GIOVANNI ALDINI

ITALIAN

1762 – 1834

Chiefly concerned with

galvanism and also on the
construction and
illumination of lighthouses.
 ANDRÉ – MARIE AMPÈRE

FRENCH

1775 – 1836

One of the main discoverers

of electromagnetism
 KNUT JOHAN ANGSTROM

SWEDISH

1857 – 1910

Invented apparatus for

obtaining a photographic
representation of the infra-
red spectrum.
 ARCHIMEDES OF SYRACUSE

GREEK

287 B.C. – 212 B.C.

Discovered the principle of buoyancy,

while taking a bath, upon which he is
supposed to have run naked through the
streets shouting "Eureka. Archimedes is
also invented the Archimedean screw.
 ARISTOTLE

GREEK

384 B.C. – 322 B.C.

Pioneered the study of zoology.

He also introduced the idea that nature is
composed of things that change and that
studying such changes can provide useful
knowledge of underlying constants.
SVANTE AUGUST ARRHENIUS

SWEDISH

1859 – 1927

He explained the fact that most reactions

require added heat energy to proceed by
formulating the concept of activation
energy.
He also developed a theory to explain the
greenhouse effect
 AMEDEO AVOGADRO

ITALIAN

1776 – 1856

He is most noted for his contributions to

molecular theory, including what is known
as Avogadro's law. In tribute to him, the
number of atoms, molecules, ions or other
particles in 1 mole of a substance,
6.02214179(30)×1023, is known as the
Avogadro constant.
 JOHANN JAKOB BALMER

GERMAN

1825 - 1898

Devised an empirical formula for

working out the visible spectral lines
(wavelength) of the hydrogen atom.
ANTOINE HENRI BECQUEREL

FRENCH

1852 – 1908

Discover of radioactivity along with

Marie Curie and Pierre Curie.
 DANIEL BERNOULLI

DUTCH – SWISS

1700 – 1782

His most important work

was developing the
Bernoulli principle.
 JÖNS JAKOB BERZELIUS

SWEDISH

1779 – 1848

He worked out the modern

technique of chemical
formula notation e.g. C6H12O6
NIELS

HENDRIK DAVID BOHR

DANISH

1885 – 1962

Made some of the first contributions

to understanding atomic structure
and quantum mechanics.
 LUDWIG BOLTZMANN

GERMAN

1844 – 1906

Boltzmann's most important scientific

contributions were in kinetic theory,
including the Maxwell-Boltzmann
distribution for molecular speeds in a gas
and being a strong advocate for atomic
theory.
 ROBERT BOYLE

IRISH

1627 – 1691

Developed Boyle’s Law which states

that for a fixed amount of an ideal gas
kept at a fixed temperature, P
[pressure] and V [volume] are inversely
proportional (while one increases, the
other decreases.
 LOUIS DE BROGLIE

FRENCH

1892 – 1987

Developed the theory of electron

waves and stated that any moving
particle or object had an associated
wave.
 ROBERT WILHELM BUNSEN

GERMAN

1811 – 1899

Developed the Bunsen burner and

with Gustav Kirchhoff discovered
caesium (in 1860) and rubidium (in
1861).
 NICOLAS LÉONARD
SADI CARNOT

FRENCH

1796 – 1832

Gave the first successful theoretical

account of heat engines, now known as the
Carnot cycle, thereby laying the
foundations of the second law of
thermodynamics.
 ANDERS CELSIUS

SWEDISH

1701 – 1744

He proposed the Celsius temperature

scale.
 JAMES CHADWICK

ENGLISH

1891 – 1974

English Nobel laureate in physics

awarded for his discovery of the
neutron.
 JACQUES ALEXANDRE
CÉSAR CHARLES

FRENCH

1746 – 1823

Formulated Charles's law, which states

that, at constant pressure, the volume
occupied by a fixed weight of gas is
directly proportional to the absolute
temperature.
 CHRISTIAAN NEETHLING
BARNARD

SOUTH AFRICAN

1922 – 2001

Performed the world's first

successful human-to-human heart
transplant
 RUDOLF JULIUS EMMANUEL
CLAUSIUS

GERMAN

1822 – 1888

He introduced the concept of

entropy and therefore the second law
of thermodynamics.
 CHARLES AUGUST
DE COULOMB

