People
Abraham, Max (1875–1922): German physicist who hypothesized in 1902 that the electron was a perfect sphere, with its charge evenly distributed around its surface.
Abrahamsen, Hilde: Norwegian cytologist.
Abzug, Bella (1920–1998): American politician and civil rights advocate.
Adams, Douglas (1952–2001): English writer and wry humorist, best known for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Adelson, David L.: Australian geneticist.
Adivarahan, Srivathsan: Indian geneticist.
Aepinus, Franz Maria Ulrich Theodor Hoch (1724–1802): German physicist who discovered pyroelectricity (1756) and published the 1st mathematical theory of electricity and magnetism (1759). Aepinus studied medicine and was also interested in astronomy.
al-Haytham, Ibn (965–1040): Iraqi scientist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher.
Alatalo, Katherine: American astronomer.
Albrecht, Andreas J.: American theoretical physicist and cosmologist.
Alegría-Torres, Jorge Alejandro: Mexican environmental toxicologist.
Aleksandrova, Antoniya: theoretical physicist.
Amann-Winkel, Katrin: Austrian chemist.
Amemiya, Chris: American biologist, interested in the evolution of vertebrates.
Anaximander of Miletus (610–546 BCE): Turkish Greek philosopher, astronomer, geographer, mathematician, and proponent of science.
Anaxagoras of Clazomenae (~510–428 BCE): Turkish-born Greek philosopher and cosmologist who proposed panspermia.
Anderson, Carl D. (1905–1991): American physicist who discovered the positron and the muon.
Anderson, Don L. (1933–): American geophysicist.
Anderson, Peter W. (1923–): American theoretical physicist, interested in particle physics, localization, emergence, symmetry breaking, and superconductivity.
Andrulis, Erik D.: American microbiologist who works on gyre theory.
Antonucci, Robert: American astrophysicist.
Apkarian, Ara: Indian American physical chemist.
Archimedes (287–212 BCE): Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer; considered one of the leading scientists in antiquity, and one of the greatest mathematicians of all time.
Aristarchus of Samos (310–230 BCE): Greek astronomer and mathematician who first speculated that the Earth orbited the Sun. His astronomical ideas were rejected in favor of Ptolemy and Aristotle, who touted a geocentric model with Earth as the center of the universe.
Aristotle (384–322 BCE): Greek philosopher and polymath. Prolific Aristotle had views on a wide range of subjects, and was considered authoritative for centuries, sometimes stymying further investigation that might have gone against his belief.
Armstrong, Neal (1930–): American astronaut; first to set foot on the Moon.
Aschenauer, Elke-Caroline: American nuclear physicist.
Ashtekar, Abhay (1949–): Indian theoretical physicist who was a founder of loop quantum gravity.
Asimov, Isaac (born Isaak Ozimov) (1920–1992): Russian-born American writer and biochemist, known for his works of science fiction and popular science.
Auber, Daniel François Esprit (1782–1871): French composer.
Augustine of Hippo (354–430): prolific Latin theologian. Augustine’s writings were very influential in the development of European Christian thought.
Ausländer, Simon: Swiss biologist.
Avogadro, Amedeo (1776–1856): Italian physicist, mathematician, and ecclesiastical lawyer who contributed to molecular theory. Avogadro’s work was ignored for almost a century.
Ayala, Francisco J. (1934–): Spanish American biologist.
Babu, Kaladi S.: Indian physicist, interested in the fundamental constituents of matter.
Bacon, Francis (1561–1626): English philosopher, scientist, and jurist. Bacon has been called the father of empiricism.
Bahcall, Neta A.: American astrophysicist, interested in the large-scale structure of the universe.
Bainer, Russell O.: American biologist, interested in mechanical biology, gene regulation, and computational biology.
Baker, Daniel: American astrophysicist.
Bakker, Huib J.: Dutch chemical physicist, immersed in water.
Balasubramanian, Shankar (1966–): Indian chemist, interested in nucleic acids.
Balazs, Lajos: Hungarian astronomer.
Balents, Leon: American physicist.
Ball, Philip: English physicist, chemist, and science writer.
Barge, Laurie: American geochemist.
Barr, Murray (1908–1995): Canadian physician.
Barrangou, Rodolphe: French American geneticist, molecular biologist, and food scientist.
Barrett, Jonathan: English particle physicist, known for the Pusey-Barrett-Rudolph theorem.
Barry, Dave (1947–): American writer and humorist.
Bastian, Nate: English science writer.
Bateson, William (1861–1926): English evolutionary biologist who coined the term genetics based upon a Mendelian conception of heredity.
Baum, Buzz: American cytologist.
Baum, David A.: American evolutionary biologist and botanist.
Baum, Lauris M.: American astrophysicist.
Becher, Johann Joachim (1635–1682): German alchemist and physician; concocter of the phlogiston theory.
Becquerel, Henri (1852–1908): French physicist who accidentally discovered radioactivity.
Beichler, James E.: American theoretical physicist and cosmologist, interested in a theory of everything.
Bejan, Adrian: Romanian American mechanical engineer who conceived constructal law.
Bekenstein, Jacob (1947–): Israeli theoretical physicist who has contributed to understanding black hole thermodynamics. Bekenstein is an adherent of physics as information theory.
Beliveau, Brian: American geneticist, interested in DNA organization.
Bell, John Stewart (1928–1990): Irish physicist who developed Bell’s theorem, which posits nonlocality (e.g. entanglement).
Belshaw, Robert: English zoologist, interested in the evolution of viruses and selfish genetic elements.
Benea-Chelmus, Ileana-Cristina: Swiss physicist.
Benner, Steven: American chemist who hypothesizes that life on Earth came from Mars. Brenner was first to design a gene, and the first to artificially augment the DNA alphabet.
Benveniste, Jacques (1935–2004): French immunologist, interested in allergies and homeopathy.
Bergliaffa, S.E. Perez: Brazilian astrophysicist.
Bernauer, Jan C.: German physicist.
Berra, Yogi (1925–2015): American baseball player, coach, and manager, remembered for his dry wit, pithy paradoxical statements, and malapropisms.
Bettini, Alessandro: Italian particle physicist.
Bizzarro, Martin: Dutch astronomer and chemist.
Black, Joesph (1728–1799): Scottish chemist and physician, best known for the rediscovery of “fixed air” (carbon dioxide), the concept of latent heat, and the discovery of bicarbonates.
Bleicken, Stephanie: German cytologist.
Blencowe, Miles P.: English physicist, interested in quantum mechanics and condensed matter.
Bloch, Felix (1905–1983): Swiss physicist.
Bohm, David J. (1917–1992): American theoretical physicist.
Bohr, Niels (1885–1962): Danish physicist who contributed to atomic theory and quantum mechanics.
Bojowald, Martin (1973–): German physicist, working in cosmology and loop quantum gravity.
Bolton, Adam S.: American astrophysicist.
Bolton, Charles Thomas (Tom) (1943–): American astronomer who was the first to show evidence of a black hole.
Boltzmann, Ludwig (1844–1906): Austrian physicist who made significant contributions to mechanics and thermodynamics. Boltzmann advocated atomic theory when it was still quite controversial.
Bolyai, János (aka Johann) (1802–1860): Hungarian mathematician, one of the founders of non-Euclidian geometry.
Born, Max (1882–1970): German-English physicist and mathematician, instrumental in developing quantum mechanics. Born also contributed to optics and solid-state physics.
Bose, Satyendra Nath (1894–1974): Indian mathematician and physicist who worked on electromagnetic radiation and statistical mechanics.
Boulding, Kenneth E. (1910 –1993): English economist and sociologist who had wide-ranging beliefs about economic behavior as part of a larger systemic web.
Boyle, Robert (1627–1691): Anglo Irish chemist, physicist, natural philosopher, and inventor.
Braakman, Rogier: Dutch chemical physicist.
Bradford, Charles M. (Brad): American astrophysicist.
Bragg, William Henry (1862–1942): English physicist, chemist, mathematician, and active sportsman who discovered the elemental dynamics of ionizing radiation in 1903. Bragg’s science legacy is unique, in sharing a Nobel Prize in Physics with his son, fellow physicist William Lawrence Bragg, in 1915, for analysis of crystalline structures using X-rays.
Bragg, William Lawrence (1890–1971): Australian-born English physicist and chemist, known for Bragg’s law, on the diffraction of X-rays by crystals. Bragg was instrumental in the discovery of the structure of DNA, providing support to Francis Crick and James Watson, who worked under his aegis.
Brahe, Tycho (1546–1601): Danish nobleman and astronomer. Brahe refuted the Aristotelian belief in a static celestial realm. Brahe was the last major astronomer to work without a telescope. Skeptical of Copernican heliocentricity, Brahe worked out a system where the rest of the cosmos whirled about the Earth, which he thought a “lazy” body too bulky to move.
Brand, Hennig (1630–1692 or 1710): German merchant and alchemist who discovered phosphorous in 1669.
Brandengerger, Robert (1956–): Canadian theoretical cosmologist and physicist
Brenner, Sydney (1927–): South African biologist who studied genetics.
Brody, Dorje: English mathematician.
Bronowski, Jacob (1908–1974): Polish mathematician, biologist, science historian, playwright, poet, and inventor; best known for his 1973 book and BBC TV documentary series The Ascent of Man, which traced the development of human society.
