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
#20151
R. A. Lafferty
#20162
Overall Influence
1914 - 2002 (88 years)
Raphael Aloysius "R. A." Lafferty was an American science fiction and fantasy writer known for his original use of language, metaphor, and narrative structure, Lafferty also wrote a set of four autobiographical novels, a history book, and several novels of historical fiction.
Go to Profile#20152
Henry J. Aaron
#20163
Overall Influence
1936 - Present (90 years)
Henry Jacob Aaron is an American policy analyst and economist. He is the Bruce and Virginia MacLaury Senior Fellow in the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution, where he has been employed since 1968. He served as director of the program from 1990 through 1996.
Go to Profile#20153
David Grinspoon
#20164
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (67 years)
David H. Grinspoon is an American astrobiologist. He is Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute and was the former inaugural Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology for 2012–2013.
Go to Profile#20154
Toni Kukoč
#20165
Overall Influence
1968 - Present (58 years)
Toni Kukoč is a Croatian former professional basketball player who serves as Special Advisor to Jerry Reinsdorf, the owner of the Chicago Bulls. After a highly successful period in European basketball, he was one of the first established European stars to play in the National Basketball Association . Nicknamed "The Waiter", Kukoč played for four NBA teams between 1993 and 2006, winning the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 1996. He is a three-time NBA champion, having won championships with the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls in 1996, 1997, and 1998.
Go to Profile#20155
William Wegman
#20166
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
William Wegman is an American artist best known for creating series of compositions involving dogs, primarily his own Weimaraners in various costumes and poses. Life and career Wegman originally intended to pursue a career as a painter. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 1965 and a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1967.
Go to Profile#20156
John D'Emilio
#20167
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
John D'Emilio is a professor emeritus of history and of women's and gender studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He taught at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He earned his B.A. from Columbia College and Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1982, where his advisor was William Leuchtenburg. He was a Guggenheim fellow in 1998 and National Endowment for the Humanities fellow in 1997 and also served as Director of the Policy Institute at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force from 1995 to 1997.
Go to Profile#20157
Yoshinobu Ashihara
#20168
Overall Influence
1918 - 2003 (85 years)
was a Japanese architect noted for projects such as the Komazawa Olympic Gymnasium and the Sony Building . Education and career Ashihara was educated at both the University of Tokyo and Harvard University. After graduating from Harvard in 1953 with a master's degree in Architecture, Ashihara worked in the architectural practice of modernist Marcel Breuer. Founder of his own firm Yoshinobu Ashihara Architecture Associates in 1956.
Go to Profile#20158
Gary Beckman
#20169
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
Gary Michael Beckman is a noted Hittitologist and Professor of Hittite and Mesopotamian Studies from the University of Michigan. He has written several books on the Hittites: his publication Hittite Diplomatic Texts and Hittite Myths were both republished twice—in 1991 and 1999 respectively. As a Hittitologist, Professor Gary Beckman also wrote an article on Hittite Chronology in Akkadica 119-120 while he served as an editor of the 2003 book Hittite Studies in Honor of Harry A. Hoffner, Jr: On the Occasion of His 65th Birthday. Beckman also composed a book review on Trevor Bryce's influential book, The Kingdom of the Hittites in Bryn Mawr.
Go to Profile#20159
Tyga
#20170
Overall Influence
1989 - Present (37 years)
Micheal Ray Stevenson , known professionally as Tyga , is an American rapper. After a number of independent releases, Tyga signed a recording contract with Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records and Republic Records in 2008. His major label debut, Careless World: Rise of the Last King was released in 2011 and included the successful singles "Rack City", "Faded" , "Far Away" , and "Still Got It" . The album's success was followed up with the moderately-received Hotel California and the collaborative effort with singer Chris Brown, Fan of a Fan: The Album .
Go to Profile#20160
Diana Rigg
#20171
Overall Influence
1938 - 2020 (82 years)
Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg was an English actress of stage and screen. Her roles include Emma Peel in the TV series The Avengers ; Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, wife of James Bond, in On Her Majesty's Secret Service ; Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones ; and the title role in Medea in the West End in 1993 followed by Broadway a year later.
Go to Profile#20161
John Colarusso
#20172
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (81 years)
John Colarusso is a linguist specializing in Caucasian languages. Since 1976, he has taught at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Colarusso has published more than sixty-five articles on linguistics, myths, politics, and the Caucasus; he has also authored three books, edited one, and is finishing two further books.
