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 Physics,
#6201
Dima L. Shepelyansky
#143958
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
#6202
Matthias R. Gaberdiel
#144001
Overall Influence
#6203
Paul Manneville
#144013
Overall Influence
#6204
Ugo Bardi
#12888
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
Ugo Bardi is a professor of physical chemistry at the University of Florence. Career Bardi is a researcher on materials for new energy sources, a contributor to the now-defunct website, "The Oil Drum". He is the co-founder and former president of ASPO Italy, a member of the scientific committee of the , a member of the Club of Rome, and author of several books, including The Limits to Growth Revisited.
Go to Profile#6205
Ratbay Myrzakulov
#144020
Overall Influence
#6206
Richard W. Pogge
#144032
Overall Influence
#6207
Giuseppe Battaglia
#144070
Overall Influence
#6208
Hakkı Ögelman
#134958
Overall Influence
1940 - 2011 (71 years)
Hakkı Boran Ögelman was a Turkish physicist and astrophysicist. He was an expert on gamma ray astronomy, the physics of neutron stars, and solar energy and worked on several key topics in modern astrophysics. He made many contributions to high energy astrophysics. In his early professional career he engaged in the SAS-II Small Gamma Ray Astronomy Satellite experiment development, data analysis, and first detection and imaging of our universe in gamma rays with his NASA colleagues, as well as in other fields of physics. His main interests in the field of astrophysics were the study of gamma ray astronomy and compact objects such as neutron stars and pulsars.
Go to Profile#6209
Pepi Fabbiano
#144090
Overall Influence
Giuseppina "Pepi" Fabbiano is an American astrophysicist. She works in the High Energy Astrophysics Division, at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Life She was born in Palermo, Italy. She graduated from the University of Palermo. She studies black holes.
Go to Profile#6210
Wolfgang Schröder
#144092
Overall Influence
#6211
Duarte Araújo
#144105
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#6212
Tao Han
#144110
Overall Influence
#6213
Michael A. Mcguire
#144113
Overall Influence
#6214
Jean‐pierre Vigier
#144117
Overall Influence
#6215
Roger K. Ulrich
#144123
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (84 years)
#6216
Hilda Hänchen
#51678
Overall Influence
1919 - 2013 (94 years)
Hilda Hänchen was a German physicist. Life and work Hilda Hänchen received her doctorate in 1943 from the University of Hamburg under the supervision of Fritz Goos, with a dissertation titled Über das Eindringen des totalreflektierten Lichtes in das dünnere Medium . During World War II she worked as a "managing" research assistant at the State Physics Institute in Hamburg . She concurrently worked at the Physical-Chemical Research Institute in Kiel on war research contracts and was listed in the register of sponsorships of the Reichsforschungsrat . From 1949 to 1951 she was a referee for the chemistry journal Chemisches Zentralblatt.
Go to Profile#6217
Robert S. Feigelson
#144153
Overall Influence
#6218
Frank Scheffold
#104038
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (57 years)
Frank Scheffold is the head of the Soft Matter and Photonics Group in the physics department at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He studied at the University of Konstanz in Germany, as well as the Weizmann Institute of Science . He obtained his doctorate summa cum laude at the University of Konstanz, for research carried out with Prof. G. Maret at the Institute Charles Sadron and Konstanz. His research in the Soft Matter and Photonics Group focuses on the optics of complex systems, dynamic light scattering and diffuse light propagation, the dynamics, aggregation and phase behaviour of colloidal systems and the production and characterization of soft materials.
Go to Profile#6219
Lothar Rink
#144163
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
#6220
Andrew Turberfield
#108208
Overall Influence
Andrew J Turberfield is a British Professor of Physics based at the University of Oxford. Turberfield's research is largely based on DNA nanostructures and photonic crystals, and his work on both nanomachines and photonic crystals has been highly cited. Turberfield is a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.
Go to Profile#6221
Gordon P. Garmire
#144196
Overall Influence
#6222
Humberto Terrones
#144200
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
#6223
Susanne Stemmer
#144207
Overall Influence
#6224
Heinrich Leonhardt
#144231
Overall Influence
#6225
Davorin Dolar
#45671
Overall Influence
1921 - 2005 (84 years)
Davorin Dolar was a Slovenian chemist at the University of Ljubljana. He was a physical chemist who studied polyelectrolyte solutions. He is regarded as a founder of modern physical chemistry teaching in Slovenia. He was a member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Go to Profile#6226
George Fitzgerald Smoot
#144241
Overall Influence
#6227
Moshe Wolman
#27498
Overall Influence
1914 - 2009 (95 years)
Moshe Wolman was an Israeli neuropathologist. He is considered one of the fathers of histochemistry. In 1954, he described Wolman's disease. Biography Moshe Wolman was born in 1914 in Warsaw, Poland. He immigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1925. He grew up in Tel Aviv and graduated from the prestigious Herzliya Gymnasium . He studied medicine in Italy . In 1939, he married Brigitte "Bigi" Koebbel with whom he had four children: filmmaker Dan Wolman, philosopher Ruth Manor , psychiatrist Naomi Oren, and composer Amnon Wolman.
