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 …
See additional learning tools, study tips, features on campus life and much more at our Student Resources Headquarters.
List of the most influential people in Philosophy,
#7001
Robert D. Timmerman
#137279
Overall Influence
#7002
Greg Dawes
#103403
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Gregory Dawes is a distinguished professor of Latin American Studies at North Carolina State University. He has written on Latin American studies and literary theory and is the editor of A Contracorriente, an online academic journal dedicated to approaching social history and Latin American literature from a left-wing perspective, and managing editor of Editorial A Contracorriente, the Journal's publishing spin-off.
Go to Profile#7003
Patricia Thompson
#72754
Overall Influence
1926 - 2016 (90 years)
Patricia J. Thompson , also known as Yelena Vladimirovna Mayakovskaya , was an American philosopher and author of more than 20 books. She was one of the two known children of the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, the other being Gleb-Nikita Lavinsky . This fact was kept a secret until 1991.
Go to Profile#7004
Donald. G. Mitchell
#137319
Overall Influence
#7005
Giovanni Corrao
#137324
Overall Influence
#7006
Vic Dudman
#122036
Overall Influence
1935 - 2009 (74 years)
Victor Howard Dudman was an Australian logician based at Macquarie University. Born in Sydney, he was greatly influenced by Willard Van Orman Quine on whose work he based his undergraduate logic courses.
Go to Profile#7007
Ian Hargreaves
#19499
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
Ian Richard Hargreaves CBE is Professor Emeritus at Cardiff University, Wales, UK. Career His career in British journalism includes several beats at the Financial Times, as well as Directorship of BBC News & Current Affairs, Editorship of The Independent, and Editorship of the New Statesman.
Go to Profile#7008
Kjetil Søreide
#137426
Overall Influence
1977 - Present (49 years)
#7009
Krystal Tsosie
#23144
Overall Influence
Dr. Krystal Tsosie is a Navajo geneticist and bioethicist at Arizona State University and activist for Indigenous data sovereignty. She is also an educator and an expert on genetic and social identities. Her advocacy and academic work in ameliorating disparities in genetics through community-based participatory research has been covered by various national news sources, including The New York Times, Nova, The Washington Post, NPR, The Atlantic, Forbes, and The Boston Globe.
Go to Profile#7010
Victor Aboyans
#137432
Overall Influence
#7011
Roman Z. Jaeschke
#137442
Overall Influence
#7012
Arthur Z. Eisen
#137445
Overall Influence
#7013
Joan Donovan
#22952
Overall Influence
Joan Donovan is an American social science researcher and assistant professor at the College of Communication, Boston University. She was previously a researcher and lecturer at Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, an affiliate at Data and Society, and was research director of the Technology and Social Change Research Project at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.
Go to Profile#7014
Murray M. Pollack
#137454
Overall Influence
#7015
Javad Sharifi‐rad
#137475
Overall Influence
#7016
Douglas D. Koch
#137478
Overall Influence
#7017
J. Donald Woodruff
#137492
Overall Influence
#7018
Jasvinder K Gambhir
#27012
Overall Influence
Jasvinder K Gambhir is an Indian doctor, researcher and professor in the fields of clinical biochemistry, diabetology and cardiology. Dr Gambhir completed her master's in biochemistry in 1972 from Punjab University and PhD from Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research She has an experience in the field of over 40 years. She is Senior professor and Head of Department, Biochemistry at University College of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and Senior Professor at School of Medical Sciences and Research Noida. Dr. Gambhir is also a member of American Association of Clinical Chemistry ...
Go to Profile#7019
Daniel R. Rudman
#137530
Overall Influence
#7020
Alfred A. Rimm
#137536
Overall Influence
#7021
Otto-martin Hess
#137548
Overall Influence
#7022
David L. Robertson
#137552
Overall Influence
#7023
Gerald M. Rosen
#137560
Overall Influence
#7024
Gary Gerstenblith
#137562
Overall Influence
#7025
Steven M. Gorelick
#137581
Overall Influence
#7026
Ross Honeywill
#50969
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
Ross Honeywill is an Australian social scientist. His books have been published in the US, China, Australia and New Zealand. An Adjunct Associate Professor in business and economics, Honeywill is Chairman of the Social Intelligence Lab, based in Melbourne Australia. He has a PhD from the University of Tasmania.
