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,
#10651
James Stanford Skinner
#141905
Overall Influence
#10652
George Lokert
1485 - 1547 (62 years)
George Lokert of Ayr was a Scottish philosopher and theologian who made significant contributions to the study of logic. A pupil of John Mair, he also studied and taught at the University of Paris, and eventually served as prior of the Sorbonne. Returning to Scotland in 1521, he served as Rector of the University of St Andrews .
Go to Profile#10653
Culley C. Iii Carson
#141916
Overall Influence
#10654
Kirk A. Frey
#141918
Overall Influence
#10655
Oton Iveković
1869 - 1939 (70 years)
Oton Iveković was a Croatian painter. A graduate of Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, Iveković later taught at the Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts. He largely concerned himself with historical topics as well as some religious themes. Many of his paintings remain the chief representations of Croatian history.
Go to Profile#10656
Hendrick Boyer Barner
#141928
Overall Influence
#10657
Paul Edmond O'brien
#141931
Overall Influence
#10658
Mark V. Dahl
#141940
Overall Influence
#10659
George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
#141945
Overall Influence
#10660
Charles Raymond Lake
#141960
Overall Influence
#10661
Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent
#93569
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent is a French philosopher, historian and historian of science and a professor emeritus at University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne. She considers the study of the history of science to be essential for "understanding scientific research as a multi-dimensional endeavor embedded in a cultural context and with societal and cultural impacts."
Go to Profile#10662
Dariush Mehrjui
#38828
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (87 years)
Dariush Mehrjui was an Iranian filmmaker and a member of the Iranian Academy of the Arts. Mehrjui was a founding member of the Iranian New Wave movement of the early 1970s, which also included directors Masoud Kimiai and Nasser Taqvai. His second film, The Cow , is considered to be the first film of this movement. Most of his films are inspired by literature and adapted from Iranian and foreign novels and plays.
Go to Profile#10663
John Edwin Nestler
#141988
Overall Influence
#10664
Winette T. A. Van Der Graaf
#141991
Overall Influence
#10665
Albin Egger-Lienz
1868 - 1926 (58 years)
Albin Egger-Lienz was an Austrian painter known especially for rustic genre and historical paintings. Career He was born in Dölsach-Stribach near Lienz, in what was the county of Tyrol. He was the natural son of Maria Trojer, a peasant girl, and Georg Egger, a church painter. As an adult he used his father's surname combined with the name of his birthplace. He had his first artistic training under his father, and subsequently studied at the Academy in Munich where he was influenced by Franz Defregger and French painter Jean-François Millet.
Go to Profile#10666
Tomislav Šola
#100322
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
Tomislav Sladojević Šola is a Croatian museologist. Biography Sladojević Šola was born in Zagreb, Croatia in 1948. He gained his diploma in Art History and English language , he then pursued the post-graduate study of Journalism and two-semester-course of contemporary Museology and made his PhD in Museology .
Go to Profile#10667
Naoto Ueno
#142002
Overall Influence
#10668
Thomas Boston
1676 - 1732 (56 years)
Thomas Boston was a Scottish Presbyterian church leader, theologian and philosopher. Boston was successively schoolmaster at Glencairn, and minister of Simprin in Berwickshire, and Ettrick in Selkirkshire. In addition to his best-known work, The Fourfold State, one of the religious classics of Scotland, he wrote an original little book, The Crook in the Lot, and a learned treatise on the Hebrew points. He also took a leading part in the Courts of the Church in what was known as the "Marrow Controversy," regarding the merits of an English work, The Marrow of Modern Divinity, which he defended against the attacks of the "Moderate" party in the Church.
Go to Profile#10669
Alan Coates
#105625
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
Alan Stuart Coates is an Australian professor of clinical oncology, medical researcher and administrator. He was the inaugural CEO of the Cancer Council Australia , former president of the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia , and co-chair of the St. Gallen International Breast Cancer Conference. He was also the first non-American to be elected to the board of directors of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Go to Profile#10670
Jonathan W. Friedberg
#142030
Overall Influence
#10671
Jiao Yu
1350 - Present (676 years)
Jiao Yu was a Chinese military general, philosopher, and writer of the Yuan dynasty and early Ming dynasty under Zhu Yuanzhang, who founded the dynasty and became known as the Hongwu Emperor. He was entrusted by Zhu as a leading artillery officer for the rebel army that overthrew the Mongol Yuan dynasty, and established the Ming dynasty.
Go to Profile#10672
Ronald B. Postuma
#142069
Overall Influence
#10673
Shan Ratnam
#15600
Overall Influence
1928 - 2001 (73 years)
Emeritus Professor Sittampalam Shanmugaratnam , also known as Shan Ratnam, was a Singaporean obstetrician and gynaecologist. He was professor and head of the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the National University Hospital of Singapore and specialized in human reproduction research. He was a medical pioneer and leader in the field of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, both in Singapore and internationally. At the peak of his career, he was the Secretary-General of the Asia and Oceania Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and the President of the International Federation of Obstetrics...
