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 Virology,
#151
Michael Katze
#91337
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Michael Katze was an American microbiologist. For over 35 years, he has researched host-virus interactions, incorporating systems biology approaches into infectious disease research. He was an international leader in the application of genome sequencing, animal models, and systems biology approaches to virology and immunology. Katze was formerly Professor of Microbiology at the University of Washington , and Associate Director for Molecular Sciences and a Core Staff Scientist at the Washington National Primate Research Center. In August 2017, Katze was fired from the University of Washington f...
Go to Profile#152
Charles E. Samuel
#120319
Overall Influence
#153
Jeremy Luban
#121179
Overall Influence
#154
Jean Lindenmann
#21994
Overall Influence
1924 - 2015 (91 years)
Jean Lindenmann was a Swiss virologist and immunologist. Lindenmann, together with his colleague, the British virologist Alick Isaacs, co-discovered and identified interferon in 1957 through their research at the National Institute for Medical Research. Interferon, a group of proteins involved in immune regulation and defence against viruses, is now used to treat a variety of conditions, including hepatitis C, multiple sclerosis, and some cancers.
Go to Profile#155
Shahid Jameel
#43347
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
Shahid Jameel is an Indian virologist and academic. Dr. Jameel is the Sultan Qaboos bin Said Fellow at Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies and Research Fellow, Green Templeton College, University of Oxford. He serves as the Principal Investigator for the Centre's project on Public Health, Science and Technology in Muslim societies. Previously he was the director of the Trivedi School of Biosciences since its inception in the year 2020 at Ashoka University. He was formerly head of the scientific advisory group to the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortia established in December 2020, and the chief executive officer of Wellcome Trust DBT India Alliance.
Go to Profile#156
Raymond L. Erikson
#54672
Overall Influence
1936 - 2020 (84 years)
Raymond L. Erikson was a molecular biologist and virologist who noted research on cell growth and regulation. He also served as the John F. Drum American Cancer Society Professor of Cellular and Developmental Biology at Harvard University.
Go to Profile#157
Sondra Schlesinger
#97225
Overall Influence
1934 - Present (92 years)
Sondra Schlesinger is an American virologist and professor emeritus at the Washington University School of Medicine. Early life and education Schlesinger was born in New Jersey in 1934. She was an undergraduate at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, graduating in 1956 with a degree in chemistry; she remained at the same institution for doctoral work and received her Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1960. She then worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità in Italy and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Go to Profile#158
Charles Calisher
#100768
Overall Influence
Charles Calisher is professor emeritus of microbiology at the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University. Education and career Calisher received a bachelor's degree in bacteriology from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science, a master's degree in biology and gnotobiosis from the University of Notre Dame, and a Ph.D. in Microbiology from Georgetown University. His research interests include ecology and epidemiology, viral diagnostics, viral taxonomy, viral evolution of roboviruses, arboviruses, and hantaviruses.
Go to Profile#159
Masashi Mizokami
#122932
Overall Influence
#160
J. Michael Wilson
#123335
Overall Influence
#161
Janet S. Butel
#54900
Overall Influence
Janet S Butel is the Chairman and Distinguished Service Professor in the molecular virology and microbiology department at Baylor College of Medicine. Her area of expertise is on polyomavirus pathogenesis of infections and disease. She has more than 120 publications on PubMed. She also has 6 publications in Nature, which is considered one of the most prestigious science journals. She is a member of 9 different organizations and has 13 honors and awards.
Go to Profile#162
J. Rodney Allen
#123727
Overall Influence
#163
Paul Ahlquist
#104557
Overall Influence
Paul Ahlquist is an American virologist who is Professor of Oncology, Molecular Virology, and Plant Pathology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is the Associate Director of Basic Sciences at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center and the Director of the John and Jeanne Rowe Center for Research in Virology at the Morgridge Institute for Research.
Go to Profile#164
Stuart T. Nichol
#123955
Overall Influence
#165
Paul Kellam
#96364
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (61 years)
Paul Kellam is a Professor of Viral Genomics at Imperial College London and vice-president of infectious diseases and vaccines at Kymab Ltd. He is co-author of the Oxford textbook Human Virology. Education Kellam attended Oakwood Park Grammar School. He received a Bachelor Science in Microbiology from the University of Reading in 1987 and a PhD in Virology from the University of London in 1994.
Go to Profile#166
Jesse D. Bloom
#104736
Overall Influence
Jesse D. Bloom is an American computational virologist and Professor in the Basic Sciences Division, the Public Health Sciences Division, and the Herbold Computational Biology Program, at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. He is also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and an Affiliate Professor in the University of Washington departments of Genome Sciences and Microbiology.
Go to Profile#167
Kamel Khalili
#125305
Overall Influence
#168
Morag Crichton Timbury
#97098
Overall Influence
1930 - 2018 (88 years)
Morag Crichton Timbury FRCPG FRCPath FRSE FRCP was a Scottish medical virologist, bacteriologist and science writer. Early life and education Morag Crichton McCulloch was born on 29 September 1930. Her parents were Dr Esther Sinclair McCulloch and William McCulloch. She attended St Bride's High School in East Kilbride before studying medicine at University of Glasgow. She graduated from the university with a MB ChB in 1953 and MD in 1960, and received her PhD in 1976.
