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 …
See additional learning tools, study tips, features on campus life and much more at our Student Resources Headquarters.
List of the most influential people
#8351
John Earman
#8361
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (84 years)
John Earman is an American philosopher of physics. He is an emeritus professor in the History and Philosophy of Science department at the University of Pittsburgh. He has also taught at the University of California, Los Angeles, Rockefeller University, and the University of Minnesota, and was president of the Philosophy of Science Association.
Go to Profile#8352
Catherine Cookson
#8362
Overall Influence
1906 - 1998 (92 years)
Dame Catherine Ann Cookson, DBE was a British writer. She is in the top 20 of the most widely read British novelists, with sales topping 100 million, while she retained a relatively low profile in the world of celebrity writers. Her books were inspired by her deprived youth in South Shields , North East England, the setting for her novels. With 104 titles written in her own name or two other pen names, she is one of the most prolific British novelists.
Go to Profile#8353
Chris Christie
#8363
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Christopher James Christie is an American politician and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. A member of the Republican Party, he was the United States Attorney for New Jersey from 2002 to 2008. He is a candidate for President of the United States in the 2024 Republican primaries.
Go to Profile#8354
Dave Attell
#8364
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (61 years)
David Attell is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer best known as the host of Comedy Central's Insomniac with Dave Attell, which earned him a cult following. His work has drawn admiration from many comedians.
Go to Profile#8355
Jim Carrey
#8365
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
James Eugene Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. Known for his energetic slapstick performances, Carrey first gained recognition in 1990, after landing a role in the American sketch comedy television series In Living Color . He broke out as a star in motion pictures with Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask and Dumb and Dumber . This was followed up with Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Batman Forever and Liar Liar .
Go to Profile#8356
Neil Diamond
#8366
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (85 years)
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts: "Cracklin' Rosie", "Song Sung Blue", "Longfellow Serenade", "I've Been This Way Before", "If You Know What I Mean", "Desirée", "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", "America", "Yesterday's Songs", and "Heartlight". Thirty-eight songs by Diamond have reached the top 10 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts, including "Sweet Caroline". He has also...
Go to Profile#8357
Kenneth Dover
#8367
Overall Influence
1920 - 2010 (90 years)
Sir Kenneth James Dover, was a distinguished British classical scholar and academic. He was president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, from 1976 to 1986. In addition, he was president of the British Academy from 1978 to 1981, and chancellor of the University of St Andrews from 1981 to 2005. A scholar of Greek prose and Aristophanic comedy, he was also the author of Greek Homosexuality , a key text on the subject.
Go to Profile#8358
Claude Sammut
#8368
Overall Influence
Claude Sammut is a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of New South Wales and Head of the Artificial Intelligence Research Group. He was appointed as a Trustee of RoboCup in 2012.
Go to Profile#8359
Heather Mac Donald
#8369
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Heather Lynn Mac Donald is an American conservative political commentator, essayist, attorney, and author. She is known for her pro-police views and opposition to criminal justice reform. She is a fellow of the Manhattan Institute think tank and a contributing editor of its City Journal.
Go to Profile#8360
Dorothee Sölle
#8370
Overall Influence
1929 - 2003 (74 years)
Dorothee Steffensky-Sölle , known as Dorothee Sölle, was a German liberation theologian who coined the term "Christofascism". She was born in Cologne and died at a conference in Göppingen from cardiac arrest.
Go to Profile#8361
Magnus Manske
#8371
Overall Influence
1974 - Present (52 years)
Heinrich Magnus Manske is a German biochemist, who is a leading researcher on malaria. He is a senior staff scientist at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK and a software developer of one of the first versions of the MediaWiki software, which powers Wikipedia and a number of other websites.
Go to Profile#8362
Leo Bersani
#8372
Overall Influence
1931 - 2022 (91 years)
Leo Bersani was an American academic, known for his contributions to French literary criticism and queer theory. He was known for his 1987 essay "Is the Rectum a Grave?" and his 1995 book Homos. Bersani was born in the Bronx. He studied at Harvard University, graduating in 1952 with a bachelor’s in Romance languages, and with a Ph.D. in comparative literature in 1958. He taught at Wellesley College and Rutgers University before joining University of California, Berkeley in 1972, where he'd remain for the rest of his career, assuming emeritus status in 1996. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1992.
Go to Profile#8363
Jelena Janković
#8373
Overall Influence
1985 - Present (41 years)
Jelena Janković is a Serbian former tennis player. A former world No. 1, Janković reached the top ranking before her career-best major performance, a runner-up finish at the 2008 US Open. Janković won 15 WTA Tour singles titles and two doubles titles, with career highlights that include winning the 2007 Wimbledon mixed-doubles title partnering Jamie Murray.