FRENCH

1736 – 1806

He is best known for developing

Coulomb's law, the definition of the
electrostatic force of attraction and
repulsion.
 WILLIAM CROOKES

ENGLISH

1832 – 1919

He was a pioneer of vacuum tubes,

inventing the Crookes tube.
Wilhelm Röntgen discovered x-rays
with the Crookes tube in 1895
JOHN
DALTON

ENGLISH

1766 – 1844

He is best known for his pioneering

work in the development of modern
atomic theory and his research into
colour blindness.
JOHN
FREDERIC DANIELL

ENGLISH

1790 – 1845

His name is best known for his

invention of the Daniell cell (1836),
an electric battery much better than
voltaic cells.
CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN

ENGLISH

1809 – 1882

He was an English naturalist who

established that all species of life have
descended over time from common
ancestors, and proposed that this
branching pattern of evolution resulted
from a process that he called natural
selection.
 HUMPHRY DAVY

ENGLISH

1778 – 1829

He is probably best remembered today

for his discoveries of several alkali and
alkaline earth metals, as well as
contributions to the discoveries of the
elemental nature of chlorine and iodine.
 PETER JOSEPHUS
WILHELMUS DEBYE

DUTCH

1884 – 1966

His major scientific contribution was

the application of the concept of dipole
moment to the charge distribution in
asymmetric molecules in 1912.
 DEMOCRITUS

GREEK

460 B.C. – 370 B.C.

Formulated an atomic theory for the

cosmos
 DOROTHY CROWFOOT
HODGKIN

ENGLISH

1910 – 1994
She advanced the technique of X-ray
crystallography, a method used to
determine the three dimensional structures
of biomolecules e.g. Vitamin B12.
 THOMAS ALVA EDISON

AMERICAN

1847 – 1931

Invented the electric light bulb

 ALBERT EINSTEIN

GERMAN

1879 – 1955

He is often regarded as the father of

modern physics. He received the 1921
Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to
Theoretical Physics, and especially for his
discovery of the law of the photoelectric
effect and the special and general theories
of relativity.
 LEONHARD EULER

SWISS

1707 – 1783

Euler helped develop the Euler–Bernoulli

beam equation, which became a
cornerstone of engineering. His other
accomplishments include determining with
great accuracy the orbits of comets and
other celestial bodies and understanding
the nature of comets.
DANIEL GABRIEL FAHRENHEIT

POLISH

1686 – 1736

Who is best known for inventing the

alcohol thermometer (1709), the mercury
thermometer (1714), and for developing a
temperature scale now named after him.
 MICHAEL FARADAY

ENGLISH

1791 – 1867

Faraday studied the magnetic field around

a conductor carrying a DC electric current,
and established the basis for the
electromagnetic field concept in physics.
He discovered electromagnetic induction,
diamagnetism, and laws of electrolysis.
 ALEXANDER FLEMING

SCOTTISH

1881 – 1955

His best-known achievements are the

discovery of the enzyme lysozyme in 1923
and the antibiotic substance penicillin
from the fungus Penicillium notatum in
1928.
 FRANCIS HARRY
COMPTON CRICK

ENGLISH

1916 – 2004

Most noted for being one of two co-

discoverers of the structure of the DNA
molecule in 1953, together with James D.
Watson

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

AMERICAN

1706 – 1790

He invented the lightning rod,

bifocals and the Franklin stove.
 ROSALIND ELSIE FRANKLIN

ENGLISH

1920 – 1958

Helped to discover the structure of

DNA through X-ray crystallography
 AUGUSTIN – JEAN FRESNEL

FRENCH

1788 – 1827

Contributed significantly to the

establishment of the theory of wave optics.
He is perhaps best known as the inventor
of the Fresnel lens, first adopted in
lighthouses and found in many
applications today.
 HEINRICH RUDOLF HERTZ

GERMAN

1857 – 1894

He was the first to satisfactorily

demonstrate the existence of
electromagnetic waves by building an
apparatus to produce and detect VHF
or UHF radio waves
 GALILEO GALILEI

ITALIAN

1564 – 1642

The "father of modern observational

astronomy," His achievements include
improvements to the telescope and
consequent astronomical observations, and
support for Copernicanism (the sun being
at the centre of the universe).
 LUIGI GALVANI

