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).

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List of the most influential people

#40251

David Medalla

#40264

Overall Influence

1942 - 2020 (78 years)

David Cortez Medalla was a Filipino international artist and political activist. His work ranged from sculpture and kinetic art to painting, installation, and performance art. Early life David Cortez Medalla, Jr. was born in Manila, Philippines to David Medalla, Sr. and Juanita Angkay Cortez, both originally from Cebu. He was the second of five children, including an older half-sister. During World War II, the family evacuated Manila to the Sta. Ana Cabaret on the periphery of the city. The Medalla house was destroyed in the Battle of Manila. After liberation, Medalla, Sr. built a new family home on Mabini St.

#40252

John Buse

#40265

Overall Influence

John B. Buse is the Verne S. Caviness Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine . He is also the director of UNC's Diabetes Care Center and the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute. In 2008, he held the position of President, Medicine & Science on the board of the American Diabetes Association .

#40253

Cheryl Cohen

#40266

Overall Influence

Cheryl Cohen is a South African public health researcher who is a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand. She looks to develop evidence-based policy to reduce the burdens of respiratory diseases. During the COVID-19 pandemic. Cohen investigated the rates of COVID-19 in South Africa.

#40254

Elmer Noble

#40267

Overall Influence

1909 - 2001 (92 years)

Elmer Ray Noble, was professor of zoology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an internationally recognized protozoologist and parasitologist. Noble was born in Pyongyang, Korea, to American Methodist missionary parents, William Arthur Noble and Mattie Wilcox Noble. He lived with his family in Korea until 1927, when he and his identical twin brother, Glenn Arthur Noble, moved to the United States to attend the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a B.A. in zoology, an M.A. in zoology, and a Ph.D. in protozoology and parasitology.

#40255

Peter B. Bennett

#40268

Overall Influence

1931 - 2022 (91 years)

Peter B. Bennett was the founder and a president and CEO of the Divers Alert Network , a non-profit organization devoted to assisting scuba divers in need. He was a professor of anesthesiology at Duke University Medical Center, and was the Senior Director of the Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology at Duke. Bennett is recognized as a leading authority on the effects of high pressure on human physiology.

#40256

Naum Krasner

#40269

Overall Influence

1924 - 1999 (75 years)

Naum Krasner was a Russian mathematician and economist. A former colonel in the Soviet Army, he joined Voronezh State University as a student in 1957 and, on graduating in 1961, joined the faculty there. In 1969 he became Methods of Operational Research Chair and, later, vice-dean of the Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics.

#40257

Evert Jan Baerends

#40270

Overall Influence

1945 - Present (81 years)

Evert Jan Baerends is a Dutch theoretical chemist. He is an emeritus professor of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Baerends is known for his development and application of electronic structure calculations, which over time led to the development of the Amsterdam Density Functional. He worked extensively on density functional theory.

#40258

Savenaca Siwatibau

#40271

Overall Influence

1940 - 2003 (63 years)

Savenaca Siwatibau was a Fijian academic leader and civil service administrator. The son of Isaac Driver and Adi Asenaca Mairara, Siwatibau was born on 4 November 1940 in Tukavesi Village in Buca Bay, Cakaudrove Province, but grew up in Buca, the village of his mother, who was of chiefly rank. He was educated at Queen Victoria School and Suva Grammar School, graduating as the Dux in 1958. In 1963, he graduated from New Zealand's the University of Auckland with a Master's degree in Science, with a major in mathematics and physics. While at Auckland University, he had met his future wife, Suliana Kaloumaira, a native of Moturiki Island.

#40259

Marc López

#40272

Overall Influence

1982 - Present (44 years)

Marc López Tarrés is a Spanish retired professional tennis player and coach. His career-high ATP singles ranking was world No. 106 and world No. 3 in doubles . Partnering Feliciano López, Marc López won a major title at the 2016 French Open as well as the 2012 ATP Finals. Additionally, at the 2016 Rio Olympics, López won the gold medal in men's doubles for Spain partnering Rafael Nadal.

#40260

Peter Dorman

#40273

Overall Influence

1948 - Present (78 years)

Peter FitzGerald Dorman is an epigrapher, philologist, and Egyptologist. Recently a professor of history and archaeology at the American University of Beirut , he served as the 15th President of the university from 2008 to 2015. He spent most of his career as a professor and chair in the department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations of the University of Chicago, and was director of Chicago House in Luxor, the Epigraphic Survey field project of the Oriental Institute. He is presently a professor emeritus of the University of Chicago.

