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,
#3201
Harri Pekka Sintonen
#146779
Overall Influence
#3202
Melvin L. Selzer
#146831
Overall Influence
#3203
Jay D. Amsterdam
#146834
Overall Influence
#3204
Steven W. Cole
#146848
Overall Influence
#3205
Robert J. Dooling
#146881
Overall Influence
#3206
Jonathan Comer
#132759
Overall Influence
1977 - Present (49 years)
Jonathan S. Comer. is an American psychologist who is a Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at Florida International University. He is currently the director of an interdisciplinary clinical research program called the Mental Health Interventions and Technology Program. The MINT program focuses on improving the quality, scope, and accessibility of mental health care. Comer is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and a leader in the field of clinical child and adolescent psychology. The author of over 140 scientific papers and chapters, he has received early career awards from...
Go to Profile#3207
Ann-Sophie Barwich
#53298
Overall Influence
Ann-Sophie Barwich is a cognitive scientist, an empirical philosopher, and a historian of science. She is an assistant professor with joint positions in the cognitive science program and the department of history and philosophy of science at Indiana University Bloomington. Barwich is best known for her interdisciplinary work on the history, philosophy, and neuroscience of olfaction. Her book, Smellosophy: What the Nose tells the Mind, highlights the importance of thinking about the sense of smell as a model for neuroscience and the senses. She is also noted for her analyses on methodological i...
Go to Profile#3208
Julie Ancis
#43153
Overall Influence
Julie Ancis currently is a Distinguished Professor of Informatics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. She served as the interim chair of the Department of Informatics and was also a Professor of Psychology and the inaugural Director of Cyberpsychology at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. She was previously a professor at Georgia State University for 15 years and Associate Vice President of Diversity at Georgia Institute of Technology. Ancis is an expert in the areas of cyberpsychology, multicultural competence and diversity. She has authored 4 books and over 80 scholarly publicat...
Go to Profile#3209
Jacob Lomranz
#118246
Overall Influence
1937 - 2021 (84 years)
Jacob "Jacky" Lomranz is a professor emeritus at The School of Psychological Sciences at Tel Aviv University. He was a former head of the M.A. program for clinical-gerontological psychology at the Ruppin Academic Center.
Go to Profile#3210
Birger Kollmeier
#147089
Overall Influence
#3211
E. Sandra Byers
#76013
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
Elaine Sandra Byers is a Canadian psychologist, sex researcher, educator and therapist. As a faculty member of psychology at the University of New Brunswick, she established the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence.
Go to Profile#3212
J. Kevin O’regan
#147148
Overall Influence
#3213
Heidi S., Resnick
#147174
Overall Influence
#3214
Christopher J. Main
#147191
Overall Influence
#3215
Daniel Ansari
#147203
Overall Influence
#3216
Dennis R. Proffitt
#147245
Overall Influence
#3217
Anthony Feinstein
#147316
Overall Influence
#3218
John Maze
#98067
Overall Influence
1923 - 2008 (85 years)
John Maze was an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Sydney from 1951 to 1986. Recognised for his achievements in philosophy and psychology, he was awarded a Nuffield Foundation Travelling Fellowship with the University of London in 1958, and returned there as an Honorary Research Fellow in 1980. Maze's theoretical psychology extended from analyses of psychoanalytic metapsychology, to critique of concerns of psychology research of the day, including concepts of attitude, motivation, psychological homeostasis, psychological variables and social constructionism. Drawing on pr...
Go to Profile#3219
James E. Mazur
#147386
Overall Influence
#3220
William B. Malarkey
#147413
Overall Influence
#3221
David Trafimow
#147418
Overall Influence
#3222
Adelbert Jenkins
#102531
Overall Influence
Adelbert H. Jenkins is an African American clinical psychologist who is known for his humanistic approach to Black psychology at the start of the field in the early 1970s. Jenkins was also one of the 28 founding members of the National Association of Black Psychologists, along with other notable psychologists such as Robert V. Guthrie and Joseph White. He is currently an associate professor of psychology at New York University.
