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,
#4651
Elaine Svenonius
#86444
Overall Influence
1933 - Present (93 years)
Elaine Svenonius is an American librarian and library scholar, known for her research on bibliographic control, particularly cataloging, classification, and indexing. She is best known for bringing a philosophical knowledge organization approach to cataloging theory.
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Jay David Bolter
#16940
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
Jay David Bolter is the Wesley Chair of New Media and a professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His areas of study include the evolution of media, the use of technology in education, and the role of computers in the writing process. More recently, he has conducted research in the area of augmented reality and mixed media. Bolter collaborates with researchers in the Augmented Environments Lab, co-directed with Blair MacIntyre, to create apps for entertainment, cultural heritage and education for smart phones and tablets. This su...
Go to Profile#4653
J. B. Shepherd
#110843
Overall Influence
#4654
Gustavo E. Romero
#93397
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
Gustavo E. Romero is a professor of Relativistic Astrophysics at the University of La Plata and Superior Researcher of the National Research Council of Argentina. Currently, he is Director of the Argentine Institute of Radio Astronomy . He is past President of the Argentine Astronomical Society and currently he is the leader of GARRA research group and a Helmholtz International Fellow. Romero has been honored with several award for his achievements in scientific research, including the award of the Argentine Academy of Sciences, the Houssay Prize and the Konex Award 2023.
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Carlos Simon
#98544
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
Carlos Simón Vallés is a Spanish clinical researcher, obstetrician, and gynecologist. He is a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Valencia, an adjunct professor at Harvard University, and an international expert in assisted reproduction.
Go to Profile#4656
Jörg Tremmel
#50226
Overall Influence
1970 - Present (56 years)
Jörg Tremmel is a political theorist and philosopher. He is a professor at Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany. Academic career Tremmel holds two PhDs, one in philosophy and one in social sciences. From 2010 to 2016, he was the incumbent of a Junior Professorship for Intergenerationally Just Policies at the University of Tübingen. Spending a year in England, from 2009 to 2010, he was a research fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, both at its Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science and at the Grantham Institute – Climate Change and Environment.
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Bernard Thorens
#110918
Overall Influence
#4658
Jean C. Baudet
#73779
Overall Influence
1944 - 2021 (77 years)
Jean C. Baudet is a Belgian philosopher and writer, born in Brussels and died in Laeken . Life J.C. Baudet taught philosophy and history of science, from 1966 to 1973, in Africa . From 1973 to 1978, he was a biology researcher . In 1978, he was the founder of the periodical Technologia . Since 1996, he was an editor of the Revue Générale . The philosophical system developed by J.C. Baudet is known as editology.
Go to Profile#4659
D. F. M. Strauss
#60251
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (80 years)
D. F. M. Strauss is a South-African philosopher and the world's leading expert on the theory of modal aspects, one of the core features of the thought of the Dutch philosopher, Herman Dooyeweerd, and the movement for Reformational philosophy.
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Alan F. Segal
#34439
Overall Influence
1945 - 2011 (66 years)
Alan Franklin Segal was a scholar of ancient religions, specializing in Judaism's relationship to Christianity. Segal was a distinguished scholar, author, and speaker, self-described as a "believing Jew and twentieth-century humanist." Segal was one of the first modern scholars to write extensively on the influences of Judaism on Paul of Damascus.
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Michael Bond
#86875
Overall Influence
1936 - Present (90 years)
Sir Michael Richard Bond FRSA FRSE FRCPsych FRCPGlas FRCSE is an English physician and medical researcher, whose specialism lies in the study of pain. He has held a number of national and international appointments in his field and was Professor of Psychological Medicine at the University of Glasgow from 1973 to 1998.