Go to Profile#8364
Alexander Holevo
#8374
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
Alexander Semenovich Holevo is a Soviet and Russian mathematician, one of the pioneers of quantum information science. Biography Steklov Mathematical Institute, Moscow, since 1969. He graduated from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in 1966, defended a PhD Thesis in 1969 and a Doctor of Science Thesis in 1975. Since 1986 A.S. Holevo is a Professor .
Go to Profile#8365
Sheryl Crow
#8375
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American musician, singer, and songwriter. Her music incorporates elements of rock, pop, country, folk, and blues. She has released eleven studio albums, five compilations, and three live albums, and contributed to several film soundtracks. Her most popular songs include "All I Wanna Do" , "Strong Enough" , "If It Makes You Happy" , "Everyday Is a Winding Road" , "My Favorite Mistake" , "Picture" , and "Soak Up the Sun" .
Go to Profile#8366
Jeremy Black
#8376
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
Jeremy Black is a British historian, writer, and former professor of history at the University of Exeter. He is a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US.
Go to Profile#8367
Fumitada Itakura
#8377
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (86 years)
Fumitada Itakura is a Japanese scientist. He did pioneering work in statistical signal processing, and its application to speech analysis, synthesis and coding, including the development of the linear predictive coding and line spectral pairs methods.
Go to Profile#8368
Reinhart Koselleck
#8378
Overall Influence
1923 - 2006 (83 years)
Reinhart Koselleck was a German historian. He is widely considered to be one of the most important historians of the 20th century. He occupied a distinctive position within history, working outside of any pre-established 'school', while making pioneering contributions to conceptual history , the epistemology of history, linguistics, the foundations of anthropology of history and social history, and the history of law and government.
Go to Profile#8369
Andrew Casson
#8379
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
Andrew John Casson FRS is a mathematician, studying geometric topology. Casson is the Philip Schuyler Beebe Professor of Mathematics at Yale University. Education and Career Casson was educated at Latymer Upper School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a BA in the Mathematical Tripos in 1965. His doctoral advisor at the University of Liverpool was C. T. C. Wall, but he never completed his doctorate; instead what would have been his Ph.D. thesis became his fellowship dissertation as a research fellow at Trinity College.
Go to Profile#8370
Richard Attenborough
#8380
Overall Influence
1923 - 2014 (91 years)
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, was an English actor, film director and producer. Attenborough was the president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts , as well as life president of the Premier League club Chelsea. He joined the Royal Air Force during World War II and served in the film unit, going on several bombing raids over Europe and filming the action from the rear gunner's position. He was the older brother of broadcaster Sir David Attenborough and motor executive John Attenborough. He was married to actress Sheila S...
Go to Profile#8371
James H. Fallon
#8381
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (79 years)
James H. "Jim" Fallon is an American neuroscientist. He is professor of psychiatry and human behavior and emeritus professor of anatomy and neurobiology in the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. His research interests include adult stem cells, chemical neuroanatomy and circuitry, higher brain functions, and brain imaging.
Go to Profile#8372
Colin Tilley
#8382
Overall Influence
1988 - Present (38 years)
Colin Tilley is an American filmmaker, music video director, and television commercial director. Tilley is the CEO and owner of Boy in the Castle Productions. He has directed more than 300 music videos.
Go to Profile#8373
Anatoly Kucherena
#8383
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
Anatoly Grigorievich Kucherena is a Russian attorney, public figure, Doctor of Law, and professor. From mid-2013, Kucherena has represented former NSA contractor Edward Snowden's interests in the Russian Federation. Kucherena continues to represent Snowden, pro bono, on an occasional basis. In 2013, according to Izvestia, he was known as a person who spoke in favour of the banning of anonymizer software: advocating the prosecution of its development, distribution and usage by including it in the "malware" software category .
Go to Profile#8374
Clarence Page
#8384
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (79 years)
Clarence Page is an American journalist, syndicated columnist, and senior member of the Chicago Tribune editorial board. Early years Page was born in Dayton, Ohio, and attended Middletown High School in Middletown where he worked on the school's bi-weekly newspaper. After graduating in 1965, he worked freelance as a writer and photographer for The Middletown Journal and The Cincinnati Enquirer, while he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in journalism from Ohio University.
Go to Profile#8375
Alexey Chervonenkis
#8385
Overall Influence
1938 - 2014 (76 years)
Alexey Yakovlevich Chervonenkis was a Soviet and Russian mathematician. Along with Vladimir Vapnik, he was one of the main developers of the Vapnik–Chervonenkis theory, also known as the "fundamental theory of learning" - an important part of computational learning theory. Chervonenkis held joint appointments with the Russian Academy of Sciences and Royal Holloway, University of London.
