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,
#13351
Victor C. Vaughan
1851 - 1929 (78 years)
Victor Clarence Vaughan was an American physician, medical researcher, educator, and academic administrator. From 1891 to 1921 he was the dean of the University of Michigan Medical School, which rose to national prominence under his leadership.
Go to Profile#13352
Pamela Enderby
#93227
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
Pamela Mary Enderby , FRCSLT is a British Speech Therapist and Professor of Community Rehabilitation at the University of Sheffield. Career In 1975 Enderby became Head of the Speech Therapy Department at Frenchay Hospital. In 1983 she gained her PhD from Bristol University Medical School. In 1986 she became Head of the Frenchay District Speech Therapy Services.
Go to Profile#13353
Gernot Desoye
#165764
Overall Influence
#13354
Éric Caumes
#165774
Overall Influence
#13355
Eitan Friedman
#165790
Overall Influence
#13356
H. C. Robbins Landon
#19561
Overall Influence
1926 - 2009 (83 years)
Howard Chandler Robbins Landon was an American musicologist, journalist, historian and broadcaster, best known for his work in rediscovering the huge body of neglected music by Haydn and in correcting misunderstandings about Mozart.
Go to Profile#13357
Edward Michael Gilbert
#165814
Overall Influence
#13358
Tsann Ming Chu
#165821
Overall Influence
#13359
Jean‐pierre Boissel
#165824
Overall Influence
#13360
Elke Lütjen‐drecoll
#165849
Overall Influence
#13361
John Morgan
1735 - 1789 (54 years)
John Morgan , "founder of Public Medical Instruction in America," was co-founder of the Medical College at the University of Pennsylvania, the first medical school in Colonial America. He served as the second chief physician and director general of the Continental Army, an early name for the Surgeon General of the United States Army. He was an early member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1766, where he served as curator from 1769 to 1770.
Go to Profile#13362
Laurie J. Morrison
#165859
Overall Influence
#13363
Franz Naegele
1778 - 1851 (73 years)
Franz Karl Naegele was a German obstetrician born in Düsseldorf. His son, Hermann Franz Naegele , was also a noted obstetrician. He earned his medical degree from the University of Bamberg, afterwards opening a medical practice in Barmen. In 1807, he became an associate professor at the University of Heidelberg, where in 1810 he was appointed a full professor of obstetrics.
Go to Profile#13364
Norman P. Salzman
#165876
Overall Influence
#13365
Magne Kristoffer Fagerhol
#165883
Overall Influence
#13366
Hans Will
#165887
Overall Influence
#13367
Salomone Di Saverio
#165897
Overall Influence
#13368
Christine A. Sinsky
#165904
Overall Influence
#13369
Otto Cars
#165914
Overall Influence
#13370
Richard C. Dodel
#165917
Overall Influence
#13371
Richard Ovenden
#43043
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
Richard Ovenden is a British librarian and author. He currently serves as the 25th Bodley's Librarian in the University of Oxford, having been appointed in 2014. Ovenden also serves as the Director of the Bodleian Library's Centre for the Study of the Book and holds a Professorial Fellowship at Balliol College. Ovenden is a trustee of the Chawton House Library and vice-chair of the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation. In 2009, he was elected third chair of the Digital Preservation Coalition, succeeding Ronald Milne and Dame Lynne Brindley in a post he held until 2013. and returning in 2015 to the honorary position of President of the DPC.
Go to Profile#13372
Susan Nalugwa Kiguli
#74376
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (57 years)
Susan Nalugwa Kiguli is a Ugandan poet and literary scholar. She is an associate professor of literature at Makerere University. Kiguli has been an advocate for creative writing in Africa, including service as a founding member of FEMRITE, a judge for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize , and an advisory board member for the African Writers Trust. As a poet, Kiguli is best known for her 1998 collection The African Saga, as a scholar, and for her work on oral poetry and performance.
Go to Profile#13373
Cornelis Niek Van Dijk
#165933
Overall Influence
#13374
R. F. Patrick Cronin
#43372
Overall Influence
1926 - 2007 (81 years)
Robert Francis Patrick Cronin FRCPC FACP FRCP was a cardiologist, researcher, professor, and healthcare consultant, who served as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University from 1972 to 1977.