Go to Profile#20162
Susan Hurley
#20173
Overall Influence
1954 - 2007 (53 years)
Susan Lynn Hurley was appointed professor in the department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick in 1994, professor of philosophy at Bristol University from 2006 and the first woman fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. She wrote on practical philosophy as well as on philosophy of mind, bringing these disciplines closer together. Her work draws on sources from the social sciences as well as the neurosciences, and can be broadly characterised as both naturalistic and interdisciplinary.
Go to Profile#20163
Dave Hunt
#20174
Overall Influence
1926 - 2013 (87 years)
David Charles Haddon Hunt was an American Christian apologist, speaker, radio commentator and author. He was in full-time ministry from 1973 until his death. The Berean Call, which highlights Hunt's material, was started in 1992. From 1999 to 2010, he also hosted Search the Scriptures Daily radio ministry alongside T.A. McMahon. Hunt traveled to the Near East, lived in Egypt, and wrote numerous books on theology, prophecy, cults, and other religions, including critiques of Catholicism, Islam, Mormonism, and Calvinism, among others. Hunt's Christian theology was evangelical dispensational and...
Go to Profile#20164
Seth Rogen
#20175
Overall Influence
1982 - Present (44 years)
Seth Aaron Rogen is a Canadian actor, comedian and filmmaker. Originally a stand-up comedian in Vancouver, he moved to Los Angeles for a part in Judd Apatow's series Freaks and Geeks in 1999, and got a part on Apatow's sitcom Undeclared in 2001, which also hired him as a writer. After landing his job as a staff writer on the final season of Da Ali G Show , Apatow guided Rogen toward a film career. As a writer, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series.
Go to Profile#20165
Thomas Eagleton
#20176
Overall Influence
1929 - 2007 (78 years)
Thomas Francis Eagleton was an American lawyer serving as a United States senator from Missouri, from 1968 to 1987. He was briefly the Democratic vice presidential nominee under George McGovern in 1972. He suffered from bouts of depression throughout his life, resulting in several hospitalizations, which were kept secret from the public. When they were revealed, it humiliated the McGovern campaign and Eagleton was forced to quit the race. He later became adjunct professor of public affairs at Washington University in St. Louis.
Go to Profile#20166
Musashi
#20177
Overall Influence
1972 - Present (54 years)
Akio Mori, better known by the name Musashi, is a Japanese former professional karateka and kickboxer. He is a four-time K-1 Japan tournament champion, a former WAKO Heavyweight Muay Thai champion and two-time K-1 World Grand Prix finalist. Following a 14-year career, he announced his retirement at a press conference in Tokyo on August 26, 2009.
Go to Profile#20167
Chris Waddle
#20178
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
Christopher Roland Waddle is an English former professional football player and manager. He had a spell as Burnley manager during the 1997–98 season, but has not returned to coaching since. Largely since retiring he has worked in the media for BBC Radio 5 Live as part of their Premier League and Champions League team. He currently works as a commentator.
Go to Profile#20168
Jan van Dijk
#20179
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
Jan A.G.M. van Dijk is professor emeritus of communication science at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, where he still works. His chair was called The Sociology of the Information Society. He lectured on the social aspects of the information society. Van Dijk was also Chair of the Centre for e-Government Studies and an advisor of and many governments and departments, including the European Commission and several Dutch ministries, city departments, and political parties.
Go to Profile#20169
Ana Mari Cauce
#20180
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Ana Mari Cauce is an American psychologist and academic administrator, currently serving as the 33rd president of the University of Washington since October 2015. Joining the University of Washington in 1986, Cauce previously served as the university's provost and executive vice president from 2011 to 2015, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 2008 to 2011, executive vice provost from 2005 to 2008, chair of the department of psychology from 2002 to 2005, and director of the honor program from 2000 to 2002.
Go to Profile#20170
Edward T. Foote II
#20181
Overall Influence
1937 - 2016 (79 years)
Edward Thaddeus "Tad" Foote II was an American academic administrator, attorney, and journalist who served as the fourth president of the University of Miami from 1981 through 2001. Early life and education Foote was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on December 15, 1937. He graduated from John Burroughs School in Ladue, Missouri. He earned a bachelor's degree from Yale University and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.
