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,
#11151
James Shapiro
#24118
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Dr. A. M. James Shapiro is a British-Canadian surgeon best known for leading the clinical team that developed the Edmonton Protocol – an islet transplant procedure for the treatment of type 1 diabetes. Dr. Shapiro is Professor of Surgery, Medicine, and Surgical Oncology at the University of Alberta and the Director of the Clinical Islet Transplant Program and the Living Donor Liver Transplant Program with Alberta Health Services.
Go to Profile#11152
Walter L. Henry
#146173
Overall Influence
#11153
William Hunter
1718 - 1783 (65 years)
William Hunter was a Scottish anatomist and physician. He was a leading teacher of anatomy, and the outstanding obstetrician of his day. His guidance and training of his equally famous brother, John Hunter, was also of great importance.
Go to Profile#11154
Harry E. Rubash
#146184
Overall Influence
#11155
Bruce S. Rabin
#146219
Overall Influence
#11156
Barry Bresnihan
#146226
Overall Influence
#11157
Julio Palmaz
#8340
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (81 years)
Julio Palmaz is a doctor of vascular radiology at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. He studied at the National University of La Plata in Argentina, earning his medical degree in 1971. He then practiced vascular radiology at the San Martin University Hospital in La Plata before moving to the University of Texas Health and Science Center at San Antonio. He is known for inventing the balloon-expandable stent, for which he received a patent filed in 1985. It was recognized in Intellectual Property International Magazine as one of "Ten Patents that Changed the World" in the last century.
Go to Profile#11158
Twinkle Khanna
#6692
Overall Influence
1974 - Present (52 years)
Twinkle Khanna , also known as Tina Jatin Khanna, is an Indian author, columnist, interior designer, film producer, and former actress. In 2015, Khanna released her first non-fiction book, Mrs Funnybones which was declared a bestseller, making Khanna India's highest-selling woman writer that year. Khanna's second book The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad, a collection of short stories, one of which was based on social entrepreneur Arunachalam Muruganantham, was later made into National Award winning feature film, Pad Man with the focus on dispelling taboos around menstruation. It was produced under Khanna's production house Mrs.
Go to Profile#11159
Nobuyuki Amino
#146278
Overall Influence
#11160
Sonia S. Hassan
#146291
Overall Influence
#11161
Yves Michaud
#42184
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (82 years)
Yves Michaud is a French philosopher. As a student, he studied philosophy and science at École Normale Supérieure and the Sorbonne in Paris. His early research involved the study of political violence and empiricism, especially the works of John Locke and David Hume. He was Director of the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts from 1989 to 1997. In 2000, Michaud partnered with Jean-Jacques Aillagon to establish the Université de tous les savoirs , a French government initiative to disseminate information on new scientific advances.
Go to Profile#11162
Willis C. Maddrey
#146300
Overall Influence
#11163
Ross Zafonte
#58822
Overall Influence
Ross D. Zafonte is an American board-certified physiatrist known for his academic work in traumatic brain injury and is recognized as an expert in his field. His textbook, Brain Injury Medicine: Principles and Practice, is regarded as a standard in brain injury care. Zafonte has spoken at national and international conferences about traumatic brain injury, spasticity and other neurological disorders, and has authored more than 300 peer review journal articles, abstracts and book chapters. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Neurotrauma and NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation.
Go to Profile#11164
Wilfred Y. Fujimoto
#146322
Overall Influence
#11165
Jacques Derrida
#146326
Overall Influence
#11166
Albert Pacifico
#111822
Overall Influence
Albert D. Pacifico is an American cardiac surgeon. Born in Brooklyn New York, he spent his entire career at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, arriving as a resident in 1967, and retiring in 2006. During his career he was known as a skillful surgeon who performed a very high volume of pediatric and adult cardiovascular surgeries.
Go to Profile#11167
Yasuo Kuniyoshi
1893 - 1953 (60 years)
Yasuo Kuniyoshi was an eminent 20th-century Japanese-American painter, photographer and printmaker. Early life Kuniyoshi was born on September 1, 1889, in Okayama, Japan. He immigrated to the United States in 1906 at 17, choosing not to attend military school in Japan. Kuniyoshi originally intended to study English and return to Japan to work as a translator.
Go to Profile#11168
Theano
600 BC - 500 BC (100 years)
Theano was a 6th-century BC Pythagorean philosopher. She has been called the wife or student of Pythagoras, although others see her as the wife of Brontinus. Her place of birth and the identity of her father is uncertain as well. Many Pythagorean writings were attributed to her in antiquity, including some letters and a few fragments from philosophical treatises, although these are all regarded as spurious by modern scholars.
Go to Profile#11169
David Bordwell
#146344
Overall Influence
#11170
William W. Mapleson
#146357
Overall Influence
#11171
Rosely Sichieri
#146367
Overall Influence
#11172
Kevin B. Weiss
#146372
Overall Influence
#11173
Richard Martin Satava
#146375
Overall Influence
#11174
Heinrich Quincke
1842 - 1922 (80 years)
Heinrich Irenaeus Quincke was a German internist and surgeon. His main contribution to internal medicine was the introduction of the lumbar puncture for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. After 1874, his main area of research was pulmonary medicine.
Go to Profile#11175
Abdulmassih S. Iskandrian
#146387
Overall Influence
#11176
Michael Attal
#146389
Overall Influence
#11177
W. F. R. Hardie
1902 - 1990 (88 years)
William Francis Ross Hardie was a Scottish classicist, philosopher and academic. He was President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, from 1950 to 1969. Early life and education Hardie was born on 25 April 1902 in Edinburgh, Scotland to William Hardie, classical scholar. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy, then an all-boys private school. He studied classics at Balliol College, Oxford, graduating with a double first Bachelor of Arts degree in 1924: he was awarded a number of undergraduate prizes in classics and philosophy.
