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,
#9801
Ernest G. McClain
#85335
Overall Influence
1918 - 2014 (96 years)
Ernest Glenn McClain was a professor of music at Brooklyn College from 1951 to 1982. McClain is known for his efforts to analyze music in the context of ancient knowledge of mathematics and philosophy.
Go to Profile#9802
Marshall i. Hertz
#166292
Overall Influence
#9803
Pierre-Charles Marcel
#109815
Overall Influence
1910 - 1992 (82 years)
Biography Pierre-Charles Marcel was a leading French Reformed Protestant Christian pastor and philosopher who studied under France's leading evangelical-confessional mind, M. Auguste Lecerf . Marcel was sent to the Netherlands by Lecerf to study Christian philosophy under Herman Dooyeweerd.
Go to Profile#9804
Melissa Little
#109617
Overall Influence
1963 - Present (63 years)
Melissa Helen Little is an Australian scientist and academic, currently Theme Director of Cell Biology, heading up the Kidney Regeneration laboratory at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute. She is also a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, and Program Leader of Stem Cells Australia. In January 2022, she became CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine reNEW, an international stem cell research center based at University of Copenhagen, and a collaboration between the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Murdoc...
Go to Profile#9805
Pier Giorgio Crosignani
#166328
Overall Influence
#9806
Ulrich K. Göbel
#166331
Overall Influence
#9807
Annette Majnemer
#166334
Overall Influence
#9808
Jean-marie Régis
#166339
Overall Influence
#9809
Robert D. Udelsman
#166341
Overall Influence
#9810
Musashi
#20177
Overall Influence
1972 - Present (54 years)
Akio Mori, better known by the name Musashi, is a Japanese former professional karateka and kickboxer. He is a four-time K-1 Japan tournament champion, a former WAKO Heavyweight Muay Thai champion and two-time K-1 World Grand Prix finalist. Following a 14-year career, he announced his retirement at a press conference in Tokyo on August 26, 2009.
Go to Profile#9811
Donald G. Payan
#166373
Overall Influence
#9812
Cees J. Cornelisse
#166384
Overall Influence
#9813
M. M. Mcpartlin
#166385
Overall Influence
#9814
Annibale Volpe
#166389
Overall Influence
#9815
Claude Chastang
#166395
Overall Influence
#9816
Stefano Ponte
#166425
Overall Influence
#9817
Yoshigoro Kuroiwa
#166444
Overall Influence
#9818
Gunnar Hillerdal
#166450
Overall Influence
#9819
Max Ellenberg
#166453
Overall Influence
#9820
Kevin Raymond Loughlin
#166454
Overall Influence
#9821
Anthony B. Nesburn
#166461
Overall Influence
#9822
Vern Thiessen
#62099
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
Vern Thiessen is a Canadian playwright. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Thiessen studied at the University of Winnipeg and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. He later attended the University of Alberta, where he obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree.
Go to Profile#9823
Thomas C. Calcaterra
#166480
Overall Influence
#9824
Dharam P. Singal
#166491
Overall Influence
#9825
Michiaki Mishima
#166509
Overall Influence
#9826
Filippo Maria Santorelli
#166515
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
#9827
Victor Hoffstein
#166526
Overall Influence
#9828
Jürgen Meyer
#166544
Overall Influence
#9829
Dennis F. Bandyk
#166551
Overall Influence
#9830
Anthony Meager
#166573
Overall Influence
#9831
Harry McFarland Bracken
#137292
Overall Influence
1926 - 2011 (85 years)
Harry McFarland Bracken was an American philosopher, a specialist in Descartes and friend of Noam Chomsky. His academic career was framed in relation to his anti-Vietnam War activism. Bracken received a BA in philosophy from Trinity College of Connecticut , an MA in philosophy from The Johns Hopkins University , and a PhD in philosophy from University of Iowa . He held the position of assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Iowa ; Associate Professor of philosophy at University of Minnesota, Minneapolis and then Arizona State University ; and finally Professor of philosophy at McGill University .
Go to Profile#9832
Maarten Frank Bobbert
#166594
Overall Influence
#9833
Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer
#84142
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer is a German sinologist who served as director of the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel between 1993 and 2015. Since 2016 he has been director of China Centrum Tübingen .
Go to Profile#9834
Irwin Jon Russell
#166630
Overall Influence
#9835
J. A. P. Apelqvist
#166633
Overall Influence
#9836
Henk Tideman
#166643
Overall Influence
#9837
J. Gregory Cairncross
#166650
Overall Influence
#9838
Jacques P. Brown
#166660
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
#9839
George Fein
#166676
Overall Influence
#9840
Sharmila Dorbala
#166692
Overall Influence
#9841
Vincenzo Eusebi
#166695
Overall Influence
#9842
Fausto Biancari
#166698
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (58 years)
#9843
Jeremy Freese
#118778
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (55 years)
Jeremy Jay Freese is an American sociologist and author. Work life Freese is a professor of sociology at Stanford University, where he is also the co-leader of the Health Disparities Working Group in the Stanford Center for Population Health Sciences. He previously served as professor of sociology at Northwestern University from 2007 to 2015, where he chaired the Department of Sociology from 2010 to 2013 and served as Ethel and John Lindgren Professor of Sociology from 2013 to 2015.
Go to Profile#9844
William Ted Brown
#166705
Overall Influence
#9845
Otto Duintjer
#136085
Overall Influence
1932 - 2020 (88 years)
Otto Dirk Duintjer was a Dutch philosopher. Life He was born in Amsterdam, where he studied theology at the Free University in Amsterdam and the University of Amsterdam, as well as philosophy at Groningen University. He was an assistant professor at Leiden University from 1960 to 1970, where he obtained his doctorate in philosophy in 1966 with a dissertation entitled The Issue of the Transcendental, Especially in Relation to Heidegger and Kant .
Go to Profile#9846
Eugene J. Carragee
#166743
Overall Influence
#9847
Roland Hagenbüchle
#90825
Overall Influence
1932 - 2008 (76 years)
Roland Hagenbüchle was a scholar for American Studies and cultural philosopher. Life, teaching and research Hagenbüchle studied first architecture at the ETH Zurich and completed a two-year internship in Basel, then linguistics, English and German at the University of Zurich. After studying in Cambridge and Nancy he finished his PH.D. in Zurich 1964. From 1970 to 1972 Hagenbüchle was doctoral fellow at Yale University. In 1974 he finished the habilitation in Zürich.
Go to Profile#9848
Louis Joseph Dell'italia
#166754
Overall Influence
#9849
Steven John Fleck
#166774
Overall Influence
#9850
Anna Taddio
#161943
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (59 years)
Anna Taddio is a Canadian pharmacist. She is a professor in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto, and adjunct senior scientist and clinical pharmacist at SickKids Hospital.
Go to Profile