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,
#14201
Tsien Tsuen-hsuin
#70048
Overall Influence
1909 - 2015 (106 years)
Tsien Tsuen-hsuin , also known as T.H. Tsien, was a Chinese-American bibliographer, librarian, and sinologist who served as a professor of Chinese literature and library science at the University of Chicago, and was also curator of its East Asian Library from 1949 to 1978. He is known for studies of the history of the Chinese book, Chinese bibliography, paleography, and science and technology, especially the history of paper and printing in China, notably Paper and Printing, Volume 5 Pt 1 of British biochemist and sinologist Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China. He is also known ...
Go to Profile#14202
Ioan Cantacuzino
1863 - 1934 (71 years)
Ioan I. Cantacuzino was a renowned Romanian physician and bacteriologist, a professor at the School of Medicine and Pharmacy of the University of Bucharest, and a titular member of the Romanian Academy. He established the fields of microbiology and experimental medicine in Romania, and founded the Ioan Cantacuzino Institute.
Go to Profile#14203
Mahmoud Vahidnia
#106799
Overall Influence
1989 - Present (37 years)
Mahmoud Vahidnia is an Iranian philosopher and PhD candidate of philosophy at Shahid Beheshti University. Life Vahidnia received his BSc in mathematics from Sharif University of Technology and his MA in philosophy from Shahid Beheshti University. He won a gold medal at the Iranian Mathematical Olympiad in 2007. He is also a winner of the silver medal in national computer Olympiad in Iran. Although some media reported he was the "international mathematics Olympiad winner", he didn't compete at any international mathematics Olympiads.
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Pam Cook
#52324
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
Pam Cook is Professor Emerita in Film at the University of Southampton. She was educated at Sir William Perkins's School, Chertsey, Surrey and Birmingham University, where she was taught by Stuart Hall, Richard Hoggart, Malcolm Bradbury, and David Lodge. Along with Laura Mulvey and Claire Johnston, she was a pioneer of 1970s Anglo-American feminist film theory. Her collaboration with Claire Johnston on the work of Hollywood film director Dorothy Arzner provoked debate among feminist film scholars over the following decades.
Go to Profile#14205
Jean Mongrédien
#128907
Overall Influence
1932 - Present (94 years)
Jean Mongrédien, the son of , specializing in the seventeenth century, is a French musicologist. Biography A specialist of music of France of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and especially opera and religious music, since 2001 Mongrédien has been professor emeritus at Paris-Sorbonne University where he held the chair of history of music and was dean of the Department of Musicology.
Go to Profile#14206
Adina L. Roskies
#71318
Overall Influence
Adina L. Roskies is an American philosopher and the Helman Family Distinguished Professor at Dartmouth College. She is known for her works on neuroethics, neuroscience of free will and epiphenomenalism. Roskies was Senior Editor of the journal Neuron.
Go to Profile#14207
Jennifer H. Martin
#141346
Overall Influence
Jennifer Helen Martin is an Australian clinical pharmacologist, physician and academic. She is chair of Clinical Pharmacology in the University of Newcastle School of Medicine and Public Health, Director of the NHMRC funded Australian Centre for Cannabinoid Clinical and Research Excellence , and an elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. Martin translates research into practice and policy. Her research involves the investigation of therapeutic drugs, from drug design and development, to clinical trials and studies to investigate how new drugs perform in the g...
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Jacqueline Noonan
#13083
Overall Influence
1928 - 2020 (92 years)
Jacqueline Anne Noonan was an American pediatric cardiologist best known for her characterization of a genetic disorder now called Noonan syndrome. She was also the original describer of hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
Go to Profile#14209
Satyavrata Tirtha
#50003
Overall Influence
Satyavrata Tirtha was a Hindu philosopher, yogi, mystic, scholar and saint. He served as the pontiff of Shri Uttaradi Math from 1635–1638. He was the 18th in succession from Madhvacharya. Satyavrata Tirtha ruled the pontificate with a remarkable distinction. His life was a saga of supreme spiritual achievements. He is a yogi of remarkable spiritual powers and a philosopher of wide fame.
