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,
#3751
Yuichi Shoda
#166072
Overall Influence
#3752
Edward M. Ornitz
#166075
Overall Influence
#3753
George A. Alvarez
#166090
Overall Influence
#3754
Paul C. Quinn
#166105
Overall Influence
#3755
Elizabeth Broadbent
#160351
Overall Influence
Elizabeth Anne Broadbent is a full professor of health psychology at the University of Auckland. She was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi in 2021. Academic career Broadbent initially trained as an electronic engineer at the University of Canterbury, completing a Bachelor of Engineering degree with Honours . She worked at companies Transpower, Électricité de Tahiti, and Robotechnology before continuing her education with a graduate Diploma of Arts from Massey University, and Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees at the University of Auckland. Her 2002 master's thesis was on the effects of stress, social support and beliefs on wound healing following surgery.
Go to Profile#3756
F. Richard Ervin
#166142
Overall Influence
#3757
Donald I. A. Macleod
#166151
Overall Influence
#3758
Jonathan B. L. Bard
#166154
Overall Influence
#3759
Richard M. Glass
#166257
Overall Influence
#3760
Sabine Wilhelm
#166272
Overall Influence
#3761
Sedrak A. Sedrakyan
#135429
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Sedrak A. Sedrakyan is an Armenian psychologist, doctor of Psychological Sciences, and professor. Early life He was born on May 10, 1950, in Berkarat, Aragatsotn Province of Armenia. In 1967 he finished secondary school at Alaverdi Nalbandyan. From 1969 to 1974 he studied in the faculty of Philosophy, Sociology and Psychology of Yerevan State University . In 1979 he completed postgraduate studies at YSU. In 1981 he graduated from the Institute of Pedagogical Psychology of USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1987 he defended his thesis and was granted PhD in psychological sciences.
Go to Profile#3762
Michael F. Steger*
#166293
Overall Influence
#3763
Joan Garfield
#68630
Overall Influence
Joan B. Garfield is an American educational psychologist specializing in statistics education. She is retired from the University of Minnesota as a professor emeritus of educational psychology. Education Garfield entered the University of Wisconsin intending to study anthropology, but graduated in 1972 with a bachelor's degree in education and a minor in mathematics. She became a middle school mathematics teacher but, realizing she needed more preparation as a teacher, returned to graduate school. She chose the University of Minnesota hoping to work with Donovan Johnson, whose works she had read, but he had retired and she instead worked with his student Robert Jackson.
Go to Profile#3764
Lino Covi
#166310
Overall Influence
#3765
Nicholas Benjamin Turk-browne
#166338
Overall Influence
#3766
B. Bradford Brown
#166350
Overall Influence
#3767
Otfried Spreen
#166433
Overall Influence
#3768
Leslie Leve
#138818
Overall Influence
Leslie D. Leve is an American academic and researcher. She is a professor in the Counseling Psychology and Human Services Department as well as the associate director of Prevention Science Institute at the University of Oregon. She also holds the positions of Associate Director for the Prevention Science graduate programs, was President of the Society for Prevention Research from 2017 to 2019, and is Associate Vice President for Research in the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation and serves on National Institutes of Health study section panels and on the editorial board fo...
Go to Profile#3769
Orlando J. Andy
#166535
Overall Influence
#3770
Heather E. Bullock
#93259
Overall Influence
Heather E. Bullock is an American social psychologist. She is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Blum Center on Poverty, Social Enterprise, and Participatory Governance at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Bullock is known for her research on people's beliefs about economic disparities and the consequences of stereotypical beliefs about the poor on public policy. This includes work examining attributions about poverty made by news media, and how such attributions influence public support of welfare policies.
Go to Profile#3771
Ming-Te Wang
#166539
Overall Influence
#3772
Lisa M Diamond
#166555
Overall Influence
#3773
Jamil Zaki
#166572
Overall Influence
1980 - Present (46 years)
#3774
Frank C. Worrell
#166661
Overall Influence
#3775
Robert A. Bornstein
#166673
Overall Influence
#3776
Edward S. Shapiro
#166711
Overall Influence
#3777
David Moore
#84328
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
David Scott Moore is an American developmental psychologist and Professor of Psychology at Pitzer College, where he is the Director of the Claremont Infant Study Center. He is also Professor of Psychology at Claremont Graduate University. His research focuses on cognitive development and mental rotation in infants, as well as behavioral epigenetics. His 2002 book, The Dependent Gene, criticized some of the fundamental assumptions underlying the nature-nurture debate. His 2015 book, The Developing Genome: An Introduction to Behavioral Epigenetics, received positive reviews, and was awarded the American Psychological Association's Eleanor Maccoby and William James Book Awards in 2016.