Go to Profile#11178
Patricia Anne Cleary
#146410
Overall Influence
#11179
Michael L. Marin
#32490
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Michael L. Marin is an American vascular surgeon. Together with Drs. Frank Veith, Juan C. Parodi and Claudio J. Schonholz, he was the first in the United States to perform minimally invasive aortic aneurysm surgery . In 2004, he was the first doctor to implant an intravascular telemetric monitor -- a device that alerts to physicians any leakage in aortic stent-grafts.
Go to Profile#11180
Arthur Kellermann
#12031
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
Arthur L. Kellermann is an American physician and epidemiologist. Until his resignation in November 2022, he served as a professor of emergency medicine at the VCU School of Medicine, senior vice president of health sciences for Virginia Commonwealth University, and CEO of the VCU Health System. He was formerly professor and dean of the F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Kellerman served as director of the RAND Institute of Health and founded the department of emergency medicine at Emory University and the Center for Injury Control at Rollins School of Public Health.
Go to Profile#11181
Andrej Tarkowski
#146439
Overall Influence
#11182
Mark Philp
#146440
Overall Influence
#11183
Shereen Z. Ezzat
#146447
Overall Influence
#11184
Yasuo Kishimoto
#146454
Overall Influence
#11185
Jean Wactawski-Wende
#140394
Overall Influence
Jean Wactawski-Wende is an American epidemiologist specializing in women's health. She is a Full professor of epidemiology and environmental health, and dean of the University at Buffalo's School of Public Health and Health Professions.
Go to Profile#11186
Rebecca Alpert
#90966
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Rabbi Rebecca Trachtenberg Alpert is Professor of Religion Emerita at Temple University, and was one of the first women rabbis. Her chief academic interests are religions and sports and sexuality in Judaism, and she says that her beliefs were transformed by a Sabbath prayer book that refers to God as 'She'.
Go to Profile#11187
Gregory T. Everson
#146480
Overall Influence
#11188
Laurie Shrage
#124289
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
Laurie J. Shrage is an American political and moral philosopher whose analysis of the agendas for social change advanced by gender and sexual dissidents has been influential. Education and career Shrage has taught at Howard University, Lake Forest College, Scripps College, California State Polytechnic University, and now teaches at Florida International University. She earned her B.A. from the University of California, Davis and her M.A. and Ph.D from the University of California, San Diego, Philosophy.
Go to Profile#11189
Andrew S. Wechsler
#146501
Overall Influence
#11190
John Evan Turner
1875 - 1947 (72 years)
John Evan Turner , best known as J. E. Turner was a Welsh idealist philosopher and writer. Turner was born in the Everton district of Liverpool to Welsh parents. He obtained his BA and MA degrees from University of Liverpool. From 1919, he lectured on philosophy for the University Extension Board. He obtained his PhD from University of Liverpool in 1926 and taught at the university until his retirement in 1941.
Go to Profile#11191
Philip E. Oyer
#146508
Overall Influence
#11192
David L. Carr‐locke
#146513
Overall Influence
#11193
Evangelos Kontopantelis
#146520
Overall Influence
1976 - Present (50 years)
#11194
Philip E. Bernatz
#98060
Overall Influence
1921 - 2010 (89 years)
Philip Eugene Bernatz was an eminent American physician and thoracic surgeon at the Mayo Clinic, and an international authority on the diagnosis and treatment of thymoma and other tumors of the chest. Bernatz was born on April 18, 1921, in Decorah, Iowa, as one of four children of Frank and Martha Bernatz, and he died on October 6, 2010, in Rochester, Minnesota.
Go to Profile#11195
Michael Anthony Pogrel
#146533
Overall Influence
#11196
Tim Dornan
#113149
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Tim Dornan is a British physician, endocrinologist and medical educationalist. He is Professor at the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences at the Queen's University Belfast. He was formerly Professor of Medical Education at Maastricht University, where he is now Professor Emeritus. He has been a visiting professor at Aarhus University, the University of Dundee and the University of British Columbia. Dornan's work has been cited over 10,000 times, nearly 40,000 times if counting two collective articles. His main research interest is clinical workplace learning and especially t...
Go to Profile#11197
Chang Shan-chwen
#89309
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Chang Shan-chwen is a Taiwanese medical researcher and academic administrator. He convenes the advisory specialist panel of the Central Epidemic Command Center , which is associated with the Centers for Disease Control in Taiwan. Chang Shan-chwen is vice president of National Taiwan University and professor of medicine in the university's medical college.
Go to Profile#11198
Chen Wei-jao
#22690
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (87 years)
Chen Wei-jao is a Taiwanese surgeon and academic administrator. Early life and career Chen was born in Taichū Prefecture on 15 November 1939. He studied medicine at National Taiwan University and completed his residency at National Taiwan University Hospital. He became a lecturer at NTU and continued postgraduate study. Chen earned a DMS in 1973 at Tohoku University in Japan before completing a master's in public health at Johns Hopkins University in 1989. Chen was the lead surgeon in a groundbreaking September 1979 operation to separate conjoined twins. The twins were born with three legs between them and joined at the hip.
Go to Profile#11199
Michael A. Chirigos
#146589
Overall Influence
#11200
Emilio Chuvieco
#146590
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
