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).
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List of the most influential people in Philosophy,
#17201
Jacob van Schuppen
1670 - 1751 (81 years)
Jacob van Schuppen was a French-Austrian painter who was known for his portraits, history paintings and genre scenes. He was court painter in Vienna. Biography Jacob van Schuppen was born in Fontainebleau, France, as the son of Elisabeth de Mesmaker and the Flemish painter-engraver Pieter van Schuppen, who was originally from Antwerp. He worked in the Netherlands before moving to Vienna. He was taught to paint by his father and his uncle Nicolas de Largillière.
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Sergio Tenenbaum
#176110
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
Sergio Tenenbaum is a Brazilian-born Canadian philosopher and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. He is known for his works on moral psychology and theory of action. Books Appearances of the Good Moral Psychology , ed.Desire, Practical Reason, and the Good , ed.Rational Powers in Action
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John Redman Coxe
1773 - 1864 (91 years)
John Redman Coxe was a physician and professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Early life and education Born in Trenton, New Jersey, Coxe, was reportedly descended from a long line of medical and surgical ancestors, several of whom, at different periods, were physicians to the kings and queens of England. He was educated under the care of his European-educated grandfather, Dr. John Redman, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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Manuel Rodríguez Gómez
#94717
Overall Influence
1928 - 2006 (78 years)
Manuel Rodríguez Gómez was an American neurologist most noted for his work on tuberous sclerosis, a rare genetic disorder. Life Manuel Gómez was born in the Spanish city of Minaya in La Mancha. He spent his childhood outside Sevilla in a town called Alcala de Guadaira, where his father had a pharmacy, and summers in Cadiz. As a child he recalled seeing the great flamenco singer, Bernardo, El de los Lobitos, walking on the street. He attended boarding school with his brother and was schooled by a group of strict priests. Recently the mayor of Alcala renamed a street Calle Manuel Rodriguez Gomez.
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Alison Yarrington
#118889
Overall Influence
Alison Willow Yarrington FSA is professor of the history of art at the University of Loughborough and a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. She was formerly Richmond Professor of Fine Art at the University of Glasgow. She is chairperson of the editorial board of the Sculpture Journal.
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Jan Stussy
1921 - 1990 (69 years)
Jan Stussy was an American artist, film producer, and professor. He was a professor emeritus from the University of California, Los Angeles , he taught there for 42 years. He was awarded an Academy Award for the documentary film, Gravity Is My Enemy . Stussy was a prolific painter and printmaker.
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Yves Pouliquen
#31935
Overall Influence
1931 - 2020 (89 years)
Yves Pouliquen was a French ophthalmologist. His work focused on the pathology of the cornea. Pouliquen was born in Mortain. In 1992, he was made a member of the Académie nationale de médecine. In 1994 he was awarded the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca and on 29 November 2001 he was elected to the Académie Française. Since 2006, he was the president of the Fondation Singer-Polignac.
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Thomas Brothers
#69864
Overall Influence
Thomas D. Brothers is an American musicologist, and professor at Duke University. He graduated from University of Pennsylvania, magna cum laude with B.A. in music, in 1979, from University of California, Berkeley with an M.A. in music, in 1982, and with a Ph.D. in music, in 1991.
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Bhikkhu Bodhi
#188360
Overall Influence
#17210
Bernard-Henri Lévy
#174658
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
Bernard-Henri Georges Lévy is a French public intellectual. Often referred to in France simply as BHL, he was one of the leaders of the "Nouveaux Philosophes" movement in 1976. His opinions, political activism and publications have also been the subject of several controversies over the years.
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Jernail Singh Anand
#169140
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
Dr. Jernail Singh Anand is an Indian poet, columnist, and environmental activist. He has written 140 books of English poetry, fiction, non-fiction and spiritual writing. He retired as Principal and is now the Honorary Professor Emeritus at the Institute of European Roma Studies and Research, Crimes Against Humanity and International Law, Belgrade, Serbia. He is also an honorary member of the Association of Serbian Writers. Dr. Anand co-developed the theory of Bio-Text in Critical Theory, along with Iranian scholar Dr. Roghayeh Farsi, chief coordinator of a research project on the Anand's poetry initiated by the University of Neyshabur, Iran.