Go to Profile#14210
Koorathalvar
1010 - Present (1016 years)
Koorathalvar was the chief disciple of the prominent Vaishnavite saint Ramanuja. According to popular tradition, he was a humble man who assisted Ramanuja in all of his endeavours. Early life Koorathalvar was born as Kuresan in a small hamlet 'Kooram' near Kanchi, in the year of 1010 A.D in an affluent family. He belonged to the clan of Haritha, who were popular landlords. Koorathalvar was married at a young age to Andal, a devout and pious lady. Both of them were recorded to have led a happy and peaceful life. They were deeply devoted to the deity Varadaraja Perumal. The couple were renowned in the holy town of Kanchipuram for their unstinting philanthropy and kindness.
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Patrizia Farci
#135705
Overall Influence
Patrizia Farci is an Italian scientist and hepatologist. She is chief of the hepatic pathogenesis section at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Farci conducts translational research in the field of liver diseases, particularly in the study of pathogenesis of acute and chronic viral hepatitis. She was previously a full professor of medicine and director of the liver unit and the postgraduate school of gastroenterology at the University of Cagliari.
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Spencer Fullerton Baird
1823 - 1887 (64 years)
Spencer Fullerton Baird was an American naturalist, ornithologist, ichthyologist, herpetologist, and museum curator. Baird was the first curator to be named at the Smithsonian Institution. He eventually served as assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian from 1850 to 1878, and as Secretary from 1878 until 1887. He was dedicated to expanding the natural history collections of the Smithsonian which he increased from 6,000 specimens in 1850 to over 2 million by the time of his death. He also served as the U.S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries from 1871 to 1887 and published over 1,000 works durin...
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Richard S. Taylor
#66338
Overall Influence
1912 - 2006 (94 years)
#14214
Alexander Payne
#34658
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
Constantine Alexander Payne is an American and Greek film director, screenwriter and producer. He is noted for his satirical depictions of contemporary American society. Payne has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award and three Golden Globe Awards as well as a nomination for a Grammy Award.
Go to Profile#14215
Aristodemus of Cydathenaeum
450 BC - Present (2476 years)
Aristodemus of Cydathenaeum was an ancient Athenian follower of the philosopher Socrates. He is best remembered as a character and narrative source in Plato's Symposium, and is also preserved in Xenophon's Memorabilia and a fragment from Aristophanes.
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Anna Popova
#27872
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
Anna Yuryevna Popova is a Russian physician and public health official. She is serving as head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare, practically the Chief State Sanitary Doctor of the Russian Federation since October 23, 2013. Acting State Advisor to the Russian Federation, Class 1 . Epidemiologist, hygienist, MD, professor.
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Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis
1875 - 1911 (36 years)
Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis was a Lithuanian composer, painter, choirmaster, cultural figure, and writer in Polish. Čiurlionis contributed to symbolism and art nouveau, and was representative of the fin de siècle epoch. He has been considered one of the pioneers of abstract art in Europe. During his short life, he composed about 400 pieces of music and created about 300 paintings, as well as many literary works and poems. The majority of his paintings are housed in the M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum in Kaunas, Lithuania. His works have had a profound influence on modern Lithuanian...
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Dorotea Bucca
1360 - 1436 (76 years)
Dorotea Bocchi was an Italian noblewoman known for studying medicine and philosophy. Dorotea was associated with the University of Bologna, though there are differing beliefs regarding the extent of her participation at the university ranging, from whether she taught or held a position there. Despite these debates, there is consensus that she flourished and was active at the university for more than 40 years, beginning from 1390 onwards.
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Li Bulou
#29042
Overall Influence
1938 - Present (88 years)
Li Bulou is a Chinese translator and philosopher with a specialization in western philosophy and Marxism. He is also a member of the Academy of Social Sciences of Hubei, China. Li was previously a provincial official of the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party.
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Adolfo Ferrata
1880 - 1946 (66 years)
Adolfo Ferrata was an Italian pathologist and hematologist. In 1904 he earned his medical degree from the University of Parma, spending the following years performing scientific research in clinics at Parma, Berlin and Naples. From 1921 to 1924 he was a professor of special medical pathology at the Universities of Messina and Siena, afterwards serving as a professor of clinical medicine at the University of Pavia, a position he kept for the remainder of his career.