Go to Profile#13375
Peter B. Corr
#165947
Overall Influence
#13376
Sewa S. Legha
#165953
Overall Influence
#13377
Robert Provenzano
#39343
Overall Influence
Robert Provenzano is an American nephrologist. He is also an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine. Affiliations Robert works with several professional societies and advisory boards. He is past-President of the Renal Physicians Association, immediate past-Chair of the Board of Trustees for the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan, and an active member of the American Society of Nephrology and the American Society of Transplantation, and a fellow of the American College of Physicians.
Go to Profile#13378
Hideaki Kaneto
#13379
W. P. Daniel Su
#165976
Overall Influence
#13380
Kazimierz Pochwalski
1855 - 1940 (85 years)
Kazimierz Teofil Pochwalski was a Polish painter known primarily for his portraits, although he produced works in a wide variety of genres. Early life Pochwalski was born in Kraków on 25 December 1855 and came from a family that produced several generations of painters and his younger brother Władysław also became a well-known artist. From 1871 to 1879, he studied at the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts under Jan Matejko, then attended the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, from 1879 to 1888. This was followed by studies in Vienna and Paris, where he was influenced by the work of Léon Bonnat.
Go to Profile#13381
Urs Granacher
#165989
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#13382
David P. Jr. Wood
#166001
Overall Influence
#13383
Martin Eybl
#95922
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
Martin Eybl is an Austrian musicologist. Early life and education Martin Eybl was born on December 7, 1960 in Neumarkt im Hausruckkreis, a town in the province of Upper Austria, and was educated at the Gymnasium in Kremsmünster where he graduated in 1979. Thereafter, he studied at the Anton Bruckner Conservatory in Linz and, in 1984, majored there in Piano Performance . At the same time, he studied composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, as well as musicology at the University of Vienna, from where he graduated in 1988 and 1995 .
Go to Profile#13384
Steven M. Hollenberg
#166004
Overall Influence
#13385
Bernhard Dietzschold
#166010
Overall Influence
#13386
Christoph Hedinger
#166030
Overall Influence
#13387
Thomas Grogan
#40300
Overall Influence
Thomas Grogan is an American professor, pathologist and founder of Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. He currently holds the positions of Professor of Pathology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and Chief Scientific Officer at Ventana.
Go to Profile#13388
Karen A. Robinson
#139428
Overall Influence
Karen A. Robinson is a Canadian-American epidemiologist. She is a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University and Director of the school's Evidence-based Practice Center. Early life and education Robinson earned her Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degrees from McMaster University and her master's degree in the University of Waterloo. Following this, she moved to the United States for her PhD in epidemiology from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Go to Profile#13389
William S. M. Wold
#166063
Overall Influence
#13390
Hannelore Daniel
#166080
Overall Influence
#13391
Peter M. Kern
#166092
Overall Influence
#13392
Joseph Anthony Caprini
#166113
Overall Influence
#13393
Jacobijn Gussekloo
#166121
Overall Influence
#13394
Dimitrios P. Mikhailidis
#166129
Overall Influence
#13395
Jan of Stobnica
1470 - 1519 (49 years)
Jan of Stobnica , was a Polish philosopher, scientist and geographer of the early 16th century. Life Jan of Stobnica was educated at the Jagiellonian University , where he taught as professor between 1498 and 1514. He is the author of numerous works on the subjects of logic, grammar, astronomy, geography, mathematics, music, natural sciences, and ethics.
Go to Profile#13396
Göran Liljestrand
1886 - 1968 (82 years)
Göran Liljestrand , Swedish pharmacologist, known for the discovery of the Euler-Liljestrand mechanism. Liljestrand was born in Gothenburg but finished school at the Norra Real school in Stockholm, before matriculating at the University College of Stockholm in 1904. He continued his studies at the Karolinska Institute, completed his medicine kandidat degree in 1909, the Licentiate of Medical Science degree in 1915, and his doctorate in 1917, becoming docent of physiology at the Institute the same year. He held the professorship in pharmacology and physiology at the Karolinska Institute from 1...
Go to Profile#13397
Joseph Proietto
#166140
Overall Influence
#13398
Masayo Takahashi
#11739
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
Masayo Takahashi is a Japanese medical physician, ophthalmologist and stem cell researcher. Takahashi serves as a project research leader at the Riken Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe focusing on the clinical application of iPS Cell technology on macular degeneration. In 2014, Takahashi was named by British science journal Nature as one of "five to watch" global scientists for her groundbreaking work in regenerative medicine.
Go to Profile#13399
Dewey K. Ziegler
#166144
Overall Influence
#13400
Douglas W. Mahoney
#166160
Overall Influence
