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
#27051
Peter Littlewood
#27062
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (71 years)
Peter Brent Littlewood is a British physicist and Professor of Physics at the University of Chicago. He was the 12th Director of Argonne National Laboratory. He previously headed the Cavendish Laboratory as well as the Theory of Condensed Matter group and the Theoretical Physics Research department at Bell Laboratories. Littlewood serves as the founding chair of the board of trustees of the Faraday Institution.
Go to Profile#27052
John Poulakos
#27063
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
John Poulakos has worked in the field of rhetoric as a professor and author, contributing to the study of classical rhetoric. Biography Poulakos received his MA from California State University, San Jose in 1972 with a thesis "Toward an existential theory of dialogue". PhD in Communications from the University of Kansas in 1979 with a thesis "Gorgias on rhetoric". Poulakos moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is currently the associate professor of Communication and Rhetoric at the University of Pittsburgh.
Go to Profile#27053
Jim K. Omura
#27064
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (86 years)
Jimmy K. Omura is an electrical engineer and information theorist. Omura received his B.S. and M.S. from MIT, and his Ph.D. from Stanford University, all in electrical engineering. He was a professor of electrical engineering at UCLA for 15 years. His notable work includes the design of a number of spread spectrum communications systems, and the Massey-Omura cryptosystem . With Andrew Viterbi he co-authored Principles of Digital Communication and Coding , a standard textbook in digital communications. He also co-authored the Spread Spectrum Communications Handbook .
Go to Profile#27054
Laura Otis
#27065
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
Laura Otis is an American historian of science, and Professor of English, at Emory University. She graduated from Yale University with a B.S. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry in 1983, and from the University of California, San Francisco with an M.A. in Neuroscience in 1988, and from Cornell University with a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature in 1991.
Go to Profile#27055
Krzysztof R. Apt
#27066
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
Krzysztof R. Apt is a Polish computer scientist. He defended his PhD in mathematical logic in Warsaw, Poland in 1974. His research interests include program correctness and semantics, use of logic as a programming language, distributed computing, and game theory. Besides his own research, he has been heavily involved in service to the computing community, notably by promoting the use of logic in computer science and by advocating open access to scientific literature.
Go to Profile#27056
Valiya Hamza
#27067
Overall Influence
1941 - Present (85 years)
Valiya Mannathal Hamza is an Indian scientist credited with co-discovering, together with Elizabeth Tavares Pimentel, the large aquifer referred to as "Rio Hamza" or Hamza River, which flows deep below and parallel to the Amazon. Hamza is listed as a permanent professor in the Geophysics specialization at the Brazilian National Observatory.
Go to Profile#27057
Risto Alapuro
#27068
Overall Influence
1944 - 2022 (78 years)
Risto Sakari Alapuro was a Finnish sociologist. Alapuro was born in Ruokolahti on 28 April 1944. Alapuro was a professor of sociology at University of Jyväskylä between 1986 and 1991, and a professor at Helsinki University from 1991 to 2010.
Go to Profile#27058
John Putnam Demos
#27069
Overall Influence
John Putnam Demos is an American author and historian. He has written two books that discuss witch hunts and has discovered that one of his ancestors was John Putnam Senior, a member of the Putnam family that was prominent in the Salem witch trials.
Go to Profile#27059
Hamilton E. Holmes
#27070
Overall Influence
1941 - 1995 (54 years)
Hamilton E. Holmes was an American orthopedic physician. He and Charlayne Hunter-Gault were the first two African-American students admitted to the University of Georgia. Additionally, Holmes was the first African-American student to attend the Emory University School of Medicine, where he earned his M.D. degree in 1967, later becoming a professor of orthopedics and associate dean at the school.
Go to Profile#27060
Kirkland H. Donald
#27071
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
Kirkland Hogue "Kirk" Donald is a retired Admiral in the United States Navy, who in his last assignment served as the dual-hatted position of Director of Naval Nuclear Propulsion and Deputy Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration. Donald previously served as Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, and Commander, Submarine Allied Command, Atlantic. He retired from active duty on November 2, 2012.
Go to Profile#27061
Hatem Ben Arfa
#27072
Overall Influence
1987 - Present (39 years)
Hatem Ben Arfa is a French professional footballer who plays as a winger and attacking midfielder. He is currently a free agent. Known for his flair and dribbling ability, Ben Arfa is regarded as a fan favourite with a cult following. He was once described as "one of the best-rated talents in France" but has been criticised by the media and players alike for lacking discipline.