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Keertan Dheda
#112911
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (57 years)
Keertan Dheda MBBCh , FCP, FCCP, PhD , FRCP , born in 1969, is a Professor of Mycobacteriology and Global health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine with an extra-mural joint appointment at the University of Cape Town , where he is a Professor of Respiratory Medicine.
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Josef Ignaz Mildorfer
1719 - 1775 (56 years)
Josef Ignaz Mildorfer , was an Austrian painter. Biography Mildorfer was born in Innsbruck, and was initially trained by his father Michael Ignaz Mildorfer. He later apprenticed with Paul Troger. In 1745 Mildorfer became a member of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, and starting in 1751 taught as a professor of painting. That same year he was appointed court painter to Princess Eleonora of Savoy, where he was commissioned to paint frescoes for the Menagerie Pavilion at Schönbrunn. Mildorfer primarily painted religious-themed altarpieces and frescoes.
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Aimee Van Wynsberghe
#186242
Overall Influence
Aimee van Wynsberghe is Alexander von Humboldt professor for "Applied Ethics of Artificial Intelligence" at the University of Bonn, Germany. As founder of the Bonn Sustainable AI Lab and director of the Institute for Science and Ethics, Aimee van Wynsberghe hosts every two years the Bonn Sustainable AI Conference.
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Peter Green
#99775
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (79 years)
Peter Henry Rae Green is an Australian-born gastroenterologist and Professor of Clinical Medicine and Director of the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University, New York City. He is notable for his expertise is celiac disease and his research includes epidemiology, clinical manifestations, associated diseases and the pathophysiological mechanisms of the syndrome. Green has an active research collaboration with the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.
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Jonathan Rosenbaum
#80877
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (79 years)
Jonathan Rosenbaum is an American scholar, college administrator and rabbi; president of Gratz College. from 1998 to 2009; president emeritus of Gratz College and a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, since 2009. He is a specialist in Biblical history, the paleography and epigraphy of ancient Semitic languages, and American Jewish history.
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Giannalberto Bendazzi
#58427
Overall Influence
1946 - 2021 (75 years)
Giannalberto Bendazzi was an Italian animation historian, author, and professor. Life and career Born in Ravenna, Italy, and raised in Milan, Bendazzi started his career as a journalist and at the same time a self-funded scholar. He turned to full-time academic teaching by 2002. Bendazzi has lectured on several continents, and particularly in Italy. In 2002 he first received the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Animation Theory from the Animafest Zagreb. In 2016 Asifa granted him the Life Achievement Award. In 2019, he received an Honorary Doctorate from Universidade Lusófona. He died on...
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Hanna Al-Fakhoury
#72494
Overall Influence
1914 - 2011 (97 years)
Hanna-l-Fakhoury was a Lebanese Melkite priest, member of the Missionaries of St. Paul Society, philosopher and linguist. He was born in Zahlé, Lebanon, where his family moved from the village of Majdaloun near Baalbek بعلبك. In 1927 he joined the "Séminaire Sainte-Anne de Jérusalem" where he completed his basic education in 1936. He was ordained to priesthood in 1943.
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Martin Bernhardt
1844 - 1915 (71 years)
Martin Bernhardt was a German neuropathologist. Bernhardt was a native of Potsdam. His family was Jewish. In 1867 he received his medical doctorate at the University of Berlin, where he was a student of Rudolf Virchow and Ludwig Traube . Subsequently, he became an assistant to Ernst Viktor von Leyden at the university clinic at Königsberg, and afterwards worked at the Berlin-Charité under Karl Friedrich Otto Westphal . After military service in the Franco-Prussian War, he returned to Berlin as a specialist in neuropathology, and in 1882 attained the title of "professor extraordinarius".
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Larry Goldenberg
#113777
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
S. Larry Goldenberg, is a Canadian researcher in the field of medicine and a pioneer in the treatment of prostate cancer. Goldenberg was born in Toronto, Ontario to survivors of the Holocaust who had immigrated to Canada after the Second World War. He completed his medical training at the University of Toronto in 1978. He is married to Paula Gordon, a pioneer in the diagnostic imaging of breast cancer and recipient of the Order of Canada. They have two sons. Goldenberg is currently Professor and Head of the Department of Urologic Sciences at the University of British Columbia. He holds adju...
