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,
#4451
Ian Christie
#51833
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (81 years)
Ian Christie is a British film scholar. He has written several books including studies of the works of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, Martin Scorsese and the development of cinema. He is a regular contributor to Sight & Sound magazine and a frequent broadcaster. Christie is Professor of Film and Media History at Birkbeck, University of London.
Go to Profile#4452
David Altshuler
#39868
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
David Matthew Altshuler is a clinical endocrinologist and human geneticist. He is Executive Vice President, Global Research and Chief Scientific Officer at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining Vertex in 2014, he was at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and was a Professor of Genetics and Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and in the Department of Biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was also a faculty member in the Department of Molecular Biology, Center for Human Genetic Research, and the Diabetes Unit, all at Massachusetts General Hospital. He was one of four Fo...
Go to Profile#4453
Juhn Atsushi Wada
#15786
Overall Influence
1924 - Present (102 years)
Juhn Atsushi Wada was a Japanese–Canadian neurologist known for research into epilepsy and human brain asymmetry, including his description of the Wada test for cerebral hemispheric dominance of language function. The Wada Test remains the gold standard for establishing cerebral dominance and is conducted worldwide prior to epilepsy surgery.
Go to Profile#4454
Takeshi Iwatsubo
#108131
Overall Influence
#4455
Paolo Valore
#100184
Overall Influence
1972 - Present (54 years)
Paolo Valore is an Italian philosopher and academic who deals with metaphysics, general ontology and the ontological implications of formal theories. He is also interested in projects of artificial languages and auxiliary languages.
Go to Profile#4456
Stephen Nicholls
#106021
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (55 years)
Stephen J. Nicholls FRACP, FACC, FESC, FAHA, FAHMS, is an Australian cardiologist. He was appointed to the position of director of MonashHeart, Monash Health and professor of cardiology, Monash University in October 2018. He is the inaugural clinical director of the Victorian Heart Hospital. He is also the inaugural director of Monash University’s Victorian Heart Institute, an organisation dedicated to creating the cardiovascular health solutions of the future.
Go to Profile#4457
Robert Scott Kirsner
#108148
Overall Influence
#4458
Walter Clark Randall
#108158
Overall Influence
#4459
Gillian Brock
#83608
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Gillian Greenwall Brock is a New Zealand philosophy and ethics academic. She is currently a full professor at the University of Auckland and fellow at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, Harvard University.
Go to Profile#4460
Abdallah Daar
#73614
Overall Influence
Dr. Abdallah Daar is an Emeritus Professor of Clinical Public Health, Global Health, and Surgery at the University of Toronto. He has also been a Senior Scientist at the Research Institutes of University Health Network/Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, and the Hospital for SickKids. At the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics, from 2001 to 2007, he was co-director of the Canadian Program on Genomics and Global Health, and Director of the University of Toronto Program in Applied Ethics and Biotechnology. At the Sandra Rotman Centre, he was Director of Ethics and Commercia...
Go to Profile#4461
Stephan Rössner
#108237
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (84 years)
Stephan Rössner is a Swedish physician. He is Professor in Health Related Behavioral Science at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, working at the Department of Medicine at the Huddinge campus of the Karolinska University Hospital. He has written several books on the issue and is the leading member of Viktklubben at the tabloid Aftonbladet.
Go to Profile#4462
Michael Goldacre
#33320
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (82 years)
Michael John Goldacre is an Australian-born British medical doctor and academic. He has been a fellow of Magdalen College since 1985 and was awarded a Title of Distinction as Professor of Public Health at the University of Oxford in 2002. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health.
Go to Profile#4463
Lev Kreft
#78778
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
Lev Kreft is a Slovenian politician, former Member of Parliament, editor, philosopher and sociologist. Biography He was elected into the first Parliament of the Republic of Slovenia in 1992 and acted as Vice President of Parliament during that term.
Go to Profile#4464
Larry K. Pickering
#108290
Overall Influence
#4465
Borys Surawicz
#108291
Overall Influence
#4466
Mrinal Miri
#44984
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (86 years)
Mrinal Miri is an Indian philosopher and educationalist. Early life He was awarded a BA in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge in 1966 and gained his doctorate in 1970. Career From 1970 to 1974 he was a Lecturer in Philosophy at St. Stephen's College under the University of Delhi, before moving to North Eastern Hill University. Mrinal also served as the Director of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, from 1993 to 1999. He was nominated as a member of Rajya Sabha on 21 March 2012.
