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,
#10451
Ethylin Wang Jabs
#37588
Overall Influence
Ethylin Wang Jabs is an American physician and scientist with expertise in medical genetics, pediatrics, and craniofacial biology. She is currently vice chair of the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center. Jabs is also a professor in the departments of developmental and regenerative biology and pediatrics at Mount Sinai and an adjunct professor in pediatrics, medicine, and surgery at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Her research and clinical practice have focused on development genetics and patients with birth defects.
Go to Profile#10452
John Buster
#36387
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (85 years)
John Edmond Buster is an American physician who, while working at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, directed the research team that performed the first embryo transfer from one woman to another resulting in a live birth. It was performed at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, reported in July 1983, and culminated in the announcement of the birth on February 3, 1984. In the procedure, an embryo that was just beginning to develop was transferred from the woman in whom it had been conceived by artificial insemination to another woman who gave birth to the infant 38 weeks later.
Go to Profile#10453
Alan Tyson
#24517
Overall Influence
1926 - 2000 (74 years)
Alan Walker Tyson, was a Glasgow-born British musicologist who specialized in studies of the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven. He wrote the Thematic catalogue of the works of Muzio Clementi which appeared in 1967 at Hans Schneider of Tutzing/Germany, with no following editions up to date. Tyson was Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford, and a Fellow of the British Academy.
Go to Profile#10454
Gerald M. Pohost
#139867
Overall Influence
#10455
Helmuth Baumgartner
#139871
Overall Influence
#10456
Xavier Lacroix
#100181
Overall Influence
1947 - 2021 (74 years)
Xavier Lacroix was a French philosopher and theologian. He was a professor of philosophy and moral theology at the Catholic University of Lyon.
Go to Profile#10457
Iris Zalaudek
#139899
Overall Influence
#10458
Claire Hopkins
#116777
Overall Influence
Claire Hopkins is a British Ear, Nose & Throat surgeon at Guy's Hospital and Professor of Rhinology at King's College London. She is the President of the British Rhinological Society. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hopkins successfully campaigned to have anosmia recognised as a symptom of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom.
Go to Profile#10459
Kurt Sternberg
1885 - 1942 (57 years)
Kurt Max Julius Sternberg was a Neo-Kantian German philosopher, author, and Holocaust victim. Biography Sternberg was born in Berlin, studied with the Neo-Kantian philosophers Alois Riehl and Friedrich Paulsen, and published on academic philosophy and liberal politics. Sternberg engaged in Neo-Kantian debates over the natural sciences and cultural sciences in Zur Logik der Geschichtswissenschaft . He rejected the pessimism of Oswald Spengler in Idealismus und Kultur . He also wrote works on literary and political figures such as Gerhart Hauptmann, Heinrich Heine, and Walther Rathenau. Later...
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Andre I. Calin
#139935
Overall Influence
#10461
Peter J. Davies
#89993
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (86 years)
Peter John Davies is a professor emeritus of Plant Physiology in the Departments of Plant Biology and Horticulture at Cornell University who is notable for his work on plant development, plant hormones, and in educating the public on agricultural technology and genetically modified organisms as a Jefferson Science Fellow from 2011 to 2014. As a Jefferson Science Fellow Davies monitored developments in agriculture and food security, monitored the status of biotech crops in Europe, and provided input to promote the acceptance of these crops on a scientific basis.
Go to Profile#10462
Karl Y. Bilimoria
#139958
Overall Influence
#10463
David T. Purtilo
#139959
Overall Influence
#10464
Matila Ghyka
1881 - 1965 (84 years)
Prince Matila Costiescu Ghyka , was a Romanian naval officer, novelist, mathematician, historian, philosopher, academic and diplomat. He did not return to Romania after World War II, and was one of the most significant members of the Romanian diaspora. His first name is sometimes written as Matyla.
Go to Profile#10465
Jonathan Campbell Meakins
1882 - 1959 (77 years)
Jonathan Campbell Meakins was a Canadian physician and medical author and member of the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. In authorship he is known as J. C. Meakins. He published over 160 works, including the textbook The Practice of Medicine. He was also the founder and first president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He was the Dean of the McGill University's Faculty of Medicine from 1941-1948.
Go to Profile#10466
Sharon Lewin
#76778
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Sharon Ruth Lewin , is an Australian physician who is the inaugural Director of The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity . She is also a Professor of Medicine at The University of Melbourne, a National Health and Medical Research Council Practitioner Fellow, Director of the Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics, and President of the International AIDS Society .
Go to Profile#10467
Daniel Stuart Kapp
#140013
Overall Influence
#10468
Oscar Howard Frazier
#140017
Overall Influence
#10469
Elizabeth M. Mcnally
#140022
Overall Influence
#10470
Richard Rufus of Cornwall
Richard Rufus was a Cornish Franciscan scholastic philosopher and theologian. Life Richard Rufus who studied at Paris and at Oxford starting from the 1220s. He became a Franciscan around 1230. Rufus was one of the first medieval philosophers to write on Aristotle and his commentaries are the earliest known among those which have survived. He also wrote influential commentaries on Peter Lombard's Sentences. Rufus was influenced by Robert Grosseteste, Alexander of Hales, Richard Fishacre, and Johannes Philoponus, and in turn influenced Bonaventure and Franciscus Meyronnes. Roger Bacon was a fe...
