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,
#251
Philip E. Oyer
#146508
Overall Influence
#252
Alexander L. Greninger
#141301
Overall Influence
Alexander L. Greninger is assistant director of the UW Medicine Clinical Virology Laboratory and a UW assistant professor of Laboratory Medicine. His research is focused on genomic and proteomic characterization of a variety of human viruses and bacteria, with a focus on respiratory viruses and human herpesviruses.
Go to Profile#253
Ralph A. Tripp
#146806
Overall Influence
#254
Sara Cherry
#92198
Overall Influence
Sara R. Cherry is an American microbiologist who is John W. Eckman Professor of Medical Science and Professor of Microbiology in Biochemistry and Biophysics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research involves genetic and mechanistic studies of virus–host interactions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cherry looked to identify novel therapeutic strategies.
Go to Profile#255
Mitsuaki Yoshida
#24912
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (87 years)
Mitsuaki Yoshida was a Japanese virologist known for identifying the molecular structure of Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 responsible for Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma. Life Yoshida was born in Toyama, Japan and received his Ph.D. in 1967 from the University of Tokyo. After his postdoctoral fellowship at MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, he worked to uncover the relationship between oncovirus and carcinogenesis at the Cancer Institute, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research from 1975 to 1989. He was appointed as Professor at the Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo in 1989, where he served as Dean from 1996 to 1998.
Go to Profile#256
Tatsuo Miyamura
#147243
Overall Influence
#257
Peter J. M. Rottier
#147261
Overall Influence
#258
Huan-chun Chen
#147416
Overall Influence
#259
Timothy C. Hall
#147625
Overall Influence
#260
Jamie E. Childs
#147900
Overall Influence
#261
Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum
#32634
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (84 years)
Jean-Jacques Muyembe is a Congolese microbiologist. He is the general director of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Institut National pour la Recherche Biomedicale . He was part of team at the Yambuku Catholic Mission Hospital that investigated the first Ebola outbreak, and was part of the effort that discovered Ebola as a new disease, although his exact role is still subject to controversy. In 2016, he led the research that designed, along with other researchers at the INRB and the National Institute of Health Vaccine Research Center in the US, one of the most promising treatment for Ebola, mAb114.
Go to Profile#262
Margaret T. May
#103462
Overall Influence
Margaret T. May is Professor of Medical Statistics at the University of Bristol, and specialises in prognostic modelling and HIV epidemiology. May has a master's degree from the University of Cambridge, and a master's degree and PhD from the University of Bristol.
Go to Profile#263
Roland R. Rueckert
#149664
Overall Influence
#264
Blossom Damania
#81850
Overall Influence
Blossom Damania is a virologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is known for her work on oncogenic viruses that cause human cancer. Damania has also been serving as vice dean for research at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine since 2016.
Go to Profile#265
Harold F. Clark
#149989
Overall Influence
#266
Ichirou Kurane
#150002
Overall Influence
#267
François-loı̈c Cosset
#150244
Overall Influence
#268
Philip J. Barr
#150331
Overall Influence
#269
Jean‐claude Chermann
#150343
Overall Influence
#270
Nick Loman
#121121
Overall Influence
1979 - Present (47 years)
Nicholas James Loman was co-founder of the Gamer Network with his brother Rupert, which they started under the name Eurogamer Network in 1999. Nick left the business in 2004 to pursue a career in medicine.
Go to Profile#271
Olli-pekka Ruuskanen
#150764
Overall Influence
#272
Günter Kampf
#151129
Overall Influence
#273
Joseph Owen Hendley
#151322
Overall Influence
#274
Magnus von Knebel Doeberitz
#96776
Overall Influence
Magnus von Knebel Doeberitz is a molecular oncologist and virologist, a professor of molecular oncology and medical director of the Department of Applied Tumor Biology at the Institute of Pathology at the University Hospital of Heidelberg. He also heads a Clinical Cooperation at the German Cancer Research Center.
Go to Profile#275
Hitoshi Oshitani
#39357
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (67 years)
Hitoshi Oshitani is a Japanese university professor, virologist, medical doctor, public health expert and scientist who currently serves as the professor of virology, Department of Microbiology at Tohoku University. He is acclaimed and accredited with the crafting of the successful pandemic strategy of Japan called the "Three C's": Avoiding closed spaces, crowds and contact situations. He has been dubbed as the global ambassador of the "Japanese Model". He is also an integral member of the expert panel advising the Government of Japan in handling the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. Despite being ...
Go to Profile#276
Yuji Ohtsuki
#151784
Overall Influence
#277
Hendrika Bootsma
#152619
Overall Influence
#278
Ernest Andrew Gould
#152944
Overall Influence
#279
Andrew G. Hendrickx
#152967
Overall Influence
#280
Zeger Debyser
#153144
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (61 years)
#281
Judy Mikovits
#17893
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (68 years)
Judy Anne Mikovits is an American former research scientist who is known for her discredited medical claims, such as that murine endogenous retroviruses are linked to chronic fatigue syndrome . As an outgrowth of these claims, she has engaged in anti-vaccination activism, promoted conspiracy theories, and been accused of scientific misconduct. She has made false claims about vaccines, COVID-19, and CFS, among others.
Go to Profile#282
David A. Thorley-lawson
#153324
Overall Influence
#283
Anne Moscona
#145887
Overall Influence
Anne Moscona is an American virologist and pediatrician. She is best known for identifying cell entry mechanisms for enveloped respiratory viruses, elucidating general infection mechanisms that apply to parainfluenza virus, Nipah virus, measles virus, and other viruses, and for applying this knowledge to identify antiviral strategies to prevent infection by viruses including SARS-CoV-2. She is frequently consulted as a medical expert during viral outbreaks, including epidemic and pandemic influenza. Since 2016, she has served as the Sherie L. Morrison Professor Microbiology & Immunology, Prof...
Go to Profile#284
Nicola Stonehouse
#123492
Overall Influence
Nicola Jane Stonehouse is a British virologist who is a professor in molecular virology at the University of Leeds. Her research investigates viral diseases and the use of RNA aptamers to study viral proteins. She has worked on the development of a novel poliovirus vaccine that makes use of virus-like particles.
Go to Profile#285
Hermann W. D. Katinger
#154732
Overall Influence
#286
Marie‐paule Kieny
#155295
Overall Influence
#287
Andre Joseph Nahmias
#155442
Overall Influence
#288
Jonathan B. Rothbard
#155782
Overall Influence
#289
David Kabat
#155865
Overall Influence
#290
Hiroshi Kida
#156353
Overall Influence
#291
Neil R. Blacklow
#156900
Overall Influence
#292
Craig R. Pringle
#156993
Overall Influence
#293
Jonathan Karn
#157299
Overall Influence
#294
Orville A. Levander
#157428
Overall Influence
#295
Gérard Orth
#157732
Overall Influence
#296
Terrence M. Tumpey
#157813
Overall Influence
#297
Juan Carlos Gómez De La Torre
#157962
Overall Influence
#298
Jack G. Stevens
#158098
Overall Influence
#299
Odile Launay
#158233
Overall Influence
#300
Omar Bagasra
#108725
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
Omar Bagasra is a Pakistani-American Molecular Biologist, Biotechnologist and author, known for his innovations in the Polymerase Chain Reaction method and popular public and scientific talks in biotechnology. He is also known for his role as an independent investigator in the HIV trial in Libya, an important event of international significance in immunology, medical criminology and human rights.
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