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Stephanus of Athens
601 - 700 (99 years)
Stephanus of Athens , also called Stephanus the Philosopher, was a Byzantine Greek physician and writer. A Christian native of Athens, he studied at Alexandria under a certain Asclepius, possibly Asclepius of Tralles. He later practised and taught medicine there.
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Avula Parthasarathy
#109129
Overall Influence
1927 - Present (99 years)
Avula Parthasarathy, popularly known as Swamiji , is an Indian philosopher and exponent of Vedanta, one of the ancient philosophies of India. He translates the subtle philosophical themes into a practical technique of living. He has multiple degrees in literature, science and law, and completed a postgraduate degree in international law from London University. Renouncing a shipping business early in life, he has dedicated his life to study, research and propagation of Vedanta. His writings, discourses and seminars have featured in international press and television media. Business, sport and f...
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Sandra Eades
#77674
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (59 years)
Sandra Eades is a Noongar physician, researcher and professor, and the first Aboriginal medical practitioner to be awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy in 2003. As of March 2020 she is Dean of Medicine at Curtin University.
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Tarja Knuuttila
#131732
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
Tarja Knuuttila is a Finnish philosopher of science. She is a professor of philosophy of science at the University of Vienna. Research Much of Knuuttila's research concerns the epistemology of scientific modelling, the relation of scientific models to the real world, and the connection between simplicity and generality of models, with varied fields of application including ecology, economics, and engineering. She is also the principal investigator of the Possible Life project of the European Research Council, which studies the philosophy of hypothetical types of biochemistry including syntheti...
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George C. Christie
#74009
Overall Influence
1934 - Present (92 years)
George C. Christie is the James B. Duke Emeritus Professor of Law at Duke University School of Law in Durham, North Carolina, where he taught jurisprudence and tort law before retiring from teaching in 2013.
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Fakhr al-Din Iraqi
1213 - 1289 (76 years)
Fakhr al-Din Iraqi was a Persian Sufi poet of the 13th-century. He is principally known for his mixed prose and poetry work, the Lama'at , as well as his divan , most of which were written in the form of a ghazal.
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Virginia M. Alexander
1900 - 1949 (49 years)
Virginia M. Alexander was an American physician, public health researcher, and the founder of the Aspiranto Health Home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Early life Virginia M. Alexander was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 4, 1899, to Hilliard Alexander and Virginia Pace, who were both born into slavery in the US. She had four siblings, including the prominent attorney Raymond Pace Alexander. Alexander's mother died when she was 4 years old, and at age 13 her father's riding academy closed. Alexander withdrew from school to help relieve the resulting economic strain on her family...
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Peter St George-Hyslop
#84805
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
Peter Henry St George-Hyslop, OC, FRS, FRSC, FRCPC, is a British and Canadian medical scientist, neurologist and molecular geneticist who is known for his research into neurodegenerative diseases. St George-Hyslop is one of the most cited authors in the field of Alzheimer's disease research. He has identified a number of key genes that are responsible for nerve cell degeneration and early-onset forms of Alzheimer's disease. These include the discovery of the presenilins , Nicastrin, and SORL1 genes. Presenilin mutations are the most common cause of familial Alzheimer's disease. St George-Hysl...
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Nicoletto Vernia
1420 - 1499 (79 years)
Nicoletto Vernia was an Italian Averroist philosopher, at the University of Padua. Life He studied at Pavia, under Paolo da Pergola in Venice, and with Gaetano da Thiene in Padua, graduating with a doctorate in 1458. His first work was on the unitas intellectus, the theory of Averroes on the unity of the soul and intellect.
Go to Profile#14230
Mehdi Belhaj Kacem
#125517
Overall Influence
1973 - Present (53 years)
Mehdi Belhaj Kacem is a French-Tunisian actor, philosopher, and writer. Biography Mehdi Belhaj Kacem was born in Paris on April 17, 1973. He lived in Tunisia until he was 13. He was nominated for the Prix Michel Simon Acteurs à l'Écran award for Best Actor for his part in the 2001 film Wild Innocence.
