subject was being developed as perhaps the most rewarding application of basic physiology to patient care, and later his most important contributions as editor, firstly editing Recent Advances in Paediatrics, and then of Archives of Disease in Childhood for 15 years, turning the latter into an international journal of repute with its exemplary standards of content and presentation.
Go to Profile#5910
Arthur K. Asbury
#126138
Overall Influence
#5911
Robert B. Salter
#22034
Overall Influence
1924 - 2010 (86 years)
Robert Bruce Salter was a Canadian surgeon and a pioneer in the field of pediatric orthopaedic surgery. Born in Stratford, Ontario, he graduated in medicine from the University of Toronto in 1947, worked for two years at the Grenfell Medical Mission in Newfoundland, and spent one year as the McLaughlin Fellow in Oxford, England. Salter then returned to join the medical staff at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto in 1955. He was later appointed surgeon-in-chief.
Go to Profile#5912
Marcos Malumbres
#126149
Overall Influence
#5913
Stefan N. Willich
#126159
Overall Influence
#5914
John Stamatoyannopoulos
#107342
Overall Influence
John A. Stamatoyannopoulos a Greek-American physician-scientist in molecular biology and epigenomics. He is a professor of genome sciences and medicine at the University of Washington, where he heads the Stam Lab and led UW Medicine's participation in the ENCODE project. John is the son of Greek geneticist George Stamatoyannopoulos. Stamatoyannopoulos currently serves as scientific director at the Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences.
Go to Profile#5915
Hans Rosling
#13150
Overall Influence
1948 - 2017 (69 years)
Hans Rosling was a Swedish physician, academic and public speaker. He was a professor of international health at Karolinska Institute and was the co-founder and chairman of the Gapminder Foundation, which developed the Trendalyzer software system. He held presentations around the world, including several TED Talks in which he promoted the use of data to explore development issues. His posthumously published book Factfulness, coauthored with his daughter-in-law Anna Rosling Rönnlund and son Ola Rosling, became an international bestseller.
Go to Profile#5916
Nancy Ellen Epstein
#126182
Overall Influence
#5917
Richard J. O’reilly
#126195
Overall Influence
#5918
James Varani
#126223
Overall Influence
#5919
David S. Ettinger
#126234
Overall Influence
#5920
John Henry Morgan
#46488
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (81 years)
John Henry Morgan is the Karl Mannheim Professor of the History and Philosophy of Social Sciences at the Graduate Theological Foundation, where he also served as president until 2013. A prolific author, his academic work has explored the intersection of theology, philosophy, psychology and culture.
Go to Profile#5921
Per Hedqvist
#126289
Overall Influence
#5922
Thích Nhật Từ
#61536
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (57 years)
Ven. Thich Nhat Tu or Thích Nhật Từ in Vietnamese is a Vietnamese Buddhist reformer, an author, a poet, a psychological consultant, and an active social activist in Vietnam. He is committed to propagate Buddha's teachings through education, cultural activities and charitable programs in order to benefit the individuals and the society at large.
Go to Profile#5923
Danuta Wasserman
#57933
Overall Influence
Danuta Elizabeth Wasserman is a professor of psychiatry and suicidology at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. She is a public mental health and medical educator. She is currently the President of the World Psychiatric Association .
Go to Profile#5924
Eric Randolph Bates
#126303
Overall Influence
#5925
André van der Merwe
#32517
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (59 years)
André van der Merwe is a South African urologist. He is currently head of urology at the University of Stellenbosch and an associate professor at Tygerberg Hospital. He is best known for conducting the world's first successful penis transplant in 2014. He also performed the first laparoscopic kidney removal in South Africa.
Go to Profile#5926
Kenneth E. Covinsky
#126310
Overall Influence
#5927
Seymour I. Schwartz
#23557
Overall Influence
1928 - 2020 (92 years)
Seymour I. Schwartz, was the Distinguished Alumni Professor for the Department of Surgery at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York. He was one of the most prolific and honored surgeons in American history with further successes outside of the field of medicine as a renowned author and cartographic historian. His most notable accomplishments in surgery include being the founding editor-in-chief of Schwartz's Principles of Surgery, Chairman of the Department of Surgery at the University of Rochester , Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons and President of the American College of Surgeons .
Go to Profile#5928
Roy Meadow
#2671
Overall Influence
1933 - Present (93 years)
Sir Samuel Roy Meadow is a British retired paediatrician infamous for facilitating several wrongful convictions of mothers for murdering their babies. He was awarded the Donald Paterson prize of the British Paediatric Association in 1968 for a study of the effects on parents of having a child in hospital. In 1977, he published an academic paper describing a phenomenon dubbed Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy . In 1980 he was awarded a professorial chair in paediatrics at St James's University Hospital, Leeds, and in 1998, he was knighted for services to child health.
