Famous Physicists

From http://cnr2.kent.edu/~manley/physicists.html

Classical Period
Nicolaus Copernicus 1473-1543
Polish
developed a simple heliocentric model of the solar system that explained planetary retrograde motion and overturned Greek astronomy
Tycho Brahe 1546-1601
Danish
observed a supernova now known as ``Tycho's supernova''; made the most precise observations of stellar and planetary positions then known
Johannes Kepler 1571-1630
German
established the most exact astronomical tables then known; established the three laws of planetary motion
William Gilbert 1544-1603
English
hypothesized that the Earth is a giant magnet
Galileo Galilei 1564-1642
Italian
performed fundamental observations, experiments, and mathematical analyses in astronomy and physics; discovered mountains and craters on the moon, the phases of Venus, and the four largest satellites of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede
Willebrod Snell 1580-1626
Dutch
discovered law of refraction (Snell's law)
Blaise Pascal 1623-1662
French
discovered that pressure applied to an enclosed fluid is transmitted undiminished to every part of the fluid and to the walls of its container (Pascal's principle)
Christiaan Huygens 1629-1695
Dutch
proposed a simple geometrical wave theory of light, now known as ``Huygen's principle''; pioneered use of the pendulum in clocks
Robert Hooke 1635-1703
English
discovered Hooke's law of elasticity
Sir Isaac Newton 1643-1727
English
developed theories of gravitation and mechanics, and invented differential calculus
Edmond Halley 1656-1742
British
Used his theory of cometary orbits to predict that the comet of 1682 (later named ``Halley's comet'') was periodic
Daniel Bernoulli 1700-1782
Swiss
developed the fundamental relationship of fluid flow now known as Bernoulli's principle
Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790
American
the first American physicist; characterized two kinds of electric charge, which he named ``positive'' and ``negative''
Leonard Euler 1707-1783
Swiss
made fundamental contributions to fluid dynamics, lunar orbit theory (tides), and mechanics; also contributed prolifically to all areas of classical mathematics
Henry Cavendish 1731-1810
British
discovered and studied hydrogen; first to measure Newton's gravitational constant; calculated mass and mean density of Earth
Charles Augustin de Coulomb 1736-1806
French
experiments on elasticity, electricity, and magnetism; established experimentally nature of the force between two charges
Joseph-Louis Lagrange 1736-1813
French
developed new methods of analytical mechanics
James Watt 1736-1819
Scottish
invented the modern condensing steam engine and a centrifugal governor
Count Alessandro Volta 1745-1827
Italian
pioneer in study of electricity; invented the first electric battery
Caroline Herschel 1750-1848
British
Discovered several comets and was first woman to discover a comet
Joseph Fourier 1768-1830
French
established the differential equation governing heat diffusion and solved it by devising an infinite series of sines and cosines capable of approximating a wide variety of functions
Thomas Young 1773-1829
British
studied light and color; known for his double-slit experiment that demonstrated the wave nature of light
Jean-Babtiste Biot 1774-1862
French
studied polarization of light; co-discovered that intensity of magnetic field set up by a current flowing through a wire varies inversely with the distance from the wire
André Marie Ampère 1775-1836
French
father of electrodynamics
Amadeo Avogadro 1776-1856
Italian
developed hypothesis that all gases at same volume, pressure, and temperature contain same number of atoms
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss 1777-1855
German
formulated separate electrostatic and electrodynamical laws, including ``Gauss' law''; contributed to development of number theory, differential geometry, potential theory, theory of terrestrial magnetism, and methods of calculating planetary orbits
Hans Christian Oersted 1777-1851
Danish
discovered that a current in a wire can produce magnetic effects
Sir David Brewster 1781-1868
English
deduced ``Brewster's law'' giving the angle of incidence that produces reflected light which is completely polarized; invented the kaleidoscope and the stereoscope, and improved the spectroscope
Augustin-Jean Fresnel 1788-1827
French
studied transverse nature of light waves
Georg Ohm 1789-1854
German
discovered that current flow is proportional to potential difference and inversely proportional to resistance (Ohm's law)
Michael Faraday 1791-1867
English
discovered electromagnetic induction and devised first electrical transformer
Felix Savart 1791-1841
French
co-discovered that intensity of magnetic field set up by a current flowing through a wire varies inversely with the distance from the wire
Sadi Carnot 1796-1832
French
founded the science of thermodynamics
Joseph Henry 1797-1878
American
performed extensive fundamental studies of electromagnetic phenomena; devised first practical electric motor
Christian Doppler 1803-1853
Austrian
experimented with sound waves; derived an expression for the apparent change in wavelength of a wave due to relative motion between the source and observer
Wilhelm E. Weber 1804-1891
German
developed sensitive magnetometers; worked in electrodynamics and the electrical structure of matter
Sir William Hamilton 1805-1865
Irish
developed the principle of least action and the Hamiltonian form of classical mechanics
James Prescott Joule 1818-1889