#40261

Ralph Houk

#40274

Overall Influence

1919 - 2010 (91 years)

Ralph George Houk , nicknamed "the Major", was an American catcher, coach, manager, and front office executive in Major League Baseball. He is best known as the successor of Casey Stengel as manager of the New York Yankees from 1961 to 1963, when his teams won three consecutive American League pennants and the 1961 and 1962 World Series championships. In he became the second rookie manager to win 100 games in a season and third rookie manager to win a World Series. He was the first manager to win World Series titles in his first two seasons and the first manager since Hughie Jennings to win t...

#40262

Georges Romme

#40275

Overall Influence

1960 - Present (66 years)

Sjoerd Abel Georges Lodewijk Romme is a Dutch organizational theorist and professor of entrepreneurship and innovation at the Eindhoven University of Technology. Biography Georges Romme received a MSc in economics from Tilburg University and in 1992 a PhD degree in business administration from Maastricht University. Since 2005, he is professor of entrepreneurship and innovation at Eindhoven University of Technology , and since 2007 also dean of the Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences department.

#40263

Daniel Hartl

#40276

Overall Influence

1943 - Present (83 years)

Daniel L. Hartl is the Higgins Professor of Biology in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. He is also a principal investigator at the Hartl Laboratory at Harvard University. His research interests are focused on evolutionary genomics, molecular evolution, and population genetics.

#40264

Vojtech Mastny

#40277

Overall Influence

1936 - Present (90 years)

Vojtech Mastny is an American historian of Czech descent, professor of political science and international relations, specializing in the history of the Cold War. He has been considered one of the leading American authorities on Soviet affairs. Mastny received his Ph.D. from Columbia University and has been professor of history and international relations at Columbia, University of Illinois, Boston University and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, as well as professor of strategy at U.S. Naval War College, Fulbright professor at the University of Bonn, senior researc...

#40265

David Effron

#40278

Overall Influence

1938 - Present (88 years)

David Effron is an American conductor and educator. After earning a Bachelor of Music degree in piano from the University of Michigan and a Master of Music degree in piano from Indiana University, he worked as an assistant to Wolfgang Sawallisch at the Cologne Opera. Upon returning to the United States he served as a member of the conducting staff at the New York City Opera for eighteen years. He served as head of the Merola Program in San Francisco and artistic director of the Central City Opera in Colorado.

#40266

David Staines

#40279

Overall Influence

1946 - Present (80 years)

David McKenzie Staines, is a Canadian literary critic, university professor, writer, and editor. Staines was born in Toronto, Ontario, and studied at the University of Toronto, where he obtained a BA in 1967, and at Harvard University, where he obtained an MA in 1968 and a PhD in 1973.

#40267

Claude Zidi

#40280

Overall Influence

1934 - Present (92 years)

Claude Zidi is a French film director and screenwriter noted for his mainstream burlesque comedies. Born in Paris, he started as a cameraman and then a cinematographer, and he made his directorial and screenwriting debut in 1971. He won the César Award for Best Director for My New Partner, for which he was also nominated for Best Writing.

#40268

James Axtell

#40281

Overall Influence

1941 - Present (85 years)

James L. Axtell was an American historian. He was a professor of history at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Axtell, whose interests lie in American Indian history and the history of higher education, was the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Humanities. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004. Axtell retired at the end of the spring 2008 semester, although he taught a class at Princeton University in the fall of 2009.

#40269

H. M. Nayak

#40282

Overall Influence

1931 - 2000 (69 years)

Harogadde Manappa Nayak was an academician, writer and folklorist. Early life and career He was born in the village Harogadde, Shimoga district in Karnataka. He served as a lecturer, and then professor, at the Mysore University, before being appointed the Director of the Kuvempu Institute of Kannada Studies at the university. Appointed the Vice-chancellor of Gulbarga University on 2 November 1984, he served until 15 February 1987, when he resigned citing moral responsibility for examination malpractices.

