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,
#6351
Dario Campana
#130883
Overall Influence
#6352
Herbert Young Reynolds
#130896
Overall Influence
#6353
Martin J. Lohse
#80947
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Martin J. Lohse is a German physician and pharmacologist. Career Lohse performs ongoing research on G protein-coupled receptors. Since 1993, he is a Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Würzburg, Germany, and he was the Founding Chairman of the Rudolf Virchow Center . From 2016 to 2019, he was Chairman of the Board and Scientific Director of the Max Delbrück Center in Berlin, a national research center of the Helmholtz Association for molecular medicine. In 2017, he also became Speaker of the Board of the Berlin Institute of Health, a joint research center of the Max Delbrück Center...
Go to Profile#6354
Sven Erik K. Dahlén
#130905
Overall Influence
#6355
Jane Harding
#106384
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
Dame Jane Elizabeth Harding is a New Zealand academic new-born intensive case specialist . She was awarded the Rutherford Medal in 2019. Harding is the incoming president of the New Zealand national academy of sciences, the Royal Society Te Apārangi, with her term beginning in July 2024.
Go to Profile#6356
Timothy E. Mcalindon
#130922
Overall Influence
#6357
Jose‐ramón González‐juanatey
#130924
Overall Influence
#6358
Paul Bach‐y‐rita
#130947
Overall Influence
#6359
Clifton F. Mountain
#130957
Overall Influence
#6360
Dorothy Hewett
#25510
Overall Influence
1923 - 2002 (79 years)
Dorothy Coade Hewett was an Australian playwright, poet and author, and a romantic feminist icon. In writing and in her life, Hewett was an experimenter. As her circumstances and beliefs changed, she progressed through different literary styles: modernism, socialist realism, expressionism and avant garde. She was a member of the Australian Communist Party in the 1950s and 1960s, which informed her work during that period.
Go to Profile#6361
Donald P. Pinkel
#131029
Overall Influence
#6362
Andrew Sawyer
#42401
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
Andrew "Andy" Sawyer is a librarian, critic and editor, as well as an active part of science fiction fandom . He was educated at the Duke of York's Royal Military School, Dover and the University of East Anglia. He is married with two daughters.
Go to Profile#6363
Pauline Yu
#50532
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
Pauline Yu is an American scholar of Chinese literature and culture noted for her contributions to the study of classical Chinese poetry and comparative literature. She is also known for her research and advocacy on issues in the humanities.
Go to Profile#6364
Samuel I. Rapaport
#131056
Overall Influence
#6365
Sultan M. M. Karim
#131063
Overall Influence
#6366
Alberto Priori
#129149
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Alberto Priori is an Italian neurologist, academic, and author. He is a Professor of Neurology at the University of Milan, Director of Neurology 1 Unit at San Paolo Hospital, and the Founder and Coordinator of Aldo Ravelli Center of the University of Milan. He also serves as President of the Neurophysiopatology Tecniques Course, and Professor of Postgraduate Schools - Medicine, Healthcare, Dental Medicine at the same University.
Go to Profile#6367
Lai Wei
#131094
Overall Influence
#6368
Gösta Tibblin
#131096
Overall Influence
#6369
Robert J. Soiffer
#131123
Overall Influence
#6370
Eulamius
#88364
Overall Influence
Eulamius , born in Phrygia, was, along with Damascius, one of the Athenian philosophers who sought asylum at the court of Khosrau I of Persia in 531/532 when Byzantine emperor Justinian I closed down the last pagan philosophical schools in Athens. Eulamius was disappointed in Persia and ultimately returned to Byzantium in 532 together with other Greek philosophers, protected by a treaty that guaranteed their safety. His name appears as Eulalios in the Suda and as Eulamios in the historical works of Agathias.
Go to Profile#6371
Manfred Paul Dierich
#131167
Overall Influence
#6372
Andreas Schneeweiss
#131168
Overall Influence
#6373
Yue-si Wang
#131179
Overall Influence
#6374
Gunnar Alksnis
#95614
Overall Influence
1931 - 2011 (80 years)
Gunnar Alksnis was a Latvian-American philosopher and theologian who was specialized in ethics and history of philosophy. Biography Alksnis was born as Gunārs Alksnis on July 1, 1931, in Riga, the capital of Latvia. His parents were John Edward Alksnis and Elza Alksnis. The Alksnis family came to the United States in 1949. In 1955 Gunnar Alksnis received a Bachelor of divinity degree. One year later he was ordained as a minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America at Trinity Church in Russell County, Kansas. He married Pauline Elizabeth Krug in 1957. The couple had two children, J...