Go to Profile#14231
Robert Goldwyn
#49319
Overall Influence
1930 - 2010 (80 years)
Robert Malcolm Goldwyn was an American surgeon; an author, activist, Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, and Chief of Plastic Surgery at the Beth Israel Hospital from 1972 to 1996. He was the editor-in-chief of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery for 25 years.
Go to Profile#14232
Sharon D. Welch
#104466
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
Sharon D. Welch is an academic scholar, social ethicist and author of six books on ethics, theology, politics, religion and spirituality. After having served as Provost and Professor of Religion for ten years, she is currently Affiliate Faculty member at Meadville Lombard Theological School.
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Frederick John Teggart
1870 - 1946 (76 years)
Frederick John Teggart was an Irish-American historian and social scientist, known for work on the history of civilizations. Life He was born in Belfast on 9 May 1870, and was educated at Methodist College Belfast and Trinity College, Dublin. He emigrated to the United States and graduated B.A. at Stanford University in 1894. He then worked as a librarian, first at Stanford and then at the Mechanics-Mercantile Library in San Francisco.
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Maik Hamburger
#102596
Overall Influence
1931 - 2020 (89 years)
Maik Hamburger was a German translator, writer and dramaturge, regarded as one of the leading Shakespeare scholars of his generation in the German-speaking world. Biography Early life Michael Pitt "Maik" Hamburger was born on 12 February 1931 in Shanghai, where his parents were living and working at the time. His father, Rudolf Hamburger , was a German architect originally from Lower Silesia who had probably been drawn to Shanghai by the spectacular building boom which the city was experiencing. His mother, born Ursula Kuczynski , had accompanied her husband to China. His maternal grandfather was economist and demographer Robert René Kuczynski.
Go to Profile#14235
Feng Shi
#172309
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
#14236
Helen Danesh-Meyer
#35277
Overall Influence
Helen Victoria Danesh-Meyer is a New Zealand ophthalmology academic, and as of 2018 is a full professor at the University of Auckland. Academic career After an undergraduate at the University of Otago followed by a 2004 MD titled 'The evaluation of diagnostic procedures, visual outcome and optic nerve morphology in giant cell arteritis' and a 2013 PhD titled 'Evaluation of optic nerve morphology in non-glaucomatous optic neuropathies with quantitative optic nerve imaging modalities' at the University of Auckland, Danesh-Meyer joined the staff at Auckland, rising to full professor.
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Petr Skrabanek
#45069
Overall Influence
1940 - 1994 (54 years)
Petr Skrabanek was a doctor, physician, professor of medicine, and author of several books and many articles. Skrabanek was described by Ben Goldacre as "a lifelong champion of clear thinking, scepticism, and critical appraisal", and expressed vocal criticism of what he dubbed "cacademics", "quackupuncturists" and "nonsensus-consensus". Skrabanek was a polymath, loving jazz, history, literature and playing the piano. He spoke several languages thanks to which he was able to deeply study Joyce's last work - the avant-garde novel Finnegans Wake.
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Paraskev Stoyanov
1871 - 1941 (70 years)
Paraskev Ivanchov Stoyanov was a surgeon, anarchist, historian and professor. He is considered one of the fathers of Bulgarian and Romanian anarchism. Biography The son of Ivancho Stoyanov, a Bulgarian active militant for national liberation from Roussé, and Gabriela von Walter, a German woman, Paraskev was born on January 30, 1871, in the city of Giurgiu, Romania, where his father had fled to escape persecution from the Ottomans. Belonging to a wealthy environment, Paraskev Stoyanov enjoyed a solid education, he studied at Bucharest's "Saint Sava" high school and at medical universities in Romania, France and Switzerland.