Go to Profile#10471
Rajesh Balkrishnan
#140053
Overall Influence
#10472
John Paul Leonard
#140057
Overall Influence
#10473
Harry J. De Koning
#140095
Overall Influence
#10474
Paulo Cesar Duque-Estrada
#105848
Overall Influence
Paulo Cesar Duque-Estrada is a Professor of Contemporary Philosophy and Associate Vice-President for Academic Affairs at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro . He has served as executive secretary , vice-president and president of the National Forum of Associate Vice-Presidents for Research and Graduate Programs .
Go to Profile#10475
Ronal D. G. Michels
#140104
Overall Influence
#10476
Andreas Von Deimling
#140118
Overall Influence
#10477
Adam Hart
#43173
Overall Influence
Areas of Specialization: Entomology, Ecology Adam Hart is a Professor of Science Communication in the School of Natural and Social Sciences at the University of Gloucestershire. He is also an author, broadcaster, and scientist for the BBC.. He earned a BA in zoology at University of Cambridge’s Churchill College and a PhD from the University of Sheffield. He is a well known scientist specializing in entomology. Among his projects have been large-scale public science projects such as Spider in da House, the Big Wasp Survey and the Starling Murmuration. These research projects, supported by the Royal Society of Biology, have been widely referenced and used as the basis for other research.
Go to Profile#10478
Rainer Prof Dr Dietz
#140132
Overall Influence
#10479
Klaus Püschel
#140138
Overall Influence
#10480
J. A. Giles
#140148
Overall Influence
#10481
Joseph Rösch
#140161
Overall Influence
#10482
Branko Despot
#116064
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (84 years)
Branko Despot is Croatian philosopher. He is the son of Miroslava Despot, a prominent economic and cultural historian. After finishing gymnasium in Zagreb in 1961, he graduated in philosophy and Ancient Greek in 1965 at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, where he also received his PhD in 1975 with a thesis on the philosophy of Vladimir Dvorniković. He worked as a researcher at the Institute of Philosophy since 1968, and since 1971 at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, at first as an assistant, as a docent and then as a professor at the Chair of History of Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy.
Go to Profile#10483
Allan G. Farman
#74080
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
Allan George Farman is a Professor of Radiology and Imaging Science, Department of Surgical and Hospital Dentistry, The University of Louisville School of Dentistry, and also serves both as Adjunct Professor of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology and as Clinical Professor of Diagnostic Radiology of the School of Medicine in the same institution.
Go to Profile#10484
David. A. Gewirtz
#140216
Overall Influence
#10485
William A. Sibley
#140223
Overall Influence
#10486
Fiona J. Stanley
#140224
Overall Influence
#10487
Mahdi Fadaei Mehrabani
#108319
Overall Influence
1982 - Present (44 years)
Mahdi Fadaei Mehrabani is an Iranian writer and researcher in Islamic philosophy, mysticism and political philosophy. He is one of the winners of Farabi International Award, 2009 and the Winner of Iran’s Book of the Year Awards, 2016. Mehrabani has written several books and articles</ref> and currently is an assistant Professor at University of Tehran. Mehrabani used to be a researcher at State University of New York from 2017 to 2018.
Go to Profile#10488
Shigeo Koyasu
#140246
Overall Influence
#10489
John Eric Erichsen
1818 - 1896 (78 years)
Sir John Eric Erichsen, 1st Baronet was a Danish-born British surgeon. Early life Erichsen was born in Copenhagen, the son of Eric Erichsen, a member of a well-known Danish banking family. He attended Mansion house school, Hammersmith.
Go to Profile#10490
Masahiro Fukuoka
#140300
Overall Influence
#10491
Jussi K. Huttunen
#140313
Overall Influence
#10492
Christian Paul Speer
#140321
Overall Influence
#10493
Jack Black
1871 - 1932 (61 years)
Jack Black was a Canadian-born American hobo and professional burglar. Black is best known for his autobiography You Can't Win , describing his days on the road and life as an outlaw. Black's book was written as an anti-crime book urging criminals to go straight, but it is also his statement of belief in the futility of prisons and the criminal justice system, hence the title of the book. Jack Black was writing from experience, having spent thirty years as a travelling criminal, and offers tales of being a cross-country stick-up man, home burglar, petty thief, and opium fiend. He gained fame as a prison reformer, writer and playwright.
Go to Profile#10494
Bruce Allen Runyon
#140340
Overall Influence
#10495
Teruo Omae
#140358
Overall Influence
#10496
Jianwei Wang
#140391
Overall Influence
#10497
Melissa Wake
#140201
Overall Influence
Melissa Anne Wake MBChB MD FRACP FAHMS is a New Zealand paediatrician and Scientific Director of the Generation Victoria initiative, aiming to create very large, parallel whole-of-state birth and parent cohorts in Victoria, Australia, for Open Science discovery and interventional research. She is Group Leader of the Murdoch Children's Research Institute’s Prevention Innovation Research Group and holds Professorial positions with the University of Melbourne and the University of Auckland .
Go to Profile#10498
Saúl Antonio Tovar
#140399
Overall Influence
1938 - 2006 (68 years)
Saúl Antonio Tovar was a philosopher and humanist from Argentina. He studied philosophy at the National University of Córdoba where he became a doctor in 1970. External links
Go to Profile#10499
Dr. David Lagunoff
#140424
Overall Influence
#10500
Ove Lundgren
#140427
Overall Influence
