Search People Result | Academic Influence

Find the most important people in 24 academic disciplines from 4000 BCE to today

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 proprietary AI program, we have ranked everyone in Wikipedia, Wikidata, Semantic Scholar, and CrossRef based on the number of citations, publications, and academically relevant web presence.

Students and researchers now have the easiest and fastest way to find influential thinkers from 24 disciplines and 300 sub-disciplines (and growing). If you ever wanted to find famous medieval biologists, or influential engineers during the industrial revolution, now you can!

We’ve also put together our own custom rankings of people by discipline. And speaking of influential people, don’t forget to check out the interviews we do with the influential people of today!

Use the power of AI for your research! Simply select the discipline (and optional subdiscipline) most relevant to your research, and the time periods of interest, and get enlightening results.

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.

Search Influential People

Person Name

School

Gender

Country

Discipline

Subdiscipline

Start (Year)

End (Year)

List of the most influential people for the years 2010 – 2020

Frances Spence

#11040

Overall Influence

1922 - 2012 (90 years)

Frances V. Spence was one of the original programmers for the ENIAC . She is considered one of the first computer programmers in history. The other five ENIAC programmers were Betty Holberton, Ruth Teitelbaum, Kathleen Antonelli, Marlyn Meltzer, and Jean Bartik.

Lois Pope

#154312

Overall Influence

1933 - Present (90 years)

Lois Berrodin Pope is an American philanthropist. She is the widow of National Enquirer founder Generoso Pope, Jr. Early life Pope was born Lois Berrodin in suburban Philadelphia. She attended, but did not graduate from, Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, which later presented her with an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree in recognition of her philanthropic work. Pope later attended Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey and Florida Atlantic University. Pope has an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from the Rabbinical College of America.

Frederica Massiah-Jackson

#255020

Overall Influence

1951 - Present (72 years)

Frederica Massiah-Jackson is a Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas judge. She served as President Judge from November 2000 to January 2006. Life and career Massiah-Jackson graduated from the Philadelphia High School for Girls in three years at the age of 16. She also graduated from Chestnut Hill College in three years and the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1974 at the age of 23.

Kathleen Byerly

Kathleen Byerly

#251788

Overall Influence

1944 - 2020 (76 years)

Kathleen Mae Bruyere was a captain in the United States Navy. She was one of the twelve women named by Time magazine as Time Person of the Year in 1975, representing American women . In May 1975, she became the first female officer in the Navy to serve as the flag secretary to an admiral commanding an operational staff. In 1977, Byerly was one of six officers who sued the United States Secretary of the Navy and the United States Secretary of Defense over their being restricted from serving on combat aircraft and ships. This led to the 1948 Women's Armed Services Integration Act being struck ...

Margaret McKenna

#253494

Overall Influence

1940 - Present (83 years)

Margaret McKenna is an American religious sister and anti-militarist activist. Raised in Hackensack, New Jersey, she earned her PhD in the origins and religious thought of Christianity from the University of Pennsylvania. In the 1970s, McKenna began participating in non-violent civil disobedience with the Plowshares Movement, sometimes being arrested or imprisoned for her actions. Her activism has continued through recent years.

Shana D Stites

#2804267

Overall Influence

2000 - Present (23 years)

Nicole M. Monteiro

#4092724

Overall Influence

Yefim Kats

#4568597

Overall Influence

Catherine L. Albanese

#1294243

Overall Influence

1940 - Present (83 years)

Catherine L. Albanese is an American religious studies scholar, professor, lecturer, and author. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts from Chestnut Hill College in 1962. She received her Master’s Degree in History from Duquesne University in 1968, and completed her Doctorate for History of Christianity at the University of Chicago in 1972.

Scott W. Browning

#5379856

Overall Influence

Joseph Kulkosky

#2355235

Overall Influence

George Willis Diemer

#5486712

Overall Influence

William T. Walker

#3156733

Overall Influence

Ryan Patrick Murphy

#6316117

Overall Influence

Kimberly C Mullane

#8057508

Overall Influence

Meredith Kneavel

#5215394

Overall Influence

Mary K. Lindsay

#8494356

Overall Influence

Anne C. Pluta

#9252906

Overall Influence

Lisa M. Olivieri

#8422776

Overall Influence

Myles Ethan Lascity

#7320143

Overall Influence

Mary Catherine Bolster

#11847798

Overall Influence

Patrick Baldwin

#11593882

Overall Influence

Lynn Brandsma

#5888537

Overall Influence

David R. Contosta

#2654971

Overall Influence

William Ernst

#8024686

Overall Influence

Richard V.n. Davis

#18059687

Overall Influence

Christina L. Warholic

#19564667

Overall Influence

Lorraine Coons

#8142930

Overall Influence

Jeffrey N. Carroll

#7704052

Overall Influence

Tolagbe M. Ogunleye

#10998574

Overall Influence

Judith L. Gay

#5541372

Overall Influence

Suzanne Conway

#27444539

Overall Influence

Thomas Earl Klee

#8818731

Overall Influence

Kathleen Antonelli

Kathleen Antonelli

#8077

Overall Influence

1921 - 2006 (85 years)

Kathleen Rita Antonelli , known as Kay McNulty, was an Irish-born American computer programmer and one of the six original programmers of the ENIAC, one of the first general-purpose electronic digital computers. The other five ENIAC programmers were Betty Holberton, Ruth Teitelbaum, Frances Spence, Marlyn Meltzer, and Jean Bartik.

Mary Anne Celenza

#13591044

Overall Influence

Meg Goetz

#159289

Overall Influence

Meg Goetz was the first woman to be appointed as a Reading clerk of the United States House of Representatives, a face familiar to viewers of C-SPAN, the network which covers House proceedings. A graduate of Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, she has degrees in political science and economics. She was appointed Democratic reading clerk by Speaker Tip O'Neill in 1982 and served until 1998 when she retired from the House. The reading clerks prepare the official version of all House-passed legislation and maintain all official papers on behalf of the House of Representatives relative to legislation.

Kathryn E. Granahan

#1011490

Overall Influence

1894 - 1979 (85 years)

Kathryn Elizabeth Granahan was an American politician. She served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania and as the Treasurer of the United States, having been appointed by President John F. Kennedy.

Regina Suppi

#11439364

Overall Influence

James P. Rowland

#7072730

Overall Influence

Ludv́ik Nĕmec

#5186412

Overall Influence

Bethany S. Oberst

#7268713

Overall Influence

Image Attributions