Search People Result | Academic Influence

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 …

See additional learning tools, study tips, features on campus life and much more at our Student Resources Headquarters.

Search Influential People

Person Name

School

Gender

Country

Discipline

Subdiscipline

Ranking

List of the most influential female people in Physics,

#651

Annick Pouquet

#128171

Overall Influence

1946 - Present (78 years)

Annick Gabrielle Pouquet is a computational plasma physicist specializing in plasma turbulence. She was awarded the 2020 Hannes Alfvén Prize for "fundamental contributions to quantifying energy transfer in magneto-fluid turbulence". She currently holds positions in the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics and National Center for Atmospheric Research at the University of Colorado Boulder.

#652

Jenny Rosenthal Bramley

#64437

Overall Influence

1909 - 1997 (88 years)

Jenny Rosenthal Bramley was a Russian-born American physicist. She holds numerous patents on Electroluminescence and Electro-optics and is cited by the IEEE as being "well known for her innovative work in lasers." She was the second woman elected as a fellow of the IEEE.

#653

Aviva Gileadi

#89448

Overall Influence

1917 - 2001 (84 years)

Aviva E. Gileadi was an Israeli nuclear scientist, a professor at the Israel Institute of Technology in the department of Nuclear Engineering. She was a specialist in the use of Nuclear reactors for energy production and Desalination. She was the first woman in the Western Bloc to receive a license for the operation of a nuclear reactor and the only one with such a license in 1963.

#654

Lenka Zdeborová

#94195

Overall Influence

1980 - Present (44 years)

Lenka Zdeborová is a Czech physicist and computer scientist who applies methods from statistical physics to machine learning and constraint satisfaction problems. She is a professor of physics and computer science and communication systems at EPFL .

#655

Olga Kocharovskaya

#92816

Overall Influence

1956 - Present (68 years)

Olga Anatolevna Kocharovskaya is a distinguished professor of physics at Texas A&M University, known for her contributions to laser physics, quantum optics and gamma ray modulation. Education Kocharovskaya earned a doctorate in 1986 from N. I. Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod. Her research at that time was the first to study electromagnetically induced transparency.

#656

Ineke De Moortel

#66073

Overall Influence

Ineke De Moortel is a Belgian applied mathematician in Scotland, where she is a professor of applied mathematics at the University of St Andrews, director of research in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at St Andrews, and president of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society. Her research concerns the computational and mathematical modelling of solar physics, and particularly of the sun's corona.

#657

Elisabetta Comini

#137514

Overall Influence

#658

Fatima Ebrahimi

#93405

Overall Influence

Fatima Ebrahimi is an Iranian-American physicist and inventor. She carries out theoretical and computational plasma physics research for applications including fusion energy and space and astrophysical plasmas.

#659

Judith Lean

#116893

Overall Influence

1953 - Present (71 years)

Judith L. Lean is an Australian-American solar and climate scientist. She is a senior scientist at the United States Naval Research Laboratory. Lean is a three time recipient of the NASA Group Achievement Award and an elected member and fellow of several academic societies.

#660

Jessica Esquivel

#77634

Overall Influence

Jessica Esquivel is a Black Mexican and American physicist and science communicator, working at the Muon g-2 particle physics experiment at Fermilab. She is an advocate for gender and racial equity in science, and a lead organiser of #BlackInPhysics, a campaign to recognize and amplify the work of Black physicists worldwide. She was also selected as an AAAS IF/THEN Ambassador in 2019.

#661

Vittoria Colizza

#104396

Overall Influence

1978 - Present (46 years)

Vittoria Colizza is an Italian scientist, research director at INSERM and a specialist in mathematical modeling of infectious disease and computational epidemiology. In particular, she has carried out research on the modeling of seasonal and pandemic flu, Ebola and the COVID-19 pandemic.

#662

Joan Vaccaro

#105720

Overall Influence

1956 - Present (68 years)

Joan Vaccaro is a physicist at Griffith University and a former student of David Pegg. Her work in quantum physics includes quantum phase, nonclassical states of light, coherent laser excitation of atomic gases, cold atomic gases, stochastic Schrödinger equations, quantum information theory, quantum references, wave–particle duality, quantum thermodynamics, and the physical nature of time.

