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,
#8251
O. James Garden
#81979
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
Olivier James Garden, is a British surgeon and academic. He holds the Regius Chair of Clinical Surgery at the University of Edinburgh and the president of the International Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association from 2012 to 2014. Garden performed Scotland's first liver transplant in Edinburgh in 1992 and founded the Scottish Liver Transplant Programme.
Go to Profile#8252
Felix Beuschlein
#149949
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (57 years)
#8253
Robert Luc Brasseur
#149980
Overall Influence
#8254
Harold F. Clark
#149989
Overall Influence
#8255
Ichirou Kurane
#150002
Overall Influence
#8256
Patrick Gullane
#98431
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Patrick Gullane, CM, OOnt, MB, FRCSC, FACS, FRACS , FRCS , FRCSI is a Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and a Professor of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto.
Go to Profile#8257
Michael Luntley
#136967
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
Michael Luntley is a British philosopher and the Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick. He is known for his works on philosophy of thought and Wittgenstein's thought. Selected books Language, Logic and Experience, 1988The Meaning of Socialism, 1989Reason, Truth and Self, 1995Contemporary Philosophy of Thought, Blackwell, 1999Wittgenstein: Meaning and Judgement, Blackwell, 2003Wittgenstein: Opening Investigations, Wiley-Blackwell, 2015
Go to Profile#8258
Richard O. Russell
#150057
Overall Influence
#8259
Knud Kragballe
#150058
Overall Influence
#8260
Raj H. Sindwani
#150076
Overall Influence
#8261
Jean B. Dekernion
#150077
Overall Influence
#8262
George Bentley
#150115
Overall Influence
#8263
Józef Szajna
#33343
Overall Influence
1922 - 2008 (86 years)
Józef Szajna was a Polish set designer, director, playwright, theoretician of the theatre, painter and graphic artist. During the Second World War and occupation of Poland, Szajna was a prisoner of the German concentration camps Auschwitz and Buchenwald.
Go to Profile#8264
Desmond Julian
#84288
Overall Influence
1926 - 2019 (93 years)
Desmond Gareth Julian was a British cardiologist who pioneered the creation of coronary care units. Life He was professor of cardiology at Newcastle University , medical director of the British Heart Foundation and president of the British Cardiovascular Society .
Go to Profile#8265
Shane Jay Nho
#150141
Overall Influence
#8266
Vivien Casagrande
#132864
Overall Influence
1942 - 2017 (75 years)
Vivien Alice Casagrande was a professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Life Casagrande was born in Belmont, Massachusetts to Erna and Arthur Casagrande in 1942. She received her B.S. in psychology from University of Colorado in 1964 and then obtained her PhD from Duke University in 1973 in physiological psychology under the direction of Irving T. Diamond.
Go to Profile#8267
L. T. Jr. Chylack
#150167
Overall Influence
#8268
W. Scott Mcdougal
#150172
Overall Influence
#8269
Martin Zeitz
#150215
Overall Influence
#8270
Rein Willemze
#150223
Overall Influence
#8271
Jean‐luc Raoul
#150229
Overall Influence
#8272
Zoltán Szekanecz
#150253
Overall Influence
#8273
Maree Teesson
#115321
Overall Influence
Maree Rose Teesson , FAAHMS, FASSA, is an Australian expert on mental health. She is the Director of The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use and NHMRC Principal Research Fellow at the University of Sydney. She is also professorial fellow at the Black Dog Institute, UNSW.
Go to Profile#8274
Lesley Regan
#53028
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Dame Lesley Regan is a British gynaecologist, professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Imperial College London and Honorary Consultant at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust at St Mary's Hospital. She was the president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists from 2016 to 2019 – only the second woman to ever hold this role and the first in sixty-four years.
Go to Profile#8275
Ylermi M. J. Soini
#150260
Overall Influence
#8276
Donatella Marazziti
#150268
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
#8277
Felix N. Rutledge
#150272
Overall Influence
#8278
Laura A. Koutsky
#150280
Overall Influence
#8279
Antonio Pelliccia
#150306
Overall Influence
#8280
Robert M. Merion
#150311
Overall Influence
#8281
Ian Brockington
#93354
Overall Influence
1935 - Present (91 years)
Ian Brockington is a British psychiatrist. Education and career Ian Fraser Brockington was educated at Winchester College and Gonville and Caius College Cambridge. He received his medical training at Manchester University. His doctoral thesis was on 'Heart muscle disease'.
Go to Profile#8282
Manjit S. Bains
#150339
Overall Influence
#8283
Jerold S. Harmatz
#150364
Overall Influence
#8284
Oliver F. W. James
#150387
Overall Influence
#8285
Gene P. Siegal
#150426
Overall Influence
#8286
Frans J. Th. Wackers
#150428
Overall Influence
#8287
Manfred Zimmermann
#150430
Overall Influence
#8288
Mahendra S. Rao
#150445
Overall Influence
#8289
Seth Paul Lerner
#150448
Overall Influence
#8290
Alexander L. Greninger
#141301
Overall Influence
Alexander L. Greninger is assistant director of the UW Medicine Clinical Virology Laboratory and a UW assistant professor of Laboratory Medicine. His research is focused on genomic and proteomic characterization of a variety of human viruses and bacteria, with a focus on respiratory viruses and human herpesviruses.
Go to Profile#8291
Philip Agop Philip
#150470
Overall Influence
#8292
Elwin Marg
#54044
Overall Influence
1918 - 2010 (92 years)
Elwin Marg was an American optometrist and neuroscientist at the University of California at Berkeley. He was the first to receive a PhD from UC Berkeley School of Optometry. It was he who gave the name electrooculogram, a technique for measurement of nerve impulse in the eye.
Go to Profile#8293
Curtis J. Mettlin
#150484
Overall Influence
#8294
Leonardo Bolognese
#150509
Overall Influence
#8295
Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng
#47573
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng is a Ghanaian physician and cardiothoracic surgeon who established the National Cardiothoracic Center in Accra, Ghana and the Ghana Red Cross Society. He is also the president of the Ghana Heart Foundation and was the chief executive officer of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.
Go to Profile#8296
Eberhardt Weihe
#150513
Overall Influence
#8297
Samantha Nutt
#19763
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (57 years)
Samantha Joan Nutt is a Canadian physician and philanthropist who is the founder and president of War Child Canada. She has more than sixteen years of experience working in war zones. Her 2011 book Damned Nations: Greed, Guns, Armies and Aid details her work over the course of fifteen years in some of the most devastated regions of the world.
Go to Profile#8298
Jorge Plutzky
#150547
Overall Influence
#8299
Theodore M. Bayless
#150549
Overall Influence
#8300
Faubion Bowers
#17402
Overall Influence
1917 - 1999 (82 years)
Faubion Bowers was an American academic and writer in the area of Asian Studies, especially Japanese theatre. He also wrote the first full-length biography of Russian composer Alexander Scriabin. During the Allied Occupation of Japan, he was General Douglas MacArthur's personal Japanese language interpreter and aide-de-camp.
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