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Ute Jung-Kaiser
#99850
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (84 years)
Ute Jung-Kaiser, née Jung is a German musicologist. Life and work Born in Essen, Jung-Kaiser completed studies for the teaching profession at grammar schools in Cologne. After her first Staatsexamen in the fields of musicology, German studies, philosophy and school music she was awarded a Doctorate in 1968. She passed the second Staatsexamen in 1975. In 1981 she received her habilitation in historical musicology at the University of Hamburg.
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Raymond Monelle
#146820
Overall Influence
1937 - 2010 (73 years)
Raymond Monelle . was a music theorist, teacher, music critic, composer and jazz pianist. Monelle wrote three books, dozens of articles on music, and many music criticism reviews in newspapers, mainly for Opera and The Independent His main field of research was Music Signification or, as it is also known, Music Semiotics. Towards the end of his life, he wrote a novel, yet to be published, entitled Bird in the Apple Tree, about the adolescence of the composer Alban Berg.
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Sebastian Rahtz
#78519
Overall Influence
1955 - 2016 (61 years)
Sebastian Patrick Quintus Rahtz was a British digital humanities information professional. Life Born in 1955 to Somerset-focused archaeologist Philip Rahtz, Sebastian trained in archaeology, before delving into the computing realm via Lexicon of Greek Personal Names in 1982.
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Julio Montaner
#53722
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Julio S. G. Montaner, is an Argentine-Canadian physician, professor and researcher. He is the director of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, the chair in AIDS Research and head of the Division of AIDS in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia and the past-president of the International AIDS Society. He is also the director of the John Ruedy Immunodeficiency Clinic, and the Physician Program Director for HIV/AIDS PHC. He is known for his work on HAART , a role in the discovery of triple therapy as an effective treatment for HIV in the late 1990s...
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Kenny Easwaran
#187642
Overall Influence
Kenny Easwaran is an Indian American philosopher and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Texas A&M University. His expertise lies in epistemology, decision theory, mathematical logic and philosophy of mathematics. Easwaran is an associate editor of Journal of Philosophical Logic. Two of his articles have been selected as among the "ten best" of their year by the Philosopher's Annual.
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Janna Oetting
#181785
Overall Influence
Janna Beth Oetting is a researcher and speech-language pathologist specializing in the cross-dialectal study of childhood language development and developmental language disorders. Education Oetting received a BA in Speech-Language Pathology from Augustana College in 1986. In 1988, Oetting completed an MA in Speech-Language Pathology, at the University of Kansas. She earned her Ph.D. in Child Language from the same university in 1992 under the supervision of Mabel Rice. Oetting’s dissertation, “Language-impaired and normally developing children's acquisition of English plural,” examined the p...
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Ben Webster
1864 - 1947 (83 years)
Benjamin Webster was an English actor, the husband of the actress May Whitty, and father of the actress and director Margaret Webster. After a long career on the English stage, Webster, together with his wife, moved to Hollywood, where they made numerous films in their later years.
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Jonas Kellgren
#87727
Overall Influence
1911 - 2002 (91 years)
Jonas Henrik Kellgren was a British physician and the first professor of rheumatology in the United Kingdom at the University of Manchester. He became Vice-Chancellor of the university and dean of the institution's medical school. He was an expert adviser to the World Health Organization and earned a Canada Gairdner International Award for his work.
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Henry of Harclay
1270 - 1317 (47 years)
Henry Harclay was an English medieval philosopher and university chancellor. Biography Harclay was born in the Diocese of Carlisle near the English and Scottish borders. Harclay's family descended from "an old but minor knightly family" of modest origins that gave them their surname Harclay from Hartley; the family name had "considerable variation in the spelling… including: Herkeley, Harkeley, Archilay, Harcla, [etc.]" . Harclay had one sister and six brothers; one of which also brings celebrity to the family name. Andrew Harclay, 1st Earl of Carlisle was a controversial figure in his time ...
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Jacob of Mies
1372 - 1429 (57 years)
Jacob of Mies was a Czech reformer from the Kingdom of Bohemia and colleague of Jan Hus. Life Jacob was born in 1372 in Stříbro near Pilsen in Bohemia . He studied at the University of Prague, receiving both bachelor's and the master's degrees in theology, and became pastor of the Church of St. Michael and an outspoken supporter of Jan Hus.
