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 Psychology,
#2651
Viorica Marian
#103972
Overall Influence
Viorica Marian is a Moldovan-born American psycholinguist, cognitive scientist, and psychologist known for her research on bilingualism and multilingualism. She is the Ralph and Jean Sundin Endowed Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders, and professor of psychology at Northwestern University. Marian is the principal investigator of the Bilingualism and Psycholinguistics Research Group. She received her PhD in psychology from Cornell University, and master's degrees from Emory University and from Cornell University. Marian studies language, cognition, the brain, and the consequences...
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David Lewis Penn
#127396
Overall Influence
#2653
Rosemary Tannock
#127402
Overall Influence
#2654
Neil Mercer
#72503
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (78 years)
Neil Mercer is Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge. Mercer grew up in Cockermouth in Cumbria, where he went to Cockermouth Grammar School before studying psychology at the University of Manchester. He has a PhD in psycholinguistics from the University of Leicester. His research explores the role of dialogue in education and the development of children's reasoning.
Go to Profile#2655
Marvalene Hughes
#109959
Overall Influence
Dr. Marvalene Hughes served as the president of Dillard University from 2005 to 2011. From 1994 to 2005, she was the president of California State University, Stanislaus. Ms. Hughes received a PhD in Counseling and Administration from Florida State University. Her MS, in Counseling, and her BS in English and History, are both from Tuskegee University. She also received an Honorary Doctorate from Brown University.
Go to Profile#2656
Wim H. J. Meeus
#127484
Overall Influence
#2657
Richard Edward Clark
#127507
Overall Influence
#2658
Kirby Deater‐deckard
#127534
Overall Influence
#2659
Enzo Spaltro
#125016
Overall Influence
1929 - 2021 (92 years)
Enzo Spaltro, born Vincenzo Spaltro , was an Italian psychologist, academic and television author, a pupil of Agostino Gemelli at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan; he specialized with him in work psychology and developed his ideas becoming one of the leading professionals in this field.
Go to Profile#2660
Keith Sawyer
#127577
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (64 years)
Robert Keith Sawyer is an American psychologist. He is the Morgan Distinguished Professor in Educational Innovations at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is an expert on creativity, innovation and learning.
Go to Profile#2661
Massimiliano Versace
#65506
Overall Influence
1972 - Present (52 years)
Massimiliano Versace is the co-founder and the CEO of Neurala Inc, a Boston-based company building Artificial Intelligence emulating brain function in software and used in automating the process of visual inspection in manufacturing. He is also the founding Director of the Boston University Neuromorphics Lab. Massimiliano Versace is a Fulbright scholar and holds two PhD in Experimental Psychology from the University of Trieste, Italy and Cognitive and Neural Systems from Boston University, USA. He obtained his BSc from the University of Trieste, Italy.
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Daphna Joel
#79275
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (57 years)
Daphna Joel is an Israeli neuroscientist and advocate for "neurofeminism". She is best known for her research which claims that there is no such thing as a "male brain" or a "female brain". Joel's research has been criticized by other neuroscientists who argue that male and female brains, on average, show distinct differences and can be classified with a high level of accuracy. Joel is a member of The NeuroGenderings Network, an international group of researchers in gender studies and neuroscience. They are critical of what they call neurosexism in the scientific community. Joel has given lec...
Go to Profile#2663
Chi‐yue Chiu
#127671
Overall Influence
#2664
Norman Abeles
#118197
Overall Influence
1928 - Present (96 years)
Norman Abeles is an Austrian-born psychologist. He is a university professor and a former president of the American Psychological Association. Biography Abeles was born in 1928 in Vienna, Austria. He earned an undergraduate degree from New York University and a PhD from The University of Texas at Austin. He was the 1997 president of the American Psychological Association . Abeles is an emeritus professor of psychology at Michigan State University . He is the former director of MSU's psychological clinic. Much of Abeles's work has centered on aging. He is on the editorial board of Alzheimer’s ...
Go to Profile#2665
Daphna Oyserman
#127719
Overall Influence
#2666
Thomas Grisso
#127752
Overall Influence
#2667
Philipp Kanske
#104076
Overall Influence
1980 - Present (44 years)
Philipp Kanske is a German psychologist and neuroscientist. He is professor at Technische Universität Dresden. His research focuses on the neuronal foundations of emotion, emotion regulation and emotion understanding , as well as their changes in mental disorders. Philipp Kanske is speaker of the Junge Akademie.