Go to Profile#10674
George Michael Hall
#142079
Overall Influence
#10675
George Mashour
#106853
Overall Influence
George Alexander Mashour is an American anesthesiologist. Early life and education Mashour completed his undergraduate degree in philosophy at St. John's College and then completed his medical degree and PhD at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. Following his medical degree, Mashour completed his residency in the Department of Anesthesia & Critical Care at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. While at Harvard, he also accepted a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research for his project "Electrophysiology of Analgesic and Anesthetic Action on Serotonin Rece...
Go to Profile#10676
Jean-Claude Vuillemin
#99979
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
Jean-Claude Vuillemin is Liberal Arts Research Professor Emeritus of French literature in the Department of French and Francophone Studies at The Pennsylvania State University. Career The recipient in March 2011 of the prestigious PSU Class of 1933 Award for Distinction in the Humanities, JC Vuillemin pursues research in 17th-Century French Literature and Philosophy; Post-structuralism and Reception theories; Baroque Episteme; Semiotics of Drama; Theater and Performance Theories; Continental Philosophy and Contemporary French Literature. Inspired by the Foucaldian notion of épistémè, and by t...
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Robert Joseph Ginsberg
#142098
Overall Influence
#10678
Serge Erlinger
#142112
Overall Influence
#10679
Susumu Prof Okabe
#142160
Overall Influence
#10680
Jean-pierre Dallongeville
#142161
Overall Influence
#10681
Julian T. Hoff
#142164
Overall Influence
#10682
Ross C. Donehower
#142167
Overall Influence
#10683
Yoon‐koo Kang
#142184
Overall Influence
#10684
Adel Mahmoud
#32818
Overall Influence
1941 - 2018 (77 years)
Adel K. Mahmoud was an Egyptian-born American doctor and expert in infectious diseases. He was credited with helping with the development of the Gardasil HPV vaccine and the rotavirus vaccine while serving as President of Merck Vaccines. Both the HPV and rotavirus vaccines were under development prior to Mahmoud joining Merck Vaccine Division; he assisted in ensuring that they remained a priority for Merck to continue development to commercial launch. After retiring from Merck he became a professor at Princeton University.
Go to Profile#10685
Joep Lange
#23139
Overall Influence
1954 - 2014 (60 years)
Joseph Marie Albert "Joep" Lange was a Dutch clinical researcher specialising in HIV therapy. He served as the president of the International AIDS Society from 2002 to 2004. He was a passenger on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down on 17 July 2014 over Ukraine.
Go to Profile#10686
Shukri F. Khuri
#142202
Overall Influence
#10687
Peter Manicas
#89992
Overall Influence
1934 - Present (92 years)
Peter Manicas was a philosopher of science and society at [Queens College, City University of New York] and [the University of Hawaii at Manoa]. He is the author of many books that includeDeath of the StateWar and DemocracyLogic as PhilosophyA History and Philosophy of the Social SciencesA Realist Philosophy of the Social SciencesSocial Process in HawaiiRescuing Dewey: Essays in Pragmatic NaturalismFollowing description of his book: A History and Philosophy of the Social Sciences, provides some of the core elements of his thought which are radically different from mainstream views. This book ...
Go to Profile#10688
Joseph A. Smith Jr.
#96519
Overall Influence
Joseph A. Smith Jr is the current editor-in-chief of the Journal of Urology and William L. Bray Professor in the Department of Urologic Surgery at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He was the chair of the Department of Urology from 1991 to 2015. He has served as the President of American Board of Urology Southeastern Section, American Urologic Association and the Utah Urologic Society .
Go to Profile#10689
Stefan Agewall
#142224
Overall Influence
#10690
Jean‐yves Douillard
#142228
Overall Influence
#10691
Terence Penelhum
#112811
Overall Influence
1929 - 2020 (91 years)
Terence Michael Penelhum was a British-Canadian philosopher and writer, known for his work on the philosophy of religion, personal identity and Hume. Biography Penelhum was born in Bradford-on-Avon. His early education was received at Weymouth Grammar School, he then went on to study for an M.A. in Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh in 1950 and a B.Phil in philosophy from Oriel College, Oxford in 1952.
Go to Profile#10692
Jerome Leocata
1664 - 1745 (81 years)
Jerome Leocata was a major Maltese philosopher who specialised mainly in metaphysics. His long academic career in philosophy and theology was very hampered by his many administrative commitments. His writings, however, bear witness to his thinking skills and his philosophical prowess. He possessed a clear and systematic mind, consistently endeavouring to give a sound philosophical basis to his speculations. No portrait of him is yet known to exist.
Go to Profile#10693
Leo Allen Whiteside
#142260
Overall Influence
#10694
Bevra Hannahs Hahn
#142262
Overall Influence
#10695
J. H. R. Bond
#142276
Overall Influence
#10696
Kenneth A. Kudsk
#142295
Overall Influence
#10697
Alan Frazer
#142307
Overall Influence
#10698
Richard J. Gralla
#142308
Overall Influence
#10699
Gaetano Santulli
#142339
Overall Influence
#10700
Rodger L. Bıck
#142361
Overall Influence