Go to Profile#27062
Ziv Carmon
#27073
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
Ziv Carmon is the Dean of Research, Professor of Business Administration, and holder of The Alfred H. Heineken Chaired Professorship at INSEAD. An expert in human judgment and decision-making, he is best known for his research on placebo effects of commercial actions and on the endowment effect, and his presentations and teachings about Customer Insight.
Go to Profile#27063
Horace W. Babcock
#27074
Overall Influence
1912 - 2003 (91 years)
Horace Welcome Babcock was an American astronomer. He was the son of Harold D. Babcock. Career Babcock invented and built a number of astronomical instruments, and in 1953 was the first to propose the idea of adaptive optics. He specialized in spectroscopy and the study of magnetic fields of stars. He proposed the Babcock Model, a theory for the magnetism of sunspots.
Go to Profile#27064
Maumoon Abdul Gayoom
#27075
Overall Influence
1937 - Present (89 years)
Maumoon Abdul Gayoom is a Maldivian politician who served as president of the Maldives from 1978 to 2008. After serving as transport minister, he was nominated president by the People's Majlis and succeeded Ibrahim Nasir in 1978. He was defeated in the October 2008 presidential election.
Go to Profile#27065
Slick Rick
#27076
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (61 years)
Richard Martin Lloyd Walters , better known as Slick Rick, is an English-American rapper and record producer. He rose to prominence with Doug E. Fresh & the Get Fresh Crew in the mid-1980s. Their songs "The Show" and "La Di Da Di" are considered early hip hop classics. "La Di Da Di" is one of the most sampled songs in history.
Go to Profile#27066
Babs Fafunwa
#27077
Overall Influence
1923 - 2010 (87 years)
Aliu Babatunde Fafunwa . He was the first Nigerian Professor of Education. He was a Nigerian Educationist, Scholar and Former Minister for Education. As Minister, he was in charge of the biggest school system in Africa. He is known for his early writings on the need to re-appraise the inherited colonial epistemological system in Nigeria and to introduce relevant cultural goals, subjects and local languages into the system, in order to accommodate the developmental and cultural pattern of the country. He is also a notable authority on the History of Educational Planning in Nigeria.
Go to Profile#27067
Jamilah Lemieux
#27078
Overall Influence
1984 - Present (42 years)
Jamilah Lemieux is an American writer, cultural critic, and editor. She rose to prominence for her blog, The Beautiful Struggler. She has worked for Ebony, Cassius Magazine, and Interactive One, part of Radio One, Inc. Lemieux currently writes a parenting column for Slate, and co-hosts an accompanying podcast, Mom & Dad Are Fighting.
Go to Profile#27068
Allen Toussaint
#27079
Overall Influence
1938 - 2015 (77 years)
Allen Richard Toussaint was an American musician, songwriter, arranger, and record producer. He was an influential figure in New Orleans rhythm and blues from the 1950s to the end of the century, described as "one of popular music's great backroom figures." Many musicians recorded Toussaint's compositions. He was a producer for hundreds of recordings: the best known are "Right Place, Wrong Time", by longtime friend Dr. John, and "Lady Marmalade" by Labelle.
Go to Profile#27069
Nancy Hopkins
#27080
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
Nancy Hopkins, an American molecular biologist, is the Amgen, Inc. Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is known for her research identifying genes required for zebrafish development, and for her earlier research on gene expression in the bacterial virus, lambda, and on mouse RNA tumor viruses. She is also known for her work promoting equality of opportunity for women scientists in academia.
Go to Profile#27070
Dorothy Wright Nelson
#27081
Overall Influence
1928 - Present (98 years)
Dorothy Wright Nelson is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Education and career Born in San Pedro, California, Wright received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1950, a Juris Doctor from UCLA School of Law in 1953, and a Master of Laws from the USC Gould School of Law in 1956. She was a research associate fellow at the Gould School of Law from 1953 to 1956. She was in private practice in Los Angeles, California from 1954 to 1957. She was a member of the faculty of the Gould School of Law from 1957 to 1980.
