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,
#8851
Cornelius L. E. Katona
#156234
Overall Influence
#8852
M. A. Hamilton Russell
#156253
Overall Influence
#8853
Judith Hoffberg
#74801
Overall Influence
1934 - 2009 (75 years)
Judith Hoffberg was a librarian, archivist, lecturer, a curator and art writer, and editor and publisher of Umbrella, a newsletter on artist's books, mail art, and Fluxus art. Biography Hoffberg received a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1956. She went on to get an M.A. in Italian Language and Literature in 1960 and an M.L.S. from the UCLA School of Library Service in June 1964.
Go to Profile#8854
Anthony van den Pol
#123437
Overall Influence
1949 - 2020 (71 years)
Anthony N. van den Pol was Professor of Neurosurgery at Yale University. van den Pol received his PhD from Yale in 1977 and did postdoctoral work at Oxford University, Semmelweis University, and Stanford University. He did research in neuropharmacology, neuroanatomy, and neurophysiology, seeking to understand the basic cellular mechanisms of the normal and diseased brain, and thereby find the treatments of brain disorders.
Go to Profile#8855
Scott Kenneth Durum
#156264
Overall Influence
#8856
Rodolfo Saracci
#156270
Overall Influence
1936 - Present (90 years)
#8857
Rulan Chao Pian
#45862
Overall Influence
1922 - 2013 (91 years)
Rulan Chao Pian , née Rulan Chao , was an ethnomusicologist and scholar of Chinese language and literature and was one of the first ten female full professors in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University.
Go to Profile#8858
Fulco Van Der Veen
#156273
Overall Influence
#8859
John C. Hoak
#156301
Overall Influence
#8860
Jens Robert Chapman
#156304
Overall Influence
#8861
Isaac Ben-Israel
#46895
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
#8862
Leo T. Furcht
#156306
Overall Influence
#8863
Syed Abdul Sayeed
#133191
Overall Influence
Syed Abdul Sayeed is an Indian philosopher and professor of philosophy at The English and Foreign Languages University. He previously taught in Aligarh Muslim University for eighteen years. Sayeed received his PhD in 1985 from IIT Kanpur.
Go to Profile#8864
J. D. Hardcastle
#156310
Overall Influence
#8865
Rebecca A. Taub
#156329
Overall Influence
#8866
William Fuller Fearon
#156339
Overall Influence
#8867
Hans Rudolf Baumgartner
#156351
Overall Influence
#8868
Jacques Eugene Rossouw
#156357
Overall Influence
#8869
Keisuke Asai
#156381
Overall Influence
#8870
Robert a. Eisenberg
#156401
Overall Influence
#8871
David E. Fleischer
#156408
Overall Influence
#8872
Heiko Hermeking
#156424
Overall Influence
#8873
Henry H. Bohlman
#156521
Overall Influence
#8874
George Nuki
#156529
Overall Influence
#8875
Robert L. Murphy
#104032
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Robert Leo Murphy is an American infectious disease physician and professor of medicine. He is the John Philip Phair Professor of Infectious Diseases at Northwestern University where he serves as executive director of the Institute for Global Health and the Center for Global Communicable Diseases. Murphy earned a MD at the Stritch School of Medicine in 1978. He completed a medical residency and fellowship at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Go to Profile#8876
Eulalia Pérez Sedeño
#106836
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
Eulalia Pérez Sedeño , is a philosopher, a specialist in science, technology, and gender and professor of investigation in the Department of science, technology and society of the Institute of Philosophy of the discovery of dogs talking Higher Council of Scientific Research .
Go to Profile#8877
Eugene Lee
#37677
Overall Influence
1939 - 2023 (84 years)
Eugene Edward Lee was an American set designer who worked in film, theater, and television. He was the production designer for Saturday Night Live from the show's premiere in 1975 until his death, with the exception of seasons 6-10 . Lee became resident designer at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1967.
Go to Profile#8878
Hiroshi Matsuda
#156587
Overall Influence
#8879
Frédéric Francis
#156612
Overall Influence
#8880
Douglas J. Carnall
#156616
Overall Influence
#8881
Rafael Alfonso Figueroa Díaz
#156619
Overall Influence
#8882
Michael Oellerich
#156620
Overall Influence
#8883
Raymond Victor Rajotte
#156643
Overall Influence
#8884
Steinar Tretli
#156673
Overall Influence
#8885
Mary C. Dinauer
#156696
Overall Influence
#8886
Hideyuki Akaza
#144862
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (80 years)
is a Japanese urologist and an author of more than 17 peer-reviewed articles. He graduated from the University of Tokyo and became a professor in urological oncology there. He also served as a professor emeritus at the University of Tsukuba and was a President of both the Asia Pacific Society of Urological Oncology and the 20th Asia Pacific Cancer Conference. From 2005 to 2009 he was a member of both the Japanese Urological Association and the Japan Society of Clinical Oncology in which he started participating in 2006.
Go to Profile#8887
Peter F. Whitington
#156730
Overall Influence
#8888
Joseph P. Kriss
#156742
Overall Influence
#8889
Nanette Mutrie
#156762
Overall Influence
#8890
Nikos Sypsas
#59879
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
Nikos Sypsas is a Greek academic and medical doctor specialized in infectious diseases from Nafpaktia, Greece. He is primarily known for his participation in the scientific committee of the Greek government for the coronavirus pandemic 2019-20. He has authored and co-authored numerous papers for scientific journals and has an H-index of 32.
Go to Profile#8891
Annette Rid
#138697
Overall Influence
Annette Rid is a bioethicist and physician-scientist specialized in research ethics, global health ethics, and justice in health and health care. She works at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center.
Go to Profile#8892
Ian C. Talbot
#156781
Overall Influence
#8893
Beverly Winikoff
#156785
Overall Influence
#8894
Jenell A. Roberts
#156795
Overall Influence
#8895
Udo Jonas
#156801
Overall Influence
#8896
Peter Brossart
#156812
Overall Influence
#8897
Thierry Ponchon
#156828
Overall Influence
#8898
Albert P. Rocchini
#156842
Overall Influence
#8899
Judith Krug
#40847
Overall Influence
1940 - 2009 (69 years)
Judith Fingeret Krug was an American librarian, freedom of speech proponent, and critic of censorship. Krug became director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association in 1967. In 1969, she joined the Freedom to Read Foundation as its executive director. Krug co-founded Banned Books Week in 1982.
Go to Profile#8900
Michael E. Bertrand
#156851
Overall Influence