#40270

Jimmy Adegoke

#40283

Overall Influence

1963 - Present (63 years)

James O. Adegoke is a Nigerian-American climate scientist and professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City where he served as Chair of the Department of Geosciences . He also served as an appointee of the Mayor of Kansas City Missouri on the city's Environmental Management Commission and has testified before the South Africa Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Science and Technology and the Climate Change Committee of the Nigerian House of Representatives. In the United States, he has testified at the United States House of Representatives for the United States House Select Committee ...

#40271

Dima Grigoriev

#40284

Overall Influence

1954 - Present (72 years)

Dima Grigoriev is a mathematician. His research interests include algebraic geometry, symbolic computation and computational complexity theory in computer algebra, with over 130 published articles.

#40272

Sheryl Swoopes

#40285

Overall Influence

1971 - Present (55 years)

Sheryl Denise Swoopes is an American former professional basketball player. She was the first player to be signed in the WNBA, is a three-time WNBA MVP, and was named one of the league's Top 15 Players of All Time at the 2011 WNBA All-Star Game. Swoopes has won three Olympic gold medals and is one of eleven women's basketball players to have won an Olympic gold medal, an NCAA Championship, a Fiba World Cup gold, and a WNBA title. She was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016. In 2017, she was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.

#40273

Cathrine Hasse

#40286

Overall Influence

1956 - Present (70 years)

Cathrine Hasse is a professor of cultural anthropology and learning at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. Her research lies in the intersection between culture, learning and technology. Education In 1994, Hasse graduated from anthropology from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Here, she was appointed a Ph.D.-scholarship in 1996.

#40274

Walter Benz

#40287

Overall Influence

1931 - 2017 (86 years)

Walter Benz was a German mathematician, an expert in geometry. Benz studied at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz and received his doctoral degree in 1954, with Robert Furch as his advisor. After a position at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, he served as a professor at Ruhr University Bochum, University of Waterloo, and University of Hamburg. Benz was honoured with the degree of a Dr. h.c.

#40275

Gerald Davison

#40288

Overall Influence

1939 - Present (87 years)

Gerald C. Davison is an American psychologist and professor. He is currently Professor of Psychology and Gerontology and former dean of the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California.

#40276

Gordon M. Shepherd

#40289

Overall Influence

1933 - 2022 (89 years)

Gordon Murray Shepherd was an American neuroscientist who carried out basic experimental and computational research on how neurons are organized into microcircuits to carry out the functional operations of the nervous system. Using the olfactory system as a model that spans multiple levels of space, time and disciplines, his studies ranged from molecular to behavioral, recognized by an annual lecture at Yale University on "integrative neuroscience". At the time of his death, he was professor of neuroscience emeritus at the Yale School of Medicine. He graduated from Iowa State University with ...

#40277

Edward Craig

#40290

Overall Influence

1942 - Present (84 years)

Edward John Craig is an English academic philosopher, editor of the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and former Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. He is also a former cricketer at first-class level: a right-handed batsman for Cambridge University and Lancashire.

#40278

Ian Gibson

#40291

Overall Influence

1946 - Present (80 years)

Ian Gibson is a British comic book artist, best known for his 1980s black-and-white work for 2000 AD, especially as the main artist on Robo-Hunter and The Ballad of Halo Jones, as well as his long run on Judge Dredd.

#40279

Justin Rosenberg

#40292

Overall Influence

Justin Rosenberg is a professor in International Relations at the University of Sussex. He received his PhD from the London School of Economics in 1993 with a thesis titled Social structures and geopolitical systems: A critique of the Realist theory of International Relations. Within academia, Rosenberg is associated with "New Marxist" international relations theory. His first book, The Empire of Civil Society formed a Marxist critique of Realist and Neo-Realist theories of International Relations. He has since changed his view of the relation of domestic and international factors as part of ...

#40280

Ronan Lyons

#40293

Overall Influence

Ronan Lyons OBE FFPH FFPHMI FLSW is the inaugural Clinical Professor of Public Health at Swansea University Medical School. He is Director of the National Centre for Population Health and Wellbeing Research , Director of the Farr Institute Centre for the Improvement of Population Health through E-records Research , Co-director of the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage system, co-director of the Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement , and co-director of the Administrative Data Research Centre Wales.