Go to Profile#27071
Yegor Gaidar
#27082
Overall Influence
1956 - 2009 (53 years)
Yegor Timurovich Gaidar was a Soviet and Russian economist, politician, and author, and was the Acting Prime Minister of Russia from 15 June 1992 to 14 December 1992. He was the architect of the controversial shock therapy reforms administered in Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which brought him both praise and harsh criticism. He participated in the preparation of the Belovezh Accords. Many Russians held him responsible for the economic hardships that plagued the country in the 1990s that resulted in mass poverty and hyperinflation among other things, although liberals praised him as a man who did what had to be done to save the country from complete collapse.
Go to Profile#27072
Rubí Rodríguez
#27083
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Rubí Elena Rodríguez Moreno is a Chilean mathematician in the department of mathematics and statistics at the University of La Frontera, a founder of the Iberoamerican Congress on Geometry, and the former president of the Chilean Mathematical Society. Her research specialties include complex geometry, Fuchsian groups, Riemann surfaces, and abelian varieties.
Go to Profile#27073
Chris Sutton
#27084
Overall Influence
1973 - Present (53 years)
Christopher Roy Sutton is an English former professional football player and manager. He later became a pundit and commentator for TNT Sports, regularly working on their coverage of Scottish football. He is now also a pundit and occasional match co-commentator on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Go to Profile#27074
Sylvia Porter
#27085
Overall Influence
1913 - 1991 (78 years)
Sylvia Field Porter was an American economist, journalist and author. At the height of her career, her readership was greater than 40 million people. Early life Porter was born in Patchogue, New York, on Long Island as Sylvia Field Feldman to Louis and Rose Maisel Feldman. Originally majoring in English literature, she switched to economics and finance given the impact of the Stock Market Crash of 1929. It has been suggested that her fiancé, bank employee Reed Porter, was relying upon Sylvia to explain the complications of the worldwide financial panic. They were married in 1931.
Go to Profile#27075
Horst Dreier
#27086
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
Horst Dreier is a German jurist and legal philosopher. He currently holds a chair at the University of Würzburg. In 2008 he was the initial candidate to replace Winfried Hassemer at the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, but his nomination was opposed by the CDU for his controversial positions regarding torture and stem cell research, and eventually withdrawn in favor of Andreas Voßkuhle.
Go to Profile#27076
Godfrey Hewitt
#27087
Overall Influence
1940 - 2013 (73 years)
Godfrey Matthew Hewitt was a British professor and evolutionary geneticist at the University of East Anglia who was very influential in the development of the fields of molecular ecology, phylogeography, speciation and hybridisation.
Go to Profile#27077
Ralph Richard Banks
#27088
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
Ralph Richard Banks is a professor at Stanford Law School, where he has taught since 1998. He also teaches at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. His scholarship focuses on race, inequality and the law. He published the book Is Marriage for White People?: How the African American Marriage Decline Affects Everyone in 2011.
Go to Profile#27078
Debbie Sell
#27089
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
Debbie Sell, OBE, FRCSLT is a leading British speech and language therapist. Life and career Sell qualified in 1976 with a diploma in speech pathology and therapeutics from the College of Education in Leicester. Her first appointment as a speech therapist was at Whipps Cross Hospital, where she worked from 1976 to 1978. Between 1978 and 1981, she worked at St. Georges Hospital, Tooting, London. In 1981 she moved to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London and was appointed head of the department of speech and language therapy in 1996. She gained her Ph.D. in 1992 from De Montfort University for...
Go to Profile#27079
Jean-Marc Ayrault
#27090
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Jean-Marc Ayrault is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2012 to 31 March 2014. He later was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2016 to 2017. He previously was Mayor of Nantes from 1989 to 2012 and led the Socialist Party group in the National Assembly from 1997 to 2012.
Go to Profile#27080
Jie Wu
#27091
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
Jie Wu is a Chinese computer scientist. He is the Associate Vice Provost for International Affairs and Director for Center for Networked Computing at Temple University. He also serves as the Laura H. Carnell professor in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences. He served as Program Director of Networking Technology and Systems at the National Science Foundation from 2006 to 2008.
Go to Profile#27081
Billie Eilish
#27092
Overall Influence
2001 - Present (25 years)
Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell is an American singer and songwriter. She first gained public attention in 2015 with her debut single "Ocean Eyes", written and produced by her brother Finneas O'Connell, with whom she collaborates on music and live shows. In 2017, she released her debut extended play , titled Don't Smile at Me. Commercially successful, it reached the top 15 of record charts in numerous countries, including the US, UK, Canada, and Australia.