Go to Profile#8376
Fernando Vianello
#8386
Overall Influence
1939 - 2009 (70 years)
Fernando Vianello was an Italian economist and academic. Together with Michele Salvati, Sebastiano Brusco, Andrea Ginzburg and Salvatore Biasco, he founded the Faculty of Economics of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
Go to Profile#8377
John O'Connor
#8387
Overall Influence
1920 - 2000 (80 years)
John Joseph O'Connor was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of New York from 1984 until his death in 2000, and was made a cardinal in 1985. He previously served as a U.S. Navy chaplain
Go to Profile#8378
Piotr Sztompka
#8388
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (82 years)
Piotr Sztompka is a Polish sociologist known for his work on the theory of social trust. He is professor of sociology at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, and has also frequently served as visiting professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and at Columbia University in New York City.
Go to Profile#8379
Mary Lee Woods
#8389
Overall Influence
1924 - 2017 (93 years)
Mary Lee Berners-Lee was an English mathematician and computer scientist who worked in a team that developed programs in the Department of Computer Science, University of Manchester Mark 1, Ferranti Mark 1 and Mark 1 Star computers. She was the mother of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, and Mike Berners-Lee, an English researcher and writer on greenhouse gases.
Go to Profile#8380
Abraham Kaplan
#8390
Overall Influence
1918 - 1993 (75 years)
Abraham Kaplan was an American philosopher, known best for being the first philosopher to systematically examine the behavioral sciences in his book The Conduct of Inquiry . His thinking was influenced by pragmatists Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, and John Dewey.
Go to Profile#8381
J. A. Scott Kelso
#8391
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (79 years)
J. A. Scott Kelso is an American neuroscientist, and Professor of Complex Systems and Brain Sciences, Professor of Psychology, Biological Sciences and Biomedical Science at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida and The University of Ulster in Derry, N. Ireland.
Go to Profile#8382
Wu Mengchao
#8392
Overall Influence
1922 - 2021 (99 years)
Dr. Wu Mengchao , was a Chinese surgeon and a medical scientist who specialized in hepatobiliary surgery. He was also known as the "Father of Chinese Hepatobiliary Surgery". Wu was born in Minqing County, Fuzhou, China. In 1940, he was admitted to 同济附中 , a high school affiliated to Tongji University. In 1949, he graduated from Tongji University School of Medicine in Shanghai. He was elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1991 and was awarded the State Preeminent Science and Technology Award in 2005, China's highest scientific prize, by President Hu Jintao. He was the founding director o...
Go to Profile#8383
Nina Power
#8393
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
Nina Power is an English writer and philosopher. She is a senior editor of and columnist for the online magazine Compact. Power received a PhD in philosophy from Middlesex University on the topic of humanism and antihumanism in postwar French philosophy, and also has an MA and BA in philosophy from the University of Warwick. She was a senior lecturer in philosophy at Roehampton University, and has taught at Middlesex, Orpington College, London College of Communication, Morley College. Power also worked as a tutor in critical writing in art and design at the Royal College of Art, is a fellow ...
Go to Profile#8384
Stanley Tigerman
#8394
Overall Influence
1930 - 2019 (89 years)
Stanley Tigerman was an American architect, theorist and designer. Biography Early years Tigerman was born into a Jewish family, the only child of Emma , a typist for the federal government, and Samuel Tigerman, an engineer whose career struggled by the Depression. He grew up in his paternal grandparents' boardinghouse in Edgewater, Chicago. He won the 'beautiful baby' contest at the 1933 World's Fair. When he was a child, he wanted to be a musician and took six years of piano lessons. At Senn High School he studied jazz.
Go to Profile#8385
John Rohr
#8395
Overall Influence
1934 - 2011 (77 years)
John Anthony Rohr was an American political scientist who was Professor Emeritus at the Center for Public Administration and Policy at Virginia Tech. Rohr is particularly known as a leading scholar of the U.S. Constitution in relationship to civil servants and public administration.
Go to Profile#8386
Donovan
#8396
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (80 years)
Donovan Phillips Leitch , known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter and record producer. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelic rock and world music . He has lived in Scotland, Hertfordshire , London, California, and—since at least 2008—in County Cork, Ireland, with his family. Emerging from the British folk scene, Donovan reached fame in the United Kingdom in early 1965 with live performances on the pop TV series Ready Steady Go!.
Go to Profile#8387
Richard Delgado
#8397
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (87 years)
Richard Delgado is an American legal scholar considered to be one the founders of critical race theory, along with Derrick Bell. Delgado is currently a Distinguished Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law. Previously, he was the John J. Sparkman Chair of Law at the University of Alabama School of Law. He has written and co-authored numerous articles and books, many with his wife, Jean Stefancic. He is also notable for his scholarship on hate speech and for introducing storytelling into legal scholarship.