ITALIAN

1737 – 1798

In 1771, he discovered that the muscles of

dead frogs legs twitched when struck by a
spark. This the first study into
bioelectricity, a field that still today
studies the electrical patterns and signals
of the nervous system
 CARL FRIEDRICH GAUSS

GERMAN

1777 – 1855

Constructed the first electromechanical

telegraph in 1833, which connected the
observatory with the institute for physics
in Göttingen.
JOSEPH LOUIS GAY – LUSSAC

FRENCH

1778 – 1850

Known mostly for two laws related to

gases, and for his work on alcohol-water
mixtures, which led to the degrees Gay-
Lussac used to measure alcoholic
beverages in many countries.
 JOSIAH WILLARD GIBBS

AMERICAN

1839 – 1903

He devised much of the theoretical

foundation for chemical thermodynamics
as well as physical chemistry
 THOMAS GRAHAM

SCOTTISH

1805 – 1869

Best-remembered today for his

pioneering work in dialysis and the
diffusion of gases
 FRITZ HABER

GERMAN

1868 – 1934

Received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in

1918 for his development for synthesizing
ammonia, important for fertilizers and
explosives
 JOHANNES (HANS)
WILHELM GEIGER

GERMAN

1882 – 1945

Is perhaps best known as the co-inventor

of the Geiger counter and for the Geiger-
Marsden experiment which discovered the
Atomic nucleus.
STEPHEN WILLIAM HAWKING

ENGLISH

1942-
Key scientific works to date have included
providing, with Roger Penrose, theorems
regarding gravitational singularities in the
framework of general relativity, and the
theoretical prediction that black holes
should emit radiation (Hawking radiation).
 HERMANN
LUDWIG FERDINAND VON
HELMHOLTZ

GERMAN

1821 – 1894

He is known for his theories of vision,

color vision research, theories on the
conservation of energy, work in
electrodynamics and chemical
thermodynamics.
 PAUL LOUIS – TOUSSAINT
HÉROULT

FRENCH

1863 – 1914

Inventor of the aluminium

electrolysis and of the electric steel
furnace
 FRIEDRICH WILHELM
HERSCHEL

GERMAN

1738 – 1822

Became most famous for the discovery of

the planet Uranus in addition to several of
its major moons such as Titania and
Oberon. He also discovered infrared
radiation.
 GERMAIN HENRI HESS

SWISS

1802 – 1850

Developed Hess's Law that states that in a

series of chemical reactions, the total
energy gained or lost depends only on the
initial and final states, regardless of the
number or path of the steps.
 HIPPOCRATES

GREEK

460 B.C. – 370 B.C.

 Is considered one of the most
outstanding figures in the history of
medicine

ROBERT HOOKE

ENGLISH

1635 – 1703
Hooke is known for his law of elasticity
(Hooke's law) and for first applying the
word "cell" to describe the basic unit of
life

EDWIN POWELL HUBBLE

AMERICAN

1889 – 1953
Demonstrated the existence of galaxies
other than our own, the Milky Way.
Discovered that the degree of "Doppler
shift" (specifically "redshift") observed in
the light spectra from other galaxies
 increased in proportion to a particular
galaxy's distance from Earth. This helped
establish that the known universe is
expanding.

CHRISTIAAN HUYGENS

DUTCH

1629 – 1685
 Work included early telescopic studies
elucidating the nature of the rings of
Saturn and the discovery of its moon Titan
and the invention of the pendulum clock.

JAMES DEWEY WATSON

AMERICAN

1928 –
Best known as one of co-discoverers
of the structure of DNA with Francis
Crick, in 1953.

EDWARD JENNER

ENGLISH

1749 – 1823
Widely credited as the pioneer of smallpox
vaccine, and is sometimes referred to as
the 'Father of Immunology'. Jenner's
discovery 'has saved more lives than the
work of any other man'.

JOSEPH JOHN THOMPSON

ENGLISH

1856 – 1940
 He is credited for the discovery of
the electron and of isotopes, and the
invention of the mass spectrometer

JOSEPH PRIESTLEY

ENGLISH

1733 – 1804
 He is usually credited with the
discovery of oxygen, having isolated
it in its gaseous state.

JAMES PRESCOTT JOULE

ENGLISH

1818 – 1889
 Discovered the theory of conservation of
energy which led to the development of
the first law of thermodynamics. The Joule
is named after him.

