It’s rightly been said that to learn the best, you must learn from the finest.
Learning is a process that is continuous in nature. In order to learn something, you need to commit to the process of understanding the nitty-gritty of the subject. But at the same time, your learning process is enhanced when you have examples of people who have excelled in the same field. It not only gives you a perspective but also gives your efforts a direction.
If you are someone who is beginning his/her journey in data science or is looking for more inspiration to step up, this piece of work is for you.
In this article, we are going to talk about the top data scientists in the world who have brought significant impact in the field of data science with their contributions.
Top 10 Data Scientists in the World
1. Randy Lao
If you’re an aspiring data scientist, this is the one data scientist you need to follow. Check out his website wherein he has shared all the useful data science and machine learning resources FREE of cost! Being a data science mentor at an E-Learning platform called Data Science Dream Job, he helps aspiring data scientists in the learning process and getting jobs.
LINKEDIN PROFILE: Randy Lao
WEBSITE: ClaoudML
2. Alex Sandy Pentland
Termed as one of the world’s seven most powerful data scientists by Tim O’Reilly in 2011, Alex also founded and continues to lead an MIT-wide program. He is also the co-leader at the World Economic Forum Big Data and Personal Data initiatives. Also, he is the founding member at the Advisory boards for Motorola Mobility, Nissan, and various start-up firms.
TWITTER HANDLE: @alex_pentland
3. Kyle McKiou
If you are active on Linkedin, you must have heard this name before. He is the founder of Data Science Dream Job, a platform that teaches data scientists from different backgrounds and helps them in finding the right job in the data science space. Kyle is very active in sharing his experiences and insights on Linkedin with the data science community.
LINKEDIN PROFILE: Kyle McKiou
WEBSITE: Data Science Dream Job
4. Geoffrey Hinton
The godfather of Deep Learning. Need we say more? Mr Hinton is known for his exceptional work on neural networks and AI. He’s been bestowed with the AM Turing award in 2019, BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Information and Communication Technologies (2016); to name a few.
TWITTER HANDLE: @geoffreyhinton
5. Kate Starchnyi
The author of The Disruptors: Data Science Leaders, Kate is also the host of Datacated Weekly – a project that is dedicated to helping others learn about various topics in the field of data science. She also hosts the Humans of Data Science on my Story by Data Youtube Channel.
LINKEDIN PROFILE: Kate Starchnyi
6. Jeff Hammerbacher
Want to give credit to someone who started Facebook’s data science team, this is the guy! He is one of the top data scientists in the world who has developed methods and techniques for capturing, storing, and analyzing huge amounts of data sets. Furthermore, he is the co-founder at Cloudera and a former instructor at the Icahn School of Medicine.
TWITTER HANDLE: @hackingdata
7. Dean Abbott
He is a seasoned data science professional who is also the founder and president of Abbott Analytics. He has over 21 years of experience in the field of data and modelling, survey analysis, signal processes, and missile guidance.
TWITTER HANDLE: @deanabb
8. Andriy Burkov
The director of data science and machine learning team leader at Gartner, Andriy can be considered as one of the top data scientists in the world. He is also famous for his best-selling book – The Hundred-Page Machine Learning Book. His book was popular to such an extent that it was translated to different languages to meet the requirements of readers in different countries. He is an avid poster on Linkedin and you’ll definitely add a lot to your knowledge base by reading his posts.
LINKEDIN PROFILE: Andriy Burkov
9. Andreas Kretz
What is the similarity between plumbing and data science? Well, yes don’t worry, I am not going off the topic! Most people think that data science is all about building machine learning models that are uber-cool and make awesome predictions.
In reality, building these models is a subset of the workflow and data engineering, i.e. the plumber of data science plays a pivotal role in this workflow that supports data science projects. Andreas is an expert when it comes to data engineering and building up big data platforms that support data science projects.
LINKEDIN PROFILE: Andreas Kretz
YOUTUBE CHANNEL: The Plumber of Data Science
10. Kirill Eremenko
He is the founder and CEO of SuperDataScience, an online educational portal for data scientists. His company’s mission is to simplify the complexity with the vision of becoming the biggest learning portal for data science enthusiasts. He is also the author of Confident Data Skills that help you in understanding the complete workflow of data science from scratch!
LINKEDIN PROFILE: Kirill Eremenko
Conclusion
The list of top data scientists in the world mentioned above is by no means exhaustive. These are just some of the top data scientists in the world who have a major fanbase and they’ve turned many data science enthusiasts into professionals with their guidance.
As a technology enthusiast, I feel it is a responsibility to give back to my community and this is another reason that motivates me to share all the interesting information I have with you all.
I hope you enjoyed reading the article. Do check out the profiles mentioned above and who knows, you might just find your mentor amongst these top data scientists in the world!
If you are looking for an online program in data science to learn data science, you can also have a look at the Post Graduate Program in Data Science and Business Analytics program by McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin. This is a 6-month long program that follows a mentored learning model to help you learn and practice. Each weekend, you participate in live and interactive mentored learning sessions in small groups. It is one of the best data science certifications.
In these sessions, you practice hands-on case studies, clarify your questions, and get industry insights from your mentor (who will be a practicing data scientist from a leading company). The program follows a structured approach (not self-paced) where you learn via recorded video lectures and practice on quizzes during the week, take part in mentored learning sessions during the weekends, and then apply your learnings to solve real-world problems via projects.
You can learn more about the program, its benefits and USPs here: Data Science Course by Texas McCombs.
