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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List of the most influential people

#1

Scott Pruitt

#1872

Overall Influence

1968 - Present (56 years)

Edward Scott Pruitt is an American attorney, lobbyist and Republican politician from the state of Oklahoma. He served as the 14th Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from February 17, 2017, to July 9, 2018, during the Donald Trump presidency, resigning while under at least 14 federal investigations. Pruitt denies the scientific consensus on climate change.

#2

James C. Klotter

#4433

Overall Influence

James C. Klotter is an American historian who has served as the State Historian of Kentucky since 1980. Klotter is also a history professor at Georgetown College and one of the co-authors of Kentucky's staple history book, A New History of Kentucky.

#3

Jacqueline Taylor

#37893

Overall Influence

1951 - Present (73 years)

Jacqueline Taylor was the provost and vice president for academic affairs at The College of New Jersey from 2013-2018. Biography Jacqueline Taylor was born in Kentucky, 1951. After receiving her bachelor's in English and communications arts from Georgetown College and her master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Texas in Austin, Taylor completed the Management Development program at Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1996.

#4

Steven Curtis Chapman

#48331

Overall Influence

1962 - Present (62 years)

Steven Curtis Chapman is an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, author, and social activist. Chapman began his career in the late 1980s as a songwriter and performer of contemporary Christian music and became the artist in Christian music with the most awards releasing over 25 albums. He has also won five Grammy awards and 59 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards, more than any other artist in history. His seven "Artist of the Year" Dove Awards are also an industry record. As of 2014, Chapman has sold more than 10 million albums and has 10 RIAA-cer...

#5

Gary Bauer

#80615

Overall Influence

1946 - Present (78 years)

Gary Lee Bauer is an American civil servant, activist, and former political candidate. He served in President Ronald Reagan's administration as Under Secretary of Education and Chief Domestic Policy Advisor, and later became president of the Family Research Council and a senior vice president of Focus on the Family, both conservative Christian organizations. Bauer was a candidate in the 2000 Republican Party presidential primaries and participated in five national debates. He is known for his advocacy of religious liberty, support for Israel, and his dedication to electing conservative candid...

#6

Woo Chia-wei

#96336

Overall Influence

1937 - Present (87 years)

Chia-Wei Woo , , was the founding president of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His work included raising funding and recruiting outstanding faculty for the university. With Chung Sze Yuen, Woo created an institution, including a top ranked Business School, known as the HKUST Business School. The school's MBA, EMBA and Executive Education programs have been consistently ranked as Asia's top programs, and in the World Top 50 MBA programs by the Financial Times of London. Woo retired in 2001 after 13 years of service and remains President Emeritus as well as University Profes...

#7

Billy Ray Cyrus

#97573

Overall Influence

1961 - Present (63 years)

Billy Ray Cyrus is an American country singer, songwriter and actor. Having released 16 studio albums and 53 singles since 1992, he is known for his hit single "Achy Breaky Heart", which topped the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart and became the first single ever to achieve triple platinum status in Australia. It was also the best-selling single in the same country in 1992. Due to the song's music video, the line dance rose in popularity.

#8

Joe Dan Osceola

#98453

Overall Influence

1936 - 2019 (83 years)

Chief Joe Dan Osceola was the chief and ambassador of the Native American Seminole tribe. He was the appointed Seminole Tribal Ambassador, who held the position of the youngest Chief and Tribal President, elected in Seminole history. Chief Joe Dan Osceola was the great-great-great-grandson of Chief Osceola, "Unconquered Chief".

#9

Th Omas R. Guskey

#104864

Overall Influence

#10

Kenneth Davis

#111788

Overall Influence

1948 - Present (76 years)

Kenneth Bryan Davis is an American former basketball player. Davis was born in Slat, Kentucky. After his collegiate career as a small college All-American at Georgetown College, where he was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order, and a short stint with the Marathon Oil AAU team, Davis was named Captain of the U.S. national team in the 1972 Olympics. In the aftermath of the controversial finish to the gold medal game, Davis famously led the United States team in a refusal to accept the silver medal and has a provision in his will that neither his wife nor children may accept the medal after his death.

#11

Mary Wharton

#126629

Overall Influence

1912 - 1991 (79 years)

Mary Eugenia Wharton was an American botanist, author, and environmental activist. Biography Wharton was born in Jessamine County, Kentucky on October 12, 1912, the younger of two daughters of Joseph Felix and Mayme Wharton. In 1916, the family moved to Lexington. Wharton graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1935 with a bachelor's degree in botany and geology. She then received both a master's degree in 1936 and a doctorate from the University of Michigan in 1946. In 1942, she collected dewberry, a berry closely related to blackberries, from Montgomery County, Kentucky. This berry pr...

#12

Susan Johns

#134507

Overall Influence

1954 - Present (70 years)

Susan D. Johns is a former Kentucky politician and member of the Democratic Party. After receiving degrees from Georgetown College, she worked in education before representing District 36 in the Kentucky Senate from 1991 to 1995 and District 32 in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1997 to 2001. Her 1990 state Senate win received note from both parties' officials and The Courier-Journal for its smart, local strategizing in a heavily Republican district. In 2012, she ran for House District 48 against incumbent Bob DeWeese but lost. Most of her positions and legislation passed focused on issues concerning education, women, or domestic violence.

