Search People Result | Academic Influence

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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School

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Ranking

List of the most influential people

#1951

Warren C. Brown

#91891

Overall Influence

Warren C. Brown is Professor of History at the California Institute of Technology. His research relates to the social history of early Medieval Europe, conflict resolution and social and institutional memory. He is the editor of the Medieval World Series published by Routledge.

#1952

Ruth Silverman

#91915

Overall Influence

1936 - 2011 (75 years)

Ruth Silverman was an American mathematician and computer scientist known for her research in computational geometry. She was one of the original founders of the Association for Women in Mathematics in 1971.

#1953

John Castagna

#91934

Overall Influence

John Castagna is an American geophysicist, known for the Mudrock line, currently the Margaret S. and Robert E. Sheriff Endowed Faculty Chair in Applied Seismology at Universidad Politécnica del Centro and formerly the Edward L. McCullough Chair.

#1954

Saul Adelman

#92030

Overall Influence

1944 - Present (81 years)

Saul Joseph Adelman is an astronomer at The Citadel's Physics Department in Charleston, South Carolina. Adelman received his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Maryland in 1966 and his PhD in astronomy from the California Institute of Technology in 1972. He specializes in stellar astronomy. He is a co-author of Bound for the Stars: Travel in the Solar System and Beyond . In addition he is the author/co-author of 502 scholarly articles in Astronomy

#1955

Mervin E. Muller

#92111

Overall Influence

1928 - 2018 (90 years)

Mervin Edgar Muller was an American computer scientist and mathematician. The Box–Muller transform is named after him. Biography Muller was born in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on 1 June 1928, as one of four sons to parents Emanuel and Bertha Muller. His parents were both immigrants from Hungary. He studied mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles, earning a Ph.D. in 1954 under the supervision of George William Brown.

#1956

Stephen F. King

#92114

Overall Influence

1956 - Present (69 years)

#1957

Denise Stephens

Denise Stephens

#92125

Overall Influence

1953 - Present (72 years)

Denise C. Nuttall Stephens is an associate professor of astronomy in the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Brigham Young University. Education and research experience Stephens graduated from Brigham Young University in 1996 as an undergraduate student with a degree in physics. She received her Master's and Ph.D. in Astronomy from New Mexico State University. She completed her a postgraduate program at the Space Telescope Science Institute and at Johns Hopkins University. She joined the faculty of BYU in 2007. She studies the atmosphere ...

#1958

Robert Smith

#92205

Overall Influence

1974 - Present (51 years)

Robert Smith , is an American professional bowler known for his years on the Professional Bowlers Association Tour. A native of Simi Valley, California, Smith has previously held residence in Captain Cook, Hawaii, Columbus, Ohio, and Hong Kong. Currently, he resides and works near his home town in Ventura, California.

#1959

Kenneth S. M. Davidson

#92225

Overall Influence

Kenneth S. M. Davidson was a Mechanical Engineering professor at Stevens Institute of Technology who helped create the Davidson Towing Tank at the institution. In 1918 he served as a pilot in the Army Air Service. Davidson was a sailor. He raced in many boat races, one in 1935 to Norway, and the America's Cup defender, the Ranger, in 1937.

#1960

Lei Stanley Qi

#92249

Overall Influence

1983 - Present (42 years)

Lei "Stanley" Qi is an associate professor in the department of bioengineering, and the department of chemical and systems biology at Stanford University. Qi led the development of the first catalytically dead Cas9 lacking endonuclease activity , which is the basis for CRISPR interference . His laboratory subsequently developed CRISPR-Genome Organization .

#1961

Richard J. Temkin

#92362

Overall Influence

1945 - Present (80 years)

Richard J. Temkin is a plasma physicist and researcher on plasma-heating gyrotrons and other electromagnetic devices involving high-powered microwaves or terahertz radiation. Education and career Temkin received a bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 1966 and a Ph.D.from MIT in 1971, supervised by Benjamin Lax and Paul M. Raccah with thesis Experimental charge density of copper.