Go to Profile#3778
Young-Suk Kim
#118147
Overall Influence
Young-Suk Kim is an educational psychologist known for her research on language and literacy development. She is Senior Associate Dean and Professor of Education at the University of California, Irvine.
Go to Profile#3779
Paul Rebillot
#96683
Overall Influence
1931 - 2010 (79 years)
Paul Rebillot was a member of the human potential movement. He is the author of The Call to Adventure: Bringing the Hero’s Journey to Daily Life. Life Early years Paul Rebillot was born on May 19, 1931, in Detroit, Michigan. His initial academic training was in philosophy and education at the University of Detroit and was followed by a Masters in Communication Arts, specialising in drama, from the University of Michigan. Before and after his university years he worked with several theatre companies as a writer, producer and actor.
Go to Profile#3780
Axel Schleicher
#166795
Overall Influence
#3781
J. Michael Spector
#51424
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Jonathan Michael Spector is an American academic working as the professor of learning technologies and the doctoral program coordinator at the University of North Texas. He was previously professor of educational psychology at the University of Georgia and instructional systems at Florida State University.
Go to Profile#3782
William J. Rothwell
#84697
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
Willam J. Rothwell is a PhD, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, RODC, CPTD fellow, FLMI, and Distinguished Professor of Workforce Education and Development in the Department of Learning and Performance Systems at Pennsylvania State University. His research includes works in competency modeling, specifically the American Society for Training and Development Competency Model.
Go to Profile#3783
R. Lorraine Collins
#166979
Overall Influence
#3784
Margaret C. Wang
#166985
Overall Influence
#3785
Pete Dimitrijevic
#167024
Overall Influence
#3786
Göran Kecklund
#167067
Overall Influence
#3787
Richard E. Clark
#167082
Overall Influence
#3788
Herman H. Samson
#167159
Overall Influence
#3789
Paulien M. Bongers
#167204
Overall Influence
#3790
Ingrid Schoon
#167227
Overall Influence
#3791
Martin D. Schechter
#167303
Overall Influence
#3792
Alan D. Poling
#167515
Overall Influence
#3793
Gerd Kvale
#159846
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
Gerd Kvale is a Norwegian psychologist working on obsessive–compulsive disorder. She graduated as a Candidate of Psychology from the University of Bergen in 1982, and completed her Ph.D. in psychology in 1992. She was appointed professor in clinical psychology at the University of Bergen in 2002. Since 2011 she has been leading an obsessive–compulsive disorder project at the Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen. In 2015 she and her team received the Innovation of the Year in Psychological Science award from the Norwegian Society of Psychological Science.
Go to Profile#3794
Charles Gerard Costello
#167608
Overall Influence
#3795
Miguel P. Eckstein
#167645
Overall Influence
#3796
Lawrence J. Williams
#167675
Overall Influence
#3797
Gerald Sylvan Lazarus
#167725
Overall Influence
#3798
Athena Aktipis
#98834
Overall Influence
1981 - Present (45 years)
Christina Athena Aktipis is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University. She is the director of the Interdisciplinary Cooperation Initiative and the co-director of the Human Generosity Project. She is also the director of the Cooperation and Conflict lab at Arizona State University, vice president of the International Society for Evolution, Ecology and Cancer , and was the director of human and social evolution and co-founder of the Center for Evolution and Cancer at UCSF. She is a cooperation theorist, an evolutionary biologist, an evolutionary psychologist, and a cancer biologist who works at the intersection of those fields.
Go to Profile#3799
Frank Spinath
#154408
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (57 years)
Frank Michael Spinath is a German psychologist and musician. He is a professor of psychology at Saarland University, known for his research in the field of differential psychology. As a musician, he is known as the vocalist of the electronic duo Seabound and the German futurepop band Edge of Dawn.
Go to Profile#3800
Andres De Los Reyes
#156538
Overall Influence
Andres De Los Reyes is a professor of psychology at University of Maryland College Park. He is also the director of the Comprehensive Assessment and Intervention Program Laboratory, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, the official journal of the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Division 53 of the American Psychological Association. He also founded and remains a program chair of the JCCAP Future Directions Forum, an annual conference affiliated with the journal. De Los Reyes has co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles an...
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