Go to Profile#6228
Sébastien Charnoz
#144254
Overall Influence
1974 - Present (52 years)
Pr. Sébastien Charnoz is a planetary scientist who studies planetary dynamics at the Université Paris Cité and Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris. He also works for the CEA in France. His work covers problems relating to collisional dynamics such as the physics of planetary rings and the formation of the Solar System. He specializes in numerical simulations. Along with André Brahic he is involved in the imaging team of the Cassini mission, led by Carolyn Porco. Using numerical code he wrote for automatic satellite detection , he helped the Imaging Team discover the two smallest known mo...
Go to Profile#6229
Lawrence Ford
#135989
Overall Influence
Lawrence H. Ford is an American physicist. Ford earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics at Michigan State University in 1970 and pursued graduate study in the subject at Princeton University, completing a Master of Arts in 1970, followed by a doctorate in 1974. He began his teaching career at Tufts University in September 1980 as an assistant professor. Ford was promoted to an associate professorship in 1985 and elevated to full professor in 1992. In 2004, Ford was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society, "[f]or pioneering contributions to quantum field theory in flat and curv...
Go to Profile#6230
Stanton J. Peale
#144335
Overall Influence
#6231
Harry H. Wieder
#144356
Overall Influence
#6232
Zaira Ollano
#117036
Overall Influence
1904 - 1997 (93 years)
Zaira Ollano was an Italian physicist, researcher and professor. She investigated physics and nuclear physics, including the radiation absorption properties of beryllium. Life and work Ollano was born in Cagliari, the capital of Sardinia, Italy, on 4 March 1904, to Francesco and Felicina Statzu .
Go to Profile#6233
Edgardo Somigliana
#144380
Overall Influence
#6234
Helen Guillette Vassallo
#37202
Overall Influence
Helen Guillette Vassallo is an American scientific researcher, educator, author, lecturer, and business leader noted for her contributions to the fields of physiology, pharmacology, and anesthesia. Education In 1949, Vassallo graduated as the valedictorian from Attleboro High School in Massachusetts. While in high school, she won Honorable Mention in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search. She went on to Tufts University to earn a Bachelor of Science in biology and a Master of Science in pharmacology. In 1967, Vassallo earned her doctorate in physiology from Clark University. A few years late...
Go to Profile#6235
Hans‐joachim Eichler
#144403
Overall Influence
#6236
Gernot Güntherodt
#144426
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
#6237
Mark I. Strikman
#144451
Overall Influence
#6238
Jianzhong Wu
#144456
Overall Influence
#6239
Malcolm A. H. Maccallum
#144467
Overall Influence
#6240
Nicholas E. White
#144484
Overall Influence
#6241
Gareth Roberts
#39262
Overall Influence
1940 - 2007 (67 years)
Sir Gareth Gwyn Roberts was a Welsh physicist specialising in semiconductors and molecular electronics, who was influential in British science policy through his chairmanship of several academic bodies and his two reports on the future supply of scientists and how university research should be assessed. He was knighted in 1997 for his services to higher education.
Go to Profile#6242
Mark D. Stiles
#144497
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (67 years)
#6243
Gaudenzio Meneghesso
#144511
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Gaudenzio Meneghesso from the University of Padova, Padova, Italy was named Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2013 for contributions to the reliability physics of compound semiconductors devices.
Go to Profile#6244
Kristian Sommer Thygesen
#144513
Overall Influence
1976 - Present (50 years)
#6245
William Allan Hamilton
#144523
Overall Influence
#6246
Cathy Olkin
#123746
Overall Influence
Cathy Olkin is a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute, focusing on the outer Solar System. She is deputy principal investigator for NASA's Lucy mission examining the Trojan asteroids around Jupiter, which launched in 2021 and will fly past its targets between 2025 and 2033.
Go to Profile#6247
Shmuel N. Nussinov
#144558
Overall Influence
#6248
Vassilios Fanos
#144559
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
#6249
Charitha Pattiaratchi
#136593
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Charitha Pattiaratchi is a Winthrop Professor of coastal oceanography at the University of Western Australia. He leads the UWA Coastal Oceanography Group. and the IMOS Australian National Facility for Ocean Gliders. He has played an active role in research related in understanding climate change effects in the regions of coastal Western Australia and specifically in terms wind and wave climate, ocean currents, coastal flooding, sea level variability and beach stability. The research programs he has developed involves ocean observation integration, numerical modelling and synthesis to define...
Go to Profile#6250
Gregory Horndeski
#120355
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
Gregory Horndeski is an American painter, physicist and mathematician, known mainly for the formulation of Horndeski's theory of gravitation. Life and education Gregory Walter Horndeski was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1948 and got his B.A. in physics at Washington University in St. Louis in 1970 and his PhD in applied mathematics from the University of Waterloo in 1973, mainly with an interest in physics and mathematics. In 1974 he published his paper on a general second order scalar–tensor theory of gravitation, which would remain largely uncited for over 30 years before being revisited in the 2010's as an important theory in the development of modern cosmology.
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