#663

Naomi McClure-Griffiths

#83659

Overall Influence

1975 - Present (49 years)

Naomi McClure-Griffiths is an American-born astrophysicist and radio astronomer who researches and lives in Australia. In 2004, she discovered a new spiral arm in the Milky Way galaxy. She was awarded the Prime Minister's Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist in 2006 and in 2015 was honored for her research in physics by receipt of the Pawsey Medal from the Australian Academy of Science. This was followed by an Australian Laureate Fellowship in 2021, while in 2022 she was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.

#664

Jacqueline Krim

#54362

Overall Influence

Jacqueline Krim is an American condensed matter physicist specializing in nanotribology, the study of film growth, friction, and wetting of nanoscale surfaces. She is a Distinguished University Professor of Physics at North Carolina State University.

#665

Laura P. Bautz

#118517

Overall Influence

1940 - 2014 (74 years)

Laura Patricia Bautz was an American astronomer who worked for many years at the National Science Foundation, where she directed the Division of Astronomical Science. The Bautz–Morgan classification of galaxy clusters is named for her work with William Wilson Morgan, published in 1970.

#666

Elizabeth Essex-Cohen

#55783

Overall Influence

1940 - 2004 (64 years)

Elizabeth Essex-Cohen was an Australian physicist who worked in global positioning satellite physics and was among the first women in Australia to be awarded a PhD in physics. Early life and education Elizabeth Annette Essex-Cohen, née Essex, was educated at Grafton High. She subsequently completed a PhD in Physics at Australia's University of New England, investigating ionospheric irregularities under Frank Hibberd, graduating in 1966. Essex-Cohen was the fourth woman in Australia to receive a PhD in physics.

#667

Lisa Harvey-Smith

#66690

Overall Influence

1979 - Present (45 years)

Lisa Harvey-Smith is a British-Australian astrophysicist, Australia's Women in STEM Ambassador and a Professor of Practice in Science Communication at the University of NSW. Her research interests include the origin and evolution of cosmic magnetism, supernova remnants, the interstellar medium, massive star formation and astrophysical masers. For almost a decade Harvey-Smith was a research scientist at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation , including several years as the Project Scientist for the Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder and later Project Scientist...

#668

Hanna Vehkamäki

#108377

Overall Influence

1969 - Present (55 years)

Hanna Tuula Katariina Vehkamäki is a Finnish physicist who is a professor of computational aerosol science at the University of Helsinki. Her research investigates aerosol nucleation and atmospheric chemistry. She also serves as Vice Dean of Wellbeing and Equality. In 2022, she was elected to the Order of the White Rose of Finland.

#669

Ene Ergma

#109703

Overall Influence

1944 - Present (80 years)

Ene Ergma is an Estonian politician, a member of the Riigikogu , and scientist. She was a member of the political party Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica and, before the two parties merged, a member of Res Publica Party. On 1 June 2016, Ergma announced her resignation from the party, because the party had lost its identity and turned populist.

#670

Aline Auroux

#139753

Overall Influence

1946 - Present (78 years)

#671

Marjorie Williamson

#51950

Overall Influence

1913 - 2002 (89 years)

Dame Elsie Marjorie Williamson, DBE was a British academic, educator, physicist and university administrator. Education The only child of middle-aged parents she attended Wakefield Girls' High School and went up to read physics at Royal Holloway College, University of London in 1932, graduating in 1936.

#672

Liliane Schoofs

#139889

Overall Influence

#673

María Teresa Dova

María Teresa Dova

#133743

Overall Influence

1950 - Present (74 years)

María Teresa Dova is an Argentine physicist. She is a senior researcher at National Scientific and Technical Research Council in Argentina and professor in the Physics Department of the Faculty of Exact Sciences at the National University of La Plata.

#674

Carole Ann Haswell

Carole Ann Haswell

#91457

Overall Influence

Carole Ann Haswell is a British astrophysicist and current Professor of Astrophysics and Head of Astronomy at the Open University. She is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. She has been involved in the detection of several exoplanets, including Barnard's Star b.

#675

Henriette Elvang

#122317

Overall Influence

Henriette D. Elvang is a Theoretical Particle Physicist and Professor at the University of Michigan. She works on quantum field theory and scattering processes. Education and early career Elvang studied physics at the University of Copenhagen. She earned her bachelor's degree in 1998 and her master's degree in 2001. Elvang moved to America for her graduate studies, earning a doctorate at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2005. She worked on Young projection operators and charged, rotating black rings. Elvang also investigated Kaluza–Klein bubbles and their interactions with black holes.

