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,
#6851
Michael W. Austin
#120366
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (57 years)
Michael W. Austin is an American philosopher and Professor of Philosophy at Eastern Kentucky University. He is known for his works on moral philosophy and philosophy of religion. Books Football and Philosophy: Going DeepGod and Guns in AmericaWise Stewards: Philosophical Foundations of Christian ParentingBeing Good: Christian Virtues for Everyday LifeCycling - Philosophy for Everyone: A Philosophical Tour de ForceCoffee - Philosophy for Everyone: Grounds for DebateRunning and Philosophy: A Marathon for the MindFatherhood - Philosophy for Everyone: The Dao of DaddyConceptions of Parenthood: Et...
Go to Profile#6852
Claude C. Schulman
#135834
Overall Influence
#6853
Noopur S. Raje
#135844
Overall Influence
#6854
Loren George. Hepler
#135851
Overall Influence
#6855
Michael A. Lemp
#135854
Overall Influence
#6856
Helmuth Gadner
#135872
Overall Influence
#6857
Hilary Lawson
#92594
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
Hilary Lawson is an English philosopher and founder of the Institute of Art and Ideas. His theory of "closure" puts forward a non-realist metaphysics arguing that people close the openness of the world with thought and language. Lawson has also had a broadcasting and documentary film-making career and founded Television and Film Productions, now known as TVF Media.
Go to Profile#6858
Prudence Allen
#106174
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (86 years)
Sister Mary Prudence Allen is an American philosopher who converted to Catholicism and joined the Religious Sisters of Mercy. In 2014 she was appointed to the International Theological Commission for a five-year term by Pope Francis. Her areas of specialization include the history of philosophy, philosophical anthropology, philosophy of woman, existentialism, and personalism. Areas of competence include metaphysics, philosophy of God, epistemology and logic.
Go to Profile#6859
Ming Cho Lee
#32663
Overall Influence
1930 - 2020 (90 years)
Ming Cho Lee was a Chinese-American theatrical set designer and professor at the Yale School of Drama. Personal life Lee was born on Oct. 3, 1930, in Shanghai, China to Lee Tsu Fa and Tang Ing. Lee, whose father was a Yale University graduate , moved to the United States in 1949 and attended Occidental College.
Go to Profile#6860
Raffaele Lattes
#135916
Overall Influence
#6861
Cees G. M. Kallenberg
#135920
Overall Influence
#6862
James Richard Neely
#135923
Overall Influence
#6863
Roberta A. Hauser
#135927
Overall Influence
#6864
Stacey E. Mills
#135938
Overall Influence
#6865
Francis Saviour Farrugia
#70017
Overall Influence
Francis Saviour Farrugia was a minor Maltese philosopher, doctor of law, and legislator. He specialised in jurisprudence . Life Unfortunately it is yet not known in what year Farrugia was born or died. Nor from which town or city in Malta he hailed.
Go to Profile#6866
Effy Vayena
#111086
Overall Influence
1972 - Present (54 years)
Eftychia Vayena is a Greek and Swiss bioethicist. Since 2017 she has held the position of chair of bioethics at the Swiss Institute of Technology in Zurich, ETH Zurich. She is an elected member of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences.
Go to Profile#6867
Hans‐jürgen Wester
#136002
Overall Influence
#6868
Masahiro Hiraoka
#136014
Overall Influence
#6869
Nelson Michael
#50356
Overall Influence
Nelson L. Michael is an American infectious disease researcher. He has served for nearly 30 years in the United States Army and been directly involved with significant advancements in understanding the pathology of and vaccine development for diseases like HIV, Zika, Ebola and more. Much of his career has been spent at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
Go to Profile#6870
Mark Caulfield
#71244
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
Sir Mark Jonathan Caulfield MD, FRCP, FESC, FPharm, FBHS, FMedSci is a British genomic medicine researcher and Warden of Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry. He is the professor of Clinical Pharmacology at the William Harvey Research Institute in Queen Mary University of London. He was awarded a knighthood in the 2019 Birthday Honours.
Go to Profile#6871
Ansgar Torvik
#126109
Overall Influence
1925 - 2019 (94 years)
Ansgar Torvik was a Norwegian physician. He was born in Lesja and finished his secondary education in 1945. He took the dr.med. degree ar the University of Oslo in 1958. He also studied in Sweden, and was a research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He was assistant chief physician at Ullevål Hospital, docent and professor of neuropathology at the University of Oslo. He was a fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
Go to Profile#6872
David Fraser
#136045
Overall Influence
#6873
Harold J. Wanebo,
#136058
Overall Influence
#6874
Bruce Molitoris
#88234
Overall Influence
Bruce Molitoris, MD, FASN, is a past President of the American Society of Nephrology . He is Professor of Medicine, Director of Nephrology and Director of the Indiana Center for Biological Microscopy at Indiana University.
Go to Profile#6875
Glyn Garfield Jamieson
#136077
Overall Influence
#6876
Richard John Kryscio
#136091
Overall Influence
#6877
Godfrey S. Getz
#136096
Overall Influence
#6878
Herbert Lochs
#33914
Overall Influence
1946 - 2015 (69 years)
Prof. Herbert Lochs, MD was a prominent German and Austrian medical doctor and scientist. After graduating from the University of Innsbruck Medical School, Austria he completed his residency at the Institute of Pharmacology at the University of Innsbruck. Then he moved to Vienna for the internship in internal medicine and became Assistant professor for internal medicine and gastroenterology at the Medical Faculty of the University of Vienna in 1973. He received Board Accreditation for Internal Medicine by the Austrian Medical Association.