Go to Profile#20171
Dean Rusk
#20182
Overall Influence
1909 - 1994 (85 years)
David Dean Rusk was the United States secretary of state from 1961 to 1969 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, the second-longest serving Secretary of State after Cordell Hull from the Franklin Roosevelt administration. He had been a high government official in the 1940s and early 1950s, as well as the head of a leading foundation. He is cited as one of the two officers responsible for dividing the two Koreas at the 38th parallel.
Go to Profile#20172
Lindy West
#20183
Overall Influence
1982 - Present (44 years)
Lindy West is an American writer, comedian and activist. She is the author of the essay collection Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman and a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. The topics she writes about include feminism, popular culture, and the fat acceptance movement.
Go to Profile#20173
Dorinne K. Kondo
#20184
Overall Influence
Dorinne K. Kondo is a professor of American studies and Ethnicity and Anthropology at the University of Southern California. She is a scholar, playwright, and has over 20 years of work experience in dramaturge; her work shows the structural inequality of race and ethnicities in the world of contemporary theatre. Her creative performances are shedding light on racism and power in the theatre industry but her work mostly focuses on discrimination and racism towards Asians, which makes a link to art and politics. Kondo's writings discuss issues on power, gender inequality, the discourses in a Japanese workplace, and racism in the fashion industry.
Go to Profile#20174
Arthur Hertzberg
#20185
Overall Influence
1921 - 2006 (85 years)
Arthur Hertzberg was a Conservative rabbi and prominent Jewish-American scholar and activist. Biography Avraham Hertzberg was born in Lubaczów, Poland, the eldest of five children, and left Europe in 1926 with his mother and grandmother to join his father in the United States, where his name was Americanized to Arthur. Hertzberg recalled that as a teenager in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland, he would not accept the notion that the literary world of talmudic learning, the kabbalistic books and the writing of the chasidim were less worthy as compared to the Iliad, the Odyssey or Dante's Inferno.
Go to Profile#20175
Mary Hesse
#20186
Overall Influence
1924 - 2016 (92 years)
Mary Brenda Hesse FBA was an English philosopher of science, latterly a professor in the subject at the University of Cambridge. Biography Mary Hesse was born in Reigate, Surrey, to Ethelbert Thomas Hesse and Brenda Hesse .
Go to Profile#20176
Carlos Díaz Olivo
#20187
Overall Influence
Carlos Eduardo Díaz Olivo is a Puerto Rican attorney, professor of law, former politician, and political analyst. Early years and education Carlos Díaz Olivo was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He completed a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration with a major in Accounting from the University of Puerto Rico. After certifying himself as a Certified Public Accountant, Díaz Olivo entered the University of Puerto Rico School of Law where he graduated with the highest GPA of his class.
Go to Profile#20177
Andreas Gal
#20188
Overall Influence
1976 - Present (50 years)
Andreas Gal is former chief technology officer at Mozilla. He is most notable for his work on several open source projects and Mozilla technologies. Gal was born in Szeged, Hungary and grew up in Lübeck, Germany. During high school he worked on various open source AX.25 network stacks and designed a routing protocol for ham radio network nodes that became widely supported by AX.25 network routers.
Go to Profile#20178
John Landis
#20189
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
John David Landis is an American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for the comedy films that he has directed – such as The Kentucky Fried Movie , National Lampoon's Animal House , The Blues Brothers , An American Werewolf in London , Trading Places , Three Amigos , Coming to America and Beverly Hills Cop III , and for directing Michael Jackson's music videos for "Thriller" and "Black or White" .
Go to Profile#20179
Adam Dziewonski
#20190
Overall Influence
1936 - 2016 (80 years)
Adam Marian Dziewoński was a Polish-American geophysicist who made seminal contributions to the determination of the large-scale structure of the Earth's interior and the nature of earthquakes using seismological methods. He spent most of his career at Harvard University, where he was the Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science.
Go to Profile#20180
Frederick Mayer
#20191
Overall Influence
1921 - 2006 (85 years)
Frederick Mayer was an educational scientist and philosopher of the University of Redlands, California and one of the leading creativity experts. One of his most important aims was a global humanism. Until the very last days of his life he was active as an author. More than sixty books deal with creativity, education and humanism. Internationally recognized creativity researcher Frederick Mayer in Vienna died. Mayer was particularly affected by the quote "Pride is not for him who loves his country, but for him who loves the whole world."
