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,
#6951
Ronen Eldan
#39866
Overall Influence
1980 - Present (46 years)
Ronen Eldan is an Israeli mathematician. Eldan is a professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science working on probability theory, mathematical analysis, theoretical computer science and the theory of machine learning. He received the 2018 Erdős Prize, the 2022 Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists and the 2023 New Horizons Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics. He was a speaker at the 2022 International Congress of Mathematicians.
Go to Profile#6952
Matthieu Hubertus Joseph Jacob Ernst
#154638
Overall Influence
#6953
Douw. G. Steyn
#154640
Overall Influence
#6954
Klaus Peter Jochum
#154645
Overall Influence
#6955
Jay M. Gambetta
#154658
Overall Influence
#6956
Jairo Sinova
#154666
Overall Influence
1972 - Present (54 years)
#6957
Marcus Kasner
#38826
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
#6958
Gordon D. Love
#138783
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (59 years)
Gordon D Love is a British physicist. Love is a Professor at the Durham University Department of Physics and a specialist in Optics research. He is noted in particular for his work in Adaptive Optics.
Go to Profile#6959
Tung-jung Chuang
#154688
Overall Influence
#6960
M. V. Ramana
#90426
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (60 years)
M. V. Ramana is professor and Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security at the University of British Columbia, and Director of the Liu Institute for Global Issues, at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. A physicist by training, he previously worked at the Nuclear Futures Laboratory and the Program on Science and Global Security, both at Princeton University. Ramana is a member of the International Panel on Fissile Materials, the Canadian Pugwash Group, the International Nuclear Risk Assessment Group, and the team that produces the annual World Nuclear Industry Status R...
Go to Profile#6961
Stefaan De Wolf
#154696
Overall Influence
#6962
Mangalathayil Ali Abdu
#154701
Overall Influence
#6963
Mairi Sakellariadou
#154715
Overall Influence
#6964
Guglielmo Lanzani
#154722
Overall Influence
#6965
Dmitry Kolker
#147822
Overall Influence
1968 - 2022 (54 years)
Dmitry Borisovich Kolker was a Russian physicist, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, member of the Institute of Laser Physics, head of the Laboratory of Quantum Optical Technologies of Novosibirsk State University.
Go to Profile#6966
Sean Cadogan
#70595
Overall Influence
John M. Cadogan is Professor of Physics at the University of New South Wales and a former Canada Research Chair in Advanced Materials. Using advanced nuclear techniques, he studies the magnetic compounds formed between rare earth elements and transition elements. Materials with magnetic properties have played a central role in the development of modern technology, and are used in many every-day devices. Rare-earth materials promise magnetic properties beyond the capabilities of those used in the past and so are essential to the continued evolution and development of new technologies. They al...
Go to Profile#6967
Shmuel Yariv
#154783
Overall Influence
#6968
Chih-Kang Shih
#141503
Overall Influence
Chih-Kang Shih is a physicist, currently the Dr. Arnold Romberg Endowed Chair and Jane and Roland Blumberg Professor at University of Texas at Austin. Education In 1988, Shih earned a PhD from Stanford University.
Go to Profile#6969
Francesco Bonaccorso
#154812
Overall Influence
1976 - Present (50 years)
#6970
Vladimir Sargsyan
#84563
Overall Influence
1935 - 2013 (78 years)
Vladimir Sargsyan was an Armenian scientist in the field of mechanics. He was a professor, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Academician of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences. Biography 1935 – Born on June 25, Jolfa, , Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic1952 – Graduated from the School N17, Yerevan, Armenia1952-1957 – Studied at the Mechanics Department of Physics and Mathematics Faculty of YSU1957-1959 – Assistant of the Mechanics Department YSU1959-1962 – Post-graduate student at YSU1961-1963 – Senior Lecturer, Department of Higher Mathematics at YSU1961-1966 – Visiting Fellow...
Go to Profile#6971
Jack D. Scudder
#154859
Overall Influence
#6972
Merav Opher
#127156
Overall Influence
Merav Opher is a professor of astronomy at Boston University known for her work on the heliosphere, the cocoon formed by the wind emanated from the Sun as it travels in the Galaxy. In 2021 she was named a William Bentinck-Smith Fellow at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute.
Go to Profile#6973
J. Thomas Dickinson
#84909
Overall Influence
J. Thomas Dickinson is an American physicist and astronomer. H earned a B.A. degree in physics from Western Michigan University in 1963, and a PhD degree in chemical physics from the University of Michigan in 1968. He went directly to Washington State University and was appointed Paul A. Anderson Professor and regents professor, positions he held until his retirement in 2017. His field research involved laser-materials relations, nanotribology and tribochemistry.