Go to Profile#27082
Robert E. Bixby
#27093
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (81 years)
#27083
Jiří Petr
#27094
Overall Influence
1931 - 2014 (83 years)
Jiří Petr, Prof., DrSc. Dr.h.c. was a Czech agroscientist, university professor and Emeritus Chancellor of the Czech University of Agriculture Prague. Biography Petr was born on May 13, 1931 Hradec Králové, Czechoslovakia. First he visited the local primary school afterwards the secondary school in Broumov and finished with Matura. In 1949 he was sent to the Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Agricultural and Forestry Engineering to study plant production with Examination as Dipl.Ing agr. As postgraduate student he studied special plant production with student exchange in Moscow , Rothamsted and Halle .
Go to Profile#27084
Norbertas Vėlius
#27095
Overall Influence
1938 - 1996 (58 years)
Norbertas Vėlius was a Lithuanian folklorist specializing in Lithuanian mythology. Major works Mitinės lietuvių sakmių būtybės Laumių dovanos Senovės baltų pasaulėžiūra Chtoniškasis lietuvių mitologijos pasaulis Baltų religijos ir mitologijos šaltiniai, 4 volumes .
Go to Profile#27085
Herbert Andrewartha
#27096
Overall Influence
1907 - 1992 (85 years)
Professor Herbert George Andrewartha, BS , MAgSc , DSc , FAA, was a distinguished Australian research scientist in the fields of entomology, biology, zoology and animal ecology. Early life Andrewartha was born the second of three children, on 21 December 1907 in Perth, Western Australia to George and Elsie. His father was a teacher, and the family moved frequently from school to school with the education department, in rural Western Australia.
Go to Profile#27086
Tiki Barber
#27097
Overall Influence
1975 - Present (51 years)
Atiim Kiambu "Tiki" Barber is an American former professional football player who was a running back for the New York Giants of the National Football League for ten seasons. He played college football for the University of Virginia. Barber was selected by the Giants in the second round of the 1997 NFL Draft, and played his entire professional career for the team. Barber retired from the NFL at the end of the 2006 NFL postseason as the Giants' all-time rushing and reception leader. He is one of only four players with 5,000 rushing yards and 5,000 receiving yards. Barber was inducted into the ...
Go to Profile#27087
Eviatar Nevo
#27098
Overall Influence
1929 - Present (97 years)
Eviatar Nevo , is Professor Emeritus, founder and director of the Institute of Evolution at University of Haifa, Israel. Research Nevo received a M.Sc and PhD from Hebrew University. His Ph.D thesis was entitled "Population studies of Anurans from the lower Cretaceous of Makhtesh Ramon, Israel". He founded the Institute of Evolution at Haifa in 1973 and researches evolutionary biology, in particular, speciation processes, modifications of highly evolved traits , climatic and geographic effects in sympatric speciation in insects, bacteria, fungi, mammals and crops. He is a proponent of evolut...
Go to Profile#27088
Elie Rekhess
#27099
Overall Influence
1945 - Present (81 years)
Elie Rekhess is an Israeli scholar of political history of the Arabs in Israel; Islamic resurgence in Israel; the West Bank and Gaza and Palestinian affairs. He serves as Crown Visiting professor in Israel Studies at Northwestern University affiliated with the Department of History and the Department of Jewish Studies. He was formerly on the faculty of the Department of Middle Eastern History at Tel Aviv University and served as head of the Konrad Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation.
Go to Profile#27089
Joan Busfield
#27100
Overall Influence
1940 - Present (86 years)
Joan Busfield , is a British sociologist and psychologist, Professor of Sociology at the University of Essex and former President of the British Sociological Association . Her research focuses on psychiatry and mental disorder.
Go to Profile#27090
Theo Walcott
#27101
Overall Influence
1989 - Present (37 years)
Theo James Walcott is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. He represented England at the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2012 and has 47 capss, scoring eight goals. Walcott is a product of the Southampton Academy and started his career with Southampton before joining Arsenal for £5 million in 2006. His speedy pace and ball crossing led his manager Arsène Wenger to deploy him on the wing for most of his career. Walcott has been played as a striker since the 2012–13 season when he was Arsenal's top scorer, and he has scored more than 100 goals for the club.