British
discovered mechanical equivalent of heat
Jean-Bernard-Léon Foucault 1819-1868
French
accurately measured speed of light; invented the gyroscope; demonstrated the Earth's rotation
Sir George Gabriel Stokes 1819-1903
British
described the motion of viscous fluids by independently discovering the Navier-Stokes equations of fluid mechanics (or hydrodynamics); developed Stokes theorem by which certain surface integrals may be reduced to line integrals; discovered fluorescence
Hermann von Helmholtz 1821-1894
German
developed first law of thermodynamics, a statement of conservation of energy
Rudolf Clausius 1822-1888
German
developed second law of thermodynamics, a statement that the entropy of the Universe always increases
Lord Kelvin
(born William Thomson)
1824-1907
British
proposed absolute temperature scale, of essence to development of thermodynamics
Gustav Kirchhoff 1824-1887
German
developed three laws of spectral analysis and three rules of electric circuit analysis; also contributed to optics
Johann Balmer 1825-1898
Swiss
developed empirical formula to describe hydrogen spectrum
Sir Joseph Wilson Swan 1828-1914
British
developed a carbon-filament incandescent light; patented the carbon process for printing photographs in permanent pigment
James Clerk Maxwell 1831-1879
Scottish
propounded the theory of electromagnetism; developed the kinetic theory of gases
Josef Stefan 1835-1893
Austrian
studied blackbody radiation
Ernst Mach 1838-1916
Austrian
studied conditions that occur when an object moves through a fluid at high speed (the ``Mach number'' gives the ratio of the speed of the object to the speed of sound in the fluid); proposed ``Mach's principle,'' which states that the inertia of an object is due to the interaction between the object and the rest of the universe
Josiah Gibbs 1839-1903
American
developed chemical thermodynamics; introduced concepts of free energy and chemical potential
James Dewar 1842-1923
British
liquefied nitrogen and invented the Dewar flask, which is critical for low-temperature work
Ludwig Boltzmann 1844-1906
Austrian
developed statistical mechanics and applied it to kinetic theory of gases
Roland Eötvös 1848-1919
Hungarian
demonstrated equivalence of gravitational and inertial mass
Oliver Heaviside 1850-1925
English
contributed to the development of electromagnetism; introduced operational calculus and invented the modern notation for vector calculus; predicted existence of the Heaviside layer (a layer of the Earth's ionosphere)
George Francis FitzGerald 1851-1901
Irish
hypothesized foreshortening of moving bodies (Lorentz-FitzGerald contraction) to explain the result of the Michelson-Morley experiment
Janne Rydberg 1854-1919
Swedish
analyzed the spectra of many elements; discovered many line series were described by a formula that depended on a universal constant (the Rydberg constant)
Edwin H. Hall 1855-1938
American
discovered the ``Hall effect,'' which occurs when charge carriers moving through a material are deflected because of an applied magnetic field - the deflection results in a potential difference across the side of the material that is transverse to both the magnetic field and the current direction
Heinrich Hertz 1857-1894
German
worked on electromagnetic phenomena; discovered radio waves and the photoelectric effect
Nikola Tesla 1857-1943
Serbian-born American
created alternating current
Nobel Laureates
Johannes van der Waals 1837-1923
Dutch
worked on equations of state for gases and liquids
Lord Rayleigh
(born John William Strutt)
1842-1919
British
discovered argon; explained how light scattering is responsible for red color of sunset and blue color of sky
Albert A. Michelson 1852-1931
German-born American
devised an interferometer and used it to try to measure Earth's absolute motion; precisely measured speed of light
Hendrik Antoon Lorentz 1853-1928
Dutch
introduced Lorentz transformation equations of special relativity; advanced ideas of relativistic length contraction and relativistic mass increase; contributed to theory of electromagnetism
Sir Joseph John Thomson 1856-1940
British
demonstrated existence of the electron
Max Planck 1858-1947
German
formulated the quantum theory; explained wavelength distribution of blackbody radiation
Pierre Curie 1859-1906
French
studied radioactivity with wife, Marie Curie; discovered piezoelectricity
Marie Curie 1867-1934
Polish-born French
discovered radioactivity of thorium; co-discovered radium and polonium
Robert Millikan 1868-1953
American
measured the charge of an electron; introduced term ``cosmic rays'' for the radiation coming from outer space; studied the photoelectric effect
Lord Ernest Rutherford 1871-1937
New Zealander
theorized existence of the atomic nucleus based on results of the alpha-scattering experiment performed by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden; developed theory of Rutherford scattering (scattering of spinless, point-like particles from a Coulomb potential)
Guglielmo Marconi 1874-1937
Italian
invented the first practical system of wireless telegraphy
Johannes Stark 1874-1957
German
discovered splitting of spectral lines in a strong electric field
Charles Glover Barkla 1877-1944
British
discovered that every chemical element, when irradiated by x rays, can emit an x-ray spectrum of two line-groups, which he named the K-series and L-series, that are of fundamental importance to understanding atomic structure
Albert Einstein 1879-1955
German-born American
