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,
#8151
James P. Morgan
#148991
Overall Influence
#8152
Jack Donald Hardcastle
#148996
Overall Influence
#8153
Kenneth R. Devault
#149006
Overall Influence
#8154
Richard A. Morgan
#149015
Overall Influence
#8155
Arndt Büssing
#149018
Overall Influence
#8156
Shannon M. Dunlay
#149021
Overall Influence
#8157
Paul Michael Ness
#149022
Overall Influence
#8158
Galen B. Toews
#149024
Overall Influence
#8159
H. Mitchell Perry
#149041
Overall Influence
#8160
Vibeke Backer
#149044
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#8161
Mordechai Pras
#149050
Overall Influence
#8162
Nicholas T. Zervas
#149059
Overall Influence
#8163
Costica Bradatan
#117605
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (55 years)
Costică Brădățan is a Romanian-born American philosopher. He is a professor of humanities in the Honors College at Texas Tech University. Also he is an Honorary Research Professor of Philosophy at University of Queensland.
Go to Profile#8164
William J. Koopman
#149073
Overall Influence
#8165
Joseph A. Franciosa
#149085
Overall Influence
#8166
Allen R. Nissenson
#149088
Overall Influence
#8167
Stewart Alan Factor
#149103
Overall Influence
#8168
Leonardo Punzi
#149105
Overall Influence
#8169
Erwin G. Van Meir
#149108
Overall Influence
#8170
Martin M. Lewinter
#149114
Overall Influence
#8171
Gilbert R. Jr. Upchurch
#149117
Overall Influence
#8172
Brigitte Schlegelberger
#149130
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
#8173
Robert Irving Fox
#149140
Overall Influence
#8174
Charles Faiman
#149149
Overall Influence
#8175
Enrico di Robilant
#66689
Overall Influence
1924 - 2012 (88 years)
Enrico di Robilant was an Italian philosopher of law. He taught philosophy of law and political philosophy at the University of Turin , where he had been a follower of Norberto Bobbio. He focused his attention on classical liberalism, Canon Law, libertarian legal theory, and the relationship between Catholicism and Law.
Go to Profile#8176
André De Troyer
#149194
Overall Influence
#8177
Gorou Kajiyama
#149212
Overall Influence
#8178
Jeff Volek
#147613
Overall Influence
Jeff S. Volek is an American kinesiologist and low-carbohydrate diet advocate who focuses on the clinical application of ketogenic diets. Volek obtained a MSc in Exercise Physiology in 1995 and PhD in Kinesiology from Pennsylvania State University in 1999. He is a registered dietitian.
Go to Profile#8179
Lynn T. Landmesser
#149238
Overall Influence
#8180
Darko Tresnjak
#26642
Overall Influence
Darko Tresnjak is a director of plays, musicals, and opera, and winner of several awards, including the Tony Award. He was the artistic director of the Hartford Stage in Connecticut, United States. Early life and education Tresnjak is of Serbian heritage. Tresnjak and his mother moved from Zemun, Yugoslavia to Maryland in 1976. He graduated from Swarthmore College, became a US citizen, and received a master of fine arts degree from Columbia University.
Go to Profile#8181
Barbara Burtness
#142397
Overall Influence
Barbara Ann Burtness is an American internist and oncologist. She is a Anthony N. Brady Professor of Medicine at Yale University and Chief Translational Research Officer at Yale Cancer Center. She is co-director of the Stand Up to Cancer Fanconi Anemia Research Fund-Farrah Fawcett Foundation Head and Neck Cancer Research Team.
Go to Profile#8182
Thomas Boston Clarkson
#149244
Overall Influence
#8183
Patrizio Rigatti
#149264
Overall Influence
#8184
Bruce Kaplan
#149272
Overall Influence
#8185
Kunle Odunsi
#109499
Overall Influence
Adekunle O. Odunsi is an American gynecologic oncologist. In 2020, Odunsi was named the director of the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center. Early life and education Growing up in Nigeria, Odunsi attended the University of Ife for his Bachelor of Science degree and medical degree. Following this, he completed his PhD in immunogenetics at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine.
Go to Profile#8186
Johan Bellemans
#149304
Overall Influence
#8187
Ravi Kant
#25754
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Ravi Kant is a professor of Surgery at Sharda University, who was the director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh from 2017 to 2021 and the Vice Chancellor of King George's Medical University from 2014 to 2017. Earlier he was head of surgery at All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhopal and faculty at Maulana Azad Medical College in New Delhi. The Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri in 2016.
Go to Profile#8188
Ori D. Rotstein
#149336
Overall Influence
#8189
Heather Anne Mckay
#149341
Overall Influence
#8190
Jennifer Kurinczuk
#128674
Overall Influence
Jennifer J. Kurinczuk is a British physician who is a Professor of Perinatal Epidemiology and Director of the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford. In 2019 she was named an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurinczuk investigated the neonatal complications of coronavirus disease.
Go to Profile#8191
Mats Brännström
#149347
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (68 years)
#8192
Jes Bertelsen
#69881
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (80 years)
Jes Bertelsen , Dr. phil. in History of ideas, is a Danish spiritual teacher and author. Since 1982 he has been the leader of Vækstcenteret , which he and his wife at the time, Hanne Kizach, founded in Norre-Snede Municipality, Denmark. His teachings are based on an experiential investigation of the nature of consciousness, using comparative analysis of Eastern and Western spiritual teachings and consciousness practices on a foundation of modern psychological, philosophical and scientific approaches. He teaches in Danish. A number of his books have been translated into German.
Go to Profile#8193
Zhao‐you Tang
#149368
Overall Influence
#8194
Linda Rabeneck
#149369
Overall Influence
#8195
Eric L. Michelson
#149372
Overall Influence
#8196
Brigitte Autran
#149388
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
#8197
Raul Fleischmajer
#149410
Overall Influence
#8198
Gunnar Kahlmeter
#149437
Overall Influence
#8199
Ferdinand Knobloch
#78292
Overall Influence
1916 - 2018 (102 years)
Ferdinand Knobloch CSc.[Cz], F. R. C. P. was a Czech-Canadian psychiatrist and professor emeritus of the University of British Columbia. Knobloch was born in Prague in August 1916. He spent two years in the Flossenbürg concentration camp, and his first wife Zuzana was murdered in Auschwitz. He established, with his second wife, Jirina Knobloch, a type of psychotherapy called integrated psychotherapy . He turned 100 in August 2016 and died in January 2018 at the age of 101.
Go to Profile#8200
Shirley Kaneda
#114992
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
Shirley Kaneda is an abstract painter and artist based in New York City. Early life Shirley Kaneda is an American artist who was born in Tokyo to Korean-born parents. She was educated in English attending The American School in Japan. She came to New York in 1970 to attend Parsons School of Design and has since lived and worked in New York City. She became a naturalized American citizen in 1986.
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