#1962

Stan Cowley

#92389

Overall Influence

1947 - Present (78 years)

Stanley William Herbert Cowley is a British physicist, emeritus Professor of Solar Planetary Physics at the University of Leicester. Career He was educated at Caludon Castle School, Coventry, and Imperial College, London, graduating with first class honours in physics in 1968. He was awarded a Ph.D by Imperial in 1972. He had a visiting Scholarship at the University of Colorado in 1972–73 before returning to Imperial, where he became a Lecturer in 1982, Reader in 1985 and Professor in 1988. He was appointed Head of the Space and Atmospheric Physics Group at Imperial in 1990 before moving in...

#1963

Laura M. Roth

#92420

Overall Influence

Laura M. Roth is an American solid state physicist, and an American Physical Society Fellow. Career Around 1960, Roth was working at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and along with Mildred Dresselhaus, she was one of only two women among approximately 1000 men. Around this time she was also encouraged and mentored by Benjamin Lax. She has also co-authored papers with Kenneth Button.

#1964

Adolf Pfefferbaum

#92460

Overall Influence

#1965

John Ferejohn

#92508

Overall Influence

1944 - Present (81 years)

John Arthur Ferejohn is an American legal scholar and political scientist. He is the Samuel Tilden Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, where he has been a full-time faculty member since 2009. He previously served as a professor of social science at the California Institute of Technology and as the Carolyn S. G. Munro Professor of Political Science at Stanford University. While teaching political science at Stanford, he was also a senior fellow at their Hoover Institution. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and rece...

#1966

Oded Aharonson

#92525

Overall Influence

1973 - Present (52 years)

Oded Aharonson is Israeli planetary scientist, professor at Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute. Aharonson was a professor of planetary science at the California Institute of Technology, until he moved in 2012 to the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel. He has participated in many NASA flight missions, including Mars Global Surveyor, Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous, the Mars Exploration Rovers, and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

#1967

Homer Joseph Stewart

#92530

Overall Influence

1915 - 2007 (92 years)

Homer Joseph "Stewie" Stewart was an American aeronautical engineer, rocket propulsion expert, and Caltech professor, who pioneered the first American satellites. Biography With a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota in 1936, Stewart matriculated at Caltech.

#1968

Warren Chan

#92533

Overall Influence

Professor Warren Chan is a full professor at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research at the University of Toronto. He received his B.S. and PhD degree, and post-doctoral training from the University of Illinois, Indiana University, and University of California, San Diego.

#1969

Matthew S. Johnson

#92654

Overall Influence

1966 - Present (59 years)

Matthew Stanley Johnson is an American atmospheric chemistry scientist at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Copenhagen. Johnson has made contributions to several areas of chemistry, including kinetics, spectroscopy, isotope effectss and application of atmospheric chemistry knowledge to air pollution control systems.

#1970

Bradford A. Smith

#92661

Overall Influence

1931 - 2018 (87 years)

Bradford A. Smith was an American astronomer and an associate of the International Astronomical Union. He was employed by the Voyager program, and discovered the moon Bianca on January 23, 1986. Biography He was an Associate Professor of Astronomy at New Mexico State University, a Professor at the University of Arizona, and a Research Astronomer at the University of Hawaii.

#1971

Anthony J. DeMaria

#92706

Overall Influence

2000 - Present (25 years)

Anthony J. DeMaria is an American researcher in lasers and their applications, particularly known for his work with picosecond laser pulses. DeMaria received his Ph.D. in engineering physics from the University of Connecticut in 1956, and worked from 1960 to 1994 at the United Technologies Corporation Research Center, performing research in acousto-optics application to lasers, passive Q-switching and mode-locking of glass lasers, fast flow and wave-guide RF excited laserss, laser radar systems, and fiber-optics sensors, ultimately serving as Assistant Director of Research 1985-1994. In 199...

#1972

Meredith Gourdine

#92808

Overall Influence

1929 - 1998 (69 years)

Meredith Charles "Flash" Gourdine was an American athlete, engineer and physicist. His nickname, "Flash" Gourdine, is a reference to comic strip character Flash Gordon. Education Gourdine graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School. He earned a BS in Engineering Physics from Cornell University in 1953, where he was selected for membership in the Quill and Dagger society. In 1960, he earned a Ph.D. in Engineering Physics from the California Institute of Technology on a Guggenheim fellowship.