Brønsted, Johannes Nicolaus (1879–1947): Danish physical chemist who introduced the protonic theory of acid-base reactions in 1923 (as did Thomas Lowry).
Brout, Robert (1928–2011): Belgian theoretical physicist, interested in particle physics.
Brown, Harrison (1911–1986): American chemist, known for his work in geological aging by counting lead isotopes in igneous rocks.
Brown, Margaret Wise (1910–1952): American author of children’s books, best known for Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny.
Brown, Robert (1773–1858): Scottish botanist who made contributions to botany by peering through a microscope. Credited with discovering Brownian motion, noted 2,000 years earlier (by Lucretius).
Browne, Thomas (1605–1682): English author of diverse works in medicine, science, religion, and more esoteric subject matter.
Bruce, David (1855–1931): Scottish pathologist and microbiologist who investigated brucellosis (then called Malta fever) and trypanosomes, the parasitic protozoa behind sleeping sickness.
Brukner, Caslav: Austrian theoretical physicist.
Bruno, Giordano (1548–1600): Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer who proposed that the Sun was just a star, and that the cosmos was populated by other worlds with intelligent life. For his far-fetched speculations, the Catholic Church convicted Bruno of heresy and burned him at the stake.
Buchert, Thomas: German cosmologist
Buchhave, Lars A.: Dutch astrophysicist.
Bulkley, L. Duncan: American physician and cancer researcher.
Butlerov, Alexander (1828–1886): Russian chemist who was one of the principal theorists of chemical structure (1857–1961), the first to put double bonds into chemical formulas, and discoverer of hexamine (1859), formaldehyde (1859) and the formose reaction (1961).
Caetano-Anollés, Gustavo: Argentinian biochemist and geneticist, interested in evolutionary and comparative genomics.
Caffau, Elisabetta: French cosmologist.
Cairns-Smith, Graham (1931–): Scottish organic chemist and molecular biologist who originated the hypothesis that life may have originally replicated via mineral scaffolding. Cairns-Smith explored the evolution and nature of consciousness in Evolving the Mind (1996).
Caldecott, Keith W.: English biochemist, interested in DNA repair.
Canton, John: English chemist.
Capra, Fritjof (1939–): Austrian-born American physicist and systems theorist.
Carlin, George (1937–2008): American comedian.
Carnot, Nicolas Léonard Sadi (1796–1832): French military engineer who developed a half-baked theory of heat engines (the Carnot cycle), anticipating the 2nd law of thermodynamics. Carnot was fascinated with steam engines.
Carr, Lincoln D.: American physicist.
Carroll, Sean M. (1966–): American theoretical cosmologist, interested in dark energy and general relativity.
Carson, Rachel (1907–1964): American marine biologist, famous for Silent Spring (1962), which chronicled the environmental devastation caused by synthetic pesticides, especially DDT. American chemical companies were incensed by the book.
Carvunis, Anne-Ruxandra: French geneticist.
Casimir, Hendrik (1909–2000): Dutch physicist, best known for his work on superconductors.
Cavendish, Henry (1731–1810): English pneumatic chemist who discovered “factitious air,” later termed hydrogen.
Celsius, Anders (1701–1744): Swedish astronomer, physicist, and mathematician who in 1742 proposed an inverse of the Celsius temperature scale, which bears his name.
Chadwick, James (1891–1974): English physicist who discovered the neutron, which had been predicted Ettore Majorana.
Chambers, Scott A.: American chemist.
Chandra, Fiona A.: Indonesian biologist.
Chandrasekhar, Subramanyan (1910–1995): Indian astrophysicist.
Charlesworth, Brian (1945–): English evolutionary biologist, interested in population genetics.
Charlesworth, Deborah (1943–): English evolutionary biologist, interested the genetic evolution.
Cheng Zhu: Chinese microbiologist.
Cherenkov, Pavel A. (1904–1990): Russian physicist who discovered Cherenkov radiation.
Cherry, Colin (1914–1979): English cognitive scientist.
Chess, Barry: American molecular biologist.
Cho, Adrian: American physicist and science writer.
Chourrout, Daniel: French molecular biologist.
Christin, Jean-Pierre (1683–1755): French physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and musician. Christin is remembered for his thermometer and suggestion about the Celsius scale.
Clairaut, Alexis (1713–1765): French mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist; a child prodigy who became dissolute in later life. His friend Charles Bossut remarked:
He was focused with dining and with evenings, coupled with a lively taste for women, and seeking to make his pleasures into his day-to-day work; he lost rest, health, and finally life at the age of 52.
Clapeyron, Benoît Paul Émile (1799–1864): French engineer and physicist; one of the founders of thermodynamics; known for writing Driving Force of the Heat (1834), which only sounds like pulp fiction.
Clarke, Andrew: English ecologist.
Clausius, Rudolf (1822–1888): German mathematical physicist who formulated the 2nd law of thermodynamics (1850) and introduced the concept of entropy (1865).
Clayton, David F.: English psychologist.
Clifford, William Kingdon (1845–1879): brilliant English mathematician and philosopher who anticipated the most important developments in 20th century physics, including relativity and quantum field theory.
Close, Frank (1945–): English particle physicist. Close wrote in his book Lucifer’s Legacy: The Meaning of Asymmetry (2000):
Fundamental physical science involves observing how the universe functions and trying to find regularities that can be encoded into laws. To test if these are right, we do experiments. We hope that the experiments won’t always work out, because it is when our ideas fail that we extend our experience. The art of research is to ask the right questions and discover where your understanding breaks down.
Coelho, Ricardo Lopes: Portuguese physicist.
Colding, Frederik: Danish physicist.
Collings, Peter J.: American physicist.
Conklin, Bruce R.: American geneticist.
Conradt, Barbara: German cytologist.
Conselice, Christopher J.: English astrophysicist.
Cooper, Leon (1930–): American physicist who contributed to understanding superconductivity.
Copernicus, Nicolaus (1473–1543): Prussian astronomer who developed a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology, displacing the Earth from the center of the universe. Copernicus’s work was published posthumously, as he worried about the scorn that his crazy idea would provoke.
Corn, Jacob: American geneticist and cytologist.
Costa, Fabio: quantum physicist.
Cotler, Jordan: American theoretical physicist.
Coulomb, Charles-Augustin de (1736–1806): French physicist, best known for elucidating the attraction and repulsion of the electrostatic force. Coulomb also worked on friction.
Cox, Robert M.: American evolutionary biologist.
Cowen, Ron: American science writer.
Crick, Francis (1916–2004): English molecular biologist, known as the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA in 1953, with James Watson.
Crisp, Alastair: English biochemist.
Cronin, Leroy (1973–): English chemist, interested in the origin of life.
da Vinci, Leonardo (1452–1519): Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, musician, inventor, scientist, mathematician, engineer, geologist, cartographer, anatomist, botanist, and writer. Best known for a small portrait of a drab woman with a half-smile (Mona Lisa).
Dalton, John (1766–1844): English chemist, meteorologist, and physicist, known for his work on atomic theory and color blindness.
Darvish, Behnam: American astrophysicist.
Darwin, Charles (1809–1882): English naturalist who developed a theory of biological evolution.
Davies, Paul C.W. (1946–): English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and astrobiologist, working on finding extraterrestrial life. Davies courted controversy by noting that the faith of scientists is in the immutability of physical laws; a faith with roots in Christian theology. Davies called the claim that science is “free of faith”: “bogus.”
Davis, J.C. Séamus: Scottish Irish American physicist interested in superconductivity.
Davis, Tamara M.: Australian astrophysicist and ultimate Frisbee player.
De, Sandip: Indian epigeneticist.
de Broglie, Louis (1892–1987): French physicist who developed the pilot wave theory.
de Chancourtois, Alexandre-Emile Béguyer (1820–1886): French mineralogist and geologist who first arranged the chemical elements by atomic weight and noticed their periodicity.
de Coulomb, Charles-Augustin: see Coulomb.
de Fermat, Pierre: see Fermat (as the man is commonly called).
de La Rochefoucauld, François (1613 –1680): French author.
de Leeuw, Nora H.: English chemist.
de Vries, Hugo (1848–1935): Dutch botanist and one of the first geneticists. de Vries coined the term mutation.
Dehnel, August (1903–1962): Polish zoologist, known for discovering Dehnel phenomenon.
Dekker, Job: American geneticist.
Deming, W. Edwards (1900–1993): American statistician, best known for his contribution to industrial production quality control, for which he is considered a hero in Japan.
Democritus (460–370 BCE): Greek rationalist philosopher who formulated an atomic theory of existence.
Dennett, Daniel C. (1942–): American philosopher and cognitive scientist.
Descartes, René (1596–1650): French mathematician and philosopher who believed in dualism.
Devreotes, Peter N.: American cytologist.
DeYoung, Tyce: American astrophysicist.
Dickman, Mark J.: English biochemist, interested in bioanalytics.
Dillin, Andrew: American cytologist.
Diderot, Denis (1713–1784): French philosopher, writer, and art critic; a prominent figure in the Enlightenment.
Dirac, Paul (1902–1984): brilliant English theoretical physicist who contributed to the early development of quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics. Dirac was a precise and taciturn man. Raised Catholic, Dirac once remarked, “religion is a jumble of false assertions, with no basis in reality.”