Go to Profile#3223
Robert J. Derubeis
#147452
Overall Influence
#3224
Jeffrey N. Rouder
#147457
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (60 years)
#3225
Meike Bartels
#147512
Overall Influence
#3226
Pascal Gygax
#104761
Overall Influence
1974 - Present (52 years)
Pascal Mark Gygax, born in Evilard/Leubringen , is a Swiss psycholinguist, specializing in inclusive language in French. He is the cofounder and director of the Psycholinguistics and Applied Social Psychology Group at the University of Fribourg.
Go to Profile#3227
Carla Sharp
#143835
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (55 years)
Carla Sharp is an American clinical psychologist. She is a professor in the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program and Associate Dean for Faculty and Research at the University of Houston, where she is also Director of the Adolescent Diagnosis Assessment Prevention and Treatment Center and the Developmental Psychopathology Lab.
Go to Profile#3228
Ann Pytkowicz Streissguth
#147590
Overall Influence
#3229
Diane N. Ruble
#147609
Overall Influence
#3230
Michael John Kane
#147640
Overall Influence
#3231
Neil Malamuth
#147647
Overall Influence
Neil Moshe Malamuth is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, known for his research on sexual violence and the effects of pornography on its viewers. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society.
Go to Profile#3232
James P. Egan
#147666
Overall Influence
#3233
Herbert Roeyers
#147737
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#3234
Ron De Graaf
#147751
Overall Influence
#3235
Lori Brotto
#125608
Overall Influence
1975 - Present (51 years)
Lori Anne Brotto is a Canadian psychologist best known for her work on female sexual arousal disorder . Career In 1993, Brotto graduated Johnston Heights High School in Surrey, British Columbia. Brotto attended the University of British Columbia, earning a biopsychology B.Sc. in 1997, a M.A. in 1999, and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 2003. In 2003, she completed a one-year internship in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Washington, followed by a two-year Postdoctoral Fellowship in Reproductive and Sexual Medicine. Brotto was licensed as a Psychologist in the Province of Br...
Go to Profile#3236
Sharon Thompson-Schill
#115881
Overall Influence
Sharon Thompson-Schill is the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her research covers the field of biological basis of human cognitive systems, including language, memory, perception, and cognitive control, and the relationships between these systems. As of 2023, she has produced more than 190 scientific publications, which collectively have been cited over 18,000 times.
Go to Profile#3237
Laurence E. Crooks
#147919
Overall Influence
#3238
Lisa Feigenson
#138218
Overall Influence
Lisa Feigenson is Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Johns Hopkins University and co-director of the Johns Hopkins University Laboratory for Child Development. Feigenson is known for her research on the development of numerical abilities, working memory, and early learning. She has served on the editorial board of Cognition and the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
Go to Profile#3239
Jerry W. Rudy
#148011
Overall Influence
#3240
David A. Fiellin
#148040
Overall Influence
#3241
Wilhelm Hofmann
#148061
Overall Influence
#3242
Mary Aiken
#94652
Overall Influence
Cyberpsychologist Mary Aiken is a Professor of cyberpsychology. Her book The Cyber Effect investigates the relationship between technology and human behaviour. Education She received a Masters in Science in cyberpsychology and a Doctor of Philosophy in Forensic Cyberpsychology.
Go to Profile#3243
Veena Kumari
#148159
Overall Influence
Veena Kumari is Professor of Experimental Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. Selected publications
Go to Profile#3244
Michael J. Eckardt
#148160
Overall Influence
#3245
Sandra G. Hart
#148287
Overall Influence
#3246
Murray Glanzer
#148346
Overall Influence
#3247
Katherine Albro Houpt
#148350
Overall Influence
#3248
Thelma Hunt
#134025
Overall Influence
1903 - 1992 (89 years)
Thelma Hunt was an American expert in psychological testing. Chair of the George Washington University Psychology Department for twenty-five years, she was an innovator in test construction and measurement for what is now known as industrial and organizational psychology. Hunt and her frequent collaborator Fred A. Moss developed several tests still in use, including the first version of the Medical College Admission Test .
Go to Profile#3249
Leonard W. Poon†
#148380
Overall Influence
#3250
Hayne Waring Reese
#148397
Overall Influence