Go to Profile#2668
Lorraine Tyler
#124676
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (79 years)
Lorraine Komisarjevsky Tyler , is a British neuroscientist. She is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge. Biography Tyler graduated with a BA in Psychology at the University of Leicester in 1966 and completed her PhD in Cognition and Communication at the University of Chicago in 1977. From 1980 to 1985 she was the senior scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics before, in 1990, joining Birkbeck College as Professor of Psychology. In 1998 Tyler joined the University of Cambridge as a MRC Research Professor before becoming taking up her current Professorship at the university in 2011.
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Lorraine Whitmarsh
#93017
Overall Influence
Lorraine Elisabeth Whitmarsh is a British psychologist and environmental scientist at the University of Bath. She serves as Director of the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations. Her research considers how the public engage with climate change, energy and transport.
Go to Profile#2670
Nicholas P. Spaños
#127845
Overall Influence
#2671
Kathleen Rastle
#95686
Overall Influence
Kathleen Rastle is a cognitive psychologist and Professor of Cognitive Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London where she was previously the Head of Department of Psychology . Her research has made fundamental contributions to understanding of reading and learning to read.
Go to Profile#2672
Amado M. Padilla
#95714
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (82 years)
Amado M. Padilla is an educator known for his research on academic resiliency, acculturation and related stress, second language learning and bilingualism. Padilla is Professor of Psychological Studies in Education and Associate Dean at the Stanford Graduate School of Education.
Go to Profile#2673
Arnstein Finset
#108452
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (77 years)
Arnstein Finset is a Norwegian medical psychologist currently at University of Oslo and the Editor-in-Chief of Elsevier's Patient Education and Counseling. Finset was born in Øvre Eiker. He took his cand.psychol. degree at the University of Oslo in 1974 and the dr.philos. degree in 1989.
Go to Profile#2674
Per Carlbring
#128040
Overall Influence
#2675
F. Javier Francisco Javier
#128071
Overall Influence
#2676
Margot Prior
#79409
Overall Influence
1937 - 2020 (83 years)
Margot Ruth Prior was an Australian psychologist, educator, and musician. She was professor of psychology at the University of Melbourne where her research focussed on autism and literacy development. She was also director of psychology at the Royal Children's Hospital and was adjunct professor at La Trobe University.
Go to Profile#2677
Donald Jay Mcmahon
#128157
Overall Influence
#2678
Zack Cernovsky
#45167
Overall Influence
Zack Zdenek Cernovsky was a Canadian psychologist. He was a professor of psychiatry in the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Western Ontario. He was educated at the University of Berne and the University of Zurich, and taught overseas classes for the University of Maryland before joining the faculty of the University of Western Ontario. His more than 180 scientific publications in psychology and psychiatry deal with topics such as the MMPI, schizophrenia, psychological statistics and research design, sleep disorders, PTSD symptoms in refugees, the frequent psycholo...
Go to Profile#2679
Rollo May
#128223
Overall Influence
#2680
Scott E. Maxwell
#128229
Overall Influence
#2681
Lawrence Wrightsman
#124913
Overall Influence
1931 - 2019 (88 years)
Lawrence Samuel Wrightsman, Jr. was an American psychologist known for his research in social psychology and the psychology of law. He taught at the University of Kansas from 1976 until his retirement in 2008. He served as president of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues from 1976 to 1977 and of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology from 1977 to 1978. According to the SPSP, "The textbooks, articles, and addresses that Larry wrote helped create the field of psychology and law as we know it."
Go to Profile#2682
Bartley G. Hoebel
#128335
Overall Influence
#2683
Mary C. Sano
#128376
Overall Influence
#2684
James Shanteau
#105608
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (81 years)
James Shanteau is an American professor and psychologist. He is co-developer of the Cochran-Weiss-Shanteau index of performance, which measures expert performance in the absence of an external standard.
Go to Profile#2685
Margaret Clark
#107882
Overall Influence
Margaret Sydnor Clark is an American psychologist. Clark received her B.A. in Government and Psychology from Franklin and Marshall College in 1973, and obtained a Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of Maryland in 1977. She joined the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University as Assistant Professor upon completing her studies, and taught there until moving to Yale University in 2005. At Carnegie Mellon she served as chair of the faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences for a year. At Yale, Clark has served first as master, a position subsequently renamed as head, of Trumbull College since 2013, was named John M.
