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,
#9451
Thomas H. Lee
#162856
Overall Influence
#9452
Augustus D. Mazzocca
#162861
Overall Influence
#9453
Cynthia E. Dunbar
#153522
Overall Influence
Cynthia Dunbar is an American scientist and hematologist at the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute , which is part of the National Institutes of Health . She is the Branch Chief of the Translational Stem Cell Biology Branch.
Go to Profile#9454
Hajo A. Bruining
#162872
Overall Influence
#9455
Donald. R. Stanski
#162876
Overall Influence
#9456
Joseph D. Schulman
#76554
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (85 years)
Joseph Daniel Schulman is a physician, medical researcher, and biomedical entrepreneur in the fields of genetic diseases and human reproduction. Life Schulman was born in 1941 in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1966 and trained in pediatrics, genetics, and obstetrics & gynecology at Massachusetts General Hospital, the National Institutes of Health, and Cornell-New York Hospital Medical Center. Schulman worked at Cambridge University with Drs. Robert Geoffrey Edwards and Patrick Steptoe, contributing to the development of the first methods for successful human in-vitro fertilization .
Go to Profile#9457
Peter John Mckenna
#162894
Overall Influence
#9458
Brian Manning Delaney
#115977
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (61 years)
Brian Manning Delaney is a venture investor and researcher in the biogerontology space. Delaney is a partner at the longevity biotech venture fund Emerging Longevity Ventures. Previously he was a philosophy professor and translator of the works of Hegel. He divides his time between Stockholm and the U.S.
Go to Profile#9459
Lyubomir Ivanov
#73652
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
Lyubomir Ivanov is a Bulgarian scientist, non-governmental activist, and Antarctic explorer. He is a graduate of the St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia with M.S. degree in mathematics in 1977, earned his PhD from Sofia University in 1980 under the direction of Dimiter Skordev, with a dissertation titled Iterative Operative Spaces, and was the 1987 winner of Acad. Nikola Obreshkov Prize, the highest Bulgarian award in mathematics.
Go to Profile#9460
Laurence W. Bassett
#162957
Overall Influence
#9461
Michael S. Makaroun
#162960
Overall Influence
#9462
Jean E. Chastre
#162966
Overall Influence
#9463
Richard A. Proctor
#162976
Overall Influence
#9464
George T. Tindall
#162980
Overall Influence
#9465
Charles Le. Vogel
#162990
Overall Influence
#9466
Gunnar O. Klein
#163012
Overall Influence
#9467
Nathan Judson Mcdannold
#163014
Overall Influence
#9468
Roel Kuiper
#130282
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Roelof Kuiper is a Dutch historian, philosopher, ideologue, politician and university professor. He was from 2007 to 2019 a member of the Dutch Senate, and is professor of Reformational philosophy at the Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam in the name of the Association for Reformational philosophy, teaching Society Issues at the Christelijke Hogeschool Ede and Gereformeerde Hogeschool Zwolle and Political and social philosophy at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam .
Go to Profile#9469
Colin Escott
#27981
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
Colin Escott is a British music historian and author specializing in early U.S. rock and roll and country music. His works include a biography of Hank Williams, histories of Sun Records and The Grand Ole Opry, liner notes for more than 500 albums and compilations, and major contributions to stage and television productions. Honors include multiple Grammy Awards and a Tony Award nomination.
Go to Profile#9470
Roderick Macdonald
#163024
Overall Influence
#9471
Garyy D. Webb
#163026
Overall Influence
#9472
Christopher E. Cann
#163036
Overall Influence
#9473
Leo J. Hofland
#163039
Overall Influence
#9474
Elizabeth Plimack
#151490
Overall Influence
Elizabeth R. Plimack is an American medical oncologist. She is a professor in the Department of Hematology/Oncology and Chief of the Division of Genitourinary Medical Oncology at the Fox Chase Cancer Center. In these roles, she researches the treatment of genitourinary malignancies with a focus on bladder and kidney cancers.
Go to Profile#9475
Guido Silvestri
#163052
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
#9476
Timothy R. Sterling
#163064
Overall Influence
#9477
Giovanni Apolone
#163066
Overall Influence
#9478
Hans Olaf Bang
#163075
Overall Influence
#9479
Brian P. Kavanagh
#163099
Overall Influence
#9480
Pierre‐françois Plouin
#163119
Overall Influence
#9481
Dale H. Rice
#163125
Overall Influence
#9482
Daniel Ross
#118813
Overall Influence
1970 - Present (56 years)
Daniel Ross is an Australian philosopher and filmmaker, best known as the author of Violent Democracy and the co-director of the film The Ister . His work is influenced by Bernard Stiegler, and he is a translator or co-translator of numerous texts by Stiegler, including eleven books.
Go to Profile#9483
Marcel M. Verbeek
#163178
Overall Influence
#9484
Sunkara Balaparameswara Rao
#22078
Overall Influence
1928 - 2019 (91 years)
Sunkara Balaparameswara Rao was an Indian neurosurgeon. He is regarded as the 'father of neurosurgery in united Andhra Pradesh'. He started the first Department of Neurosurgery in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh in April 1956. He received the Dr. B. C. Roy award in 1989.
Go to Profile#9485
Arnfried Edler
#104835
Overall Influence
1938 - 2022 (84 years)
Arnfried Edler is a German musicologist and university faculty in Kiel and Hanover. Life Born in Lüdenscheid, Edler studied music, German literary history and philosophy in Saarbrücken and Kiel and also took the A-Examen for Protestant Church Music at the Musikhochschule Köln in 1964. After completing his doctorate in historical musicology in 1968 and his legal clerkship for teaching at grammar schools, he worked from 1969 as a research assistant, head of the student cantor's office and university organist in Kiel with simultaneous teaching duties at the Lübeck Academy of Music.
Go to Profile#9486
Robert Laurence Jilka
#163192
Overall Influence
#9487
Björn L. Rydevik
#163194
Overall Influence
#9488
Walter W. Benjamin
#163207
Overall Influence
#9489
Jun‐ichi Kuratsu
#163212
Overall Influence
#9490
Emile Letournel
#163214
Overall Influence
#9491
Edward B. Diethrich
#163220
Overall Influence
#9492
Richard Mortensen
#44256
Overall Influence
1910 - 1993 (83 years)
Richard Mortensen was a Danish painter. Biography Richard Strange Mortensen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He studied between 1931 and 1932 at the Royal Danish Academy of Art in Copenhagen. Influenced by the works of Wassily Kandinsky, he developed an abstract art style. In Copenhagen, Mortensen was joint founder of the "Linien" school of abstract painters.
Go to Profile#9493
George W. Paulson
#163252
Overall Influence
#9494
Nicholas Gerard Smedira
#163254
Overall Influence
#9495
Markus Antonius Kuczyk
#163265
Overall Influence
#9496
Terence Bennett
#163270
Overall Influence
#9497
Teruhiko Wakayama
#163290
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (59 years)
#9498
John Fuller
#25640
Overall Influence
1937 - Present (89 years)
John Fuller FRSL is an English poet and author, and Fellow Emeritus at Magdalen College, Oxford. Biography Fuller was born at Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom, the son of poet and Oxford Professor Roy Fuller, and educated at St Paul's School and New College, Oxford.
Go to Profile#9499
Dick Oepkes
#163307
Overall Influence
#9500
Joachim Prof Dr Heyder
#163314
Overall Influence