Go to Profile#20181
Carlo Aymonino
#20192
Overall Influence
1926 - 2010 (84 years)
Carlo Aymonino was an Italian architect and urban planner best known for the Monte Amiata housing complex in Milan. Early life Born in Rome, he studied at the University of Rome, obtaining his degree in 1950. In the same years, he also got trained by Marcello Piacentini.
Go to Profile#20182
Michel Clouscard
#20193
Overall Influence
1928 - 2009 (81 years)
Michel Clouscard was a French Marxist philosopher and sociologist. An opponent of capitalism, a critic of the evolution of ideas of progress confronted with the liberal mutations of the end of the 20th century, his work is linked to the thought of Rousseau, Hegel and Marx, whose links and unity he shows. He is known to have philosophically shown the collusion between capitalism and the French theory, represented by Lévi-Strauss and Deleuze, constructing his own concept of neo-Kantianism. He developed a philosophical research around the idea of social contract, postulating that "the constituti...
Go to Profile#20183
Michael Randle
#20194
Overall Influence
1933 - Present (93 years)
Michael Randle is an English peace campaigner and researcher known for his involvement in nonviolent direct action in Britain and also for his role in helping the Soviet spy George Blake escape from a British prison.
Go to Profile#20184
Alexander Astin
#20195
Overall Influence
1932 - Present (94 years)
Alexander W. Astin was the Allan M. Cartter Distinguished Professor of Higher Education and Organizational Change, at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was founding director of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. He has served as Director of Research for both the American Council on Education and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. He was also the founding director of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, an ongoing national study of some fifteen million students, 300,000 faculty and staff, and 1,800 higher education institutions.
Go to Profile#20185
Hines Ward
#20196
Overall Influence
1976 - Present (50 years)
Hines Edward Ward Jr. is an American former professional football wide receiver of the National Football League , who is the current head coach of the San Antonio Brahmas of the XFL. He played college football for the Georgia Bulldogs and was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 1998 NFL Draft. Ward played his entire professional career for the Steelers and he became the team's all-time leader in receptions, receiving yardage and touchdown receptions. Ward was voted MVP of Super Bowl XL and upon retirement was one of eleven NFL players to have at least 1,000 career receptions.
Go to Profile#20186
Gerald James Whitrow
#20197
Overall Influence
1912 - 2000 (88 years)
Gerald James Whitrow was a British mathematician, cosmologist and science historian. Biography Whitrow was born on 9 June 1912 at Kimmeridge in Dorset, the elder son of William and Emily Whitrow. After completing school at Christ's Hospital, he obtained a scholarship at Christ Church, Oxford in 1930, earning his first degree in 1933; he was a Harmsworth Senior Scholar at Merton College, Oxford, from 1935 to 1937, taking his MA in 1937, and was awarded his PhD in 1939. At Oxford he worked on an alternative theory of relativity with Professor Edward Arthur Milne. During World War II, he worked as a scientific officer for the Ministry of Supply.
Go to Profile#20187
Dennis Kucinich
#20198
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (80 years)
Dennis John Kucinich is an American politician. A Democrat, Kucinich served as U.S. Representative from Ohio's 10th congressional district from 1997 to 2013. From 1977 to 1979, he served a term as mayor of Cleveland, where he survived a recall election and successfully fought an effort to sell the municipal electric utility before losing his reelection contest to George Voinovich.
Go to Profile#20188
Mimi Ajzenstadt
#20199
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (70 years)
Mimi Ajzenstadt is an Israeli criminologist who was named the Mildred and Benjamin Berger Chair in Criminology at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and is the President of the Open University of Israel.
Go to Profile#20189
Anthony Llewellyn
#20200
Overall Influence
1933 - 2013 (80 years)
John Anthony Llewellyn was a Welsh-born American chemist, a former NASA astronaut candidate, and a NOAA aquanaut. Biography Llewellyn was born in Cardiff, Wales, and graduated from Cardiff High School in 1949. He received his BSc degree from University College, Cardiff in 1955 and went on to achieve his PhD degree in chemistry in 1958. He married Valerie Mya Davies-Jones, and they had three children.
Go to Profile#20190
George Baird
#20201
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (87 years)
George Baird was a Canadian architect, scholar, and architectural educator. He is widely recognized for his roles as: professor at the Royal College of Art and the Architectural Association School of Architecture, professor and director at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, as well as professor, chair and dean at the University of Toronto Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design. Baird's contributions to the disciplines of architecture and urban design extend from his professional practice, Baird Sampson Neuert Architects, to his theoretical publications on the subject of urban public space.
