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,
#8001
Göran Hallmans
#118288
Overall Influence
#8002
Ernest Weinrib
#40926
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
Ernest J. Weinrib is a legal academic who works on jurisprudence and legal philosophy, particularly the theory of private law. He teaches at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. Theories In Weinrib's theories he sees the world of private law as being composed of "bilateral relationships between individuals whereby one person's right is always a function of another person's duty".
Go to Profile#8003
Marty Makary
#4772
Overall Influence
Martin Adel Makary is a British-American surgeon, professor, author and medical commentator. He practices surgical oncology and gastrointestinal laparoscopic surgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, is Mark Ravitch Chair in Gastrointestinal Surgery at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and teaches public health policy as Professor of Surgery and Public Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Go to Profile#8004
Johnathan Aicardi
#118304
Overall Influence
#8005
George W. Santos
#56513
Overall Influence
1909 - 2001 (92 years)
George W. Santos was a professor emeritus of oncology and medicine at the School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University. Birth and education George W. Santos was born in 1909. He received his bachelor's degree in quantitative biology from MIT. He completed his master's degree in physical biology from MIT. After his completing his studies at MIT, he received his medical degree and completed a residency and fellowship at Johns Hopkins University.
Go to Profile#8006
Massimo Rugge
#118337
Overall Influence
#8007
Heinrich Glarean
1488 - 1563 (75 years)
Heinrich Glarean also styled Glareanus was a Swiss music theorist, poet and humanist. He was born in Mollis and died in Freiburg im Breisgau. Biography Glarean was born as Heinrich Loriti in Mollis in Canton Glarus to a politician. As a boy, he took care of cattle and received a good education. After a thorough early training in music, Glarean enrolled in the University of Cologne, where he studied theology, philosophy, and mathematics as well as music. It was in Cologne where he held a poem as a tribute to Emperor Maximilian I. Since 1514 he was a teacher for Greek and Latin in Basel, where he met Erasmus and the two humanists became lifelong friends.
Go to Profile#8008
Gilbert Jack
1578 - 1628 (50 years)
Gilbert Jack was Scottish Ramist philosopher and physician. Life He was born in Aberdeen, and studied at Marischal College under Robert Howie. In 1598 he went to the University of Helmstedt. He was professor, later of physics, at the University of Leiden, from 1605. He was dismissed in 1619, suspected of sympathy with the Remonstrants; he was reinstated in 1623.
Go to Profile#8009
Rubin M. Tuder
#118380
Overall Influence
#8010
Mirza Ahmad Ashtiani
1882 - 1975 (93 years)
Mirza Ahmad Ashtiani Iranian Shi'a jurist and philosopher. He taught theology in Tehran for about 40 years. Birth Mirza Ahmad Ashtiani was born in Tehran. He was the fourth and youngest son of Mirza Hassan Ashtiani, a prominent jurist under the reign Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar and Naser al-Din Shah Qajar. He became a jurist and a Shi'a Imam,
Go to Profile#8011
Giulio John D'angio
#118383
Overall Influence
#8012
Gillian M. Keating
#118391
Overall Influence
#8013
Alex C. Michalos
#118402
Overall Influence
#8014
Marshall M. Kaplan
#118405
Overall Influence
#8015
Gordon Anderson
#111839
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (79 years)
Gordon L. Anderson is an American philosopher publishing executive and the author of Philosophy of the United States and Secretary General of Professors World Peace Academy. He is a graduate of Claremont Graduate University, where he earned a doctorate in philosophy of religion in 1986.
Go to Profile#8016
Carol C. Gould
#98497
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
Carol C. Gould is an American philosopher and feminist theorist. Since 2009, she has taught at City University of New York, where she is currently Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Hunter College, and in the Doctoral Programs of Philosophy and Political Science at the CUNY Graduate Center, where she is Director of the Center for Global Ethics and Politics at the Ralph Bunche Institute. Gould is also editor-in-chief of the Journal of Social Philosophy. Her 2004 book Globalizing Democracy and Human Rights received the 2009 David Easton Award which is given by the American Political Scienc...
Go to Profile#8017
Walking Stewart
1747 - 1822 (75 years)
John "Walking" Stewart was an English philosopher and traveller. Stewart developed a unique system of materialistic pantheism. Travels Known as 'Walking' Stewart to his contemporaries for having travelled on foot from Madras, India back to Europe between 1765 and the mid-1790s, Stewart is thought to have walked alone across Persia, Abyssinia, Arabia, and Africa before wandering into every European country as far east as Russia.
Go to Profile#8018
Nathan Wrana And David B. Levin
#118464
Overall Influence
#8019
Edward C. Albuquerque Benzel
#118474
Overall Influence
#8020
Steven j. Burakoff
#118480
Overall Influence
#8021
Erik Nightingale Næsset
#118485
Overall Influence
#8022
Lorenzo Magnani
#94507
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
Lorenzo Magnani , is an Italian philosopher who teaches philosophy of science in the Department of Humanities, Philosophy Section, at the University of Pavia, full professor and director of the Computational Philosophy Laboratory and, since 2023, is also professor on contract of Artificial intelligence and knowledge, a course sponsored by Collegio Cairoli and Collegio Giasone del Maino, Pavia. He has been visiting professor at the Sun Yat-sen University in China. In the event of the 50th anniversary of the re-building of the Philosophy Department of Sun Yat-sen University in 2010, an award w...