WILLIAM THOMSON
(LORD KELVIN)
 NORTHERN IRISH

1824 – 1907

Widely known for developing the

basis of absolute zero.

JAN BAPTIST VAN HELMOT

BELGIAN
 1577 – 1644

Van Helmont is remembered today largely

for his ideas on spontaneous generation,
his 5-year tree experiment, and his
introduction of the word "gas" (from the
Greek word chaos) into the vocabulary of
scientists.

JOHANNES KEPLER
 GERMAN

1571 – 1630

He is best known for his laws of

planetary motion describing the motion
of planets around the Sun.

GUSTAV ROBERT KIRCHOFF

 GERMAN

1824 – 1887

Contributed to the fundamental

understanding of electrical circuits,
spectroscopy and the emission of
black-body radiation by heated objects.

NICOLAUS COPERNICUS
 POLISH

1473 – 1543

He was the first person to formulate

the astronomical model in which the
Earth and planets revolve around a
stationary Sun at the center of the
universe.

JOHANN HEINRICH LAMBERT

 GERMAN

1728 – 1777

Formulated the law of light

absorption—the Beer–Lambert law).
The photometric unit lambert is
named in recognition of his work.

ANTOINE – LAURENT
DE LAVOISIER
 FRENCH

1743 – 1794

He stated the first version of the law of

conservation of mass, recognized and
named oxygen (1778) and hydrogen
(1783), helped construct the metric system
and wrote the first extensive list of
elements.
 GEORGES LECHLANCHÉ

FRENCH

1839 – 1882

Chiefly remembered for his invention

of the Leclanché cell, one of the first
modern electrical batteries.

LOUIS JEAN PASTEUR

 FRENCH

1822 – 1895

He created the first vaccine for

rabies and also developed a process
to stop milk and wine causing
sickness called pasteurization.

MARIE SKLODOWSKA CURIE

POLISH

1867 – 1934
She was a pioneer in the field of
radioactivity and the first person
honored with two Nobel Prizes.

VLADIMIR VASILEVICH
MARKOVNIKOV
 RUSSIAN

1838 – 1904

Best known for Markovnikov's rule,

which he developed in 1869 to
describe addition reactions of H-X
to alkenes.

JAMES CLERK MAXWELL

SCOTTISH
 1831 – 1879

Developed the Maxwell's equations

which demonstrated that electricity,
magnetism and even light are all parts
of the same phenomenon: the
electromagnetic field.

GREOGOR JOHANN MENDEL

 AUSTRIAN

1822 – 1884

Worked with pea plants to show that

certain traits are inherited forming
what is now known as Mendel’s
Law.

DMITRI IVANOVICH
MENDELEEV

RUSSIAN
 1834 – 1907

Credited as being the creator of the

first version of the periodic table of
elements and using it to predict the
properties of elements yet to be
discovered.

ROBERT ANDREWS MILLIKAN

 AMERICAN

1868 – 1953

Nobel laureate in physics for his

measurement of the charge on the
electron and for his work on the
photoelectric effect.

WALTHER HERMANN NERNST

 GERMAN

1864 – 1941

Known for his theories behind the

calculation of chemical affinity (the
tendency of an atom or compound to
combine by chemical reaction with atoms
or compounds of unlike composition).

ISAAC NEWTON
 ENGLISH

1643 – 1727

Described gravity and the 3 laws of

motion.

HANS CHRISTIAN ØERSTED

 DANISH

1777 – 1851

Most widely known for observing that

electric currents induce magnetic
fields, an important aspect of
electromagnetism.

GEORG SIMON OHM

GERMAN
 1789 – 1854

Ohm determined that there is a direct

proportionality between the potential
difference (voltage) applied across a
conductor and the resultant electric
current – now known as Ohm's law.

BLAISE PASCAL

FRENCH
 1623 – 1662

Made important contributions to the

study of fluids, and clarified the
concepts of pressure and vacuum.

LINUS CARL PAULING

AMERICAN

1901 – 1994
 Worked on chemical bonding and
many of his contributions like
hybridization and electronegativity
have become part of standard
chemistry textbooks. He also
discovered the alpha helix and beta
sheet structure of proteins.