Go to Profile#4467
Kirsti Malterud
#108332
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
#4468
Leon V. Kochian
#108335
Overall Influence
#4469
Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad
#52936
Overall Influence
Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, FBA is the Distinguished Professor of Comparative Religion and Philosophy at Lancaster University. His research focuses on Indian religions – Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism – and comparative phenomenology, epistemology, metaphysics and philosophy of religion. His studies include the conceptual roots of contemporary beliefs, politics and conflict in religious context, and the religious identities of South Asian diaspora in the United Kingdom. He was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in 2017.
Go to Profile#4470
Anja Steinbauer
#78247
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (60 years)
Anja Steinbauer is a London-based Sinologist and philosopher. She was born in Mainz, Germany. She is notable as one of the pioneers of the popular philosophy movement, and is the president of Philosophy For All in London. She is also one of the editors of the popularizing magazine Philosophy Now.
Go to Profile#4471
Linda López McAlister
#92139
Overall Influence
1939 - 2021 (82 years)
Linda López McAlister was an American philosopher and academic. She held several positions in academia, spending much of her career at the University of South Florida . She became Professor Emerita of Philosophy at USF in 1999. She also worked as a radio film critic and ran her own theatrical company.
Go to Profile#4472
Tom Frieden
#17060
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
Thomas R. Frieden is an American infectious disease and public health physician. He serves as president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, a $225million, five-year initiative to prevent epidemics and cardiovascular disease.
Go to Profile#4473
Bagher Larijani
#39307
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
Bagher Ardeshir Larijani is an Iranian medical practitioner at Tehran University of Medical Sciences. He is currently Chief Scientific Officer and Director General of the Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Institute which has been selected as the highest-ranking research institute in Iran on numerous occasions. According to Google Scholar, in February 2020, his citations exceeded 28021 with an h-index equal to 73. Since 2011, Essential Sciences Indicators of ISI Web of Sciences has announced him to be amongst the world’s top 1% scientists. Professor Larijani’s main fields of interest in...
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Pirmin Stekeler-Weithofer
#99421
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
Pirmin Stekeler-Weithofer is a German philosopher and professor of theoretical philosophy at the university of Leipzig. He was the president of the international Ludwig Wittgenstein society and is now a vice-president of this institution.
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Hanns-Werner Heister
#59453
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (80 years)
Hanns-Werner Heister is a German musicologist. Life and career Born in Plochingen, , Heister studied musicology, German literature and linguistics in Tübingen, Frankfurt a. M. and Berlin, received his doctorate in 1977 in Berlin on the aesthetics, sociology and history of the institution of the concert and habilitated in 1993 at the University of Oldenburg with studies on music analysis. From 1971 to 1992 he worked as a freelance music journalist for various radio stations, newspapers and magazines. After numerous lectureships and guest professorships he was professor for historical musicolo...
Go to Profile#4476
Harold J. C. Swan
#108455
Overall Influence
#4477
Charles S. Neer
#108465
Overall Influence
#4478
Howard Brody
#83201
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
Howard A. Brody is an American bioethicist and family physician. He was a professor of family medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch prior to his retirement from there in 2016. For much of his time at the University of Texas Medical Branch, he was the director of the Institute for the Medical Humanities there. Brody has performed research in the field of placebo studies.
Go to Profile#4479
Takamaro Shigaraki
#43871
Overall Influence
1926 - 2014 (88 years)
Takamaro Shigaraki was a Japanese Buddhist philosopher and priest within the Honganji-ha branch of Jōdo Shinshū. Shigaraki is widely regarded as one of the most influential Buddhologists of the Jōdo Shinshū in the 20th century.
Go to Profile#4480
Geoffrey C. Gurtner
#33385
Overall Influence
Geoffrey C. Gurtner is an American microsurgeon. As of January 2022, he is the Chair of Surgery, Professor of Surgery and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson. He was previously Professor of Surgery and Inaugural Vice Chairman of Surgery for Innovation at Stanford University School of Medicine.