#40281

Gilbert Fite

#40294

Overall Influence

1918 - 2010 (92 years)

Gilbert C. Fite was an American historian best known for his numerous works on American agricultural history. Fite's lengthy catalog included works that focused heavily on how farmers affected the political environment and broader American economy, both of which examined the political power that farmers wielded in various eras. Fite was a professor at the University of Oklahoma, held the Richard B. Russell Chair in American History at the University of Georgia, and was president of Eastern Illinois University from 1971 to 1976.

#40282

Maynard Ferguson

#40295

Overall Influence

1928 - 2006 (78 years)

Walter Maynard Ferguson CM was a Canadian jazz trumpeter and bandleader. He came to prominence in Stan Kenton's orchestra before forming his own big band in 1957. He was noted for his bands, which often served as stepping stones for up-and-coming talent, his versatility on several instruments, and his ability to play in a high register.

#40283

Richie Hawtin

#40296

Overall Influence

1970 - Present (56 years)

Richard "Richie" Hawtin is a British-Canadian electronic musician and DJ. He became involved with Detroit techno's second wave in the early 1990s, and has been a leading exponent of minimal techno since the mid-1990s. He became known for his recordings under the Plastikman and F.U.S.E. aliases. Under the latter, he released his debut album Dimension Intrusion as part of Warp's Artificial Intelligence series.

#40284

Morio Kita

#40297

Overall Influence

1927 - 2011 (84 years)

Morio Kita was the pen name of Sokichi Saitō, a Japanese psychiatrist, novelist and essayist. Kita was the second son of poet Mokichi Saitō. , his older brother, was also a psychiatrist. The essayist Yuka Saitō is Kita's daughter.

#40285

Rafael Hernández Colón

#40298

Overall Influence

1936 - 2019 (83 years)

Rafael Hernández Colón was a Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 1973 to 1977 and 1985 to 1993 for a total of three terms. An experienced politician, Hernández held the record for having been the youngest Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to date, having won his first term at the age of 36. Hernández was also the person to have run for governor the most times, a total of five. During his terms as governor, Hernández Colón's administrations were known for trying to invigorate the Puerto Rican economy as well as for defending the political status quo of the island.

#40286

Mike Brearley

#40299

Overall Influence

1942 - Present (84 years)

John Michael Brearley is a retired English first-class cricketer who captained Cambridge University, Middlesex, and England. Brearley captained the international side in 31 of his 39 Test matcheses, winning 18 and losing only 4. He was the President of the Marylebone Cricket Club in 2007–08. Since his retirement from professional cricket he has pursued a career as a psychoanalyst, psychotherapist , motivational speaker, and writer, serving as President of the British Psychoanalytical Society 2008–10. In 2015, an article in the Bleacher Report ranked Brearley as England's greatest ever cri...

#40287

Thomas Grogan

#40300

Overall Influence

Thomas Grogan is an American professor, pathologist and founder of Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. He currently holds the positions of Professor of Pathology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and Chief Scientific Officer at Ventana.

#40288

Chris Evans

#40301

Overall Influence

1981 - Present (45 years)

Christopher Robert Evans is an American actor. He began his career with roles in television series such as Opposite Sex in 2000. Following appearances in several teen films, including 2001's Not Another Teen Movie, he gained attention for his portrayal of Marvel Comics character the Human Torch in Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer . Evans made further appearances in film adaptations of comic books and graphic novels: TMNT , Scott Pilgrim vs. the World , and Snowpiercer .

#40289

Marc G. Genton

#40302

Overall Influence

Marc G. Genton, is currently a Distinguished Professor of Statistics with the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, , Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. He is known as a specialist in Spatio-Temporal Statistics, Data Science and their applications in geophysics, climate science, and marine science. The International Association for Mathematical Geosciences awarded him the Georges Matheron Lectureship in 2020. He is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association , Elected member to the International Statistical Institute , Fellow member of the Royal Statistical Society , Fellow of the Inst...

#40290

Nathan Rotenstreich

#40303

Overall Influence

1914 - 1993 (79 years)

Nathan Rotenstreich was an Israeli professor of philosophy. Biography Nathan Rotenstreich was born in Sambir, Galicia, then in Austria-Hungary, later in Poland, now in Ukraine. His father, Ephraim Fischel Rotenstreich, was a Zionist leader and a member of the Polish two houses of Parliament. In 1932, at the age of 18, Rotenstreich emigrated to Mandate Palestine.