Döbereiner, Johann Wolfgang (1780–1849): German chemist whose grouping of chemical elements foreshadowed the periodic law.
Dobos, László: Hungarian astrophysicist.
Dobzhansky, Theodosius (1900–1975): Ukrainian geneticist and evolutionary biologist.
Dombeck, Mark: American physician, interested in autism.
Dongfeng Gao: Chinese physicist, interested in quantum cosmology theory.
Dongshan He: Chinese physicist, interested in quantum cosmology theory.
Doppler, Christian (1803–1853): Austrian mathematician and physicist who proposed the Doppler effect in 1842.
Downie, Evangeline J.: Scottish nuclear physicist.
Doyle, Arthur Conan (1859–1930): Irish-Scots novelist and physician, best known for the crime fiction tales of detective Sherlock Holmes.
du Châtelet, Émilie (1706–1749): French physicist, natural philosopher, mathematician.
Duffy, Ken R.: Irish immunologist.
Dufourc, Erick J.: French biochemist.
Duret, Laurent: French geneticist.
Dyer, Adrian: Australian vision scientist.
Dylan, Bob (1941–): American songwriter and musician.
Dyson, Freeman (1923–): English-born American physicist, cosmologist, and mathematician.
Eccleston, Alex: English cytologist.
Ecker, Ullrich K.H.: Australian psychologist.
Eddington, Arthur Stanley (1882–1944): English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher of science.
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (1890–1969): American army general; Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during World War 2; 34th US President (Republican) (1953–1961).
Einstein, Albert (1879–1955): German theoretical physicist, best known for his theories of relativity.
Positivism states that what cannot be observed does not exist. I am not a positivist. ~ Albert Einstein
Eiseley, Loren (1907–1977): American anthropologist.
Eisenberg, Eli: Israeli geneticist.
Eisert, Jens: German physicist.
Elf, Johan: Swedish molecular biologist.
Elgar, Mark A.: Australian zoologist, interested in unusual animal behaviors and use of chemical communication.
Ellis, George F.R. (1939–): South African mathematician, logician, and cosmological theorist.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803–1882): American essayist and poet.
Emons, Anne Mie C.: Dutch botanist and cytologist.
Empedocles (490–430 BCE): eclectic Greek philosopher who originated the cosmogenic theory of the 4 classical elements: earth, water, wind, and fire. Empedocles considered chemical changes similar to emotional relations.
Enríquez, José Antonio: Spanish biochemist and molecular biologist.
Erdmann, Hugo (1862–1910): German chemist who coined noble gas.
Engelhardt, Netta: American physicist.
Ertter, Barbara: American botanist.
Euclid of Alexandria (~300 BCE): Greek mathematician, the father of geometry. Euclid wrote the most influential mathematics book of all time: Elements, the primary textbook for math, especially geometry, for over 2,000 years, into the early 20th century. Euclidean geometry was extended into higher dimensions via independent work by János Bolyai and Nikolai Lobachevsky.
Euler, Leonhard (1707–1783): Swiss mathematician, logician, engineer, and physicist who introduced much modern mathematical terminology and notation; also known for his work in mechanics, fluid dynamics, optics, astronomy, and music theory; considered one of the greatest mathematicians of all time.
Eulgem, Thomas: American plant cytologist.
Everett III, Hugh (1930–1982): American physicist who first proposed a many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics.
Fahrenheit, Daniel Gabriel (1686–1736): German glassblower, engineer, and physicist who advanced thermometry by inventing the first practical, accurate thermometer (mercury in glass). Fahrenheit devised the namesake temperature scale.
Faraday, Michael (1791–1867): largely self-taught English chemist, physicist, and philosopher who greatly contributed to understanding electromagnetism and electrochemistry. Faraday invented electric motors.
Farley, Francis J.M.: English physicist.
Fathi, Kambiz: Swedish astrophysicist.
Fedoroff, Nina V. (1942–): American biologist and chemist.
Feldman, Gerald: American nuclear physicist.
Fermat, Pierre de (1607–1665): French lawyer and mathematician who contributed discoveries in calculus, analytic geometry, probability, and optics; best known for Fermat’s principle for light propagation and Fermat’s last theorem, a number theory.
Fermi, Enrico (1901–1954): Italian-born physicist, best known for his work on developing a nuclear reactor. Fermi was a rare physicist in excelling in both experimental and theoretical work.
Fernald, Russell D.: American biologist.
Ferrell, James E., Jr. (1955–): American systems biologist.
Feynman, Richard (1918–1988): eccentric American theoretical physicist who made contributions to particle physics, including quantum mechanics, electrodynamics, and superfluidity.
Fischer, André: German molecular biologist.
Fischer, Debra: American astronomer.
Flambaum, Victor V.: Australian physicist.
Forterre, Patrick: French molecular biologist.
Frampton, Paul H. (1943–): American astrophysicist.
Franklin, Rosalind (1920–1958): English chemist and X-ray crystallographer who managed the first snapshots of DNA via X-ray diffraction imagery. Franklin significantly forwarded understanding of DNA’s intricate structure, providing the foundation of information used by Watson & Crick in their finalizing the structure of DNA.
Frauchiger, Daniela: Swiss theoretical physicist.
Frenk, Carlos: English Mexican computational cosmologist.
Friedan, Daniel H. (1948–): American theoretical physicist who works on string theory and condensed matter theory, focusing on (1+1)-dimensional models.
Fresnel, Augustin (1788–1827): French engineer and physicist whose study of optics led to widespread acceptance of light as a waveform phenomenon, as contrasted to Newton’s particle (corpuscular) theory.
Fuchs, Elaine (1950–): American cytologist, interested in mammalian dermatology.
Fuller, Franklin D.: American physicist.
Furey, Terrence S.: American geneticist.
Fussenegger, Martin: Swiss biologist.
Gabrielse, Gerald: American physicist, interested in antimatter and the electron.
Gaiti, Federico: evolutionary and molecular biologist.
Galileo Galilei (1564–1642): Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher. Galileo was a seminal figure in development of science as a discipline, and a scourge to the Catholic Church for buying into Copernicus’ notion of heliocentricity.
Gallio, Marco: American neurobiologist.
García, Pedro David: Spanish physicist.
Garman, Scott C.: American biochemist and molecular biologist.
Gell-Mann, Murray (1929–2019): American particle physicist, linguist, collector of antiquities, and avid bird watcher who developed theories about quarks, neutrinos, and the weak force.
Giacomini, Flaminia: Italian quantum physicist.
Gilbert, Walter (1932–): American physicist, biochemist, and molecular biologist who developed an RNA-world hypothesis of abiogenesis.
Gierasch, Lila: American biochemist.
Gisin, Nicolas: Swiss quantum physicist.
Glashow, Sheldon Lee (1932–): American theoretical physicist who proposed the first grand unified theory in 1973, as an extension to the Standard Model. Glashow is an outspoken skeptic of superstrings owing to its lack of testable predictions.
Globus, Rea: Israeli microbiologist.
Gobley, Theodore Nicolas (1811–1876): French chemist and pharmacist.
Goff, Jon: English physicist.
Goldman, Nir: American chemist with an interest in the origin of life on Earth.
Golgi, Camillo (1843–1926): Italian physician and pathologist, known for his work on the human central nervous system.
Gould, Stephen Jay (1941–2002): American evolutionary biologist, best known for positing punctuated equilibrium: evolution being marked by rare bursts of speciations, with long periods of stability.
Gräter, Frauke: German molecular biomechanist, interested in biomaterials and protein evolution, dynamics, and mechanics.
Grazier, Kevin R.: American planetary physicist.
Green, Brian (1963–): American theoretical physicist, mathematician, and string theorist.
Gregoryanz, Eugene: condensed matter physicist.
Gribbin, John R. (1946–): English astrophysicist and science-fiction writer.
Gross, David (1941–): American particle physicist and string theorist.
Grosseteste, Robert (1175–1253): English scholastic philosopher, theologian, and scientist who proposed that the universe began by expanding from a singularity of light. Grosseteste also posited the possibility of a multiverse.
Grotthuss, Theodor (1785–1822): German chemist who first theorized electrolysis in 1806 (the Grotthuss mechanism) and formulated in 1817 the 1st law of photochemistry: that light must be absorbed by a chemical substance for a photochemical reaction to occur.
Grove, William Robert (1811–1896): Welsh jurist, civil servant, and physical scientist who anticipated the theory of conservation of energy. Grove invented the fuel cell.
Guiber, Sylvain: French geneticist.
Guth, Alan (1947–): American cosmologist, credited with concocting cosmic inflation.
Haacke, Johann Wilhelm (1855–1912): German zoologist who hypothesized orthogenesis in 1893 and introduced the concept of genes as hereditary units, which he called gemmaria.
Haber, Fritz (1868–1934): German chemist who invented the Haber process of synthetic nitrogen fixation; considered the father of chemical warfare.
Hagen, Gaute: American nuclear physicist.
Hahnemann, Samuel (1755–1843): German physician, known for creating homeopathy. Hahnemann had a knack for languages: proficient in English, French, Italian, Greek, Latin, Arabic, Syriac, Chaldaic, and Hebrew.
Hall, Harriet: American physician.
Halpern, Paul: American physicist.
Hamilton, Paul: American astrophysicist.
