THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE DISCOVERIES
Who saved the most lives in history?
We created Scienceheroes.com to find out who did save the most lives. Worldwide, most of us now live longer lives with much less suffering due to the brilliance and hard work of the 102 scientists chronicled here, whose insights led to 56 lifesaving discoveries! Join us in expressing our gratitude by reading their compelling stories.
Explore the scientists
102 scientists
| Rank | Scientist | Discovery | Lives saved | Biography |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Carl Bosch | Synthetic Nitrogen Fertilizer Engineered | 2,300,000,000 | ↗ |
| 2 |  Fritz Haber | Synthetic Nitrogen Fertilizer Method | 2,300,000,000 | ↗ |
| 3 |  Karl Landsteiner | Blood Groups Leading to Blood Transfusions | 1,100,000,000 | ↗ |
| 4 |  Richard Lewisohn | Blood Storage Leading to Blood Transfusions | 1,100,000,000 | ↗ |
| 5 |  Norman Borlaug | Green Revolution - High Yield Wheat | 245,000,000 | ↗ |
| 6 |  Howard Florey | Penicillin to Cure Bacterial Diseases | 203,000,000 | ↗ |
| 7 |  Ernst Chain | Penicillin to Cure Bacterial Diseases | 203,000,000 | ↗ |
| 8 |  Norman Heatley | Penicillin to Cure Bacterial Diseases | 203,000,000 | ↗ |
| 9 |  Alexander Fleming | Penicillin to Cure Bacterial Diseases | 203,000,000 | ↗ |
| 10 |  Frederick Banting | Insulin for Diabetes | 200,000,000 | ↗ |
| 11 |  Charles Best | Insulin for Diabetes | 200,000,000 | ↗ |
| 12 |  James Collip | Insulin for Diabetes | 200,000,000 | ↗ |
| 13 |  John Macleod | Insulin for Diabetes | 200,000,000 | ↗ |
| 14 |  Abel Wolman | Safe Water by Calculated Chorination | 177,000,000 | ↗ |
| 15 |  Linn Enslow | Safe Water by Calculated Chorination | 177,000,000 | ↗ |
| 16 |  John Enders | Polio and Measles Vaccines | 131,000,000 | ↗ |
| 17 |  Maurice Hilleman | Measles Vaccine | 130,000,000 | ↗ |
| 18 |  Samuel Katz | Measles Vaccine | 130,000,000 | ↗ |
| 19 |  Ann Holloway | Measles Vaccine | 130,000,000 | ↗ |
| 20 |  Kevin McCarthy | Measles Vaccine | 130,000,000 | ↗ |
| 21 |  Milan Milovanovic | Measles Vaccine | 130,000,000 | ↗ |
| 22 |  Anna Mitus | Measles Vaccine | 130,000,000 | ↗ |
| 23 |  Thomas Peebles | Measles Vaccine | 130,000,000 | ↗ |
| 24 |  William Foege | Smallpox Eradication / 6% Vaccination Method | 122,000,000 | ↗ |
| 25 |  Leslie Collier | Smallpox Eradication / Improved Vaccine | 122,000,000 | ↗ |
| 26 |  Benjamin Rubin | Smallpox Eradication / Bifurcated Needle | 122,000,000 | ↗ |
| 27 |  Aaron Ismach | Smallpox Eradication / Ped-o-Jet Vaccinator | 122,000,000 | ↗ |
| 28 |  Piero Sensi | TB Curing Drug Rifampicin | 75,000,000 | ↗ |
| 29 |  Gaston Ramon | Diphtheria and Tetanus Vaccines | 72,000,000 | ↗ |
