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,
#9251
Karin Scharffetter‐kochanek
#160701
Overall Influence
#9252
Bruce Beresford
#34033
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (86 years)
Bruce Beresford is an Australian film director and screenwriter. He has made more than 30 feature films over a 50-year career, both locally and internationally in the United States. Beresford's films include Breaker Morant , Tender Mercies , Crimes of the Heart and Driving Miss Daisy , which won four Academy Awards including Best Picture.
Go to Profile#9253
Carlo Gambacorti-Passerini
#72715
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Carlo Gambacorti-Passerini is an Italian oncologist and hematologist known for his contributions to cancer research. He is Professor of Internal Medicine and Hematology at the University of Milan Bicocca in Italy and Director of the Hematology Department at S. Gerardo Hospital, Monza, Italy. He was Senior Investigator and Head of the Oncogenic Fusion Proteins Unit at the National Cancer Institute, Milan Italy from 1990 to 2003, and Professor of Oncology and Hematology at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from 2004 to 2007.
Go to Profile#9254
Dean J. Tuma
#160708
Overall Influence
#9255
Manfred Clynes
#69392
Overall Influence
1925 - 2020 (95 years)
Manfred Edward Clynes was an Austrian-born scientist, inventor, and musician. He is best known for his innovations and discoveries in the interpretation of music, and for his contributions to the study of biological systems and neurophysiology.
Go to Profile#9256
Elizabeth A. Musgrove
#160735
Overall Influence
#9257
Yuichi Kumahara
#160771
Overall Influence
#9258
Thomas Wichmann
#160776
Overall Influence
#9259
Harriet Mayanja-Kizza
#53477
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
Harriet Mayanja-Kizza, MBChB, MMed, MSc, FACP, is a Ugandan physician, researcher, and academic administrator. She is the former Dean of Makerere University School of Medicine, the oldest medical school in East Africa, established in 1924.
Go to Profile#9260
Dr. Donald S. Gann
#160790
Overall Influence
#9261
Liam Donaldson
#6714
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
Sir Liam Joseph Donaldson is a British doctor. He was formerly the Chief Medical Officer for England, being the 15th occupant of the post since it was established in 1855. As such, he was principal advisor to the United Kingdom Government on health matters and one of the most senior officials in the National Health Service .
Go to Profile#9262
Waleed Aly
#69213
Overall Influence
1978 - Present (48 years)
Waleed Aly is an Australian television presenter, journalist, academic, and lawyer. Aly is a lecturer in politics at Monash University working in their Global Terrorism Research Centre, and a co-host of Network Ten's news and current affairs television program The Project. He also writes for Fairfax Media, co-hosts The Minefield, an ABC RN program about ethical dilemmas of modern life, and is lead guitarist in rock band Robot Child.
Go to Profile#9263
Lucia Altucci
#160812
Overall Influence
#9264
Ezra Heymann
#76375
Overall Influence
1928 - 2014 (86 years)
Ezra Heymann was a philosopher and university professor. Career Born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire to a German family of Jewish descent, during the 1940s his family avoided deportation to Transnistria while living in Czernowitz during his youth thanks to the protection of Traian Popovici. In 1946 Heymann began studies in Philosophy and Literature at the University of Bucharest, then to the University of Vienna and in 1947 to the University of Heidelberg where he completed his doctoral degree under Hans-Georg Gadamer. In 1953 he emigrated to Uruguay teaching at the "Instituto de Profesores Artigas" and at the University of the Republic until Juan María Bordaberry came into power.
Go to Profile#9265
Keith O'Nions
#17091
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (82 years)
Sir Robert Keith O'Nions FRS HonFREng , is a British scientist and ex-President & Rector of Imperial College London. He is the former Director General of the Research Councils UK as well as Professor of the Physics and Chemistry of Minerals and Head of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford.
Go to Profile#9266
David W. Eisele
#160816
Overall Influence
#9267
Kazuhisa Taketa
#160833
Overall Influence
#9268
Sven Norbert Reske
#160844
Overall Influence
#9269
Chia–ming Chu
#160849
Overall Influence
#9270
Gary L. Grunkemeier
#160850
Overall Influence
#9271
Michael J. Lamonte
#160858
Overall Influence
#9272
David A. Ahlquist
#160868
Overall Influence
#9273
John Jeffrey Carr
#160891
Overall Influence
#9274
Warren Winkelstein
#160916
Overall Influence
#9275
Carol R. Bradford
#88018
Overall Influence
Carol R. Bradford is an American otolaryngologist. She is the 15th dean of the Ohio State University College of Medicine and vice president for Health Sciences at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
Go to Profile#9276
Bernard Amor
#160940
Overall Influence
#9277
Michael Floyd Sorrell
#160947
Overall Influence
#9278
Leonard Kaufman
#160948
Overall Influence
#9279
Yutaka Kohgo
#160960
Overall Influence
#9280
Joaquín Sánchez‐sotelo
#160975
Overall Influence
#9281
A. Stewart Truswell
#160980
Overall Influence
#9282
Christopher H. Crane
#160989
Overall Influence
#9283
Thomas Sakmar
#36115
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Thomas P. Sakmar is an American physician-scientist and the former acting president of The Rockefeller University. Prior to becoming acting president he was associate dean for graduate studies in the Tri-Institutional MD–PhD Program.
Go to Profile#9284
Dr. Daniel S. Longnecker
#161016
Overall Influence
#9285
Stanley Robert Parker
#161022
Overall Influence
#9286
David S. Rampton
#161026
Overall Influence
#9287
Gottlob Frege
#161027
Overall Influence
#9288
Kiyoshi Miyai
#161038
Overall Influence
#9289
Martin Schaller
#161045
Overall Influence
#9290
Alexander Khoruts
#161059
Overall Influence
#9291
Brian Berman
#161073
Overall Influence
#9292
Ahmed Hamed Kissebah
#161099
Overall Influence
#9293
Oscar H. Gandy Jr.
#41169
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (81 years)
Oscar H. Gandy Jr., retired since 2006, is a scholar of the political economy of information who was the Herbert Schiller Professor of Communication studies at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania. His work spans many subjects, including privacy, race, information technology, media framing, media development, and educational subsidy.
Go to Profile#9294
Arthur James Mcadams
#161117
Overall Influence
#9295
Gregory Alan Otterson
#161119
Overall Influence
#9296
Elizabeth Elliott
#80773
Overall Influence
Elizabeth Jane Elliott is an Australian clinician scientist. She is a Member of the Order of Australia , for services to paediatrics and child health, as well as an Elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science , Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW, and Fellow of the Academy of Child and Adolescent Health. She was the first female to win the James Cook Medal, awarded by the Royal Society of NSW for contributions to human welfare. She is a Distinguished Professor of paediatrics at the University of Sydney and a Consultant Paediatrician at the Sydney Children’s Hospitals...
Go to Profile#9297
Ethan A. Halm
#161129
Overall Influence
#9298
Sebastian Suerbaum
#161142
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
#9299
Taketoshi Ono
#161148
Overall Influence
#9300
George John Yuri Broze
#161169
Overall Influence