Go to Profile#8023
Éliane Amado Levy-Valensi
#70204
Overall Influence
1919 - 2006 (87 years)
Éliane Amado Levy-Valensi was a French-Israeli psychologist, psychoanalyst and philosopher. Biography Éliane Levy-Valensi was born in Marseille to a Jewish family. In 1930 she moved with her parents to Saint-Mandé near Paris.
Go to Profile#8024
Kathryn J. Wood
#118495
Overall Influence
#8025
Nasia Safdar
#118498
Overall Influence
#8026
Catherine C. Marshall
#118503
Overall Influence
#8027
Ham Seok-heon
1901 - 1989 (88 years)
Ham Seok-heon was a notable figure in the Religious Society of Friends movement in Korea, and was nicknamed the "Gandhi of Korea." Ham was an important Asian voice for human rights and non-violence during the 20th century, despite numerous imprisonments for his convictions. He was a Quaker who concluded that all religions are on common ground in terms of human beings, a view shared by many Quakers.
Go to Profile#8028
Jürgen Dr. Engel
#118518
Overall Influence
#8029
John Walter Kusek
#118519
Overall Influence
#8030
Yazdan Yazdanpanah
#36634
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (61 years)
Yazdan Yazdanpanah is an Iranian born infectiologist who is head of the Infectious Disease department at Bichat–Claude Bernard Hospital. He was Professor of Medicine at Paris Diderot University. He became an MD from the Lille School of Medicine in 1996, obtained a Master of Science in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health in 2000, and completed a PhD in public health from the Bordeaux School of Public Health in 2002.
Go to Profile#8031
Eduardo H. Bancalari
#118533
Overall Influence
#8032
Sibylle Loibl*
#118534
Overall Influence
#8033
Noni MacDonald
#58371
Overall Influence
Noni E. MacDonald is a Canadian physician. She is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and former Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University. In 2019, MacDonald was awarded the Order of Nova Scotia and Order of Canada.
Go to Profile#8034
Walter H Kaye
#118549
Overall Influence
#8035
Paul N. Durrington
#118569
Overall Influence
#8036
Barron H. Lerner
#40116
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
Barron H. Lerner is an American member of the faculty at the New York University Langone School of Medicine. He received his M.D. from Columbia in 1986 and his Ph.D. in history from the University of Washington in 1996. In addition to his research, Lerner practices internal medicine and teaches medical ethics and the history of medicine.
Go to Profile#8037
Prakash C. Deedwania
#118579
Overall Influence
#8038
Karin B. Nelson
#118581
Overall Influence
#8039
Donna Dickenson
#79710
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (80 years)
Donna L. Dickenson is an American philosopher who specializes in medical ethics. She is Emeritus Professor of Medical Ethics and Humanities at the University of London, fellow of the Ethox and HeLEX Centres at the University of Oxford, and visiting fellow at the Centre for Ethics in Medicine, University of Bristol.
Go to Profile#8040
Mark L. Entman
#118597
Overall Influence
#8041
Charles Blount
1654 - 1693 (39 years)
Charles Blount was an English deist and philosopher who published several anonymous essays critical of the existing English order. Life Blount was born in Upper Holloway, Islington, Middlesex, the fourth son of Sir Henry Blount. His father educated him at home and exposed him to freethinking philosophy. In 1672 Charles inherited lands in Islington and the estate of Blount's Hall in Staffordshire. He married Eleanor Tyrrell in Westminster Abbey at the end of 1672; they had three sons and a daughter. Throughout his life he remained at Blount's Hall as a leisured gentleman, although he also ...
Go to Profile#8042
Scipione Riva-Rocci
1863 - 1937 (74 years)
Scipione Riva Rocci was an Italian internist, pathologist and pediatrician. He is best known for the invention of an easy-to-use cuff-based version of the mercury sphygmomanometer for the measurement of blood pressure.
Go to Profile#8043
Stephane Marie Oudard
#118620
Overall Influence
#8044
Kåre Berg
#43266
Overall Influence
1932 - 2009 (77 years)
Kåre Ingmar Berg, MD was a Norwegian professor in medical genetics, physician-in-chief and well-cited researcher. Education and positions Kåre Berg was born in Hammerfest. He graduated as MD in 1957 and dr.med. in 1964 at the University of Oslo. From 1964 to 1967 he was a fellow researcher at Rockefeller University, New York.
Go to Profile#8045
Christine Battersby
#114782
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (80 years)
Christine Battersby FRSA is a British philosopher and Reader Emerita in Philosophy at the University of Warwick. She was the visiting Fleishhacker Chair of Philosophy at the University of San Francisco during April 2013. Battersby is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She is known for her research on feminist aesthetics.
Go to Profile#8046
David F. Mcdermott
#118648
Overall Influence
#8047
Michel P. Ducreux
#118675
Overall Influence
#8048
Lennart Hardell
#52307
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (82 years)
Lennart Hardell , is a Swedish oncologist and professor at Örebro University Hospital in Örebro, Sweden. He is known for his research into what he says are environmental cancer-causing agents, such as Agent Orange, and has said that cell phones increase the risk of brain tumors.
Go to Profile#8049
James A. Russell
#118695
Overall Influence
#8050
Paul Lee
#28640
Overall Influence
Paul Lee was a professor of existential and religious philosophy living in Santa Cruz, California. He was chair of the Romero Institute . While an assistant professor of Humanities at MIT in the 1960s, Lee was a founding editor of the infamous Psychedelic Review, started by Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert at Harvard.
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