Go to Profile#27091
Andrew Goatly
#27102
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Andrew Goatly is an English language professor at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. Career Goatly studied English at Jesus College, Oxford before working for Voluntary Service Overseas in Rwanda and Thailand. On returning to the United Kingdom he worked as a schoolteacher before obtaining a doctorate at University College, London and thereafter teaching at Chiang Mai University in Thailand, the National University of Singapore and Lingnan University, Hong Kong. He has written:The Language of Metaphors, and Critical Reading and Writing, published by RoutledgeWashing the Brain: the hidden ideolog...
Go to Profile#27092
Andrew Goldstein
#27103
Overall Influence
1983 - Present (43 years)
Andrew Scott Goldstein is the first American male team-sport professional athlete to be openly gay during his playing career. He came out publicly in 2003 and was drafted by his hometown team, the Boston Cannons of Major League Lacrosse, in 2005. Goldstein played goaltender for the Long Island Lizards from 2005 to 2007, appearing in two games in 2006.
Go to Profile#27093
Byron Sharp
#27104
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
Byron Sharp is a Professor of Marketing Science at the University of South Australia, known for his work on loyalty programs. Life and work Born in Auckland, New Zealand, Sharp obtained his Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing in 1988 at the University of Auckland, and his Master of Business by Research at the University of South Australia, and PhD from the University of Adelaide.
Go to Profile#27094
Tom Bradley
#27105
Overall Influence
1917 - 1998 (81 years)
Thomas Bradley was an American politician and police officer who served as the 38th Mayor of Los Angeles from 1973 to 1993. He was the first Black mayor of Los Angeles, and his 20 years in office mark the longest tenure by any mayor in the city's history. His election as mayor in 1973 made him the second Black mayor of a major U.S. city. Bradley retired in 1993, after his approval ratings began dropping subsequent to the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. A panel of 69 scholars in 1993 ranked him among the ten best mayors in American history.
Go to Profile#27095
John Kerr
#27106
Overall Influence
1950 - 2016 (66 years)
John Michael Kerr was an American editor, psychologist, and author raised in New York City. He was best known for his 1993 nonfiction book A Most Dangerous Method: The Story of Jung, Freud, and Sabina Spielrein, which explores an episode in the history of psychoanalysis. It examined the relationship between Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Sabina Spielrein.
Go to Profile#27096
Victor Bahl
#27107
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
Victor Bahl is an Indian Technical Fellow and CTO of Azure for Operators at Microsoft. He started networking research at Microsoft. He is known for his research contributions to white space radio data networks, radio signal-strength based indoor positioning systems, multi-radio wireless systems, wireless network virtualization, edge computing, and for bringing wireless links into the datacenter. He is also known for his leadership of the mobile computing community as the co-founder of the ACM Special Interest Group on Mobility of Systems, Users, Data, and Computing . He is the founder of inter...
Go to Profile#27097
Philip French
#27108
Overall Influence
1933 - 2015 (82 years)
Philip Neville French OBE was an English film critic and radio producer. French began his career in journalism in the late 1950s, before eventually becoming a BBC Radio producer, and later a film critic. He began writing for The Observer in 1963, and continued to write criticism regularly there until his retirement in 2013.
Go to Profile#27098
Yakov Malkiel
#27109
Overall Influence
1914 - 1998 (84 years)
Yakov Malkiel was a U.S. Romance etymologist and philologist. His specialty was the development of Latin words, roots, prefixes, and suffixes in modern Romance languages, particularly Spanish. He was the founder of the journal Romance Philology.
Go to Profile#27099
Alexander Lukashenko
#27110
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (72 years)
Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko is a Belarusian politician who has been President of Belarus since the office's establishment on 20 July 1994, making him the longest-serving European president. Before embarking on his political career, Lukashenko worked as the director of a state farm and served in both the Soviet Border Troops and the Soviet Army. In 1990, Lukashenko was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he assumed the position of head of the interim anti-corruption committee of the Supreme Council of Belarus.
Go to Profile#27100
Cristina Rivera Garza
#27111
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
Cristina Rivera Garza is a Mexican author and professor best known for her fictional work, with various novels such as Nadie me verá llorar winning a number of Mexico’s highest literary awards as well as awards abroad. The author was born in the state of Tamaulipas, near the U.S.-Mexico border, and has developed her career in teaching and writing in both the United States and Mexico. She has taught history and creative writing at various universities and institutions, including the National Autonomous University of Mexico , Tec de Monterrey, Campus Toluca, and University of California, San Diego, but currently holds a position at the University of Houston.
Go to Profile