Go to Profile#2686
Jutta Joormann
#128499
Overall Influence
#2687
Bruce J. Ellis
#128513
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (74 years)
Bruce Joel Ellis is an American evolutionary developmental psychologist and professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Utah. He is known for his research on the positive psychological effects of children's exposure to psychological stress. Of this research, he told the Atlantic in 2017 that "We’re not arguing that stress is good, or that it’s good for kids to grow up in poverty or under harsh conditions. What we’re arguing is that [the detrimental effects of stress] are real, and that’s half the story." He has also researched how the timing of puberty among young girls can ...
Go to Profile#2688
Simon M. Kirby
#87088
Overall Influence
1970 - Present (54 years)
Simon M. Kirby is a British cognitive scientist, currently holding the Chair of Language Evolution at the University of Edinburgh, where he is Director of the Graduate School, and Programme Director for the MSc in the Evolution of Language and Cognition. He specializes in evolutionary computational models of human language and its development.
Go to Profile#2689
William A. Epstein
#128548
Overall Influence
#2690
Helen A. Neville
#110932
Overall Influence
Helen A. Neville is a professor of educational psychology and African-American studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where she has taught since 2001. She previously served on the faculty of the University of Missouri, where she was the co-founder and co-director of the Center for Multicultural Research, Training, and Consultation. She received the Association of Black Psychologists' Distinguished Psychologist of the Year Award in 2011 and was a Fulbright Scholar in Tanzania in 2015–2016. She served as president of Division 45 of the American Psychological Association, the ...
Go to Profile#2691
Susan Pick
#86148
Overall Influence
Susan Pick is a Mexican social psychologist and the founder and board president of the Mexican Institute for Family and Population Research , a Mexican organization that has promoted and facilitated wellbeing for over 21 million people in Mexico and 17 other countries through over 60 education, health and poverty reduction programs. She has her Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of London.
Go to Profile#2692
Ellen P. Reese
#95744
Overall Influence
1926 - 1997 (71 years)
Ellen P. Reese was the Norma Cutts Dafoe professor of psychology at Mount Holyoke College until 1994. She received her B.A. in psychology from Mount Holyoke in 1948 and her M.A. in 1954. The Ellen P. Reese Grants for Faculty/Student Research has been established in her name. In 1997 Mount Holyoke held a conference dedicated entirely to her memory.
Go to Profile#2693
Stephen L. Golding
#116128
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (80 years)
Stephen L. Golding is an emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Utah and a forensic psychologist who has written a large number of articles on the process of determining whether people are competent to stand trial.
Go to Profile#2694
Antonio Terracciano
#128709
Overall Influence
#2695
Anton Eric Lawson
#128739
Overall Influence
#2696
Jerome Wakefield
#126820
Overall Influence
Jerome C. Wakefield is a professor of social work in the Silver School of Social Work at New York University. Much of his work is in the history and philosophy of psychiatry. He is noted for his "harmful dysfunction" analysis of mental illness, which he positions between the anti-psychiatry viewpoint of the social construction of mental illness and the conventional view in mainstream psychiatry that such illnesses can be objectively diagnosed based on a set of symptoms. His writings on mental illness have attracted considerable attention, including a 1999 issue of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology that was dedicated to his views on the topic.
Go to Profile#2697
George Koob
#63222
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (77 years)
George F. Koob is a Professor and former Chair of the Committee on the Neurobiology of Addictive Disorders at the Scripps Research Institute and Adjunct Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry, and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California, San Diego. In 2014 he became the director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Go to Profile#2698
Anthony D. Wagner
#128862
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (24 years)
#2699
Marjan Jahanshahi
#128927
Overall Influence
#2700
MaryAnn Baenninger
#66790
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (68 years)
MaryAnn Baenninger is a psychology professor and the former president of Drew University, a Methodist-affiliated liberal arts college in Madison, New Jersey. Life Baenninger received a Bachelor of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After serving as a psychology professor on the faculty of The College of New Jersey in Ewing, New Jersey, and as an executive associate director with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education in Philadelphia, Baenninger was appointed as president of the College of Saint Benedict in Saint Joseph, Minnesota in 2004.
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