| 30 |  David Nalin | ORT for Cholera and Diarrhea | 57,500,000 | ↗ |
| 31 |  Richard Cash | ORT for Cholera and Diarrhea | 57,500,000 | ↗ |
| 32 |  Norbert Hirschhorn | ORT for Cholera and Diarrhea | 57,500,000 | ↗ |
| 33 |  David Sachar | ORT for Cholera and Diarrhea | 57,500,000 | ↗ |
| 34 |  Robert Phillips | ORT for Cholera and Diarrhea | 57,500,000 | ↗ |
| 35 |  James Black | Blood Pressure Lowering Beta Blocker Drug | 55,000,000 | ↗ |
| 36 |  David Cushman | Blood Pressure Lowering ACE Inhibitor Drug | 55,000,000 | ↗ |
| 37 |  Miguel Ondetti | Blood Pressure Lowering ACE Inhibitor Drug | 55,000,000 | ↗ |
| 38 |  Andreas Gruentzig | Balloon Angioplasty to Widen Arteries | 52,000,000 | ↗ |
| 39 |  Karel Styblo | TB Curing DOTS Protocol | 50,000,000 | ↗ |
| 40 |  Christian Zoeller | Tetanus Vaccine | 37,000,000 | ↗ |
| 41 |  Paul Müller | DDT Insecticide to Prevent Malaria | 37,000,000 | ↗ |
| 42 |  Akira Endo | Statins Averting Heart Attacks & Strokes | 26,000,000 | ↗ |
| 43 |  Ancel Keys | Cholesterol — Link to Heart Attacks | 26,000,000 | ↗ |
| 44 |  James Jude | CPR | 25,000,000 | ↗ |
| 45 |  James Elam | CPR | 25,000,000 | ↗ |
| 46 |  Guy Knickerbocker | CPR | 25,000,000 | ↗ |
| 47 |  William Kouwenhoven | CPR | 25,000,000 | ↗ |
| 48 |  Peter Safar | CPR | 25,000,000 | ↗ |
| 49 |  Al Sommer | Vitamin A Cuts Child Mortality | 23,000,000 | ↗ |
| 50 |  Wilson Greatbatch | Pacemaker — Implantable, with Lithium Battery | 22,500,000 | ↗ |
| 51 |  Luc Montagnier | HIV — Discovery of the Virus That Causes AIDS | 22,000,000 | ↗ |
| 52 |  Francoise Barre-Sinoussi | HIV — Discovery of the Virus That Causes AIDS | 22,000,000 | ↗ |
| 53 |  Bernard Belleau | HIV Curing Drug 3TC | 22,000,000 | ↗ |
| 54 |  Jerome Horwitz | HIV Curing Drug AZT | 22,000,000 | ↗ |
| 55 |  Wolfram Ostertag | HIV Curing Drug AZT | 22,000,000 | ↗ |
| 56 |  Belding Scribner | Scribner Shunt Making Kidney Dialysis Routine | 17,500,000 | ↗ |
| 57 |  Willem Kolff | Kidney Dialysis Machine | 17,500,000 | ↗ |
| 58 |  Baruch Blumberg | Hepatitis B Vaccine | 15,000,000 | ↗ |
| 59 |  Irving Millman | Hepatitis B Vaccine | 15,000,000 | ↗ |
| 60 |  Kenneth Murray | Recombinant Hepatitis B Vaccine | 15,000,000 | ↗ |
| 61 |  Katalin Kariko | mRNA Vaccine for COVID | 14,000,000 | ↗ |
| 62 |  Drew Weissman | mRNA Vaccine for COVID | 14,000,000 | ↗ |
| 63 |  Pearl Kendrick | Whooping Cough Vaccine | 13,000,000 | ↗ |
| 64 |  Grace Eldering | Whooping Cough Vaccine | 13,000,000 | ↗ |
| 65 |  Andre Briend | Plumpy'Nut for Childhood Malnutrition | 12,000,000 | ↗ |
| 66 |  Nils Bohlin | Seat Belt — 3-Point Design | 12,000,000 | ↗ |