#676

Mariam Sultana

#62523

Overall Influence

Mariam Sultana is a Pakistani astrophysicist. Sultana completed her doctoral studies in astrophysics at the University of Karachi under the supervision of Nuritdinov Salohitdin Nasritdinovich in 2012. She is the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in astrophysics in Pakistan. Sultana teaches as an assistant professor at the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology.

#677

Debra Elmegreen

Debra Elmegreen

#93045

Overall Influence

1952 - Present (72 years)

Debra Meloy Elmegreen is an American astronomer. She was the first woman to graduate from Princeton University with a degree in astrophysics, and she was the first female post-doctoral researcher at the Carnegie Observatories.

#678

Marta Losada

#126322

Overall Influence

Marta Losada Falk is a Colombian high energy physicist, a pioneer of physics in Colombia, and the president of Antonio Nariño University. She should be distinguished from her mother, American-born Colombian mathematician María Falk de Losada, who was rector of Antonio Nariño University from 2001 to 2010.

#679

Margaret Gardel

#117368

Overall Influence

Margaret Lise Gardel is an American biophysicist. She is the Horace B. Horton Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Chicago. Education After Gardel earned her bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics from Brown University, she was accepted into physics graduate programs at Harvard University. While completing her PhD, she became interested in the ways actin deforms in response to external mechanical stress. She was encouraged by Clare Waterman and various cell biologists to leave her postdoc position and join a research team at Scripps Research Institute.

#680

Peggy Cebe

#128957

Overall Influence

1949 - Present (75 years)

Peggy Cebe is a professor of physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy of Tufts University. Early life Cebe was born in Erie, Pennsylvania. She received her bachelor's degree from the Edinboro State College of Pennsylvania in 1970. She earned a MS in mathematics in 1976 from the same school. Cebe obtained a second MS in physics from Cornell University in 1981, followed by a PhD in physics in 1984, also from Cornell University.

#681

Agata Różańska

#62658

Overall Influence

1968 - Present (56 years)

Agata Różańska is a Polish astronomer and astrophysicist. Research Professor at the field of X-ray astronomy. She works on numerical computations of emission processes in astrophysical X-ray sources and their observations.

#682

Sookyung Choi

#93484

Overall Influence

SooKyung Choi is a South Korean particle physicist at Gyeongsang National University. She is part of the Belle experiment and was the first to observe the X meson in 2003. She won the 2017 Ho-Am Prize in Science.

#683

Leticia Cugliandolo

Leticia Cugliandolo

#108982

Overall Influence

1965 - Present (59 years)

Leticia Fernanda Cugliandolo is an Argentine condensed matter physicist known for her research on non-equilibrium thermodynamics, spin glass, and glassy systems. She works in France as a professor of physics at the Sorbonne University.

#684

Judith Racusin

#81175

Overall Influence

Judith Lea Racusin is an American astrophysicist. She works at Goddard Space Flight Center as a research aerospace technologist in fields and particles. Racusin researches gamma-ray bursts, supernova remnants, high-energy astrophysics, and instrumentation.

#685

Barbara Maher

#114698

Overall Influence

1960 - Present (64 years)

Barbara Ann Maher is a Professor Emerita of Environmental Science at Lancaster University. She served as director of the Centre for Environmental magnetism & Palaeomagnetism until 2021 and works on magnetic nanoparticles and pollution.

#686

Giorgina Specchia

#141386

Overall Influence

#687

Valeria Molinero

#108234

Overall Influence

2000 - Present (24 years)

Valeria Paula Molinero is an Argentinian physicist who is the Jack and Peg Simons Endowed Professor of Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Utah. Her research investigates the simulation of the behavior of materials. She was awarded the American Physical Society Irving Langmuir Award in Chemical Physics in 2023.

#688

Anne Green

#107919

Overall Influence

Anne Josephine Green AC is an Australian physicist and astronomer. She is a professor emeritus at the University of Sydney and was previously head of the university's School of Physics. She was also director of the Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope for a decade.

#689

Cynthia Wolberger

#115973

Overall Influence

1957 - Present (67 years)

Cynthia Wolberger is an American structural biologist currently at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and an Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. On April 19, 2019, she was elected as a member of the National Academy of Science among 100 new members and 25 foreign associates.