Go to Profile#6974
Martin Dr Schadt
#154867
Overall Influence
#6975
Richard P. Woodard
#154875
Overall Influence
#6976
Milan Jaroš
#154923
Overall Influence
#6977
György Paál
#106779
Overall Influence
1934 - 1992 (58 years)
György Paál was a Hungarian astronomer and cosmologist. Work In the late 1950s Paál studied the quasar and galaxy cluster distributions. In 1970 from redshift quantization he came up with the idea that the Universe might have nontrivial topological structure. These are the oldest papers that associate real observations with the possibility that our universe could have nontrivial topology.
Go to Profile#6978
James Cuffey
#117703
Overall Influence
1911 - 1999 (88 years)
James Cuffey was an American astronomer. He specialized in photoelectric photometry and held the patent on the Cuffey Iris Photometer, an instrument used in stellar photographic photometry. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Cuffey became a graduate student at Northwestern University in 1934, then went on to Harvard University as a doctoral student under Harlow Shapley. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1938, then took a position as a postdoctoral fellow at Indiana University. Serving in the United States Navy in World War II, Cuffey taught navigation at the U.S. Naval Academy. In 1946, he ret...
Go to Profile#6979
Isabelle Sagnes
#154965
Overall Influence
#6980
Thomas F. Deutsch
#154966
Overall Influence
#6981
Puragra Guhathakurta
#154972
Overall Influence
#6982
Donald C. Malins
#154975
Overall Influence
#6983
Paul R. Berman
#154984
Overall Influence
#6984
Jasprit Singh
#154992
Overall Influence
#6985
Pablo Ordejón
#155001
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
#6986
Robert Alicki
#155005
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
#6987
Shuit-Tong Lee
#155029
Overall Influence
#6988
Agostino Pierro
#155040
Overall Influence
#6989
Michael Thomas Montgomery
#155047
Overall Influence
#6990
Alexey Borisovich Shabat
#155050
Overall Influence
#6991
Yukikazu Iwasa
#155053
Overall Influence
#6992
Robert M. Ziff
#155074
Overall Influence
#6993
Karin Jacobs
#96584
Overall Influence
Karin Jacobs is a German physicist specializing in micro-fluidics and adhesion at micro- and nanometer scales. She is a professor at the Saarland University. Life and career Jacobs was born in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, and completed her Abitur at in 1986. She then went on to study physics at the University of Konstanz, where she also received her doctorate in 1997. After completing her doctorate, Jacobs went on to perform postdoctoral research at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces. She subsequently became a research assistant in the Department of Applied Physics at the University of Ulm, after which she worked as a project manager at Bayer in their polymers division.
Go to Profile#6994
Tim C. Ralph
#121976
Overall Influence
Tim C. Ralph is an Australian physicist who specializes in the application of quantum optics to quantum information science and quantum computing. He is Professor in Physics at the University of Queensland, and Program Manager in the ARC Centre for Quantum Computer and Communication Technology. Ralph is known for developing continuous variable quantum cryptography and co-founder of measurement based computation with continuous variable optics. In 2012, Ralph was one of the scientists responsible for establishing quantum discord as a computational resource. As of 2012, Tim has 200 publications and over 4500 citations.
Go to Profile#6995
Peter A. Butler
#126404
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
Peter Anthony Butler is a Professor of Physics at the University of Liverpool. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2019 for "substantial contributions to the improvement of natural knowledge".
Go to Profile#6996
Debra R. Rolison
#118042
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
Debra R. Rolison is a physical chemist at the Naval Research Laboratory, where she is a head of the Advanced Electrochemical Materials section. Rolison's research involves the design, synthesis, and characterization of multi-functional nanostructures and ultra porous materials for rate-critical applications such as catalysis and energy storage. She is the 112th recipient of the William H. Nichols Medal Award.
Go to Profile#6997
David C. Hanna
#155186
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (85 years)
David Colin Hanna FRS is a British physicist specializing in laser physics and nonlinear optics. He is emeritus professor of physics at the University of Southampton. His research interests include quasi-phase-matched nonlinear materials, optical parametric oscillators, fibre lasers, and X-ray sources based on high harmonic generation.
Go to Profile#6998
James Gary Eden
#155250
Overall Influence
#6999
Ishfaq Ahmad Khan
#82413
Overall Influence
1930 - 2018 (88 years)
Ishfaq Ahmad Khan , was a Pakistani nuclear physicist, emeritus professor of high-energy physics at the National Centre for Physics, and former science advisor to the Government of Pakistan. A versatile theoretical physicist, Ahmad made significant contributions in the theoretical development of the applications and concepts involving the particle physics, and its relative extension to the quantum electrodynamics, while working as senior research scientist at the CERN in the 1960s and 1970s. Joining the PAEC in the late 1950s, Ahmad served as the director of the Nuclear Physics Division at t...
Go to Profile#7000
Larry R. Nittler
#155280
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (57 years)
