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,
#11451
Hamid. Krim
#148745
Overall Influence
#11452
Shamir R. Mehta
#148781
Overall Influence
#11453
Richard H. Haug
#148783
Overall Influence
#11454
Peter Paul Borg
1843 - 1934 (91 years)
Peter Paul Borg was a Maltese theologian, canonist and minor philosopher. He was mostly interested in the philosophy of law. Life Borg was born in 1843. He became a diocesan priest, and was a Canon of the bishop's Cathedral Chapter. He was a Doctor of Theology and Divinity, and a Doctor of Canon Law. He was a member of the Società Storica e Scientifica di Malta , and for a time also an Apostolic Prefect.
Go to Profile#11455
Kevin D. Barron
#148787
Overall Influence
#11456
Andrew Emili
#148791
Overall Influence
#11457
Chang Kee-ryo
#37854
Overall Influence
1911 - 1995 (84 years)
Chang Kee-ryo was a surgeon, educator, and philanthropist of South Korea. He established Gospel Hospital, in Busan, Korea, in 1951, during the Korean War. In 1979, he won the Ramon Magsaysay Award "for his practical, personal Christian charity and in founding the Blue Cross Health Cooperative in Pusan".
Go to Profile#11458
Michael C. Sheppard
#148795
Overall Influence
#11459
Masood Akhtar
#148800
Overall Influence
#11460
Jan Conductor Wagner
#148804
Overall Influence
#11461
Francisco Zumel
1540 - 1607 (67 years)
Francisco Zumel was a Spanish philosopher and ecclesiastic. He was superior general of the Mercedarian Order and professor of physics and moral philosophy at the University of Salamanca. He was a Thomist and is most remembered for his polemical writings against the molinistas, the followers of Luis Molina.
Go to Profile#11462
Bent Friis‐hansen
#148833
Overall Influence
#11463
Christopher Cherniak
#107312
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (81 years)
Christopher Cherniak is an American neuroscientist, a member of the University of Maryland Philosophy Department. Cherniak's research trajectory started in theory of knowledge and led into computational neuroanatomy and genomics. The underlying linkage between the areas concerns models of the agent: The work began with more realistic, bounded-resource models of rationality. From this epistemology in turn stemmed a research program concerning optimal-wiring models of global brain and genome anatomy, a structuralist approach.
Go to Profile#11464
Graham L. Hill
#148866
Overall Influence
#11465
H. e. Junginger
#148873
Overall Influence
#11466
Pierre Cally
1630 - 1709 (79 years)
Pierre Cally was a French Catholic Cartesian philosopher and theologian. Life He was born at Ménil-Hubert-sur-Orne near Falaise, now Orne, France. In 1660 he was appointed professor of philosophy and eloquence in the University of Caen, and in 1675, president of the Collège des Arts in the same city. In 1684 he assumed charge of the parish of Saint-Martin. He was an associate of Pierre Daniel Huet, who converted him to Cartesianism, and Jean Renaud de Segrais. Cally died 31 December 1709.
Go to Profile#11467
Susan M. Ott
#148921
Overall Influence
#11468
Tatsuya Morita
#148922
Overall Influence
#11469
Piet L. C. M. Van Riel
#148925
Overall Influence
#11470
María José Guerra Palmero
#94335
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
María José Guerra Palmero is a Spanish philosopher, writer, and feminist theorist. She holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy and is a professor in the area of moral philosophy at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of La Laguna in the Canary Islands. Since 2017, she has been president of the . From July 2019 until May 25, 2020, she served as Minister of Education, Universities, Culture and Sports of the under Ángel Víctor Torres.
Go to Profile#11471
Jack Copeland
#62131
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (84 years)
Jack Greene Copeland is an American cardiothoracic surgeon, who has established procedures in heart transplantation including repeat heart transplantation, the implantation of total artificial hearts to bridge the time to heart transplant, innovations in left ventricular assist devices and the technique of "piggybacking" a second heart in a person, while leaving them the original.
Go to Profile#11472
Katharina Sunnerhagen
#65772
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Katharina Stibrant Sunnerhagen is a physician, researcher and educator specialized in rehabilitation medicine. She is best known for her research in stroke rehabilitation. She is currently the Professor and Head of Rehabilitation Medicine Research Group at University of Gothenburg.
Go to Profile#11473
Wolf-henning Prof. Dr. Boehncke
#148982
Overall Influence
#11474
Manjeri A. Venkatachalam
#148983
Overall Influence
#11475
Domenico Rubello
#148985
Overall Influence
#11476
A. Steiner Robert
#148986
Overall Influence
#11477
James P. Morgan
#148991
Overall Influence
#11478
Jack Donald Hardcastle
#148996
Overall Influence
#11479
Kenneth R. Devault
#149006
Overall Influence
#11480
Richard A. Morgan
#149015
Overall Influence
#11481
Arndt Büssing
#149018
Overall Influence
#11482
Shannon M. Dunlay
#149021
Overall Influence
#11483
Paul Michael Ness
#149022
Overall Influence
#11484
Galen B. Toews
#149024
Overall Influence
#11485
H. Mitchell Perry
#149041
Overall Influence
#11486
Vibeke Backer
#149044
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#11487
Al-Mu'ayyad fi'l-Din al-Shirazi
1000 - 1078 (78 years)
Al-Mu'ayyad fid-din Abu Nasr Hibat Allah b. Abi 'Imran Musa b. Da'ud ash-Shirazi was an 11th-century Isma'ili scholar, philosopher-poet, preacher and theologian of Persian origin. He served the Fatimid Caliph-Imām al-Mustansir Billah as a Da'i in varying capacities, eventually attaining the highest rank of Bab al-Abwab "The Gate of Gates" and Da'i al-du'at "Chief Missionary" in the Fatimid Da‘wah. In his theological and philosophical writings he brought the Isma'ili spiritual heritage to its pinnacle.
Go to Profile#11488
Mordechai Pras
#149050
Overall Influence
#11489
Sir William Bowman, 1st Baronet
1816 - 1892 (76 years)
Sir William Bowman, 1st Baronet was an English surgeon, histologist and anatomist. He is best known for his research using microscopes to study various human organs, though during his lifetime he pursued a successful career as an ophthalmologist.
Go to Profile#11490
Nicholas T. Zervas
#149059
Overall Influence
#11491
Costica Bradatan
#117605
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (55 years)
Costică Brădățan is a Romanian-born American philosopher. He is a professor of humanities in the Honors College at Texas Tech University. Also he is an Honorary Research Professor of Philosophy at University of Queensland.
Go to Profile#11492
William J. Koopman
#149073
Overall Influence
#11493
Joseph A. Franciosa
#149085
Overall Influence
#11494
Allen R. Nissenson
#149088
Overall Influence
#11495
Stewart Alan Factor
#149103
Overall Influence
#11496
Leonardo Punzi
#149105
Overall Influence
#11497
Erwin G. Van Meir
#149108
Overall Influence
#11498
Martin M. Lewinter
#149114
Overall Influence
#11499
Gilbert R. Jr. Upchurch
#149117
Overall Influence
#11500