#13

Bruce McNorton

#139487

Overall Influence

1959 - Present (65 years)

Bruce Edward McNorton is an American former professional football player who played cornerback for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League . He played college football at Georgetown College from 1978 to 1981.

#14

James W. Coleman

#176651

Overall Influence

James W. Coleman was an American college football, college basketball, and track coach. He served as the head football coach at Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky from 1922 to 1923, the University of Akron from 1924 to 1925, and Minot State Teacher's College—now known as Minot State University—in Minot, North Dakota from 1927 to 1935, compiling a career college football coaching record of 39–36–10. Coleman also coached the men's basketball team at Akron for one season in 1924–25, tallying a mark of 8–5. He played college football at the University of Arkansas. Coleman was hired in 1936...

#15

Red Foley

1910 - 1968 (58 years)

Clyde Julian "Red" Foley was an American musician who made a major contribution to the growth of country music after World War II. For more than two decades, Foley was one of the biggest stars of the genre, selling more than 25 million records. His 1951 hit, "Peace in the Valley", was among the first million-selling gospel records. A Grand Ole Opry veteran until his death, Foley also hosted the first popular country music series on network television, Ozark Jubilee, from 1955 to 1960.

#16

Thomas Cooke Middleton

1842 - 1923 (81 years)

Thomas Cooke Middleton was born into a Quaker family on March 30, 1842 in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania. At the age of twelve, he was baptized into the Roman Catholic faith with his mother and five sisters. He became a novice in the Order of St. Augustine in Tolentine, Italy in 1858 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1864.

#17

Henderson M. Somerville

1837 - 1915 (78 years)

Henderson Middleton Somerville was a Professor, Associate Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and a Member of the Board of General Appraisers. Education and career Somerville was born on March 23, 1837, in Madison County, Virginia, but his family moved to Alabama in his infancy. He received a Juris Doctor from the Georgetown College of Kentucky and Southwestern University of Tennessee. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1856 from University of Alabama. He received a Master of Laws degree in 1859 from the Cumberland School of Law . Somerville entered private practice in Memphis, Tennessee from 1859 to 1862.

#18

James Madison Pendleton

1811 - 1891 (80 years)

James Madison Pendleton was a leading 19th-century American Baptist preacher, educator and theologian. Early life James Madison Pendleton was born November 20, 1811, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, the son of John Pendleton and Frances Jackson Thompson. He was named for President James Madison. When he was small his parents moved to Christian County, Kentucky. At age seventeen, he united with the Bethel church in Christian County and was baptized.

#19

Patrick Francis Healy

Patrick Francis Healy

1834 - 1910 (76 years)

Patrick Francis Healy was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who was an influential president of Georgetown University, becoming known as its "second founder". The university's flagship building, Healy Hall, bears his name. Though he considered himself and was largely accepted as White, Healy was posthumously recognized as the first Black American to become a Jesuit, to earn a PhD, and to become the president of a predominantly White university.

#20

Hollis Summers

1916 - 1987 (71 years)

Hollis S. Summers Jr. was an American poet, novelist, short story writer and editor. Background and education Born on June 21, 1916, in Eminence, Kentucky, Summers earned an A.B in English from Georgetown College in 1937, an M.A. from Middlebury College in 1943 and a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 1949.

#21

W. J. Cash

1900 - 1941 (41 years)

Wilbur Joseph "Jack" Cash was an American journalist known for writing The Mind of the South , a controversial and influential interpretation of the character and history of the American South. A protégé of H. L. Mencken and Alfred A. and Blanche Knopf, Cash suffered throughout his life from depression. He died by hanging himself shortly after the publication of the book.

#22

W. Conway Pierce

1895 - 1974 (79 years)

Willis Conway Pierce was an American chemist and professor at Pomona College and in the University of California system. Career Pierce left Georgetown College as a sophomore for New York to serve in the gas defense section of the United States Army Signal Corps. He was in the army from April to December 1918. He subsequently graduated from Georgetown College in 1920. In that same year, he began teaching at the University of Kentucky and later at the University of South Dakota. He stayed on at the University of Chicago after receiving his Ph.D. to teach quantitative analysis. During this time he co-authored seminal chemistry textbook Quantitative Analysis with Edward Lauth Haenisch.

#23

Paul Derringer

1906 - 1987 (81 years)

Samuel Paul Derringer was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for three National League teams from 1931 to 1945, primarily the Cincinnati Reds. He won 20 games for Cincinnati four times between 1935 and 1940, peaking with a 25–7 season in 1939 as the Reds won the NL pennant for the first time in 20 years. His 161 victories with Cincinnati are the club record for a right-hander, and rank second in franchise history to Eppa Rixey's 179; he also held the team record for career strikeouts when his career ended. His 579 games pitched ranked eighth in NL history whe...

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