An algorithm devised by researchers at the Indiana University Bloomington has indicated that Karl Marx is the most influential scholar in western academia. Snapping at his heels is the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, followed by the physicist Edward Witten and philosopher Jacques Derrida.

Which thinker in your view has had the most influence over the world we live in today? Alternatively, tell us who has most influenced your life – be it a theorist, academic or popular writer.