Go to Profile#7027
Gert Riethmüller
#137591
Overall Influence
#7028
Osamu Ogawa
#137593
Overall Influence
#7029
Charlotte Werndl
#120181
Overall Influence
Charlotte Werndl is an Austrian philosopher. She holds a chair in logic and philosophy of science at the University of Salzburg and a visiting professorship at the London School of Economics. Werndl is known for her works on philosophy of science and is a winner of Cushing Memorial Prize in History and Philosophy of Physics .
Go to Profile#7030
Jonathan Van-Tam
#17400
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
Professor Sir Jonathan Stafford Nguyen Van-Tam is a British healthcare professional specialising in influenza, including its epidemiology, transmission, vaccinology, antiviral drugs and pandemic preparedness.
Go to Profile#7031
Alan N. Houghton
#137623
Overall Influence
#7032
David Rae Harder
#137686
Overall Influence
#7033
Karol Sikora
#14649
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
Karol Sikora is a British physician specialising in oncology, who has been described as a leading world authority on cancer. He was a founder and medical director of Rutherford Health, a company that provided proton therapy services, and is Director of Medical Oncology at the Bahamas Cancer Centre.
Go to Profile#7034
J. R. Anthony Mitchell
#137714
Overall Influence
#7035
Sandro Barni
#137724
Overall Influence
#7036
June Purvis
#15226
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (86 years)
June Purvis is an emeritus professor of women's and gender history at the University of Portsmouth. From 2014-18, Purvis was Chair of the Women’s History Network UK and from 2015-20 Treasurer of the International Federation for Research in Women’s History. She organized at the University of Portsmouth on 31st August–1st September 2018 the Women's History Network Annual conference on the Campaigns for Women’s Suffrage: National and International Perspectives. She edits the journal Women's History Review.
Go to Profile#7037
Angelo Auricchio
#137751
Overall Influence
#7038
Theodore H. Stanley
#137767
Overall Influence
#7039
Peeyush K. Lala
#137770
Overall Influence
#7040
Sondra Crosby
#64920
Overall Influence
Sondra Crosby is an American medical doctor and Professor of Medicine at Boston University, specializing in internal medicine. She is also a faculty member of the Health Law, Bioethics and Human Rights department at the Boston University School of Public Health. Crosby is notable for being one of the first doctors allowed to travel to Guantanamo to independently examine Guantanamo captives.
Go to Profile#7041
Wendy Demark-Wahnefried
#130293
Overall Influence
Wendy Demark-Wahnefried is currently employed as a professor, the chair of nutritional sciences, and the associate director for cancer prevention at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In the past she was employed in the Medical Center at Duke University. Demark-Wahnefried’s training is rooted mostly in biochemistry, behavioral science, and genetics. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 1978 where she earned her bachelor's degree in Nutritional science and Biochemistry. She currently serves as a member of different panels that are very prominent in the field of cancer research.
Go to Profile#7042
Michael J. Solomon
#137798
Overall Influence
#7043
Michael Field
#111261
Overall Influence
1933 - 2014 (81 years)
Michael Field was an American gastroenterologist celebrated for his work on diarrhea. Biography Born in London and raised in Hamburg until the age of 5, Field and his family fled Germany the day before Kristallnacht and relocated to Pueblo, Colorado. He obtained his medical doctorate from Boston University Medical School in 1959, after first completing a degree in English literature at the University of Chicago, and conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School before joining the faculty as associate professor of medicine. Field returned to the University of Chicago as professor i...
Go to Profile#7044
Horst-Eberhard Richter
#22234
Overall Influence
1923 - 2011 (88 years)
Horst-Eberhard Richter was a German psychoanalyst, psychosomatist and social philosopher. The author of numerous books was also regarded by many as the große alte Mann of the Federal German Peace movement.
Go to Profile#7045
Esther M. John
#137822
Overall Influence
#7046
Jens Volkmann
#137852
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (59 years)
#7047
Matthew M. Davis
#137856
Overall Influence
#7048
Carol Meyers
#29243
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (84 years)
Carol Lyons Meyers is an American feminist biblical scholar. She is the Mary Grace Wilson Professor Emerita of Religious Studies at Duke University. Meyers' field of research is focused on biblical studies, archaeology in the Middle East, and the study of women in the biblical world.
Go to Profile#7049
Joseph E. Bavaria
#137886
Overall Influence
#7050
Thomas Reilly
#137890
Overall Influence