Go to Profile#169
Timo Vesikari
#125459
Overall Influence
#170
Antoine Gessain
#125638
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (69 years)
#171
Judith Breuer
#110842
Overall Influence
Judith Breuer is a British virologist who is professor of virology and director of the Pathogen Genomics Unit at University College London. She was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2019. Breuer is part of the United Kingdom genome sequencing team that looks to map the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019.
Go to Profile#172
Lionel Vivian Crawford
#126564
Overall Influence
#173
Max D. Summers
#126759
Overall Influence
#174
William Krivit
#127220
Overall Influence
#175
Robert Thimme
#127323
Overall Influence
#176
Kunitada Shimotohno
#127457
Overall Influence
#177
Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit
#98777
Overall Influence
1979 - Present (47 years)
Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit is a German virologist and Professor of Arbovirology at the University of Hamburg. Schmidt-Chanasit is also the Deputy Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Arbovirus and Haemorrhagic Fever Reference and Research at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine.
Go to Profile#178
Jonathan Alan King
#128170
Overall Influence
#179
Ulrich h. Koszinowski
#128301
Overall Influence
#180
Claude Maurice Fauquet
#128875
Overall Influence
#181
Michael G. Bissell
#129016
Overall Influence
#182
Nicholas John Dyson
#129070
Overall Influence
#183
Linda Saif
#65178
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (79 years)
Linda J. Saif is an American microbial scientist who works at Ohio State University. In 2015, she became the first female recipient of the Wolf Prize in Agriculture for her research in virology and immunology.
Go to Profile#184
Joseph Bernard Margolick
#129381
Overall Influence
#185
Kazunari. Taira
#129593
Overall Influence
#186
Richard L. Witter
#130020
Overall Influence
#187
Melanie Ott
#104425
Overall Influence
Melanie Ott is a German virologist who is a senior investigator of The Ott Lab, Director the Gladstone Institute of Virology, and Senior Vice President of Gladstone Institutes. She is also a Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
Go to Profile#188
Purnell W. Choppin
#85129
Overall Influence
1929 - 2021 (92 years)
Purnell Whittington Choppin was an American virologist. He served on the faculty of Rockefeller University for nearly thirty years, becoming the Leon Hess Professor of Virology. He moved to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 1985, became the president of the institute in 1987, and retired in 1999, succeeded by Thomas Cech. Until his death in 2021, he was the chair of the Scientific Advisory Board at the Center for the Study of Hepatitis C, supported by a university consortium consisting of Rockefeller, Weill Cornell Medical College, and New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
Go to Profile#189
Stephen S. Morse
#22327
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
Stephen S. Morse is an American epidemiologist, influenza researcher and specialist on emerging infectious diseases, who has served as an adviser on the epidemiology of infectious diseases and on improving disease early warning systems to numerous government and international organizations. As of 2016, he is Professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University. His seminal book Emerging Viruses was selected by American Scientist for its list of "100 Top Science Books of the 20th Century".
Go to Profile#190
Wang Yanyi
#55233
Overall Influence
1981 - Present (45 years)
Wang Yanyi , is a Chinese immunologist and virologist. Since 2018, she became the director general at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the deputy director for Wuhan in the China Zhi Gong Party. Education Wang earned her Bachelor's degree at the Peking University in 2004. After graduating, she went to the University of Colorado for her master's degree. She is married to Shu Hongbing, a graduate of Emory University.
Go to Profile#191
Christoph Scholtissek
#131142
Overall Influence
1929 - Present (97 years)
#192
Jan Marc Orenstein,
#131602
Overall Influence
#193
J. Wai-kuoshihandjohn L. Gerin
#131849
Overall Influence
#194
Peter Jahrling
#20798
Overall Influence
Peter B. Jahrling is chief of the Emerging Viral Pathogens Section of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Jahrling received his PhD in medical microbiology from Cornell Medical College. He joined the military as an officer at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases , and remained employed as a civilian after his service. Since 2005, Jahrling has been the chief scientist of the NIAID Integrated Research Facility in Frederick, Maryland, and chief of the Emerging Viral Pathogens Section.
Go to Profile#195
Philip David Minor
#132166
Overall Influence
#196
Jane A. McKeating
#108806
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Jane A. McKeating is a professor of molecular biology at Oxford University, and honorary professor at the University of Birmingham, England, where she worked as a professor of molecular virology until 2017. She is listed as a notable scientist in Thomson Reuters' Highly Cited Researchers 2014, ranking her among the top 1% most cited scientists.
Go to Profile#197
Bartholomew.m. Sefton
#132355
Overall Influence
#198
Bruce W. Chesebro
#132579
Overall Influence
#199
Thomas J. Schall
#132744
Overall Influence
#200
Sarah Louise Rowland-jones
#132866
Overall Influence