Go to Profile#8388
Gerald Estrin
#8398
Overall Influence
1921 - 2012 (91 years)
Gerald Estrin was an American computer scientist, and professor at the UCLA Computer Science Department. He is known for his work on the organization of computer systems, on parallel processing and SARA .
Go to Profile#8389
David Fincher
#8399
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
David Andrew Leo Fincher is an American filmmaker. His films, most of which are psychological thrillers, have collectively grossed over $2.1 billion worldwide and have received 40 Academy Award nominations; this includes three Best Director nominations for him. He has also received four Primetime Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe Award.
Go to Profile#8390
Polly Toynbee
#8400
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (80 years)
Mary Louisa "Polly" Toynbee is a British journalist and writer. She has been a columnist for The Guardian newspaper since 1998. She is a social democrat and was a candidate for the Social Democratic Party in the 1983 general election. She now broadly supports the Labour Party, although she was critical of its left-wing leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
Go to Profile#8391
Chen Shui-bian
#8401
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Chen Shui-bian is a Taiwanese former politician and lawyer who served as the president of the Republic of China from 2000 to 2008. Chen was the first president from the Democratic Progressive Party which ended the Kuomintang's 55 years of continuous rule in Taiwan. He is colloquially referred to as A-Bian .
Go to Profile#8392
Mobutu Sese Seko
#8402
Overall Influence
1930 - 1997 (67 years)
Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu wa za Banga , commonly known as Mobutu Sese Seko or simply just Mobutu, was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997 . He also served as Chairman of the Organisation of African Unity from 1967 to 1968. During the Congo Crisis, Mobutu, serving as Chief of Staff of the Army and supported by Belgium and the United States, deposed the democratically elected government of left-wing nationalist Patrice Lumumba in 1960. Mobutu installed a government that arranged for Lumumba's execution in 1961, and continued to lead th...
Go to Profile#8393
Joseph H. H. Weiler
#8403
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (75 years)
Joseph Halevi Horowitz Weiler is an American academic, currently serving as European Union Jean Monnet Chair at New York University School of Law and Senior Fellow of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard.
Go to Profile#8394
David Tyack
#8404
Overall Influence
1930 - 2016 (86 years)
David B. Tyack was the Vida Jacks Professor of Education and Professor of History, Emeritus at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. Tyack is known for his wide-ranging studies and interpretations of the history of American education.
Go to Profile#8395
Robert Lawson Vaught
#8405
Overall Influence
1926 - 2002 (76 years)
Robert Lawson Vaught was a mathematical logician and one of the founders of model theory. Life Vaught was a musical prodigy in his youth, in his case playing the piano. He began his university studies at Pomona College, at age 16. When World War II broke out, he enlisted into the US Navy, which assigned him to the University of California's V-12 program. He graduated in 1945 with an AB in physics.
Go to Profile#8396
Pema Chödrön
#8406
Overall Influence
1936 - Present (90 years)
Pema Chödrön is an American Tibetan-Buddhist. She is an ordained nun, former acharya of Shambhala Buddhism and disciple of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Chödrön has written several dozen books and audiobooks, and is principal teacher at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia.
Go to Profile#8397
Timothy Creamer
#8407
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (67 years)
Timothy "TJ" Creamer is a NASA flight director, retired astronaut and a colonel in the United States Army. Creamer was born in Fort Huachuca, Arizona, but considers Upper Marlboro, Maryland, to be his hometown. He is married to the former Margaret E. Hammer. They have two children.
Go to Profile#8398
Frank Dikötter
#8408
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
Frank Dikötter is a Dutch historian who specialises in modern China. Dikötter has been Chair Professor of Humanities at the University of Hong Kong since 2006. Prior to that, he taught modern Chinese history at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. He holds an honorary doctorate from Leiden University and is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University.
Go to Profile#8399
David Sackett
#8409
Overall Influence
1934 - 2015 (81 years)
David Lawrence Sackett was an American-Canadian physician and a pioneer in evidence-based medicine. He is known as one of the fathers of Evidence-Based Medicine. He founded the first department of clinical epidemiology in Canada at McMaster University, and the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine. He is well known for his textbooks Clinical Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Medicine.
Go to Profile#8400
Ian McKellen
#8410
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (87 years)
Sir Ian Murray McKellen is an English actor. With a career spanning more than six decades, he is noted for his roles on the screen and stage in genres ranging from Shakespearean dramas and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He is regarded as a British cultural icon and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991. He has received numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, six Olivier Awards, and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards and five Emmy Awards.
Go to Profile