#1973

Robert E. Johnson

#92882

Overall Influence

Robert E. Johnson is an American mathematician, engineer and physicist, currently the John Lloyd Newcomb Professor Engineering Physics and Materials Science at University of Virginia, with interests on biomolecular, atmospheric and condensed-gas solids.

#1974

Tony Kinloch

#92947

Overall Influence

1946 - Present (79 years)

Tony Kinloch Ph.D., DSc , FCGI, FIMMM, FIMechE, FRSC, FREng, FRS is a 'Professor of Adhesion' at The Department of Mechanical Engineering of Imperial College London and is a visiting professor at the Universities of New South Wales and Sydney, Australia.

#1975

Demetrius Albanes

#92958

Overall Influence

#1976

J. Gordon Williams

#93041

Overall Influence

#1977

Robert Benjamin Leighton

#93116

Overall Influence

#1978

Anna K. Mapp

#93144

Overall Influence

1970 - Present (55 years)

Anna Kathryn Mapp is an American chemist and the Edwin Vedejs collegiate professor of Chemistry. In 2013, Mapp joined the Michigan Life Sciences Institute as a research professor. Mapp served as the Director of the Program in Chemical Biology at the University of Michigan until 2019 when she accepted a position as the Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Initiatives at the University of Michigan Rackham graduate school.

#1979

Andrew Ewald

#93177

Overall Influence

Andrew Ewald is a professor of cell biology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is known for his contributions in the field of metastatic breast cancer research. Education Ewald earned a BS in physics from Haverford College in 1997. He then went on to complete a PhD in 2003 from the California Institute of Technology in biochemistry and molecular biophysics. He researched in Scott Fraser's Lab where he studied light microscopy which would later influence his research.

#1980

John S. Parkinson

#93185

Overall Influence

John Stansfield "Sandy" Parkinson is an American biologist, currently a Distinguished Professor at University of Utah. He was the chairman of the Department of Biology at University of Utah. Research Parkinson studies bacterial chemotaxis, particularly the chemotactic behavior of E. coli to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that cells use to detect and process information about their chemical environment. Parkinson began mutational analysis of E. coli chemotaxis as a postdoctoral student with Julius Adler in 1970. As an independent investigator, Parkinson became the primary source of mutant...

#1981

Wayne L. Hubbell

#93186

Overall Influence

1943 - Present (82 years)

Wayne L. Hubbell is an American biochemist and member of the National Academy of Sciences. He is Professor of Biochemistry and Jules Stein Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research focuses on the visual system, and is primarily supported by a grant from the National Eye Institute.

#1982

Julia Chan

#93300

Overall Influence

Julia Y. Chan is a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Baylor University. Chan is an expert in the area of intermetallic crystal growth with a focus on new quantum materials. Early life and education Chan moved to New York City at the age of eight and spent her childhood in North America. Chan studied at Baylor University and graduated in 1993. Initially a music majorspecialising in the violinshe soon became interested in chemistry. At Baylor, Chan worked under the supervision of Carlos Manzanares and Marianna Busch. She earned her doctoral degree under the supervision of Susan M. Kauzlarich at the University of California, Davis in 1998.

#1983

Maria New

#93412

Overall Influence

Maria Iandolo New is a professor of Pediatrics, Genomics and Genetics at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. She is an expert in congenital adrenal hyperplasia , a genetic condition affecting the adrenal gland that can affect sexual development.

#1984

Mark R. Morris

#93418

Overall Influence

1947 - Present (78 years)

Mark R. Morris is an American astrophysicist. He earned his B.A. magna cum laude at the University of California, Riverside and his Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Chicago. He did his postdoctoral work at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory, California Institute of Technology, and was on the faculty of the Department of Physics at Columbia University. Since 1985 he has been a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Los Angeles.

#1985

Namrata Vaswani

#93426

Overall Influence

Namrata Vaswani is an Indian-American electrical engineer known for her research in compressed sensing, robust principal component analysis, signal processing, statistical learning theory, and computer vision. She is a Joseph and Elizabeth Anderlik Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Iowa State University, and a professor of mathematics at Iowa State.

#1986

Leonard Schulman

#93574

Overall Influence

1963 - Present (62 years)

Leonard J. Y. Schulman is professor of computer science in the Computing and Mathematical Sciences Department at the California Institute of Technology. He is known for work on algorithms, information theory, coding theory, and quantum computation.