Go to Profile#6375
Jack B. Penney
#131197
Overall Influence
#6376
Jalid Sehouli
#131209
Overall Influence
#6377
Ewa Orłowska
#61569
Overall Influence
1935 - Present (91 years)
Stella Ewa Orłowska is a Polish logician. Her research centers on the concept that everything in logic and set theory can be expressed in terms of relations, and has used this idea to publish works on deduction systemss and model theory for non-classical logic, and logics of non-deterministic and incomplete information. She is a professor at the in Warsaw, and the former president of the Polish Association for Logic and Philosophy of Science.
Go to Profile#6378
Éva Horváth
#131234
Overall Influence
#6379
Rupert Wegerif
#62140
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (67 years)
Rupert Wegerif is a professor of education at the University of Cambridge in England. Overview Prof. Wegerif is a writer and researcher in the field of dialogic education and dialogic education with technology. He has proposed a dialogic theory of education for the Internet Age, and conducted research on education technology as a support for teaching dialogue in classrooms as well as designing for dialogue with the Internet. He was the founder of the Elsevier journal Thinking Skills and Creativity and lead editor until 2017. He is founder and director of the Digital Education Futures Initiati...
Go to Profile#6380
Kenneth Dale Burman
#131259
Overall Influence
#6381
James Robb
#81960
Overall Influence
1918 - 1993 (75 years)
James Harry Robb was a professor of philosophy at Marquette University, and was considered an expert in medieval philosophy and of the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas. Biography James H. Robb was born on April 25, 1918, in Bena, Minnesota, to James Gilbert Robb and Anna Hauck Robb. He attended St. Cloud State Teachers College, completing his Bachelor of Science degree in English and psychology in 1940. After two years of teaching high school English, Robb entered the Army Signal Corps during the Second World War. He served as an officer in the China, India, and Burma theaters until his discharge in 1946.
Go to Profile#6382
Henrique Barros
#131280
Overall Influence
#6383
Martin R. Bennett
#131286
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
#6384
Mark A. Mandelkern
#131289
Overall Influence
#6385
Alan H. Horwich
#131290
Overall Influence
#6386
John W. Kebabian
#131315
Overall Influence
#6387
Sekar Kathiresan
#131330
Overall Influence
#6388
Alfredo Arrigo Sadun
#131345
Overall Influence
#6389
R. Clement Iii Darling
#131351
Overall Influence
#6390
Richard A. Gatti
#131355
Overall Influence
#6391
Margaret Hedstrom
#38931
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
Margaret L. Hedstrom is an American archivist who is the Robert M. Warner Collegiate Professor of Information at the University of Michigan School of Information. She has contributed to the field of digital preservation, archives, and electronic records management and holds a doctorate in history from the University of Wisconsin.
Go to Profile#6392
Craig S. Niederberger
#131386
Overall Influence
#6393
Morris A. Blajchman
#131416
Overall Influence
#6394
Alain E. Reinberg
#131446
Overall Influence
#6395
Gedong Bagus Oka
#47907
Overall Influence
1921 - 2002 (81 years)
Gedong Bagus Oka was a Hindu reformer and philosopher in Indonesia. She was one of the foremost authorities on Agama Hindu Dharma and started the Parisada Hindu Dharma Indonesia movement in the 1980s. She was a recipient of the 1994 Jamnalal Bajaj Award.
Go to Profile#6396
Isidró Ferrer
#131487
Overall Influence
#6397
Jerry L. Mclaughlin
#131560
Overall Influence
#6398
Donald Talbot Downing
#131563
Overall Influence
#6399
William Ira Bensinger
#131566
Overall Influence
#6400
Umberto Veronesi
#54355
Overall Influence
1925 - 2016 (91 years)
Umberto Veronesi was an Italian oncologist, physician, scientist and politician, internationally known for his contributions on prevention and treatment of breast cancer throughout a career spanning over fifty years.
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