Hamilton, William Rowan (1805–1865): Irish physicist, astronomer, and mathematician who contributed to classical mechanics, optics, and algebra.
Hamlin, James J.: American physicist.
Han, Tian-Heng (Harry): Chinese American physicist.
Hannon, Gregory: American epigeneticist, interested in RNA interference.
Harris, Frederick A.: American physicist and astronomer.
Hartmann, Marie-Andrée: French molecular biologist.
Harvey, David: English astrophysicist.
Hawking, Stephen (1942–2018): English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, interested in general relativity, especially black holes.
Hazen, Robert M. (1948–): American mineralogist and astrobiologist.
Heard, Dwayne: English chemist, interested in photochemistry, atmospheric and interstellar chemistry.
Heaven, Alan: English astronomer.
Heaviside, Oliver (1850–1925): self-taught English electrical engineer, mathematician, and physicist who used complex numbers to study electrical circuits, invented techniques to solve differential equations, formulated vector analysis, and reformulated Maxwell’s field equations in terms of energy flux and electromagnetic forces.
Heckman, Timothy M.: American astrophysicist.
Heisenberg, Werner (1901–1976): German theoretical physicist, best known for asserting the uncertainty principle of quantum field theory, which states that measurement of subatomic particles is tricky to the point of indeterminate.
Held, Karsten: Austrian solid-state physicist.
Henking, Hermann (1858–1942): German cytologist who discovered the X chromosome.
Heraclitus (535–475 BCE): Turkish Greek energyist philosopher who believed in an ever-changing universe and a force of coherence creating a unity of existence.
Hero of Alexandria (aka Heron of Alexandria) (10–70 CE): Greek mathematician and engineer; considered the greatest experimenter of antiquity.
Herschel, William (1738–1822): German-born English astronomer and composer of 24 symphonies. Herschel discovered Uranus and 2 moons of Saturn. He and his sister Caroline compiled the first map of the Milky Way galaxy.
Hevelius, Johannes (1611–1687): German astronomer and civic leader. Hevelius described 10 new constellations, 7 of which are still recognized.
Hewish, Tony: English astronomer.
Hicks, William M. (1850–1934): English mathematician and physicist who proposed negative gravity as an adjunct to a vortex theory of gravity.
Hilbert, David (1862–1943): German mathematician; one of the most influential mathematicians of his time.
Hiley, Basil J. (1935–): Burma-born British quantum physicist.
Hippocrates (460–370 BCE): Greek physician; considered the father of western medicine.
Hobson, Art: American theoretical physicist.
Hoekstra, Hopi E.: American biologist.
Hoffman, Yehuda: Israeli cosmologist.
Holliday, Robin: English biologist.
Holliger, Philipp: English molecular biologist, interested in abiogenesis.
Holst, Gustav (1874–1934): English composer, best known for his orchestral suite The Planets. Holst composed numerous works in various musical genres, but none achieved comparable success; a classical one-hit wonder.
Hooper, Dan: American theoretical astrophysicist.
Horava, Petr: Czech string theorist who works on D-brane theory.
Hoscheit, Benjamin: American astrophysicist.
Hossenfelder, Sabine: German astrophysicist, interested in physics beyond the Standard Model, with a special emphasis on the phenomenology of quantum gravity.
Hoyle, Fred (1915–2001): English astronomer, mathematician, and science fiction writer. One of Hoyle’s science fiction beliefs was in a steady-state universe. Einstein shared that belief for a time.
Huang, Chuan-Hsiang (Bear): Chinese cytologist.
Hubble, Edwin (1889 –1953): American astronomer, often incorrectly credited with discovery of other galaxies and galactic Doppler shift (inaptly termed Hubble’s law). Hubble did devise the Hubble sequence: a simple way of classifying galaxies by how they look.
Huber, Patrick: American particle physicist who works on neutrinos.
Huygens, Christiaan (1629–1695): Dutch mathematician, astronomer, physicist, probabilist, and horologist.
Hunziker, Alexander: Hungarian geneticist.
Huppert, Julian L.: English chemist.
Hutsemékers, Damien: Belgian cosmologist.
Hyman, Anthony A. (1962–): English cytologist.
Ibba, Michael: English biochemist.
Ingenhousz, Jan (1730–1799): Dutch physiologist, credited with discovering photosynthesis and cellular respiration. Not credited for discovering Brownian motion.
Iovino, Nicola: Italian geneticist.
Ishi, Hope: American cosmochemist.
Isinger, Marcus: Swedish atomic physicist.
Ishino, Yoshizumi: Japanese molecular biologist who accidently discovered pais in 1987, though he had no idea what it meant.
Itano, Wayne M.: American physicist.
Ivanova, Natalia N.: Russian geneticist.
Jablonka, Eva (1952–): Polish-born Israeli geneticist, interested in epigenetics and evolution.
Jacob, François (1920–2013): French biologist.
Jakšic, Ana Marija: Serbian geneticist.
Jakubczyk, Daniel: Polish physicist interested in physical chemistry.
Jaramillo, Rafael: American solid-state physicist.
Jaynes, E.T. (1922–1998): outspoken American physicist who worked on statistical mechanics.
Jeans, James (1877–1946): English physicist, astronomer, and mathematician, who was interested in quantum theory, radiation, and stellar evolution. In 1928, Jeans was first to concoct a steady-state cosmology, based upon the assumption that matter continually accreted in the cosmos. The hypothesis was disproved by the 1965 discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation.
Jensen, Henrik (1961–): Dutch economist.
Jiggins, C.D.: English zoologist.
Johannsen, Wilhelm (1857–1927): Danish botanist who coined the term gene in 1909.
Johnson, Jennifer A.: American astronomer.
Joule, James Prescott (1818–1889): English physicist, mathematician, and brewer who studied the nature of heat, and discovered it as a form of energy (i.e., mechanical work), which led to the conservation of energy law.
Juan, David de: Spanish biologist.
Jun, Suckjoon: Korean Canadian molecular biologist and physicist.
Junjie Li: Chinese physicist.
Justinian I (Flavius Justinianus, born Petrus Sabbatius) (482–565): Byzantine emperor (527–565), best remembered for his codification of civil laws (Corpus Juris Civilis).
Kalantry, Sundeep: American geneticist.
Kaluza, Theodor (1885–1954): German mathematician and physicist who developed a model unifying electromagnetism and gravitation via a 5-dimensional space.
Kant, Immanuel (1724–1804): influential German philosopher and rationalist.
It always remains a scandal of philosophy and universal human reason that the existence of things outside us should have to be assumed merely on faith, and that if it occurs to anyone to doubt it, we should be unable to answer him with a satisfactory proof. ~ Critique of Pure Reason (1781)
Yet Kant rejected positivism, warning of the seduction of perception as truth.
Up to now it has been assumed that all our cognition must conform to the objects; but let us once try whether we do not get farther with the problems of metaphysics by assuming that the objects must conform to our cognition.
Karlseder, Jan: Austrian cytologist, interested in telomeres.
Karnkowska, Anna: Polish molecular evolutionary biologist.
Kashina, Anna: Russian biochemist and fantasy novelist.
Kassis, Judith A.: American epigeneticist.
Katajisto, Pekka: Finnish cytologist.
Kauffmann, Guinevere: American astrophysicist.
Kelvin, Lord: see Thomson, William.
Kepler, Johannes (1571–1630): German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer, known for his laws of planetary motion.
Kerr, Richard A.: American science writer.
Kim, Seohyun (Chris): Korean American chemist.
King, Nicole: American cytologist and molecular biologist.
King, Scott D.: American geophysicist.
Kirchhoff, Gustav (1824–1887): German physicist who contributed to understanding electrical circuits, black-body radiation, and spectroscopy.
Kirschvink, Joseph L. (Joe): American geobiologist, interested in magnetism.
Klein, Oskar (1894 –1977): Swedish physicist, credited with originating the notion that extra dimensions exist compacted (smaller than a Planck length). This insight was an adjunct to work by Theodor Kaluza; hence the Kaluza–Klein theory, which became the fountainhead of follow-on hd theories.
Koç, Ibrahim: Turkish geneticist, interested in the origin of life.
Kolata, Gina Bari: American science journalist.
Kolesnikov, Alexander I.: Russian nuclear physicist.
Kollmeier, Juna A.: American astronomer.
Kolodrubetz, Michael: American physicist.
Koonin, Eugene (1956–): Russian biologist who works in evolutionary and computational biology.
Koroidov, Sergey: Swedish biochemist.
Kovac, John M.: American cosmologist interested in the cosmic microwave background.
Krishnamurthy, Ramanarayanan: Indian organic chemist, interested in the origin of life.
Krog, Jens: Danish physicist.
Kubarych, Kevin: Canadian chemist.
Kubas, Daniel (1974–): German astronomer.
Kuhn, Jeff: American astronomer.
Kühne, Wilhelm (1837–1900): German physiologist, known for coining the term enzyme.
Lagrange, Joseph-Louis (1736–1813): Italian French mathematician and astronomer.
Lamb, Marion J. (1939–): English evolutionary biologist.
Lamb, Willis (1913–2008): American physicist who contributed to understanding the magnetic moment of the electron.
Landau, Lev (1908–1968): Azerbaijanian quantum physicist who made important contributions to many areas of theoretical physics.