#690

Eileen Friel

#125936

Overall Influence

Eileen Dolores Friel is an American astronomer specializing in the metallicity of star clusters. She is a former director of the Maria Mitchell Observatory and Lowell Observatory, and a professor emeritus of astronomy at Indiana University.

#691

Bonnie Buratti

#111284

Overall Influence

Bonnie J. Buratti is an American planetary scientist in the Division of Earth and Space Sciences at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where she leads the Comets, Asteroids, and Satellites Group. Her research involves the composition and physical properties of planetary surfaces, and volatile transport in the outer solar system.

#692

Marcela Bilek

#84593

Overall Influence

1968 - Present (56 years)

Marcela Bilek is a Professor of Applied Physics and Surface Engineering at the University of Sydney, Australia. Her research interests focus on the use of plasma related methods to synthesise thin film materials and modify surfaces and interfaces. She was named Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2012 and Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2015 for contributions to the science and application of plasma processes for materials modification and synthesis. Among her many awards are the Malcolm-McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year in 2002 and ...

#693

Claire Berger

#88485

Overall Influence

1960 - Present (64 years)

Claire Berger is a French physicist at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Director of Research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research. Berger has co-authored about 200 publications in international journals and has a citation index of 10,880. She has won a number of prizes including the CNRS medal for Young Researcher and the of the French Physical Society. She was recently elected fellow of the American Physical Society.

#694

Rosalba Perna

#106727

Overall Influence

Rosalba Perna is an Italian and American theoretical astrophysicist whose research concerns high-energy cosmic sources including gamma-ray bursts and neutron star mergers. She has also studied exoplanets and the growth of supermassive black holes. She is professor of physics and astronomy at Stony Brook University.

#695

Alejandra Melfo

#92437

Overall Influence

1965 - Present (59 years)

Alejandra Melfo is a Uruguayan-born Venezuelan physicist. She is known for her efforts studying and conserving glaciers, especially the Humboldt Corona, the last glacier in Venezuela. Early life Melfo was born in Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital, and moved to Venezuela with her family in 1976 as refugees from dictatorship when she was 11. She later became a naturalized Venezuelan citizen. She studied at the University of the Andes in Mérida and received her undergraduate degree in 1989, her master's degree in 1994, and became a faculty member at ULA whilst studying for a PhD in astrophysics...

#696

Brenda Dingus

#95390

Overall Influence

Brenda Lynn Dingus is an American particle astrophysicist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, known for her research on gamma-ray bursts and cosmic rays. Education and career Dingus majored in physics at Harvey Mudd College, graduating in 1982. She completed a Ph.D. in 1988 at the University of Maryland, College Park, specializing in experimental cosmic-ray physics under the supervision of Gaurang Yodh.

#697

Ruth Britto

#59241

Overall Influence

Ruth Alexandra Britto-Pacumio is an American mathematical physicist whose research topics include black holes, Yang–Mills theory, and the theory of Feynman integrals; with Freddy Cachazo, Bo Feng, and Edward Witten she is one of the namesakes of the BCFW recursion relations for computing scattering amplitudes. She is an associate professor in mathematics and theoretical physics at Trinity College Dublin, and is also affiliated with the Institut de physique théorique - IPhT Saclay.

#698

Christy A. Tremonti

#106695

Overall Influence

1901 - Present (123 years)

Christy A. Tremonti is an observational astronomer on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She was a 2005 Hubble Fellow while at the University of Arizona. She received her PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 2003 and her BS from Colgate University in 1994. She completed her dissertation, "The physical properties of low redshift star forming galaxies: Insights from the space-UV and 20,000 SDSS spectra", under the supervision of Timothy M. Heckman.

#699

Diana Huffaker

#104973

Overall Influence

Diana Huffaker FIEEE, FOSA is a physicist working in compound semiconductors optical devices. She is the current Sêr Cymru Chair in Advanced Engineering and Materials and Science Director of the Institute of Compound Semiconductors is based within Cardiff University. Her work includes compound semiconductor epitaxy, lasers, solar cells, optoelectronic devices, plasmonics, and Quantum dot and nanostructured materials.

#700

Kimberly Arcand

#104481

Overall Influence

1975 - Present (49 years)

Kimberly Kowal Arcand is a data visualizer and science communicator for NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. She is also the visualization coordinator for the Aesthetics and Astronomy image response project at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

« Previous Next »

Image Attributions