| 67 |  Georgios Papanikolaou | Pap Smear to Cure Cervical Cancer | 12,000,000 | ↗ |
| 68 |  Aurel Babes | Pap Smear to Cure Cervical Cancer | 12,000,000 | ↗ |
| 69 |  Herbert Traut | Pap Smear to Cure Cervical Cancer | 12,000,000 | ↗ |
| 70 |  Stafford Warren | Mammography Curing Breast Cancer | 12,000,000 | ↗ |
| 71 |  Raul Leborgne | Mammography Curing Breast Cancer | 12,000,000 | ↗ |
| 72 |  Robert Egan | Mammography Curing Breast Cancer | 12,000,000 | ↗ |
| 73 |  Thomas Francis, Jr. | Influenza Vaccine | 10,000,000 | ↗ |
| 74 |  F. Mason Sones | Coronary Angiograms for Heart Bypass Surgery | 10,000,000 | ↗ |
| 75 |  Robert Goetz | Heart Bypass Surgery | 10,000,000 | ↗ |
| 76 |  Gertrude Elion | Leukemia and Gout Curing Drugs | 7,000,000 | ↗ |
| 77 |  George Hitchings | Leukemia and Gout Curing Drugs | 7,000,000 | ↗ |
| 78 |  Lawrence Craven | Aspirin for Preventing Heart Attacks | 7,000,000 | ↗ |
| 79 |  Paul Gibson | Aspirin for Preventing Heart Attacks | 7,000,000 | ↗ |
| 80 |  Charles Hennekens | Aspirin for Preventing Heart Attacks | 7,000,000 | ↗ |
| 81 |  Porter Anderson | Hib Influenzae Vaccine | 5,000,000 | ↗ |
| 82 |  David Smith | Hib Influenzae Vaccine | 5,000,000 | ↗ |
| 83 |  John Robbins | Hib Influenzae Vaccine | 5,000,000 | ↗ |
| 84 |  Rachel Schneerson | Hib Influenzae Vaccine | 5,000,000 | ↗ |
| 85 |  Mary Ellen Avery | Surfactant for Infants' Lungs | 4,000,000 | ↗ |
| 86 |  John Clements | Surfactant for Infants' Lungs | 4,000,000 | ↗ |
| 87 |  Tetsuro Fujiwara | Surfactant for Infants' Lungs | 4,000,000 | ↗ |
| 88 |  Max Theiler | Yellow Fever Vaccine | 1,600,000 | ↗ |
| 89 |  Jonas Salk | Polio Vaccine | 1,600,000 | ↗ |
| 90 |  Albert Sabin | Polio Vaccine | 1,600,000 | ↗ |
| 91 |  Frederick Robbins | Polio Vaccine | 1,600,000 | ↗ |
| 92 |  Thomas Weller | Polio Vaccine | 1,600,000 | ↗ |
| 93 |  Alexander Wiener | Rh Incompatible Blood in Infants and Mothers | 1,500,000 | ↗ |
| 94 |  Ronald Finn | Rh Incompatible Blood in Infants and Mothers | 1,500,000 | ↗ |
| 95 |  Helen Taussig | Blue Baby Syndrome Surgery | 1,000,000 | ↗ |
| 96 |  Vivien Thomas | Blue Baby Syndrome Surgery | 1,000,000 | ↗ |
| 97 |  Alfred Blalock | Blue Baby Syndrome Surgery | 1,000,000 | ↗ |
| 98 |  Thomas Starzl | Kidney Transplants | 1,000,000 | ↗ |
| 99 |  Henry Heimlich | Heimlich Maneuver for Choking | 600,000 | ↗ |
| 100 |  Brian Druker | Leukemia Curing Drug (CML) | 500,000 | ↗ |
| 101 |  Nicholas Lydon | Leukemia Curing Drug (CML) | 500,000 | ↗ |
| 102 |  Charles Sawyers | Leukemia Curing Drug (CML) | 500,000 | ↗ |
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| Grand Total of Lives Saved from 56 Lifesaving Discoveries | 5,102,300,000 |
| Website and Numbers Updated in 2025. |