#1987

Donald Ginsberg

#93608

Overall Influence

1933 - 2007 (74 years)

Donald Maurice Ginsberg was an American physicist and expert on superconductors. Born in Chicago, Ginsberg attended the University of Chicago, earning a Bachelor of Arts in 1952, a Bachelor of Science in 1955, and a Master of Science in 1956. He then earned his doctorate in physics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1960. He taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 1959 to 1996 and in 1998 he won the American Physical Society's Oliver E. Buckley Prize for his work on high temperature superconductivity. This is the highest award in condensed matter physics and a great honor for humble Ginsberg.

#1988

Alan Grossman

#93670

Overall Influence

Alan D. Grossman, is an American microbiologist; he is currently the Praecis Professor of Biology and served head of the Department of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 2014-2022. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

#1989

Artie P. Hatzes

#93693

Overall Influence

1957 - Present (68 years)

Artie P. Hatzes is an American astronomer. He is a professor at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena and director of the Karl Schwarzschild Observatory . Hatzes is a pioneer in the search of extrasolar planets and is working on the COROT space mission. His achievements have included discovering the extrasolar planets Pollux b, Epsilon Eridani b and HD 13189 companion.

#1990

John Mark Butler

#93867

Overall Influence

#1991

Horst Henning Winter

#93916

Overall Influence

1941 - Present (84 years)

Horst Henning Winter is a German American chemical engineer, educator and researcher. He is a distinguished professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and was the executive editor of Rheologica Acta from 1989 to 2016, where he has served as honorary editor since 2017.

#1992

John P. Cooke

#94086

Overall Influence

#1993

Michael Thomas Bowers

#94088

Overall Influence

#1994

Robert Guralnick

Robert Guralnick

#94138

Overall Influence

1950 - Present (75 years)

Robert Michael Guralnick is an American mathematician known for his work in group theory. He works as a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Southern California. Guralnick was named a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society in 2012, was an invited lecturer at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 2014, and was awarded the Cole Prize in 2018. He is currently managing editor of Forum of Mathematics.

#1995

George I. Stegeman

#94154

Overall Influence

#1996

Richard E. Marsh

#94189

Overall Influence

#1997

Bridget Carragher

Bridget Carragher

#94203

Overall Influence

1957 - Present (68 years)

Bridget Olivia Carragher is a South African physicist specialized in electron microscopy. Carragher is an adjunct professor at the Columbia University and the founder and Chief Operations Officer of NanoImaging Services, Inc. She is also the director of the National Resources for Automated Molecular Microscopy , director of the Simons Electron Microscopy Center at New York Structural Biology Center and PI at the National Center for CryoEM Access and Training.

#1998

Joseph B. Lambert

#94210

Overall Influence

1940 - Present (85 years)

Joseph B. Lambert is an educator, organic chemist, archaeological chemist, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopist. He grew up in the San Antonio, Texas, area and graduated from Alamo Heights High School in 1958. He was educated at Yale University , where he worked for William von Eggers Doering, and at California Institute of Technology , where he worked for John D. Roberts. In 1965, he joined the faculty of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he rose through the ranks and in 1991 became Clare Hamilton Hall Professor of Chemistry. In 2010, he retired after 45 years...

#1999

Marie Machacek

#94211

Overall Influence

Marie E. Machacek is an astrophysicist conducting research in the High Energy Astrophysics Division of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. She earned a BA in physics and mathematics from Coe College, in 1969; an MS in physics from the University of Michigan, in 1970; and a PhD in physics from the University of Iowa, in 1973. Her current research explores interacting galaxies and the evolution of galaxies in galaxy groups and clusters. She is also the current coordinator for the SAO Astronomy Intern Program.

#2000

Oliver Keith Baker

#94340

Overall Influence

1959 - Present (66 years)

Oliver Keith Baker is an American experimental particle physicist and astrophysicist, best known for his work on the Higgs boson and dark matter. In 2002, he won the Edward Alexander Bouchet Award of the American Physical Society: "For his contribution to nuclear and particle physics; for building the infrastructure to do these measurements; and for being active in outreach activities, both locally and nationally."

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