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Adil Asadov
#73232
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (68 years)
Adil Asadov - is an Azerbaijani philosopher, currently head of the department at Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences and President of Association of Philosophical Enlightenment. Biography Adil Asadov was born on October 1, 1958, in Guba, Azerbaijan SSR, USSR. In 1975 he finished Guba boarding school and in 1980 graduated from Azerbaijan University of Architecture and Construction. In 1986 he was admitted to the Aspirantura in Philosophy at the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Philosophy and Law. He defended his PhD thesis titled “Historical types of thinking and engineering activity” in 1989.
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Linda D. Cardozo
#111018
Overall Influence
#4664
David Kerr
#91237
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Professor David James Kerr CBE is a British Cancer Researcherer. His primary area of research is treatment and management of colorectal cancer. He served as Chief Research Advisor at Sidra Medical and Research Center in Doha, Qatar. David James Kerr is Professor of Cancer Medicine and Former Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He was also President-Elect for European Society for Medical Oncology .
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Donald R. Anderson
#111051
Overall Influence
#4666
Carl Elliott
#41130
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
Carl Elliott is an American academic working as a professor in department of philosophy at the University of Minnesota. Early life and education A native of South Carolina, Elliott was educated at Davidson College in North Carolina and at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, where he received his PhD in philosophy. He received his MD from the Medical University of South Carolina.
Go to Profile#4667
Donald Grierson
#111084
Overall Influence
#4668
Henri Sarles
#111093
Overall Influence
#4669
Peter H. Schur
#111103
Overall Influence
#4670
Kevin Volpp
#11833
Overall Influence
Kevin G. Volpp is an American behavioral economist and Mark V. Pauly President's Distinguished Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School. He is the Director of the Penn Center for Health Incentives & Behavioral Economics ..
Go to Profile#4671
Jean Davignon
#91488
Overall Influence
1935 - Present (91 years)
Jean Davignon, is a Canadian physician, medical researcher, and academic. Born in Montreal, Quebec, he received his Doctor of Medicine from the Université de Montréal in 1958 and a Master of Science degree in 1960 from McGill University.
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Michael Ferejohn
#88009
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (81 years)
Michael Ferejohn is a Professor of Philosophy at Duke University, and the author of the books The Origins of Aristotelian Science and Formal Causes: Definition, Explanation, and Primacy in Socratic and Aristotelian Thought. He received his A.B. from San Fernando Valley State College and his doctorate from the University of California, Irvine. Prior to teaching at Duke, he held a Mellon Faculty Fellowship at Harvard University. Ferejohn specializes in ancient philosophy, epistemology, and logic. He received the Richard K. Lublin Distinguished Award for Teaching Excellence in 2012 at Duke Univ...
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Giuseppe Cacciatore
#99155
Overall Influence
1945 - 2023 (78 years)
Giuseppe Cacciatore was an Italian philosopher and historian of philosophy. He was professor emeritus of history of philosophy at the University of Naples Federico II. Life and career Born in Salerno, Cacciatore graduated in philosophy at the Sapienza University of Rome in 1968, and the same year he became assistant in the faculty of philosophy at the University of Salerno, becoming ordinary professor in 1970. Starting from 1981 he was professor of history of philosophy at the University of Naples Federico II, becoming emeritus in 2017. He also served as president of the class of Moral Scien...
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Samuel E. Broder
#111209
Overall Influence
#4675
Alfio Ferlito
#111214
Overall Influence
#4676
Juan Rodés
#111220
Overall Influence
#4677
Lee A. Fleisher
#111244
Overall Influence
#4678
Yuichirou Doki
#111245
Overall Influence
#4679
Charles Theodore Dotter
#111246
Overall Influence
#4680
Leslie Turnberg, Baron Turnberg
#45419
Overall Influence
1934 - Present (92 years)
Leslie Arnold Turnberg, Baron Turnberg, , is a British medical professional and an author of many publications and books related to the medical and health services fields. His experience extends to areas of research in these fields, and maintaining a clinical practice. He has published four books and some 150 articles on medical and scientific research. He has written two books on the history of Israel: Beyond the Balfour Declaration; the 100 Year Quest for Israeli-Palestinian Peace was published in 2017, and Mandate: Britain's Palestinian Burden, 1919–1939 was published in 2021.