#40291

Xu Zeshui

#40304

Overall Influence

1968 - Present (58 years)

#40292

Carole Joffe

#40305

Overall Influence

Carole E. Joffe is an American sociologist and reproductive rights advocate who has published several books on abortion. In 2013, she was awarded the Society of Family Planning Lifetime Achievement Award for her research on the sociology of abortion and family planning. She has also earned the UC Davis Public Service Award , the Irwin Kushner Lecture by the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals , and the David Gunn Lifetime Achievement Award from the Abortion Care Network .

#40293

Stephen McCaffrey

#40306

Overall Influence

1945 - Present (81 years)

Stephen Conolley McCaffrey is an American legal academic. McCaffrey earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado, followed by a Juris Doctor at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Dr. Jur. from the University of Cologne He was a professor at the Southwestern University School of Law between 1974 and 1977, when he joined the McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific. He was appointed Carol Olson Endowed Professor of International Law, and in 2000, became a distinguished professor of law. McCaffrey won the Stockholm Water Prize in 2017, and, the next year...

#40294

Daniel Von Hoff

Daniel Von Hoff

#40307

Overall Influence

Daniel D. Von Hoff is the physician in chief and director of translational research at Translational Genomics Research Institute , and current Virginia G. Piper Distinguished Chair for Innovative Cancer Research at HonorHealth Clinical Research Institute. He is also a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic and medical director of research as well as chief scientific officer at US Oncology. He is most notable for his work in targeted therapies for the treatment of cancer. He led the development of gemcitabine, and has several drugs in development.

#40295

Teresa Paneque

#40308

Overall Influence

1997 - Present (29 years)

Teresa Paz Paneque Carreño is a Spanish-Chilean astronomer and writer. Biography Early years and education Paneque was born in Madrid, Spain, in 1997. Her father is a biochemist and her mother a pharmaceutic chemist. When she was five years old, she moved to Glasgow due to her parents' postdoctoral research. At the age of nine, she moved to Chile, and due to her education in Europe, she entered the 6th grade of primary school, two years before the corresponding age; there, she began to be interested by robotics, taking part in the Chile's FIRST Lego League Challenge.

#40296

Lori McNeil

#40309

Overall Influence

1963 - Present (63 years)

Lori McNeil is an American tennis coach and former top 10 player. McNeil was a singles semifinalist at the US Open in 1987 and Wimbledon in 1994, a women's doubles finalist at the Australian Open in 1987 with Zina Garrison and French Open mixed-doubles winner in 1988 with Jorge Lozano.

#40297

Bruno Oberle

#40310

Overall Influence

1955 - Present (71 years)

Bruno Oberle is a Swiss biologist and environmental scientist. On 13 July 2020, he was appointed Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Biography Oberle was born in St. Gallen, Switzerland on 12 October 1955, and grew up in Locarno and Zürich. He took biology and environmental sciences at ETH Zurich and obtained his PhD.

#40298

Antônio Ribeiro de Oliveira

#40311

Overall Influence

1926 - 2017 (91 years)

Antônio Ribeiro de Oliveira was a Brazilian Roman Catholic Archbishop. Ordained to the priesthood in 1949, Ribeiro de Oliveira served as bishop of the Diocese of Ipameri Brazil, from 1975 to 1985. He had served as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Goiânia from 1961 to 1975 and then as archbishop of the archdiocese from 1985 to 2002.

#40299

Hume Cronyn

#40312

Overall Influence

1911 - 2003 (92 years)

Hume Blake Cronyn Jr. was a Canadian-American actor and writer. Early life Cronyn, one of five children, was born in London, Ontario, Canada. His father, Hume Blake Cronyn Sr., was a businessman and a Member of Parliament for London . His mother, Frances Amelia , was an heiress of the brewing company of the same name; as the daughter of John Labatt and the granddaughter of John Kinder Labatt. Cronyn's paternal great-grandfather, Right Reverend Benjamin Cronyn, an Anglican cleric of the Anglo-Irish Protestant Ascendancy, served as the first bishop of the Anglican diocese of Huron and founded ...

#40300

Sebastian de Grazia

#40313

Overall Influence

1917 - 2000 (83 years)

Sebastian de Grazia was an American philosopher who was Professor of Political Philosophy at Rutgers University. He received the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for his 1989 book Machiavelli in Hell.

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