Go to Profile#6879
Doron Lancet
#72069
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
Doron Lancet is an Israeli human geneticist. He is the Ralph D. and Lois R. Silver Professor of Human Genomics and head of the Crown Human Genome Center at the Weizmann Institute of Science. He is known for researching the genetic basis of olfaction, and for developing the human genetics database GeneCards.
Go to Profile#6880
Stephanie J. Schrag
#136135
Overall Influence
#6881
Donald D. Evans
#116333
Overall Influence
1927 - 2018 (91 years)
Donald Dwight Evans was a Canadian educator, psychotherapist, and spiritual counsellor. Born in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Evans obtained a B.A. from the University of Toronto in 1950, following which he earned a B.Phil. from Oxford University and a B.D. from McGill University. He was ordained as a pastor in the United Church of Canada in 1955. He was a professor of divinity at the University of Toronto from 1960 to 1964 , an associate professor of philosophy from 1964 to 1968, and full professor from 1968 until 1993.
Go to Profile#6882
Peter L. Lantos
#136158
Overall Influence
#6883
Peter Dunn
#87464
Overall Influence
1929 - 2021 (92 years)
Peter MacNaughton Dunn, FRCP, FRCOG, FRCPCH was an English paediatrician. Dunn was most notable for introducing into the UK the Gregory box in 1971, that provides Continuous positive airway pressure in the treatment of infant respiratory distress syndrome of the newborn and conducting research into Hip dysplasia and fetal adaptation to extrauterine life. Dunn was also notable for being known for founding the charity association British Association of Perinatal Medicine.
Go to Profile#6884
Steven D. Glassman
#136166
Overall Influence
#6885
Akiko Tamakoshi
#136178
Overall Influence
#6886
Jennifer Walden
#49583
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (55 years)
Jennifer Lee Walden is an American plastic surgeon, author, and entrepreneur. She is one of the first doctors to use laser machines to do a "a high volume of labiaplasties and vaginoplasties." Harper’s Bazaar listed Walden as one of the Best Beauty Surgeons in 2014. Walden is a member of Modern Aesthetics’ and Plastic Surgery Practice’s editorial board of Directors, and one of the few women to be elected to serve on the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Board of Directors. She became the first female president of The Aesthetic Society in 2022.
Go to Profile#6887
Robert S. Cohen
#136201
Overall Influence
#6888
Ammar Al-Chalabi
#126259
Overall Influence
Ammar Al-Chalabi is Professor of Neurology and Complex Disease Genetics at the Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute at King's College London, where he is also head of the Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience and Director of the King's Motor Neuron Disease Research Centre. In 2020, he received the Forbes Norris Award from the International Alliance Of Als/Mnd Associations and was a co-winner of the Healey Center International Prize for Innovation in ALS. His other awards include the Sheila Essey Award from the American Academy of Neurology and the Charcot Young Investigator Award from the Motor Neurone Disease Association.
Go to Profile#6889
Nigel David Heaton
#136252
Overall Influence
#6890
Steven Robert Goldring
#136257
Overall Influence
#6891
William H. Mcbride
#136270
Overall Influence
#6892
Andrew I. Schafer
#136292
Overall Influence
#6893
Enrico Mugnaini
#136293
Overall Influence
#6894
Roger D. Weiss
#136299
Overall Influence
#6895
Story Musgrave
#3201
Overall Influence
1935 - Present (91 years)
Franklin Story Musgrave is an American physician and a retired NASA astronaut. He is a public speaker and consultant to both Disney's Imagineering group and Applied Minds in California. In 1996, he became only the second astronaut to fly on six spaceflights, and he is the most formally educated astronaut with six academic degrees. Musgrave is the only astronaut to have flown aboard all five Space Shuttles.
Go to Profile#6896
Sven Hammarström
#136313
Overall Influence
#6897
Rachel McCleary
#22580
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
Rachel M. McCleary is a lecturer in the Economics Department at Harvard University and a non-resident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Biography McCleary has a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Chicago, a Master of Theological Studies from Emory University and a B.A. from Indiana University. Her work is interdisciplinary with theoretical grounding in the fields of political science, sociology and economics. Within these disciplines, she conducts research on the political economy of religion. Her research focuses on how religion interacts with economic performance and the political and social behavior of individuals and institutions across societies.
Go to Profile#6898
Keith M. Kerr
#136335
Overall Influence
#6899
Adèle Van Reeth
#105788
Overall Influence
1982 - Present (44 years)
Adèle Van Reeth is a French philosopher, radio producer and columnist. Life Studies, family Van Reeth is the only daughter in a family of four children. She is of Flemish origin by her paternal grandfather. Daughter of an archivist, she moved a lot in her childhood due to her father's assignments.
Go to Profile#6900
William Luhr
#91420
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (80 years)
William Luhr is an American film author and professor and the author of such works as Thinking About Movies: Watching, Questioning, Enjoying, World Cinema Since 1945: An Encyclopedic History and Returning to the Scene. He is also currently a professor of English at Saint Peter's College in Jersey City, New Jersey.
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