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Simon Rawidowicz
1897 - 1957 (60 years)
Simon Rawidowicz was a Polish-born American Jewish philosopher. Early life Simon Rawidowicz was born in 1896 in Grajewo, Poland to Chaim Yitzchak Rawidowicz , a Zionist activist, a travelling merchant, a writer, and a pioneer farmer, and to Chana Batya . A second of ten children – seven of whom survived childhood – he studied at the modern Yeshiva at Lida. Rawidowicz received a traditional Jewish education, during the course of which he became attracted to the Haskalah and Modern Hebrew literature. He was drawn to the reviving Hebrew language and literature, and before turning 18 he became a teacher at the Cheder Metukan.
Go to Profile#14240
Manuel Cruz Rodríguez
#156681
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
Manuel Cruz Rodríguez is a Spanish philosopher and politician who served as the 60th President of the Senate from May to December 2019. Prior to this, between 2016 and 2019, Cruz served as member of the Congress of Deputies in representation of Barcelona. He is a member of the Socialists' Party of Catalonia.
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Ewa Mazierska
#38936
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
Ewa Mazierska is a reader in Contemporary Cinema, in the Department of Humanities of the University of Central Lancashire. Her publications include various articles in Polish and English and a number of monographs. She also co-edited Relocating Britishness .
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Mohammad-Hadi Abdekhodaei
1317 - Present (709 years)
Sheikh Mohammad-Hadi Abdekhodaei , is an Iranian Ayatollah He is currently a member of the Fifth term of the Assembly of Experts. He was previously the 11th Ambassador of Iran to the Vatican, and also served in the Iranian Parliament for 3 terms.
Go to Profile#14243
Donald Jensen
#61070
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (80 years)
Donald Jensen is an American hepatitis C researcher and clinician, and Richard B. Capps Chair Emeritus, Rush University Medical Center. He attended high school in Springfield, IL, and was an undergraduate at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. He attained his MD degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine, and completed an internal medicine residency and chief medical resident at Rush University. He was subsequently a liver research fellow at King's College Hospital in London, UK, before returning to Rush as a faculty member. In 1999, he was appointed as the Richard B. Capps Professor of Medicine and chief of the section of hepatology.
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Kinky Friedman
#51997
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (82 years)
Richard Samet "Kinky" Friedman is an American singer, songwriter, novelist, humorist, politician, and former columnist for Texas Monthly who styles himself in the mold of popular American satirists Will Rogers and Mark Twain.
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Moshe Many
#13159
Overall Influence
1928 - 2015 (87 years)
Moshe Many was an Israeli urologist who was President of Tel Aviv University from 1983 to 1991, and President of Ashkelon Academic College from 2002 to 2012. Biography Moshe was born in Hebron to Israel and Simcha Mani, of the well-established Mani family. His great-grandfather was Rabbi Eliyahu Mani, the renown scholar who led the Jewish community of Hebron for 40 years. His father was Dr. Israel Mani, who served as a judge. The family survived the 1929 Hebron massacre when he was a child.
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Balcomb Greene
1904 - 1990 (86 years)
Balcomb Greene was an American artist and teacher. He and his wife, artist Gertrude Glass Greene, were heavily involved in political activism to promote mainstream acceptance of abstract art and were founding members of the American Abstract Artists organization. His early style was completely non-objective. Juan Gris and Piet Mondrian as well as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse influenced his early style. From the 1940s his work "opened out to the light and space of natural form." He painted landscapes and figure. "He discerned the pain of a man, and hewed to it integrally from beginning to end….
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Maurice Manning
#172391
Overall Influence
#14248
Robert Whyte
#42706
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
Robert Whyte is an Australian writer. He was a founding co-owner and director of the Brisbane-based multimedia firm ToadShow. After 2012 he participated in the Australian Government's new species exploration program Bush Blitz. His works include The Creek in Our Back Yard: a practical guide to creek restoration and A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia for CSIRO Publishing 2017.
Go to Profile#14249
Scott Gottlieb
#14250
Keith Bowman
#108489
Overall Influence
Keith John Bowman is a materials scientist and dean of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County College of Engineering and Information Technology, working to advance research benefiting society and elevating student educational success. He is a Fellow of The American Ceramic Society. Bowman has worked extensively to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion across engineering disciplines and the science, technology, engineering, and math pipeline. He is a member of 500 Queer Scientists. He is internationally recognized for his research on the property anisotropy and preferred orientation i...
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