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Simon Karpatkin
#111315
Overall Influence
#4682
Alexander Kabanov
#108589
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Alexander Viktorovich Kabanov , is a Russian and American chemist, an educator, an entrepreneur, and a researcher in the fields of drug delivery and nanomedicine. Biography and career Kabanov was born in Moscow, USSR on 27 March 1962, in the family of Soviet chemist Viktor A. Kabanov. He graduated from the Faculty of Chemistry of the Moscow State University in 1984, where he also received PhD – Candidate of Chemical Sciences in 1987 and D.Sc. – Doctor of Chemical Sciences in 1990. In 1994 he reallocated to United States to the University of Nebraska Medical Center where he served on a faculty for nearly 18 years before moving to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2012.
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Stefan Sarnowski
#111324
Overall Influence
1939 - 2014 (75 years)
Stefan Sarnowski was a Polish philosopher working as professor at Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz. Biography Stefan Sarnowski graduated from University of Warsaw, and in 1964 obtained his magister degree for the work Marksizm i darwinizm w etyce Kautskiego , with Marek Fritzhand being the supervisor. After receiving his doctorate, Stefan Sarnowski started working as adjunct at the same university.
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Will Ord
#86955
Overall Influence
Will Ord is a UK-based educational trainer and speaker. He is the Chair of the Society for Advancing Philosophical Enquiry and Reflection in Education . Ord advocates for education that promotes thinking and communication skills, reflective practice, and the 'community of learners' at the heart of learning and teaching.
Go to Profile#4685
Neil Marlow
#111343
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
#4686
Alan Donagan
#87643
Overall Influence
1925 - 1991 (66 years)
Alan Harry Donagan was an Australian/American philosopher, distinguished for his theories on the philosophy of history and the nature of morality. He attended the University of Melbourne and was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Chicago.
Go to Profile#4687
Michael B. Kastan
#111395
Overall Influence
#4688
Betsy Foxman
#111401
Overall Influence
#4689
Professor P. Franchimont
#111434
Overall Influence
#4690
Kenneth J. Ottenbacher
#111439
Overall Influence
#4691
Dennis D. Weisenburger
#111440
Overall Influence
#4692
Robert H. Cofield
#111448
Overall Influence
#4693
Maureen Furniss
#44712
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Maureen Ruth Furniss is a writer, animation historian, animation theorist, critic, professor, and president of the Society for Animation Studies. Furniss served as a professor at the California Institute of Arts, Savannah College of Art and Design, University of Southern California, and Chapman University.
Go to Profile#4694
Jaume Casals
#22089
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (68 years)
Jaume Casals Pons is the professor of philosophy at Pompeu Fabra University since 2003. He received his Doctorate in Philosophy summa cum laude from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 1984; prior to teaching at UPF, he taught at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and Paris Diderot University.
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Igor Rudan
#98179
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (55 years)
Igor Rudan is a Croatian-British scientist, writer, and science communicator. He leads research projects in global health and genetics, writes books, and creates documentary series. Igor Rudan is a medical doctor with two master’s degrees and two Ph.D. degrees . He has published more than 600 research papers as of 1 October 2023, which have been cited more than 200,000 times.
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Mikhail V. Blagosklonny
#111493
Overall Influence
#4697
Heinrich Taegtmeyer
#111503
Overall Influence
#4698
Joseph S. Coselli
#111517
Overall Influence
#4699
John Weckert
#80974
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
John Weckert is an Australian philosopher who has been an influential figure in, and substantial contributor to the field of information and computer ethics. He has published many books and journal articles outlining his research in this field.
Go to Profile#4700
William Vainchenker
#88311
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (79 years)
William Vainchenker, born on 16 December 1947, is a French medical doctor and researcher. He is considered a specialist in hematopoiesis. Biography William Vainchenker is director of research at Inserm, Hematopoiesis and Stem Cells Unit, Gustave Roussy Institute, Villejuif.
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