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,
#11001
Gene D. Phillips
#34165
Overall Influence
1935 - 2016 (81 years)
Gene D. Phillips, S.J. was an American author, educator, and Catholic priest. Life and career Phillips was raised near Springfield, Ohio. He received his A.B. and M.A. degrees from Loyola University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in English Literature from Fordham University in 1970. Phillips was a member of the Society of Jesus , and was ordained a priest in 1965. His decision to become a Jesuit at age 17 was strongly affected by his viewing of the film The Keys of the Kingdom as a boy. Since 1970 Phillips had taught at Loyola University of Chicago. He had written or edited more than 20 books on ...
Go to Profile#11002
Robert F. Wilson
#144905
Overall Influence
#11003
Randall W. Burt
#144925
Overall Influence
#11004
Jeffrey Lynn Probstfield
#144934
Overall Influence
#11005
Jacob Sadé
#48251
Overall Influence
1925 - 2020 (95 years)
Jacob Sadé was a German-born Israeli otolaryngologist, also an emeritus professor at the Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University. Biography Jacob Sadé was born in Berlin to Naum Sadé-Sadowsky and Ronja Feinberg, both of Kaunas, Lithuania, who were living in Germany for Naum Sadé-Sadowsky's medical studies.
Go to Profile#11006
Stephanos J. Hadziyannis
#144959
Overall Influence
#11007
David Nabarro
#20941
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
Sir David Nunes Nabarro is a British Special Envoy on Covid-19 for the World Health Organization. He has made his career in the international civil service, working for either the Secretary-General of the United Nations or the Director-General of the World Health Organization. Since February 2020, he has helped the DGWHO deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Go to Profile#11008
Lionel Giles
1875 - 1958 (83 years)
Lionel Giles CBE was a British sinologist, writer, and philosopher. Lionel Giles served as assistant curator at the British Museum and Keeper of the Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books. He is most notable for his 1910 translations of The Art of War by Sun Tzu and The Analects of Confucius.
Go to Profile#11009
Ilmari Pyykkö
#130570
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (82 years)
Vilho Ilmari Pyykkö is currently a professor and the head of the Hearing and Balance Research Unit at Tampere University School of Medicine. He is a specialist in Oto-rhino-laryngology. Prof. Pyykko has been awarded numerous awards and grants for research including an Honor Award from the American Academy of Otolaryngology in 2000.
Go to Profile#11010
Michael C. Gregg
#144981
Overall Influence
#11011
Friedhelm Hildebrandt
#115553
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Friedhelm Hildebrandt is the William E. Harmon Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Chief of the Division of Nephrology at Boston Children's Hospital. He was formerly an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Frederick G.L. Huetwell Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Michigan.
Go to Profile#11012
Michael L. J. Apuzzo
#144988
Overall Influence
#11013
Sarah S. Long
#144997
Overall Influence
#11014
Richard Baron
#85372
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (68 years)
Richard Baron is a British philosopher. He was educated at Aylesbury Grammar School and at Selwyn College, Cambridge. His first book, Projects and Values, argues for a foundationalist virtue ethic, against the background of a structured approach to the cultural relativity of value-concepts and a conception of the human subject that is inspired by Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Go to Profile#11015
Philip Willem van Heusde
1778 - 1839 (61 years)
Philip Willem van Heusde was a Dutch philosopher and educator. He is known for his influence on the founders of the so-called Groningen school of theology. He studied literature and law in Amsterdam and Leiden. In 1803 he received his doctorate in literature with a dissertation on Plato. During the same year, he obtained his law degree. From 1803 to 1815, he was a professor of history, antiquities, eloquence and Greek studies at Utrecht University, where from 1815 to 1839, he was a professor of theoretical philosophy and literature. At Utrecht, he also served as university librarian . He died...
Go to Profile#11016
John Guillebaud
#145017
Overall Influence
#11017
Pierre Pollak
#145019
Overall Influence
#11018
Yutaka Imai
#145020
Overall Influence
#11019
Maximilien Winter
1871 - 1935 (64 years)
Maximilien Winter was a French philosopher of mathematics. In 1893 Winter helped Xavier Léon to found the Revue de métaphysique et de morale. After the First World War Winter ran the Supplément of the Revue until his death in 1935.
Go to Profile#11020
Robert L. Hamlin
#145029
Overall Influence
#11021
Achille Cesare Pessina
#145031
Overall Influence
#11022
Jean‐louis Mas
#145040
Overall Influence
#11023
Kenneth Ira Berns
#145052
Overall Influence
#11024
Harold L. Israel
#145054
Overall Influence
#11025
Harold Stiles
1863 - 1946 (83 years)
Sir Harold Jalland Stiles was an English surgeon who was known for his research into cancer and tuberculosis and for treatment of nerve injuries. Early years Harold Stiles was born in Spalding, Lincolnshire in 1863 the son of Henry Tournay Stiles MD and his wife, Elizabeth Ellen Jalland. He came from a family of doctors. He studied Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, graduating MB ChB in 1885. He earned the Ettles scholarship for the most distinguished graduate of the year. For two years he then taught anatomy at Edinburgh. He was House Surgeon to Professor John Chiene FRSE, Demonstrat...