Go to Profile#4481
Paul S. Aisen
#108501
Overall Influence
#4482
Tetsuya Mitsudomi
#108520
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#4483
Josef Martin Pfeilschifter
#108537
Overall Influence
#4484
Mark K. Wax
#108543
Overall Influence
#4485
Munro Peacock
#108544
Overall Influence
#4486
Lucio Luzzatto
#108545
Overall Influence
#4487
Gilaad G. Kaplan
#108546
Overall Influence
#4488
Duane Litfin
#27586
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
A. Duane Litfin is an American academic administrator and evangelical minister. He was the seventh president of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. Early life and education Litfin was born on November 14, 1945. He holds an undergraduate degree in biblical studies from the Philadelphia College of Bible and a master's degree in theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. His two doctoral degrees are from Purdue University and Oxford . He came to Wheaton in 1993 from Memphis, Tennessee, where he served the First Evangelical Church as senior pastor. Prior to that, he was an associate professor at Dallas Theological Seminary.
Go to Profile#4489
Arnold Whittall
#35755
Overall Influence
1935 - Present (91 years)
Arnold Whittall is a British musicologist and writer. He is Professor Emeritus at King's College London. Between 1975 and 1996 he was Professor at King's. Previously he lectured at Cambridge, Nottingham and Cardiff , where one of his students was Australian composer Norma Tyer.
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Gérard Rabinovitch
#67651
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
Gérard Rabinovitch is a French philosopher and sociologist. He is a researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique , member of the Center for Research on Sense, Ethics, Society and of the Center for Research on Psychoanalysis, Medicine and Society, at the University of Paris VII-Denis Diderot. He is also a regular visiting faculty member at the University of Minas Gerais .
Go to Profile#4491
David Jay Weber
#108600
Overall Influence
#4492
Louise Burke
#77304
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (67 years)
Louise Mary Burke, is an Australian sports dietitian, academic and author. She was the head of sports nutrition at the Australian Institute of Sport throughout its existence from 1990 to 2018 and in 2018 was appointed Chief of AIS Nutrition Strategy. Since 2014, she holds the chair in sports nutrition in the Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research, Australian Catholic University.
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Josef Flammer
#25355
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
Josef Flammer is a Swiss ophthalmologist and long-time director of the Eye Clinic at Basel University Hospital. Flammer is a glaucoma specialist who developed a new pathogenetic concept of glaucomatous damage according to which unstable blood supply leads to oxidative stress, which in turn plays a major role in apoptosis of cells in the optic nerve and retina in glaucoma patients.
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Philippe Nys
#82780
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (79 years)
Philippe Nys is a Belgian-born French philosopher. The focus of his work is hermeneutics, poetics and theory of space's design. He is associated professor at the University of Paris8 , member of the research teams EA 4010 Arts des images et Art contemporain/Arts of Images and Contemporary Art, AMP: Architecture Milieu Paysage/ Architecture Milieu Landscape at the National School of Architecture of Paris La Villette. He is lecturer in several schools of architecture and landscape such as Paris-Belleville, Versailles, Lille.
Go to Profile#4495
Deal W. Hudson
#95438
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
Deal Wyatt Hudson is an American conservative political activist. Hudson is the former publisher and editor of Crisis Magazine and InsideCatholic.com. He is currently president of the Morley Institute for Church and Culture. Hudson also hosts the radio show Church and Culture on Ave Maria Radio and serves as publisher and editor of The Christian Review.
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Sharon Lloyd
#91631
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (68 years)
Sharon A. Lloyd is Professor of Philosophy, Law, and Political Science at the University of Southern California. She co-founded the USC Center for Law and Philosophy, and directs the USC Levan Institute's Conversations in Practical Ethics Program. Lloyd's work, especially on the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes, has been considered some of the most significant work published in recent years.
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Cesare Luporini
#87657
Overall Influence
1909 - 1993 (84 years)
Cesare Luporini was an Italian philosopher, historian of philosophy and politician. Biography Luporini was born in Ferrara, but lived in Florence since childhood. Luporini graduated from the University of Florence in 1933 with a thesis on Kant. Immediately after graduation, in 1933, he went to Freiburg, where he attended Martin Heidegger's classes and, after Heidegger's accession to Nazism, to Berlin, he listened to Nicolai Hartmann's lectures on ethics. Following the publication of the first essays on Scheler and Leopardi, and after having started teaching in the Tuscan high schools, he was...
Go to Profile#4498
Armando E. Giuliano
#108690
Overall Influence
#4499
Gérard Michel London
#108696
Overall Influence
#4500
Susanne von Caemmerer
#94031
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
Susanne von Caemmerer FRS is a professor and plant physiologist in the Division of Plant Sciences, Research School of Biology at the Australian National University; and the Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis. She has been a leader in developing and refining biochemical models of photosynthesis.
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