Lane, Nick: English biochemist, interested in evolutionary biology and the origin of life.
Langacker, Paul G. (1946–): American particle physicist, interested in unified field theories.
Langer, Fabian: German physicist.
Lao Tzu (aka Laozi, Lao-Tsu, Lao-Tze) (6th or 5th century BCE): Chinese scholar and philosopher; inadvertent founder of Daoism, which teaches reverence of Nature, the value of patience, and a path to judicious existence. A legendary figure, when and even whether Lao Tzu lived is speculative. His name is an honorary title.
Laplace, Pierre-Simon (1749–1827): French mathematician and astronomer who made important contributions to mathematical astronomy, physics, and statistics.
Lassell, William (1799–1880): English beer brewer and astronomer who discovered Triton, Neptune’s largest moon, in 1846, and 2 moons of Uranus in 1851. Lassell started the tradition of naming all Uranus’ moons after characters in the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. In his honor, craters on the Moon and Mars have been named after Lassell, and a ring of Neptune as well.
Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent (1743–1794): French nobleman and first-rate scientist. Lavoisier is considered the father of modern chemistry, in part by demonstrating the value of methodology in experimentation. He put together the first extensive list of elements; named oxygen and hydrogen; established that sulfur was an element, not a compound as previously supposed; introduced the concept of chemical species. Lavoisier contributed to biology by explaining oxygen’s role in plant and animal respiration, and the nature of metabolism. Lavoisier helped develop the metric system.
Lederberg, Joshua (1925–2008): American molecular biologist who discovered horizontal gene transfer among bacteria.
Lederman, Leon M. (1922–): American experimental physicist.
Lee, Dung-Hai: Taiwanese American physicist, interested in strongly correlated many-particle systems.
Lee, Jeannie T.: Chinese American geneticist and molecular biologist.
Lehnmann, Ruth: American cytologist and molecular biologist, interested in germ cells and embryogenesis.
Leiber, Fritz Jr. (1910–1992): American writer of fantasy, science fiction, and horror.
Leibniz, Gottfried von (1646–1716): German mathematician and philosopher.
Lemaître, Georges (1894–1966): Belgian Roman Catholic priest and astrophysicist. Lemaître conceived the Big Bang origin of the universe and discovered Hubble’s law.
Lemeshko, Mikhail: Russian physicist, studying atomic and molecular interactions and ultracold quantum gases.
Leucippus (early 5th century BCE): Greek rationalist philosopher who developed a theory of atomism.
Levene, Phoebus Aaron Theodore (1869–1940): Russian American biochemist who first identified the components of DNA and RNA and coined the term nucleotide.
Levy, Emmanuel D.: French structural biologist.
Lewis, Gilbert N. (1875–1946): American physical chemist, known for his discovery of the covalent bond, and his concept of electron pairs. His valence bond theory shaped current theories of chemical bonding. Lewis also contributed to thermodynamics, photochemistry, isotope separation, and an electronic theory of acid-base reaction.
Libeskind, Noam I.: German cosmologist.
Licausi, Francesco: Italian botanist, interested in plant physiology.
Lisi, Antony Garrett (1968–): American theoretical physicist.
Liske, Jochen: German astronomer.
Litvinyuk, Igor V.: Russian physicist, interested in physical chemistry.
Lloyd, Karen G.: American microbiologist.
Lobachevsky, Nikolai I. (1802–1860): Russian mathematician, early developer of non-Euclidean geometry, known primarily for his work in hyperbolic geometry.
Loeb, Avi: Israeli American astrophysicist.
Lollar, Barbara Sherwood: Canadian biochemist, interested in deep crustal fluids and life therein.
London, Fritz (1900–1954): German American physicist who made fundamental contributions in understanding chemical bonding and intermolecular forces (London dispersion forces).
Long, Hannah K.: English geneticist, interested in epigenetics.
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth (1807–1882): American poet.
Lorentz, Hendrik (1853–1928): Dutch physicist who derived the transformation equations which Einstein’s special relativity theory was based upon.
Lorenz, Edward (1917–2008): American meteorologist who coined the term butterfly effect.
Lorenz, Ralph D.: American astrophysicist, interested in planets and moons.
Lowell, Percival (1855–1916): American astronomer who fueled speculation about life on Mars. Percival wrote extensively of the “non-natural features” on the planet’s surface. From peering through his telescope at Mars for 15 years, Percival convinced himself that the planet sustained an advanced alien civilization.
Lowry, Thomas Martin (1874–1936): English physical chemist who developed a protonic theory of acid-base reactions in 1923 (as did Johannes Brønsted).
Lucretius (99–55 BCE): Roman philosopher and poet who noted Brownian motion 2 millennium before Robert Brown got his named pinned to jiggling bits (Brownian motion).
Lynch, Vincent J.: American evolutionary biologist.
Mach, Ernst (1838–1916): Austrian physicist and philosopher.
MacKay, Harvey (1932–): American businessman and best-selling business writer, including such succinct titles as Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive and Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt.
Madesh, Muniswamy: Indian biochemist.
Maeder, André: Swiss theoretical astrophysicist.
Mahler, Gustav (1860–1911): Austrian composer whose exquisite symphonies often exhibit a temporal fractal quality.
Majorana, Ettore (1906–?): gifted Italian physicist who first predicted the neutron and Majorana fermion.
Maldacena, Juan (1968–): Argentinian theoretical physicist who works on the holographic principle.
Mallamace, Francesco: Italian physicist fascinated by water.
Malyutin, Sergey Vasilyevich (1859–1937): Russian painter, architect, and stage designer, who designed the first Russian Matryoshka doll.
Mandelbrot, Benoît B. (1924–2010): Polish-born French American mathematician, known for his work in fractal geometry.
Mann, Adam: American science writer, interested in cosmology.
Manning, Gerard: American geneticist who studies pseudoenzymes.
Martin, Steve (1945–): American comedian and banjo player, known for being “a wild and crazy guy.”
Martinez, Todd J. (1968–): American chemist.
Martins, Zita: English geologist, interested in abiogenesis.
Mattick, John S.: Australian molecular biologist.
Mathur, Harsh: Indian theoretical physicist, studying condensed matter theory, particularly superconductivity, with interest in theoretical particle astrophysics and cosmology.
Maupertuis, Pierre Louis (1698–1759): French mathematician and philosopher who worked in classical mechanics, heredity, and natural ecology. Maupertuis made the first known suggestion that all life had a common ancestor.
Maxwell, James Clerk (1831–1879): Scottish physicist, most famous for formulating classical electromagnetic theory in 1865. Maxwell is widely considered the 19th century physicist most influential on 20th century physics. In 1861, Maxwell invented the first durable color photograph.
Mayer, Julius Robert von (1814–1878): German physician, chemist and physicist who was one of the founders of thermodynamics.
McClintock, Barbara (1902–1992): American cytogeneticist and botanist.
McMahon, Sean: British cosmologist.
McNamara, Paul W. (1973–): Scottish astrophysicist.
Meissner, Fritz Walther (1882–1974): German technical physicist who contributed to superconductivity. Working with Robert Ochsenfeld, Meissner discovered the Meissner effect in 1933.
Mendel, Gregor (1822–1884): Austrian monk and botanist, interested in heredity.
Mendeleyev, Dmitry (aka Dmitri Mendeleev) (1834–1907): Russian chemist who created the modern table of periodic elements.
Menninger, Charles (1862–1952): American physician.
Meurer, Gerhardt R.: American astrophysicist.
Meyer, S.N.: Swiss molecular biologist.
Michell, John (1724–1793): English natural philosopher and geologist, best known for his work on gravity.
Michelson, Albert (1852–1931): American physicist who worked on measuring the speed of light; best known for the failed Michelson-Morley experiment, which sought the presumed “aether wind,” which does not exist.
Miescher, Friedrich (1844–1895): Swiss physician and biologist who first identified nucleic acid.
Milanković, Milutin (1879–1958): Serbian geophysicist who suggested long-term climatic changes based upon Earth’s cosmological movements, known as Milankovitch cycles. Milanković was also a mathematician, astronomer, climatologist, civil engineer, and popularizer of science.
Mill, John Stuart (1806–1873): English philosopher, political economist, and civil servant; proponent of individual liberty, in opposition to unlimited state control; adherent to utilitarianism, an ethical precept of right action by maximizing overall “happiness”; contributed to the scientific method via the premise of falsification.
Miller, Arthur (1915–2005): American playwright.
Miller, Stanley L. (1930–2007): American chemist who made landmark experiments in prebiotic chemistry aimed at understanding the chemical origin of life.
Millman, Dan (1946–): American athletic coach turned self-help book author and lecturer.
Minkowski, Hermann (1864–1909): Lithuanian mathematician who created and developed the geometry of numbers. By 1907, Minkowski realized that Einstein’s 1905 special theory of relativity could best be understood in a 4-dimensional spacetime, where space and time are integrated. Einstein was a former student of Minkowski, of whom Minkowski thought at the time would never amount to anything.
Misner, Charles W. (1932–): American physicist, interested in general relativity and cosmology.
Misra, Baidyanath (1937–): Indian physicist and mathematician.
Mitchell, Joni (1943–): Canadian singer, songwriter, and musician.
Molaro, Antoine: French geneticist, interested in embryogenesis and heredity.