Go to Profile#5929
Chen Chung-hwan
#108309
Overall Influence
1905 - 1992 (87 years)
Chen Chung-hwan , was a scholar of ancient Greek and Western philosophy. In 1924, Chen attended National Southeastern University and graduated from the Department of Philosophy in 1929. He then studied at the University of London in 1930, and later at Berlin University under professors Werner Jaeger, Nicolai Hartmann and Julius Stenzel. He received his doctorate in 1940. After teaching at the National Southwestern Union University , National Central University , and the National Taiwan University in Taipei until 1958, Chen emigrated to the United States, where he taught at Emory University, L...
Go to Profile#5930
Christian-Friedrich Vahl
#58854
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
Christian-Friedrich Vahl is a German cardiac surgeon. He is director of the Clinic for Heart, Thorax and Vascular surgery at the University of Mainz. Biography Vahl studied medicine, art history, philosophy and sociology. He absolved the study of medicine between 1975 and 1981 at the University Hospital of Göttingen and at the University Hospital of Heidelberg. He was scholar of the German National Academic Foundation. From 1979 to 81 Vahl spent an academic year abroad at the University of Madrid. 1986 he e graduated with the medical doctor degree . From 1981 to 84 he made a scientific basic ...
Go to Profile#5931
Stephan E. Mergenhagen
#126340
Overall Influence
#5932
Michael J. Borowitz
#126357
Overall Influence
#5933
Axel Kahn
#126362
Overall Influence
#5934
Andrew Sarris
#22376
Overall Influence
1928 - 2012 (84 years)
Andrew Sarris was an American film critic. He was a leading proponent of the auteur theory of film criticism. Early life Sarris was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Greek immigrant parents, Themis and George Andrew Sarris, and grew up in Ozone Park, Queens. After attending John Adams High School in South Ozone Park , he graduated from Columbia University in 1951 and then served for three years in the Army Signal Corps before moving to Paris for a year, where he became a friend of Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. Upon returning to New York's Lower East Side, Sarris briefly pursued graduat...
Go to Profile#5935
Richard Glenn Fessler
#126370
Overall Influence
#5936
Dwight Gary Gilliland
#126383
Overall Influence
#5937
N. W. Ferrante Kowall
#126387
Overall Influence
#5938
G. E. H. Anscombe
#126389
Overall Influence
#5939
Helen Cross
#108084
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
Judith Helen Cross is a British physician who is the Prince of Wales's Chair of Childhood Epilepsy and Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Neurology at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust. She is also director of the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London and a trustee of Young Epilepsy, in Lingfield.
Go to Profile#5940
Jens Sandahl Christiansen
#126393
Overall Influence
#5941
Stephen J. Marx
#126401
Overall Influence
#5942
Frank Quentin Nuttall
#126403
Overall Influence
#5943
John Micallef
#110085
Overall Influence
1923 - 2003 (80 years)
John Micallef was a Maltese philosopher. Although his thoughts remained philosophically grounded in the Christian tradition, he was primarily interested in existentialism. Life Micallef was born in Victoria, Gozo, one of Malta's subsidiary islands, in 1923. After completing his studies at the Lyceum in Malta, he continued studying at the Gregorian University of Rome. From Gregorian, he acquired a Masters in philosophy. He also studied philosophy at Heythop College in London, England. From the University of London he acquired a Bachelor of Arts in Italian language, and another master's degree in linguistics.
Go to Profile#5944
Ernesto Garzón Valdés
#87790
Overall Influence
1927 - Present (99 years)
Ernesto Garzón Valdés was an Argentine philosopher. He had been a professor of philosophy of law at the universities of Córdoba and La Plata in Argentina and, upon being exiled in Germany during the administration of Isabel Perón and the subsequent dictatorship in Argentina, at the universities of Bonn, Cologne and Mainz. He worked at the embassy of the Republic of Argentina in Bonn as a cultural attaché and as plenipotentiary minister until 1974, when he was expelled from the diplomatic service for political reasons. He then taught legal philosophy at Bonn and Cologne, until he gained a chair in political science at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz in 1981.
Go to Profile#5945
Lisa Hartling
#126438
Overall Influence
#5946
Carl Clinton Foster
#126444
Overall Influence
#5947
Jerome Kohl
#52146
Overall Influence
1946 - 2020 (74 years)
Jerome Joseph Kohl was an American musicologist, academic journal editor, and recorder teacher. A music theorist at the University of Washington, he became recognized internationally as an authority on the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen.
Go to Profile#5948
Christopher S. Ogilvy
#126450
Overall Influence
#5949
John Grange
#98204
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
Professor John Grange died 10 October 2016 was an English immunologist, epidemiologist, researcher, and academic, and was one of Europe's leading tuberculosis specialists. Education Grange was educated at Gresham's School, Holt, Norfolk, and then from 1962 to 1967 at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School of the University of London.
Go to Profile#5950
Ziya Levent Gokaslan
#126465
Overall Influence
