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,
#12801
Kazuhisa Taketa
#160833
Overall Influence
#12802
Sven Norbert Reske
#160844
Overall Influence
#12803
Chia–ming Chu
#160849
Overall Influence
#12804
Gary L. Grunkemeier
#160850
Overall Influence
#12805
Michael J. Lamonte
#160858
Overall Influence
#12806
David A. Ahlquist
#160868
Overall Influence
#12807
John Jeffrey Carr
#160891
Overall Influence
#12808
James H. Lubowitz
#12809
Warren Winkelstein
#160916
Overall Influence
#12810
Carol R. Bradford
#88018
Overall Influence
Carol R. Bradford is an American otolaryngologist. She is the 15th dean of the Ohio State University College of Medicine and vice president for Health Sciences at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
Go to Profile#12811
Bernard Amor
#160940
Overall Influence
#12812
Michael Floyd Sorrell
#160947
Overall Influence
#12813
Leonard Kaufman
#160948
Overall Influence
#12814
Yutaka Kohgo
#160960
Overall Influence
#12815
Paul Cullinan
#12816
Ernst Bücken
1884 - 1949 (65 years)
Ernst Bücken was a German musicologist and university teacher. Life Born in Aachen, Bücken, son of a director of a textile factory, first began studying law at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. After moving to the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München he studied musicology with Adolf Sandberger, piano with Walter Braunfels and Anna Hirzel-Langenhan and music composition with Walter Courvoisier. Besides, he attended lectures in German language and literature and philosophy with Franz Muncker, Georg von Hertling, Oswald Külpe and Ernst von Aster. With his dissertation on Anton Reicha, his life and his compositions he was awarded a doctorate in 1912.
Go to Profile#12817
Joaquín Sánchez‐sotelo
#160975
Overall Influence
#12818
A. Stewart Truswell
#160980
Overall Influence
#12819
Christopher H. Crane
#160989
Overall Influence
#12820
Fan Zhongyan
989 - 1052 (63 years)
Fan Zhongyan , courtesy name Xiwen , was a Chinese military strategist, philosopher, poet, and politician of the Song dynasty. After serving the central government for several decades, Fan was appointed Prime Minister or Chancellor over the entire Song empire. Fan's philosophical, educational and political contributions continue to be influential to this day, and his writings remain a core component of the Chinese literary canon. His attitude towards official service is encapsulated by his oft-quoted line on the proper attitude of scholar-officials: "They were the first to worry the worries of All-under-Heaven, and the last to enjoy its joys".
Go to Profile#12821
Thomas Sakmar
#36115
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Thomas P. Sakmar is an American physician-scientist and the former acting president of The Rockefeller University. Prior to becoming acting president he was associate dean for graduate studies in the Tri-Institutional MD–PhD Program.
Go to Profile#12822
Dr. Daniel S. Longnecker
#161016
Overall Influence
#12823
Stanley Robert Parker
#161022
Overall Influence
#12824
David S. Rampton
#161026
Overall Influence
#12825
Gottlob Frege
#161027
Overall Influence
#12826
Kiyoshi Miyai
#161038
Overall Influence
#12827
Martin Schaller
#161045
Overall Influence
#12828
Alexander Khoruts
#161059
Overall Influence
#12829
Brian Berman
#161073
Overall Influence
#12830
Ahmed Hamed Kissebah
#161099
Overall Influence
#12831
Oscar H. Gandy Jr.
#41169
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (81 years)
Oscar H. Gandy Jr., retired since 2006, is a scholar of the political economy of information who was the Herbert Schiller Professor of Communication studies at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania. His work spans many subjects, including privacy, race, information technology, media framing, media development, and educational subsidy.
Go to Profile#12832
Arthur James Mcadams
#161117
Overall Influence
#12833
Gregory Alan Otterson
#161119
Overall Influence
#12834
Elizabeth Elliott
#80773
Overall Influence
Elizabeth Jane Elliott is an Australian clinician scientist. She is a Member of the Order of Australia , for services to paediatrics and child health, as well as an Elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science , Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW, and Fellow of the Academy of Child and Adolescent Health. She was the first female to win the James Cook Medal, awarded by the Royal Society of NSW for contributions to human welfare. She is a Distinguished Professor of paediatrics at the University of Sydney and a Consultant Paediatrician at the Sydney Children’s Hospitals...
Go to Profile#12835
Ethan A. Halm
#161129
Overall Influence
#12836
Sebastian Suerbaum
#161142
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
#12837
Taketoshi Ono
#161148
Overall Influence
#12838
George John Yuri Broze
#161169
Overall Influence
#12839
Barry David Cookson
#161170
Overall Influence
#12840
Michael G. F. Martin
#126867
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Michael Gerard Fitzgerald Martin is a British philosopher who is currently Wilde Professor of Mental Philosophy at the University of Oxford and Mills Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at UC Berkeley. Education and career Martin studied at Oxford University where he won The Henry Wilde Prize in Philosophy in 1985 and earned his D.Phil. in 1992. He joined the faculty at University College London in 1992, and was promoted to Professor of Philosophy there in 2002. He became Wilde Professor of Mental Philosophy in 2018, succeeding Martin Davies, who retired.
Go to Profile#12841
John Forfar
#72362
Overall Influence
1916 - 2013 (97 years)
John Oldroyd Forfar, MC, FRSE was a Scottish paediatrician and academic. He served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the Second World War and later became a leading civilian paediatrician. He was Professor of Child Life and Health at the University of Edinburgh from 1964 to 1982. He was President of the British Paediatric Association from 1985 to 1988, and was instrumental in the founding of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
Go to Profile#12842
David Heimbach
#65338
Overall Influence
1938 - 2017 (79 years)
David M. Heimbach was an American surgeon and a professor emeritus of the University of Washington. He gained notoriety as the "star witness" for the flame retardant industry. In 2014 he surrendered his medical license after it became apparent that he fabricated testimony and presented himself as an unbiased scientist when, in fact, he was paid by the industry.
Go to Profile#12843
Mohamad Ali Eloubeidi
#161216
Overall Influence
#12844
Thomas J. Walley
#12845
George I. Papakostas
#161228
Overall Influence
#12846
Younsuck Koh
#161241
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
#12847
Jerome H. Jaffe
#161243
Overall Influence
#12848
Robert L. Ruberg
#161247
Overall Influence
#12849
Gervasio A. Lamas
#161255
Overall Influence
#12850
Kurt Zatloukal
#161259
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (67 years)