Go to Profile#20191
Matt Hardy
#20202
Overall Influence
1974 - Present (52 years)
Matthew Moore Hardy is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling . He is best known for his tenures in WWE and Impact Wrestling. With his brother, Jeff, Hardy gained prominence in WWF's tag team division during the 2000s due to his participation in TLC matches. He is a 14-time world tag team champion, having held the WWE World Tag Team Championship six times, the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship three times, the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship, ROH World Tag Team Championship, and WCW Tag Team Championship once each, and the TNA World Tag Team Championships twice.
Go to Profile#20192
Billy Cunningham
#20203
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
William John Cunningham is an American former professional basketball player and coach, who was nicknamed the Kangaroo Kid for his leaping and record-setting rebounding abilities. He spent a total of 17 seasons with the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers , and two seasons as a player with the Carolina Cougars of the ABA.
Go to Profile#20193
Stuart L. Hart
#20204
Overall Influence
Stuart L. Hart is an American academic, writer and theorist and the founder of Enterprise for a Sustainable World, a non-profit dedicated to helping businesses make the transition to sustainability. A Fortune 100 consultant, Hart is one of the world's leading authorities on the implications of sustainable development and environmentalism relative to business strategy. He is the S.C. Johnson Chair of Sustainable Global Enterprise and Professor of Management at Cornell University's Johnson School of Management; he is also the founder of the school's Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise and t...
Go to Profile#20194
Bob Odenkirk
#20205
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (64 years)
Robert John Odenkirk is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker best known for his role as Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad and its spin-off Better Call Saul . For the latter, he has received six nominations for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. As a producer on Better Call Saul since its premiere, he has also received six nominations for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series. He is also known for the HBO sketch comedy series Mr. Show with Bob and David , which he co-created and co-starred in with fellow comic David Cross. In 2015, he and Cross reunited, along with the rest of the Mr.
Go to Profile#20195
Marshall Poe
#20206
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
Marshall Tillbrook Poe is an American historian, writer, editor and founder of the New Books Network, an online collection of podcast interviews with a wide range of non-fiction authors. He has taught Russian, European, Eurasian and World history at various universities including Harvard, Columbia, University of Iowa, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He has also taught courses on new media and online collaboration.
Go to Profile#20196
Marcia Huber
#20207
Overall Influence
Marcia Lynn Huber is an American chemical engineer. She is a researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Huber's research interests include developing models for the thermophysical properties of fluids. She was awarded the Department of Commerce Bronze Medal in 2005.
Go to Profile#20197
Brett Hull
#20208
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
Brett Andrew Hull is a Canadian–American former ice hockey player and general manager, and currently an executive vice president of the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League . He played for the Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, and Phoenix Coyotes between 1986 and 2005. His career total of 741 goals is fifth highest in NHL history, and he is one of five players to score 50 goals in 50 games. He was a member of two Stanley Cup winning teams — 1999 with the Dallas Stars and 2002 with the Detroit Red Wings. In 2017 Hull was named one of the 100 Greatest NH...
Go to Profile#20198
Ian Wallace
#20209
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
Ian Wallace is a British-born Canadian artist, living and working in Vancouver, British Columbia. Wallace has been an influential figure in the development of an internationally acknowledged photographic and conceptual art practice in Vancouver since 1965.
Go to Profile#20199
François Dagognet
#20210
Overall Influence
1924 - 2015 (91 years)
François Dagognet was a 20th-century French philosopher. François Dagognet was born in Langres. He studied both science and philosophy, and was a student of Georges Canguilhem. He was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Lyon before becoming Professor of Philosophy at Pantheon-Sorbonne University.
Go to Profile#20200
Roberto Salmeron
#20211
Overall Influence
1922 - 2020 (98 years)
Roberto Aureliano Salmeron was a Brazilian electrical engineer and experimental nuclear physicist and an emeritus Research Director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research . Salmeron was born in São Paulo. He did his undergraduate studies in electrical engineering at the Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo, in São Paulo, and in physics in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro , in Rio de Janeiro. From 1947 to 1950, he worked as researcher and physics instructor at the Escola Politécnica and in the Department of Physics of the Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Le...
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