Montell, Denise J.: American biochemist and cytologist.
Moore, Stanford (1913–1982): American biochemist who worked on ribonuclease and protein sequencing.
Moore, Thomas: American physicist.
Morley, Edward (1838–1923): American scientist, whose claim to fame is the failed Michelson-Morley experiment, which sought the presumed “aether wind,” which does not exist.
Morr, Dirk K.: German American physicist.
Moskalenko, Andrey S.: Russian quantum physicist.
Motlagh, Hesam N.: American molecular biophysicist and financial economist.
Mpemba, Erasto (1950–): Tanzanian scientist who, as a hasty childhood ice cream maker, serendipitously rediscovered that hot water freezes faster than cold water. Mpemba had the good fortune to have the oddity named after him (the Mpemba effect). Others throughout history, including Aristotle, Francis Bacon, and René Descartes, had noted this phenomenon.
Murayama, Hitoshi: Japanese physicist who works on supersymmetry.
Nagaoka, Hantaro (1865–1950): Japanese physicist who contributed to atomic theory and radio wave communication.
Nair, Gautham: American geneticist.
Natland, James H.: American marine geologist and geophysics.
Nemenman, Ilya: Russian American theoretical biophysicist, interested in neuroscience, biological communication, learning and evolutionary adaptation.
Nernst, Walther (1864–1941): German physicist and chemist who is best known for developing the 3rd law of thermodynamics.
Newcomb, Simon (1835–1909): self-taught Canadian astronomer, mathematician, economist, and author (science books, and 1 science fiction novel). Newcomb spoke French, German, Italian, and Swedish.
Newton, Isaac (1642–1727): English physicist, astronomer, alchemist, mathematician, natural philosopher, and theologian; widely considered to be one of the most influential scientists. Classical mechanics are typically termed Newtonian physics.
Nicolis, Alberto: Italian physicist, interested in theoretical high -energy physics.
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1844–1900): German philosopher that embraced existentialism and nihilism. Existentialism embraces individual experience as the proper path to understanding. Nihilism posits that life is subjectively valuated.
Noffke, Nora: American geomicrobiologist.
Nora, Elphege: American geneticist.
Nordenfelt, Pontus: Swedish engineer.
Norman, Eric B.: American nuclear physicist.
Novello, Mario: Brazilian astrophysicist.
Ochsenfeld, Robert (1901–1993): German physicist who worked with Fritz Meissner on superconductivity, co-discoverer of the Meissner effect.
O’Donoghue, John: English astronomer.
Ohm, Georg Simon (1789–1854): German physicist and mathematician, interested in electrochemical cells.
Ohno, Susumu (1928–2000): Japanese American geneticist and evolutionary biologist who helped popularize the wrong-headed notion that most human DNA was useless (“junk”).
O’Neill, Craig: Australian geophysicist.
Onnes, Heike Kamerlingh (1853–1926): Dutch physicist who contributed to refrigeration; first to liquefy helium; discovered superconductivity in 1911.
Oort, Jan (1900–1992): Dutch astronomer who was a pioneer in radio astronomy. The Oort cloud of comets in the deep solar system bears his name.
Oparin, Alexander (1894–1980): Russian biochemist, best known for his book: The Origin of Life (1936).
Orgel, Leslie E. (1927–2007): English chemist, interested in abiogenesis.
Osborn, Raymond: American physicist, interested in electron systems.
Padmanabhan, Thanu (1957–): Indian theoretical physicist; adherent to the holographic principle.
Pal, Sourav: Indian chemist.
Pandey, Akhilesh: Indian molecular biologist, pathologist, oncologist, and geneticist.
Papenbrock, Thomas: American nuclear physicist.
Parkinson, David: Australian cosmologist.
Parkinson, Gareth S. (1981–): English physicist, interested in the atomic-scale processes underlying metal-oxide surface chemistry.
Pascal, Blaise (1623 –1662): French mathematician, physicist, inventor, and Christian philosopher; a child prodigy.
Pascal, Robert: French molecular biologist.
Pasteur, Louis (1822–1895): French chemist and microbiologist, remembered for his discoveries regarding the causes and preventions of infectious diseases. Pasteur’s experiments supported the germ theory of disease: that pathogenic microorganisms cause many diseases.
Patterson, Clair Cameron (1922–1995): American geochemist who developed a geological dating method based upon radioactive decay of uranium; the first to accurately age Earth at 4.55 billion years, in 1948.
Pauli, Wolfgang (1900–1958): sharp-tongued and sharp-witted Austrian theoretical physicist; a quantum physics pioneer.
The best that most of us can hope to achieve in physics is simply to misunderstand at a deeper level. ~ Wolfgang Pauli
Pauling, Linus (1901–1994): American chemist, peace activist, and admirer of vitamin C.
Pearson, Karl (1857–1936): English mathematician, credited with establishing mathematical statistics. Pearson contributed to biometrics and meteorology. Pearson was a proponent of social Darwinism and favored eugenics.
Penzias, Arno A. (1933–): American astrophysicist who co-discovered cosmic background radiation with Robert Wilson in 1964.
Perrin, Jean (1870–1942): French physicist who worked on atomic theory and the nature of matter. Perrin explained cathode rays as negatively charged corpuscles, and solar energy as thermonuclear hydrogen reactions.
Peruzzo, Alberto: Italian physicist, interested in quantum information.
Petit, Jean-Pierre (1937–): French astrophysicist, interested in fluid mechanics (particularly magnetohydrodynamics), plasma physics, kinetic theory of gases, and topology.
Pettersson, Lars G.M.: Swedish physiochemist.
Planck, Max (1858–1947): German physicist who founded quantum field theory, then rejected it out of philosophic revulsion, owing to the indeterminate nature of wave/particle duality (Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle). Planck philosophically preferred determinism.
Plutarch (46–120): Greek essayist and biographer.
Pohl, Randolf: German physicist.
Poincaré, Henri (1854–1912): brilliant French mathematician, theoretical physicist, engineer, and philosopher of science.
Polanyi, Michael (1891–1976): Hungarian–English polymath who made contributions in philosophy, chemistry, and economics. Polanyi argued that positivism gives an incomplete account of the knowledge of reality.
Polchinski, Joseph (1942–): American string theorist working on D-brane theory and the idea of wormholes.
Polimann, Frank: German physicist, interested in quasiparticles and solid-state physics.
Polkovnikov, Anatoli: Russian American physicist.
Popper, Karl (1902–1994): Austrian British philosopher, interested in the philosophy of science. Popper rejected the classical inductivist view on the scientific method (attributed to Francis Bacon) in favor of inductive (empirical) falsifiability. See falsifiability, inductivism.
Porter, Cole (1891–1964): American songwriter, particularly fond of musical theater.
Powner, Matthew (1982–): English organic chemist, interested in abiogenesis.
Pratchett, Terry (1948–2015): English fantasy novelist.
Priestley, Joseph (1733–1804): English political theorist, Unitarian minister, and theologian who is often credited with discovering oxygen. Best known for his advocacy of utilitarianism: an ethical precept that right action maximizes holistic happiness.
Prost, Jacques (1946–): French physicist.
Prugh, Laura R.: American biologist.
Pruitt, Jonathan N.: American ecologist, interested in species variation.
Ptashne, Mark (1940–): American molecular biologist and violinist; first to demonstrate specific binding between protein and DNA.
Ptolemy, Claudius (90–168): Egyptian mathematician, astronomer, geographer, and astrologer. His lasting fame owed to 3 treatises: 1 on astronomy, 1 on geography, and 1 on astrology, which was based upon Aristotelian natural philosophy.
Pulleyblank, David E.: Canadian geneticist.
Pusey, Matthew F.: English particle physicist, known for the Pusey-Barrett-Rudolph theorem.
Pythagoras (570–495 BCE): Ionian Greek mathematician and philosopher, best known for the Pythagorean theorem, which was previously known by the Babylonians and Indians.
Qing-yu Cai: Chinese physicist, interested in quantum cosmology theory.
Qingdi Wang: Chinese physicist.
Quayle, Dan (1947–): American politician; 44th US Vice President under George H.W. Bush; former congressman and senator from Indiana. Quayle was widely ridiculed for his frequent gaffes.
Qimron, Udi: Israeli microbiologist.
Raj, Arjun: Indian American molecular biologist, cytologist, and bioengineer.
Ralph, Timothy C.: Australian quantum physicist.
Ramond, Pierre (1943–): French physicist working on superstring theory.
Randall, Lisa (1962–): American theoretical physicist who works on string theory; best known for the Randall–Sundrum braneworld models (developed with Raman Sundrum).
Ranjan, Sukrit: Indian astrophysicist and astronomer, interested in the evolution of rocky planets and the origin of life on Earth.
Rankine, William J.M. (1820–1872): Scottish mechanical engineer who made contributions to civil engineering, physics, and mathematics.
Raspail, François-Vincent (1794–1878): French chemist, naturalist, physiologist, and socialist politician; one of the founders of cytology.
Rees, Martin J.: English astrophysicist.
Renner, Renato: Swiss theoretical physicist.
Reuveni, Shlomi: Israeli systems biologist.
Rey, Felix: French virologist.
Rich, Alexander (1924–2015): American biologist and biophysicist who first suggested the RNA-world hypothesis in 1962.
Riess, Adam G. (1969–): American astrophysicist.