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Ernest Septimus Reynolds
1861 - 1926 (65 years)
Ernest Septimus Reynolds FRCP was emeritus professor of clinical medicine at the University of Manchester. In 1900 he wrote "An Epidemic of Peripheral Neuritis Amongst Beer Drinkers in Manchester and District" for the British Medical Journal, the first of a series of papers which caused a national sensation when they revealed the presence of dangerous levels of arsenic in local beer.
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Edward Rubenstein
#59834
Overall Influence
1924 - 2019 (95 years)
Edward Rubenstein was an American doctor of internal medicine, with major contributions in the fields of medical education, research , and the arts. Mechanisms of blood clotting Edward Rubenstein was an Internal Medicine physician, with areas of expertise which included clotting disorders that predispose to pulmonary embolism.
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Fushih Pan
#55673
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Fushih Pan is a Taiwanese plastic surgeon certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. Fushih Pan is also certified by the National Board of General Surgery of Taiwan and the Board of Plastic Surgery Specialist of the U.A.E.
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Eduard Zuckmayer
1890 - 1972 (82 years)
Eduard Zuckmayer was a German music educator, composer, conductor and pianist. He was the older brother of the famous German writer Carl Zuckmayer . Family and Youth He was the first son of wealthy factory owner Carl Zuckmayer who produced tamper-evident lids for wine bottles in Nackenheim, a wine-growing village on the Rhine front. The parents of his mother, Amalie Zuckmayer , were converted from Judaism to Protestantism whereas he was raised as a Catholic.
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Edward Christopher Williams
1871 - 1929 (58 years)
Edward Christopher Williams was the first African-American professionally trained librarian in the United States. His sudden death in 1929 ended his career the year he was expected to receive the first Ph.D. in librarianship. Williams was born on February 11, 1871, in Cleveland, Ohio, to an African-American father and an Irish mother. Upon his graduation with distinction from Adelbert College of Western Reserve University in 1892, he was appointed Assistant Librarian of Hatch Library at WRU. Two years later, he was promoted to librarian of Hatch Library until 1909, when he resigned to assume the responsibility of the Principal of M Street High School in Washington, D.C.
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Mahendra S. Rao
#188455
Overall Influence
#17237
John Hinchcliff
#86390
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (87 years)
John Clarence Hinchcliff is a New Zealand university administrator, philosopher, politician and peace campaigner. Biography Hinchcliff was born in Wairoa on 9 October 1939, the son of Frank and Gwen Hinchcliff. He was educated at Nelson College from 1953 to 1958, where he was head prefect in his final year, and was a member of the school's 1st XV rugby union and first XI cricket teams. He then studied at the University of Canterbury, where he earned a Master of Arts in philosophy. He was awarded a Rotary Foundation Fellowship, providing funding for a year anywhere in the world, choosing to go to the Middle East.
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Blessings Chinsinga
#184408
Overall Influence
Professor Blessings Chinsinga is a Malawian lecturer at the centre of the Malawi Academic Freedom Stand off and eventual protests. He was a Senior Lecturer in Development Administration, Public Policy Analysis and Institutions, and Development at University of Malawi's Chancellor College.
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Surinder Singh Matharu
#105901
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (57 years)
Professor Surinder Singh Matharu is a British scholar of Indian music, philosophy, and naad yoga. Career In 1994 in London, Prof. Surinder Singh founded the Raj Academy of Asian Music, which later became the non-profit organisation now known as Raj Academy Conservatoire. The Academy is an international institution and it quickly became one of the foremost schools for the study and practice of Sikh Music and Gurmat Sangeet of the Sikh musical tradition, teaching the art of playing ancient musical instruments of India including the Rabab, Taus, Saranghi, Dilruba, Saranda and Jori. He is also...
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Zenon Mariak
#54106
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Zenon Mariak is a Polish neurosurgeon, researcher, and professor who is currently head of the Department of Neurosurgery at the Medical University of Białystok. He previously served as the Deputy President of the Medical University of Białystok. He is a member of the Committee of Neurological Sciences at the 5th Faculty of Medical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
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John Bruce Wallace
#172063
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
John Bruce Wallace is an American composer and avant-garde, free jazz, fusion, experimental, improvisational progressive metal guitarist. Early life John Bruce Wallace a/k/a jacewbal was born February 6, 1950, in Calais, Maine, United States. John exhibited an affinity for the performing arts at an early age, first in acting, playing the lead roles in grade school plays, later he expanded his interests to include singing solo for his grade school classmates. Encouraged by his father to take up trumpet, he began studying clarinet while in grade school. By high school John had found "the Guitar"...