explained Brownian motion and photoelectric effect; contributed to theory of atomic spectra; formulated theories of special and general relativity
Otto Hahn 1879-1968
German
discovered the fission of heavy nuclei
Niels Bohr 1885-1962
Danish
contributed to quantum theory and to theory of nuclear reactions and nuclear fission
Gustav Hertz 1887-1975
German
experimentally confirmed that atomic energy states are quantized
Erwin Schrödinger 1887-1961
Austrian
contributed to creation of quantum mechanics; formulated the Schrödinger wave equation
Sir James Chadwick 1891-1974
British
discovered the neutron
Sir Edward Appleton 1892-1965
English
discovered the layer of the Earth's atmosphere, called the Appleton layer, which is the part of the ionosphere having the highest concentration of free electrons and is the most useful for radio transmission
Prince Louis-Victor de Broglie 1892-1987
French
predicted wave properties of the electron
Arthur Compton 1892-1962
American
discovered the increase in wavelength of x rays when scattered by an electron
Robert S. Mulliken 1896-1986
American
introduced the theoretical concept of the molecular orbital, which led to a new understanding of the chemical bond and the electronic structure of molecules
Wolfgang Pauli 1900-1958
Austrian-born American
discovered the exclusion principle; suggested the existence of the neutrino
Enrico Fermi 1901-1954
Italian-born American
performed experiments leading to first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction; developed a theory of beta decay that introduced the weak interaction; derived the statistical properties of gases that obey the Pauli exclusion principle
Werner Heisenberg 1901-1976
German
contributed to creation of quantum mechanics; introduced the ``uncertainty principle'' and the concept of exchange forces
Ernest Orlando Lawrence 1901-1958
American
invented the cyclotron
Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac 1902-1984
British
helped found quantum electrodynamics; predicted the existence of antimatter by combining quantum mechanics with special relativity
Ernest Walton 1903-1995
Irish
co-invented the first particle accelerator
Ernst Ruska 1906-1988
German
designed the first electron microscope
William Shockley 1910-1989
American
co-discovered the transistor effect
William Fowler 1911-1995
American
studied nuclear reactions of astrophysical significance; developed, with others, a theory of the formation of chemical elements in the universe
Glenn T. Seaborg 1912-1999
American
co-discovered plutonium and all further transuranium elements through element 102
Richard P. Feynman 1918-1988
American
co-developed quantum electrodynamics; created a new formalism for practical calculations by introducing a graphical method called Feynman diagrams
K. Alexander Müller 1927-
Swiss
co-discovered the first ceramic superconductors
Others
George E. Hale 1868-1938
American
revolutionized spectral observations by inventing and using the spectroheliograph; discovered magnetic fields in sunspots; first astronomer to be officially called an astrophysicist; founded the Yerkes, Mt. Wilson, and Palomar Observatories
Walther Meissner 1882-1974
German
co-discovered the ``Meissner effect'', whereby a superconductor expells a magnetic field
Hans Geiger 1883-1945
German
helped measure charge-to-mass ratio for alpha particles; invented Geiger counter for detecting ionizing particles
Edwin Hubble 1889-1953
American
first to measure distance to the Andromeda nebula, establishing it to be a separate galaxy; later measured distances to other galaxies and discovered that they recede at a rate proportional to their distance (Hubble's law)
Sir Robert Watson-Watt 1892-1973
Scottish
developed radar
Charles Francis Richter 1900-1985
American
established the Richter scale for the measurement of earthquake intensity
Robert J. Van de Graaf 1901-1967
American
invented the Van de Graaf electrostatic generator
J. Robert Oppenheimer 1904-1967
American
headed Manhattan Project to develop the nuclear fission bomb
Sir Rudolf Peierls 1907-1995
German-born British
many contributions in theoretical physics, including an improved calculation of the critical mass needed to make a fission bomb
Edward Teller 1908-2003
Hungarian-born American
helped develop atomic and hydrogen bombs
Peter Higgs 1929-
British
proposed with others the Higgs mechanism by which particles are endowed with mass by interacting with the Higgs field, which is carried by Higgs bosons
T. Kenneth Fowler 1931-
American
contributed to the theory of plasma physics and magnetic fusion
Carl Sagan 1934-1996
American
was a leader in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence; contributed to most of the space missions to explore Mars and the outer planets; warned that all-out nuclear war could lead to a ``nuclear winter''
Stephen W. Hawking 1942-
British
combined general relativity with quantum theory to predict that black holes should emit radiation and evaporate.
Michio Kaku 1947-
American
The co-founder of string field theory.
Neil deGrasse Tyson 1958-
American
Is an American astrophysicist, a science communicator, the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space, and a Research Associate in the Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History.
Stephen Wolfram 1959-
British
created Mathematica, the first modern computer algebra system; contributed to development of complexity theory
Brian Greene 1963-
American
String Theorist
Please also visit the companion site, Famous Astronomers and Astrophysicists.