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,
#9351
Peter Marynen
#161759
Overall Influence
#9352
Douglas Husak
#108227
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
Douglas N. Husak is an American legal philosopher, academic and author. He is a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and co-directs the Institute for Law and Philosophy at Rutgers University. Husak has authored over 100 scholarly articles and 6 books. He has conducted research on the intersection between moral philosophy and the substantive criminal law, focusing especially on criminalization decisions and the moral limits of the criminal sanction. Husak's books include The Philosophy of Criminal Law: Selected Essays, Overcriminalization: The Limits of the Criminal Law, Legalize This! The C...
Go to Profile#9353
Joseph L. Pater
#161789
Overall Influence
#9354
Nuno Lunet
#161795
Overall Influence
#9355
Andrew P. Goldberg
#161809
Overall Influence
#9356
Neil A. Kurtzman
#161811
Overall Influence
#9357
Lon R. White,
#161814
Overall Influence
#9358
Stuart J. Shankland
#161816
Overall Influence
#9359
Tristan Dongbo Yan
#161828
Overall Influence
#9360
Donald Everett Schmechel
#161846
Overall Influence
#9361
Sergio Luigi Chierchia
#161852
Overall Influence
#9362
Elizabeth Eva Leach
#65965
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (55 years)
Elizabeth Eva Leach is a British musicologist and music theorist who specializes in medieval music, especially that of the fourteenth century. Much of her scholarship concerns the life and work of Guillaume de Machaut.
Go to Profile#9363
Frederick W. Cheney
#161889
Overall Influence
#9364
Tobias Pischon
#161906
Overall Influence
#9365
John Dwyer
#68703
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (87 years)
John Michael Dwyer, is an Australian doctor, professor of medicine, and public health advocate. He was originally a Professor of Medicine and Paediatrics, then Head of the Department of Clinical Immunology at Yale University. Returning to Australia, he became Head of the Department of Medicine and the Clinical Dean at the University of New South Wales and Director of Medicine at Sydney's Prince of Wales Hospital, the University's major teaching hospital, for over twenty years. In retirement he is an Emeritus Professor of Medicine of the University. He founded the Australian Health Care Reform Alliance, and was the founding president of the Friends of Science in Medicine until 2019.
Go to Profile#9366
Pavlos K. Toutouzas
#161927
Overall Influence
#9367
O. H. Howard Frazier
#161930
Overall Influence
#9368
Charles Lenwood Nelson
#161931
Overall Influence
#9369
Mark D. Jordan
#96393
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
Mark D. Jordan is a scholar of Christian theology, European philosophy, and gender studies. He is currently the Richard Reinhold Niebuhr Research Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School and Professor of the Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
Go to Profile#9370
Karl E. Hammermeister
#162009
Overall Influence
#9371
Peter A. Angeles
#115300
Overall Influence
1931 - 2004 (73 years)
Peter Adam Angeles was an American philosopher and atheist writer. Angeles was born in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. He obtained his BA, MS and PhD from Columbia University. He taught philosophy at the University of Western Ontario for 14 years. He taught philosophy at University of California, Santa Barbara on a Canada Council Fellowship. He moved to Santa Barbara in 1970. He was Professor and Chairman of the Department of Philosophy at Santa Barbara City College .
Go to Profile#9372
Antoine O. Andremont
#162015
Overall Influence
#9373
Gary W Small
#162016
Overall Influence
#9374
Naomi Eilan
#93345
Overall Influence
Naomi Eilan is a British philosopher and professor of philosophy at the University of Warwick, whose works concern consciousness, philosophy of mind, metaphysics and philosophy of psychology. Eilan completed her doctorate at the University of Oxford in 1988, with the dissertation Self-consciousness and experience. She was president of the European Society for Philosophy and Psychology for 2010 to 2014.
Go to Profile#9375
Guy Prof Dr Dr Dirheimer
#162042
Overall Influence
#9376
Severino Elias Ngoenha
#119128
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Severino Elias Ngoenha is a Mozambican philosopher working in the area of Political philosophy. He is one of the main Portuguese-speaking African philosophers, along with other thinkers such as the Mozambican philosopher José Castiano, the Mozambican social theorist Elísio Macamo and the Angolan philosopher Filipe Cahungo.
Go to Profile#9377
Eric A. Rose
#162069
Overall Influence
#9378
Jeanne A. Teresi
#162080
Overall Influence
#9379
Robert J. Bache
#162086
Overall Influence
#9380
Raman Gokal
#162087
Overall Influence
#9381
Francis A. Fitzpatrick
#162108
Overall Influence
#9382
J. David Bristow
#162127
Overall Influence
#9383
Erich Minar
#162128
Overall Influence
#9384
Paul G. Horgan
#162137
Overall Influence
#9385
Daniel Leech-Wilkinson
#96343
Overall Influence
Daniel Leech-Wilkinson is a musicologist, who is Emeritus Professor of Music at King's College London. He studied composition, harpsichord and the organ at the Royal College of Music, and then completed an M.Mus at King's College London specialising in 15th-century music. He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge, on the topic of 14th century compositional processes.
Go to Profile#9386
Philip B. Mcglave
#162155
Overall Influence
#9387
Danny Rischin
#162156
Overall Influence
#9388
Robert I. White
#162168
Overall Influence
#9389
Stanley C. Deresinski
#162180
Overall Influence
#9390
Laurie Glimcher
#24884
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
Laurie Hollis Glimcher is an American physician-scientist who was appointed president and CEO of Dana–Farber Cancer Institute in October 2016. She was elected a Member of the American Philosophical Society in 2019.
Go to Profile#9391
Richard L. P. Custer
#162200
Overall Influence
#9392
Arthur S. Kling
#162208
Overall Influence
#9393
Jean‐marie Desmonts
#162244
Overall Influence
#9394
Norio Matsuki
#162247
Overall Influence
#9395
Edward M. Wojtys
#162249
Overall Influence
#9396
Vallerie V. Mclaughlin
#162250
Overall Influence
#9397
Karl‐heinz Grzeschik
#162256
Overall Influence
#9398
Paul Kelly
#119547
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Paul Joseph Kelly is Professor of Political Philosophy at the London School of Economics and Political Science , and Head of the Department of Government. Research Kelly’s early work and main contribution as a historian of political theory was as part of a group of revisionist Bentham scholars, having worked on the manuscripts at the Bentham Project at University College London. Kelly rejected the common claim that Bentham was a crude act-utilitarian. Instead, he argued that Bentham developed a complex two-level utilitarian theory similar to those of contemporary indirect utilitarian theorists such as R. M.
Go to Profile#9399
Neil John Mchugh
#162265
Overall Influence
#9400
Felix Unger
#21818
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (80 years)
Felix Unger is a heart specialist who served as the president of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts for three decades. He is the president of Alma Mater Europaea. In 1986 he performed the first artificial heart transplantation in Europe.
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