Go to Profile#17242
Duane Mitchell
#105633
Overall Influence
Duane A. Mitchell is an American physician-scientist and university professor. He is currently employed at the University of Florida College of Medicine, in Gainesville, Florida as the Assistant Vice President for Research, Associate Dean for Translational Science and Clinical Research, and Director of the University of Florida Clinical and Translational Science Institute. He is the Phyllis Kottler Friedman Professor in the Lillian S. Wells Department of Neurosurgery. and co-director of the Preston A. Wells Jr. Center for Brain Tumor Therapy. Mitchell is also the founder, President, and Chair...
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John H. Sampson
#43894
Overall Influence
John Howard Sampson is an American neurosurgeon who was formerly chief of the department of neurosurgery at Duke University where he serves as a professor of surgery, biomedical engineering, immunology, and pathology.
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Moses Nagari
#149605
Overall Influence
Moses Nagari or Moses ben Judah Steinschneider has pointed out the mistakes made concerning this author. Dukes in Allg. Zeit. des Jud. 1840, p. 156, corrupts his name into "Nagara," and in "Orient, Lit." 1845, p. 617, into "Najara." Wolf in Bibl. Hebr. i. 852, No. 1562, calls him "Moses ben Judah Nigdi," but ib. iii. 758, No. 1562, "Nagara" and "Nagari." 1b. iii. 795, No. 1610, he confounds him with Moses ben Levi Najara, as does Fürst in "Bibl. Jud." iii. 13; and both erroneously ascribe to him Moses ben Levi's work Lekhah Tov.
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David White Finlay
1840 - 1923 (83 years)
David White Finlay FRSE FRCP was a Scottish physician and yachtsman. He was Regius Professor of Medicine at Aberdeen University 1891 to 1912. He was Honorary Physician to the King in Scotland to both King Edward VII and King George V.
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Friedrich Karl Kasimir von Creutz
1724 - 1770 (46 years)
Friedrich Karl Kasimir von Creutz was a German poet, philosopher, writer and politician. He was born in Bad Homburg, where he also died, and was a councillor and ally of Frederick V, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg.
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Diarmuid Costello
#188485
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Diarmuid Costello is a British philosopher and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick. He is known for his works on aesthetics and the philosophy of art. Costello chaired the British Society of Aesthetics executive committee and was a Leverhulme Senior Research Fellow.
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Leo Galland
#105202
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
Leopold David Galland is a New York-based internist and author who specializes in undiagnosed or difficult-to-treat illnesses. His practice combines conventional and alternative therapies. Within the field of functional medicine he is known for developing the concept of "patient-centered diagnosis", for which he was awarded the Linus Pauling Award by the Institute for Functional Medicine in 2000.
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Oskar Kaul
1885 - 1968 (83 years)
Hermann Friedrich Oskar Kaul was a German musicologist and professor at the University of Würzburg. Life Kaul was born in 1885 as the son of the chemist Alexander Kaul and Clara Hoffmanns in Upper Bavaria, Bruckmühl community. After elementary school he attended a Humanistisches Gymnasium in Cologne, then in 1905 he went to study music at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln there. Among others, he was student of Max van de Sandt, Lazzaro Uzielli, Fritz Steinbach, Ewald Straeßer and Waldemar von Baußnern. At the same time he studied German literature and philosophy at the University of Bonn.
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David Batstone
#177649
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (68 years)
David Batstone is an ethics professor at the University of San Francisco and is the founder and president of Not for Sale. Batstone is also a journalist and the president and founder of Right Reality, an international business that engages in social ventures. He is a leader in Central American Mission Partners, a human rights group. As a representative of this group, he met with Bono through Glide Memorial Church during A Conspiracy of Hope, a concert tour in support of Amnesty International. Before becoming a human rights activist, Batstone was a Silicon Valley venture capitalist.
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