Robertson, Brant: American astronomer.
Robinson, Gene E.: American systems biologist and genomist.
Rodejohann, Werner: German physicist.
Rømer, Ole (1644–1710): Danish astronomer who made the first quantitative measurements of the speed of light.
Romero, Jacquiline: Australian quantum physicist, interested in photons.
Röntgen, Wilhelm (1845–1923): German physicist who first accidentally generated X-rays.
Rosen, Nathan (1909–1995): American Israeli physicist.
Roth, V. Louise: American evolutionary biologist.
Rothbart, Scott B.: American epigeneticist.
Rothmann, Christoph (ca 1555–1605): German mathematician and astronomer who was a convinced follower of Copernican heliocentricity. This early stargazer fell into oblivion compared to his contemporaries, notably correspondent Tycho Brahe, who was skeptical of Earth moving about.
Rovelli, Carlo: Italian theoretical physicist.
Rudolph, Terry: English particle physicist, known for the Pusey-Barrett-Rudolph theorem.
Rumsfeld, Donald (1932–): American politician, bureaucrat, and businessman; US defense secretary (2001–2006). Once popular for his candor, admiration wore thin as the wars he helped conduct in Iraq and Afghanistan slogged on to no positive outcome.
Rupprecht, Jean-Francois: French biophysicist.
Rushworth, Stuart: English cytologist, interested in immunology and hematology.
Russell, John Scott (1808–1882): Scottish engineer who discovered solitons. Russell was a naval architect and shipbuilder.
Russell, Michael J.: American geochemist.
Russell, Peter: English physicist.
Rutherford, Daniel (1749–1819): Scottish physician, chemist, and botanist; known for isolating atmospheric nitrogen in 1772 without really appreciating what he was doing.
Rutherford, Ernest (1871–1937): English physicist and chemist, known as the father of nuclear physics.
Sabatini, David: American biologist.
Sahai, Erik: English cell pathologist.
Sahl, Ibn (940–1000): Persian physicist and mathematician.
Sakai, Hideaki: Japanese physicist.
Salam, Abdus (1926–1996): Pakistani theoretical physicist who worked on the unification of electromagnetic and weak forces (electroweak unification).
Sana, Hughes: Dutch astronomer.
Sanbonmatsu, Karissa: American epigeneticist.
Sandage, Allan (1926–2010): American astronomer.
Sandford, Scott: American astrophysicist.
Sarkar, Subir: Indian theoretical physicist.
Sassone-Corsi, Paolo: Italian biochemist.
Scheck, Marcus: Scottish nuclear physicist.
Scheele, Carl Wilhelm (1742–1786): Swedish pharmaceutical chemist; called “hard-luck Scheele” for making numerous unaccredited chemical discoveries, including oxygen, hydrogen, chlorine, barium, tungsten, and molybdenum. Scheele was a tad slow to publish.
Schleich, Wolfgang P. (1957–): German theoretical physicist, interested in the foundations of quantum mechanics.
Schon, Eric A.: American cytologist, biochemist, and neurologist, interested in mitochondria.
Schrenk, Matthew O.: American geomicrobiologist, interested in subsurface ecosystems.
Schrödinger, Erwin (1887–1961): Austrian physicist and theoretical biologist who was one of the fathers of quantum field theory, and later disowned it. Best known for Schrödinger’s equation, regarding the dynamics of quantum systems.
Schuetz, Robert: Swiss microbiologist.
Schuster, Arthur (1851–1934): German-born British physicist who worked on electrochemistry, optics, spectroscopy, and X-radiography.
Schuur, Edward A.G.: American ecologist.
Schwarz, Dominik J.: astrophysicist.
Schwarz, Melvin (1932–2006): American physicist.
Schwarzschild, Karl (1873–1916): German physicist, best known for deriving the first exact solution to the Einstein field equations of general relativity. Einstein was only able to produce an approximate solution.
Sciama, Dennis W. (1926–1999): English physicist, interested in cosmology.
Seiberg, Nathan (1956–): Israeli theoretical physicist who works on string theory.
Sethupathy, Praveen: Indian geneticist.
Severinov, Konstantin: Russian geneticist, interested in the mechanics of gene expression in bacteria, and development of new antibiotics.
Shabala, Stanislav: Australian astrophysicist, best known for his work on black holes.
Shalm, Lynden K.: American physicist.
Shannon, Claude E. (1916–2001): American mathematician, electrical engineer, and cryptographer, interested in implementing symbolic logic via machinery. Shannon founded circuit design theory (1937) and information theory (1948).
Shapiro, James A.: American molecular biologist and bacterial genetics maven.
Shapley, Harlow (1885–1972): American astronomer who discovered the nearby galactic supercluster, now named the Shapley Supercluster.
Shaw, George Bernard (1856–1950): Irish playwright, angered by exploitation of the working class; an ardent socialist.
Shockley, William Jr. (1910–1989): American physicist who invented semiconductor transistors.
Silva, Isabela A.: Brazilian physicist.
Simcoe, Robert A.: American astrophysicist.
Simons, Kai (1938–): Finnish biochemist.
Simplicius of Cilicia (490–560): Greek philosopher; one of the last Neoplatonists who wrote extensively on Aristotle; a pagan persecuted by Justinian in the early 6th century.
Skenderis, Kostas: Dutch theoretical physicist and mathematician.
Skyttner, Lars: Swedish systems theorist.
Slipher, Vesto (1875–1969): American astronomer, discoverer of galaxies beyond the Milky Way.
Sluse, Dominique: Belgian astrophysicist.
Smith, D. Eric: American chemical physicist.
Smith, John Maynard (1920–2004): English theoretical evolutionary biologist and geneticist. Smith applied game theory to evolution and studied the evolution of sex and the nature of communication.
Smolin, Lee: Canadian theoretical physicist.
Snellius, Willebrord (known in the English-speaking world as Snell) (1580–1626): Dutch astronomer and mathematician.
Soddy, Frederick (1877–1956): English radiochemist and monetary economist who contributed to understanding radioactivity. In understanding the inherent folly of finance and the limits to growth, Soddy anticipated ecological economics.
Söll, Dieter: German biochemist.
Sorek, Rotem: Israeli molecular geneticist, interested in bacteriophage strategies and epigenetic regulation in microbes.
Spatz, Joachim: German cytologist.
Stairs, Shaun: English organic chemist, interested in abiogenesis.
Stark, Johannes (1874–1957): German physicist and enthusiastic Nazi who agitated against the “Jewish physics” of Albert Einstein and Werner Heisenberg (who was not Jewish).
Starkman, Glenn D.: astrophysicist.
Stefan, Jožef (1835–1893): Austrian physicist and mathematician, best known for stating in 1879 the physical power law that the total radiation from a black body is proportional to the 4th power of its temperature.
Stefani, Frank: German physicist.
Steinberg, Peter: American physicist.
Steinhardt, Paul J.: American theoretical physicist. Steinhardt helped develop the notion of cosmic inflation, but later rejected it, instead embracing cyclic cosmology.
Stenger, Victor J. (1935–2014): American particle physicist, atomist philosopher, and godless heathen who advocated science and reason.
Stenmark, Harald: Norwegian cytologist.
Stergachis, Andrew B.: American geneticist.
Stevenson, Adlai (II) (1900–1965): thoughtful and eloquent American liberal politician (Democrat).
Stewart, Balfour (1828–1887): Scottish physicist, interested in solar dynamics.
Stradler, Lewis J. (1896–1954): American geneticist, interested in the mutagenic effects of radiation.
Su-Yang Xu: Chinese physicist.
Sudarshan, E.C. George (1931–): Indian theoretical physicist, interested in various quantum phenomena.
Sundrum, Raman: American theoretical particle physicist, known for the Randall–Sundrum braneworld models (developed with Lisa Randall).
Suntzeff, Nicholas B. (1952–): American astronomer.
Susskind, Leonard (1940–): American theoretical physicist; a pioneer in string theory who also works in quantum field theory, quantum statistical mechanics, and quantum cosmology.
Sutherland, John D.: English biochemist.
Sweatt, J. David: American biochemist.
Swedenborg, Emanuel (1688–1772): Swedish scientist, theologian, and Christian mystic who developed the nebular hypothesis: that the solar system formed by gyral matter accretion.
‘t Hooft, Gerard (1946–): Dutch theoretical physicist, interested in quantum gravity, black holes, gauge theory, holistic dimensionality, and the holographic principle.
Tait, Peter (1831–1901): Scottish mathematical physicist, best known for his work on knot theory.
Talaro, Kathleen Park: American molecular biologist.
Tamm, Igor (1895–1971): Russian physicist who conceptualized phonons in 1932. Tamm helped discover Cherenkov radiation.
Tanaka, Hajime: Japanese physicist.
Tanurdžić, Miloš: geneticist and molecular biologist, interested in plant development and epigenetics.
Taroni, Andrea: English physicist.
Tegmark, Max (1967–): Swedish American cosmologist.
Temple, William (1881–1944): English Anglican clergyman who favored socialism.
Theobald, Douglas: American biochemist who believes in universal common ancestry.
Thomas, Lewis (1913–1993): American physician and writer.
Thompson, Benjamin (aka Count Rumford) (1753–1814): American-born English physicist, inventor, and military man who helped shape the modern understanding of thermodynamics.
