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,
#9651
Tore Saxne
#164832
Overall Influence
#9652
Alfred Dürr
#25460
Overall Influence
1918 - 2011 (93 years)
Alfred Dürr was a German musicologist. He was a principal editor of the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, the second edition of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Professional career Dürr studied musicology and Classical philology at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen from 1945 to 1950. He wrote his thesis about Bach's early cantatass. From 1951 until his retirement in 1983 he was an employee of the Johann Sebastian Bach Institute in Göttingen, West Germany, from 1962 to 1981 its deputy director. His work involved collaboration with colleagues in East Germany. He was a principal editor of the...
Go to Profile#9653
Tapani Luukkainen
#164859
Overall Influence
#9654
Linheng Li
#164867
Overall Influence
#9655
Dietrich Niethammer
#164884
Overall Influence
#9656
Alireza Minagar
#164890
Overall Influence
#9657
Maurice S. Albin
#164900
Overall Influence
#9658
Brian Earp
#120776
Overall Influence
Brian David Earp is an American bioethicist, philosopher, and interdisciplinary researcher. He is best known for his writings on intersex medical interventions, circumcision, and drug use in the United States. He is currently associate director of the Yale-Hastings Program in Ethics and Health Policy at Yale University and The Hastings Center, and a Research Fellow at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics.
Go to Profile#9659
Ignazio Olivieri
#164906
Overall Influence
#9660
Jerome I. Kleinerman
#164911
Overall Influence
#9661
John Hyttel
#164912
Overall Influence
#9662
Renzo Galanello
#164914
Overall Influence
#9663
Bryan Talmadge Kelly
#164925
Overall Influence
#9664
Gretel Ammann
#62651
Overall Influence
1947 - 2000 (53 years)
Margarita Ammann Martínez, better known as Gretel Ammann was a Spanish philosopher, essayist, activist, radical feminist, and lesbian separatist. She was a pioneer of feminism in Barcelona. Early years and education Margarita Ammann Martínez was born in Donostia. Her mother was Basque and her father was Austrian, a fugitive from Nazi Germany. When she was two years old, the family moved to Barcelona, where she lived the rest of her life. From childhood, she was trained in different artistic disciplines, including writing, drawing, photography and music. During her baccalaureate and elementary...
Go to Profile#9665
Albert M. Lerner
#164929
Overall Influence
#9666
Patrick Croskerry
#164935
Overall Influence
#9667
Herbert J. Kayden
#164952
Overall Influence
#9668
Elisabeth Shane
#164971
Overall Influence
#9669
Lawrence J. Burgart
#164989
Overall Influence
#9670
Victor E. Koteliansky
#165002
Overall Influence
#9671
Yasumasa Monden
#165010
Overall Influence
#9672
Lennart Angervall
#165018
Overall Influence
#9673
Atanasio Pandiella
#165019
Overall Influence
#9674
Nathan Michael Bass
#165020
Overall Influence
#9675
Douglas Brian Sawyer
#165023
Overall Influence
#9676
Kirkwood F. Jr. Adams
#165043
Overall Influence
#9677
Daisuke Aoki
#165075
Overall Influence
#9678
Minoru Ueda
#165076
Overall Influence
#9679
Mark Joseph Franklin Haykowsky
#165083
Overall Influence
#9680
Gordon Gamsu
#165092
Overall Influence
#9681
John Arthur Parsons
#165109
Overall Influence
#9682
Amund Gulsvik
#165127
Overall Influence
#9683
Etsuro Mori
#165148
Overall Influence
#9684
Leisha Ann Emens
#165151
Overall Influence
#9685
Girish N. Vyas
#165164
Overall Influence
#9686
Naomi Lynn Gerber
#153969
Overall Influence
Naomi Lynn Gerber is an American internist and physician-scientist who researches chronic illness, human movement, and the treatment of fatigue. She is a professor at George Mason University in the department of health administration and policy and director of research in the department of medicine at Fairfax Hospital Inova Health System.
Go to Profile#9687
Vay Liang W. Go
#165167
Overall Influence
#9688
Ali S. Salim
#165190
Overall Influence
#9689
Roger B. Cohen
#165192
Overall Influence
#9690
Frank Plummer
#49871
Overall Influence
1952 - 2020 (68 years)
Francis Allan Plummer was a Canadian scientist, academic and HIV/AIDS researcher. He was "a recognized specialist in infectious diseases whose work influenced public health policy in Canada and abroad". He was Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Medical Microbiology at the University of Manitoba and Scientific Director General, National Microbiology Laboratory.
Go to Profile#9691
Sheldon A. Magder
#165195
Overall Influence
#9692
Nobuhiro Watsuki
#31770
Overall Influence
1970 - Present (56 years)
, better known by his pen name , is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his samurai-themed series Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story , which has over 70 million copies in circulation and a sequel he is currently creating titled Rurouni Kenshin: The Hokkaido Arc . He has written three more series, the western Gun Blaze West , the supernatural Buso Renkin , and the horror manga Embalming -The Another Tale of Frankenstein- . Watsuki has mentored several well-known manga artists, including One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda, Hiroyuki Takei of Shaman King fame, and Mr. Fullswing ...
Go to Profile#9693
William Scott Helton
#165201
Overall Influence
#9694
Steven David Schaefer
#165205
Overall Influence
#9695
Charles‐edouard Luyt
#165212
Overall Influence
#9696
Sergei i. Grivennikov
#165218
Overall Influence
#9697
Shannon Bell
#96892
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
Shannon Bell is a Canadian performance philosopher who lives and writes philosophy-in-action, experimental philosophy. Bell is also professor and graduate programme director in the York University Political Science Department, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She teaches postmodern theory, fast feminism, sexual politics, cyber politics, identity politics and violent philosophy.
Go to Profile#9698
Jonathan C.t. Carlson
#165225
Overall Influence
#9699
Taiji Tsukamoto
#165228
Overall Influence
#9700
Dale C. Snover
#165237
Overall Influence