Go to Profile#11026
Gary D. V. Hankins
#145056
Overall Influence
#11027
Eckart Altenmüller
#112562
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
Eckart Altenmüller is a German physician and musician and one of the leading researchers in the field of neurophysiology and neuropsychology of musicians. Life Born in Rottweil, Altenmüller studied medicine in Eberhard-Karls-Universität and Hôtel-Dieu in Paris from 1974 to 1981 and music at the Musikhochschule Freiburg from 1979 to 1985 . After receiving his doctorate in medicine from the Albert Ludwigs University in Freiburg, he also trained as a specialist in neurology.
Go to Profile#11028
Michael F. Good
#96459
Overall Influence
Michael F. Good was the Director of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, from 2000 to 2010. He was Chair of the National Health and Medical Research Council. He graduated from the Queensland University Medical School in 1978. He later undertook further training in medical research at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne.
Go to Profile#11029
Roman Hovorka
#145110
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
#11030
Roger Sinclair Kirby
#145125
Overall Influence
#11031
Morton Kanter Schwartz
#145156
Overall Influence
#11032
Alberto Julio Kaumann
#145162
Overall Influence
#11033
David C. Makinson
#145165
Overall Influence
#11034
Brian G. Barratt‐boyes
#145170
Overall Influence
#11035
Nicholas J. Lowe
#145182
Overall Influence
#11036
Thomas Myron Coffman
#145186
Overall Influence
#11037
Michael H. Crawford
#145189
Overall Influence
#11038
Lawrence D. True
#145203
Overall Influence
#11039
XinQi Dong
#127626
Overall Influence
XinQi Dong is a doctor of medicine in geriatric medicine and internal medicine, and President and CEO of the Institute for Population Health Sciences. Founded in 2022, the Institute for Population Health Sciences seeks to advance population health sciences through scientific research, adaptive training and coaching, and partnership development to improve health and wellbeing of diverse populations.
Go to Profile#11040
Annarosa Leri
#96170
Overall Influence
Annarosa Leri is a medical doctor and former associate professor at Harvard University. Along with former professor Piero Anversa, Leri was engaged in biomedical research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School. Since at least 2003 Anversa and Leri had investigated the ability of the heart to regenerate damaged cells using cardiac stem cells.
Go to Profile#11041
Jeffrey Sean Healey
#145215
Overall Influence
#11042
Detlef Altenburg
#78693
Overall Influence
1947 - 2016 (69 years)
Detlef Altenburg was a German musicologist. Life and career Born in Hersfeld, Altenburg studied musicology, Protestant theology, religious studies and philosophy in University of Marburg and University of Cologne, where he received his doctorate in 1973. He remained there as Wissenschaftlicher Assistent and habilitated in 1980. In 1980/81 he took over a substitute professorship at the University of Göttingen. In 1983 he held a visiting professorship at the New University of Lisbon. From 1983 to 1994 he taught at the University of Paderborn and at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold and the . From 1994 to 1999 he was and director of the Institute for Musicology at the University of Regensburg.
Go to Profile#11043
Wong Fei-hung
1847 - 1925 (78 years)
Wong Fei-hung was a Chinese martial artist, physician, and folk hero. His recent fame was due to becoming the protagonist of numerous martial arts films and television series. Even though he was considered an expert in the Hung Ga style of Chinese martial arts, his real public fame was as a physician who practiced and taught acupuncture, Dit Da and other forms of traditional Chinese medicine in the now famous Po Chi Lam , a medical clinic in Canton , Guangdong Province. A museum dedicated to him was built in his birthplace in Foshan, Guangdong.
Go to Profile#11044
Robert Clarke
#95968
Overall Influence
Robert Clarke is a Northern Irish oncology researcher and academic administrator. He is the executive director of The Hormel Institute, a professor of biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics at the University of Minnesota, and an adjunct professor of oncology at Georgetown University.
Go to Profile#11045
Ralph Bathurst
1620 - 1704 (84 years)
Ralph Bathurst, FRS was an English theologian and physician. Early life He was born in Hothorpe, Northamptonshire in 1620 and educated at King Henry VIII School, Coventry. He graduated with a B.A. degree from Trinity College, Oxford in 1638, where he had a family connection with the President, Ralph Kettell .
Go to Profile#11046
Eiichi Tahara
#145308
Overall Influence
#11047
Ali Oumlil
#82217
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (86 years)
Ali Oumlil is a Moroccan philosopher, thinker, human rights activist, diplomat and political persona. Early life and education Ali Oumlil, born in Kenitra, Morocco in 1940, graduated from the University of Cairo with a Bachelor's Degree in philosophy in 1960. He then attended Sorbonne University and earned in 1977 a State Doctorate in Philosophy focusing on Ibn Khaldun methodology under the supervision of French scholar and Islamologist Roger Arnaldez Ali Oumlil joined Mohamed V University in Rabat, Morocco in 1962 as an Assistant Professor of Contemporary Arab Thought.
Go to Profile#11048
Brenda Gallie
#128823
Overall Influence
Brenda Louise Gallie is a Canadian ophthalmologist. She is the Head of the Retinoblastoma Program in the Hospital for Sick Children Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences. Early life and education Gallie completed her medical degree at Queen's University at Kingston in 1969. Following this, she completed her residency and fellowship training at the University of Toronto and a second research fellowship in Immunology and Cancer at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Go to Profile#11049
Volkan Cevher
#145332
Overall Influence
#11050
Daniel Ricquier
#145341
Overall Influence