Thompson, M.J.: English zoologist.
Thomson, Joseph John (J.J.) (1856–1940): English physicist, credited with discovering electrons and isotopes.
Thomson, William (1837–1907) (better known as Lord Kelvin): English mathematical physicist and engineer, best known for suggesting that there is an absolute lower limit to temperature; hence the Kelvin temperature scale.
Thurber, Andrew R.: American oceanographer.
Ting Wang: Chinese geneticist.
Tolkien, J.R.R. (1892–1973): English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor; best known for his fantasy novels The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
Tolman, Richard C. (1881–1948): American mathematical physicist and physical chemist, interested in statistical mechanics.
Tomkins, Gordon M. (1926–1975): American biochemist.
Torbert, Roy B.: American astrophysicist.
Toschi, Alessandro: Italian physicist.
Trakhtenbrot, Benny: Israeli astronomer, interested in the evolution of black holes.
Trefil, James (1938–): American physicist and science writer. Trefil argued that human intelligence is special in his book Are We Unique? (1997).
Tryon, Edward P. (1940–): American physicist.
Tsuchiya, Tokuji: Japanese plant cytologist.
Tully, R. Brent (1943–): Canadian astronomer.
Turing, Alan (1912–1954): influential English logician, mathematician, computer scientist, cryptanalyst, and theoretical biologist; influential in the conceptualization of computer science; persecuted by the British government for homosexuality to the point of suicide (torture which Queen Elizabeth called “appalling” in 2009).
Turner, Michael S. (1949–): American theoretical cosmologist and physicist. Turner coined the term dark energy.
Tūsī, Nasīr al-Dīn (1201–1274): Persian polymath who proposed a hierarchical theory of evolution.
Twain, Mark (pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens) (1835–1910): talented American author prized for his satire and wit. Best known for his novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885).
Unruh, William G. (Bill) (1945–): Canadian physicist, interested in gravity. Among other eccentricities, Unruh thinks that quantum nonlocality is actually local, as quantum bits need not subscribe to Bell’s theorem.
Valencia, Alfonso: Spanish biologist.
Valéry, Paul (1871–1945): French poet, essayist, and philosopher. While best known as a poet, he published fewer than 100 poems and none of them drew much attention.
Van Allen, James A. (1914–2006): American astrophysicist who discovered the radiation belt surrounding Earth in 1958.
van der Marel, Dirk: Dutch physicist.
van der Waals, Johannes Diderik (1837–1923): Dutch theoretical physicist and thermodynamicist, famous for his work modeling gases and liquids.
van der Wal, Casper H. (1971–): Dutch quantum physicist.
van Dokkum, Pieter: Dutch astronomer.
van Helmont, Jan Baptist (1579–1644): Belgian chemist, physiologist, and physician, best remembered for his advocacy of spontaneous generation, which turned out to be rot. van Helmont is considered the father of pneumatic chemistry and credited with introducing the term gas (from the Greek word for chaos) into scientific nomenclature.
Van Raamsdonk, Mark: Canadian theoretical physicist, working on a unified field theory involving wormhole entanglement.
Vedral, Vlatko: Serbian-born British physicist, working on theories of entanglement and quantum information theory.
Veneziano, Gabriele (1942–): Italian string theorist.
Venuti, Lorenzo Campos: Italian theoretical physicist.
Verlinde, Erik P.: Dutch theoretical physicist.
Verresen, Ruben: German quantum physicist.
Vilenkin, Alexander: Ukrainian American physicist, interested in cosmology.
Villarreal, Luis P.: American virologist, biochemist, and molecular biologist, interested in the role of viruses in evolution.
Vogel, Steven (1940–2015): American zoologist and biomechanist.
von Helmholtz, Hermann (1821–1894): German physician, physicist, and philosopher; known for his contributions in understanding vision and thermodynamics. von Helmholtz’s philosophy of science considered the relation between laws of Nature and perception.
von Neumann, John (1903–1957): Hungarian American mathematician and polymath.
Vultaggio, Janelle: American microbiologist, interested in microbiomes and microbial relationships.
Wächtershäuser, Günter (1938–): German organic chemist and patent lawyer who developed the iron-sulfur origin of life theory: that life originated in seafloor hydrothermal vents, nestled in pyrite.
Waddington, Conrad H. (1905–1975): English geneticist, developmental biologist, paleontologist, embryologist, and philosopher. Waddington laid the foundation for systems biology.
Wallberg, Andreas: Swedish geneticist.
Walker, Sarah Imari: American astrobiologist.
Ward, Peter: American marine biologist and paleontologist.
Watanabe, Haruki (1986–): Japanese physicist who works on spontaneous symmetry breaking and Nambu-Goldstone bosons.
Watson, James D. (1928–): American molecular biologist, known as the 1953 co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, with Francis Crick.
Weaver, Valerie M.: American biologist and biochemist, interested in oncology (tumors).
Weber, Jesse N.: American biologist.
Weber, Michael: French geneticist.
Wegner, Gary A. (1944–): American astronomer; one of the discoverers of The Great Attractor: a massive gravity anomaly in deep space.
Weiguo Yin: Chinese quantum physicist.
Weimer, Hendrik: German quantum physicist.
Weinberg, Marc S. (Marco): South African geneticist.
Weinberg, Steven (1933–): American theoretical physicist who contributed to electroweak theory.
Weitzman, Jonathan B.: French geneticist interested in epigenetics.
Wells, H.G. (1866–1946): prolific English author, best known for his science fiction works, including The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds. Wells was a socialist, and a proponent of world government. Wells advocated improving the human breeding stock (eugenics).
Wesson, Paul S. (1949–2015): English theoretical physicist and astrophysicist.
Weyl, Hermann (1885–1955): German mathematician and theoretical physicist; one of the first to conceive of combining electromagnetism with general relativity.
Wheeler, John A. (1911–2008): American theoretical physicist who worked on the principles behind nuclear fission. Wheeler collaborated with Albert Einstein on a relativity-based unified field theory which came to naught. Wheeler later bought into the idea that information is fundamental to physics. Wheeler coined the terms black hole, wormhole, and quantum foam.
Whewell, William (1794–1866): English polymath, scientist, science historian, economist, philosopher, theologian, and Anglican priest. Whewell’s legacy was wordsmithing: he coined the terms scientist, physicist, linguistics, catastrophism, and uniformism, among others. To Michael Faraday, Whewell suggested: ion, dielectric, anode, and cathode. Whewell coined the term consilience to characterize the unification of knowledge between different branches of learning.
Whitesides, George M. (1939–): American chemist.
Wienert, Beeke: Australian geneticist and molecular biologist.
Wiens, John J.: American ecologist.
Wigner, Eugene P. (1902–1995): Hungarian American theoretical physicist and mathematician.
Wilczek, Frank (1951–): American theoretical physicist.
Wilde, Oscar (1854–1900): Irish writer and poet.
Wiles, Andrew (1953–): English mathematician, best known for proving Fermat’s last theorem in 1994.
Wilkins, Adam S.: English biologist.
Wilkinson, Miles F.: American obstetrician and gynecologist.
William of Ockham (~1287–1347): English Franciscan friar, theologian, and scholastic philosopher; one of the major figures in medieval thought.
Willbanks, Amber: American geneticist and cytologist.
Williams, Loren D.: American biochemist.
Wilson, Robert W. (1936–): American astrophysicist who co-discovered cosmic background radiation with Arno Penzias in 1964.
Wiltshire, David L.: New Zealander astrophysicist.
Winkel, Brenda S.J.: American biochemist and geneticist.
Witten, Ed (1951–): American theoretical physicist who developed M-theory.
Woese, Carl (1928–2012): American microbiologist and physicist who declared in 1977 archaea a new domain of life (distinct from bacteria).
Wöhler, Friedrich (1800–1882): German chemist who initiated modern organic chemistry with his synthesis of urea. Wöhler was also the first to isolate several chemical elements, including aluminum, beryllium, silicon, titanium, and yttrium.
Woit, Peter: American mathematician and theoretical physicist.
Wolf, Christian: Australian astronomer.
Wolff, Suzanne: American cytologist.
Wootters, William K.: American theoretical physicist, interested in quantum entanglement; one of the founders of quantum information theory.
Wright, Addison V.: American molecular biologist.
Wright, Jason T.: American astronomer.
Wright, Peter E.: American molecular biologist.
Wright, Steven (1955–): American comedian.
Xianrui Cheng: Chinese cytologist.
Young, Ross D.: Australian physicist.
Zahn, Laura M.: American geneticist.
Zamore, Phillip: American biochemical geneticist.
Zanardi, Paolo: Italian theoretical physicist, interested in quantum entanglement and quantum information theory.
Zeeman, Pieter (1865–1943): Dutch physicist who discovered the Zeeman effect in 1896.
Zenklusen, Daniel: Canadian geneticist.
Zeno of Elea (495–430 BCE): Greek philosopher and mathematician whom Aristotle credited with inventing dialectic. Zeno is best known for his paradoxes, which contributed to the development of logical and mathematical rigor and were insoluble until precise notions of continuity and infinity developed. None of Zeno’s writings are extant intact. The main sources on Zeno are Aristotle and Simplicius of Cilicia.
Zwicky, Fritz (1898–1974): Swiss astronomer who termed dark matter.