MAX KARL ERNST

LUDWIG PLANCK
 GERMAN

1858 – 1947

Considered to be the founder of the

quantum theory

PTOLEMY

GREEK

90 A.D. – 168 A.D.

 Was the most influential of Greek
astronomers and geographers of his
time. He put forward the geocentric
theory (the Earth at the centre of the
universe) that prevailed for 1400
years.

JOHN WILLIAM STRUTT

(LORD RAYLEIGH)

ENGLISH
 1842 – 1919

Discovered the element argon. He also

discovered the phenomenon now called
Rayleigh scattering, explaining why the
sky is blue.

WILHELM CONRAD RÖNTGEN

 GERMAN

1845 – 1923

Produced and detected

electromagnetic radiation in a
wavelength range today known as x-
rays.

ERNEST RUTHERFORD
 NEW ZEALANDER

1871 – 1937

Discovered the concept of radioactive

half life and also differentiated and
named alpha and beta radiation

NIKOLA TESLA

SERBIAN
 1856 – 1943

Best known for his developments in

the field of electromagnetism;
Tesla's patents and theoretical work
formed the basis of modern
alternating current (AC) electric
power systems.

THALES OF MILETUS

GREEK
 624 B.C – 546 B.C.

Thales attempted to explain natural

phenomena without reference to
mythology and was tremendously
influential in this respect. He was also the
first to define general principles and set
forth hypotheses.

ALESSANDRO GIUSEPPE
ANTONIO ANASTASIO VOLTA
 ITALIAN

1745 – 1827

Developed of the first electric cell in

1800. Volts are named in honor of
the Italian physicist.

JOHANNES DIDERIK
VAN DER WAALS

DUTCH
 1837 – 1923

Famous for his work on an equation

to determine the state of matter for
gases and liquids in different
conditions.

JAMES WATT
 SCOTTISH

1736 – 1819

Made improvements to the

Newcomen steam engine that was
fundamental to the industrial
revolution.

THOMAS YOUNG

ENGLISH
 1773 – 1829

Among other discoveries established

the wave theory of light. Also
explained the way in which the eye
accommodates itself to vision.

ERWIN RUDOLF JOSEF

ALEXANDER SCHRÖDINGER
 AUSTRIAN

1887 – 1961

Achieved fame for his contributions

to quantum mechanics, especially
the Schrödinger equation.

JUSTUS VON LIEBIG

GERMAN
 1803 – 1873

Discovered nitrogen as an essential

plant nutrient. Devised the modern
laboratory-oriented teaching method,
and for such innovations, he is
regarded as one of the greatest
chemistry teachers of all time.

ANTON VAN LEEUWENHOEK

 DUTCH

1632 – 1723

Known as "the Father of Microbiology".

He is best known for his work on the
improvement of the microscope and for his
contributions towards the establishment of
microbiology

LEONARDO DI SER PIERO

DA VINCI
 ITALIAN

1452 – 1519

Greatly advanced the state of

knowledge in the fields of anatomy,
civil engineering, optics, and
hydrodynamics.

EVANGELISTA TORRICELLI
 ITALIAN

1608 – 1647

Best known for his invention of

the barometer, a scientific
instrument used to measure
atmospheric pressure.

WILLIAM HENRY BRAGG

ENGLISH
1862 – 1942
 WILLIAM LAWRENCE BRAGG
1890 – 1971
FATHER and SON

Most famous for his law on the

diffraction of X-rays by crystals (X-
ray crystallalography). His method
played a major part in the discovery
of DNA.

MARY ANNING
 ENGLISH

1799-1847

Made enormous contributions to

paleontology finding the first
plesiosaur, a pterodactyl and several
ichthyosaurs. Her discoveries
became key pieces of evidence for
extinction.
 GERTY CORI

1896-1957

AMERICAN
Nobel prize winning American who
discovered how energy is stored in
the body (the Cori cycle).
 MARIA GOEPPERT MAYER
GERMAN
1906-1977
US physicist who won a Nobel Prize
for her work on the structure of the
atomic nucleus developing the
nuclear shell model and showing
how the atom was arranged.
 LISE MEITNER

AUSTRIAN

1878-1968

Physicist who described nuclear

fission with Otto Hahn.
In possibly the most egregious
example of a scientist being
overlooked for a Nobel, it was Hahn
who received the prize for the
discovery.
CECILIA PAYNE-GAPOSCHKIN

ENGLISH

1900-1979

English astronomer who showed the

sun is mainly composed of
hydrogen.
 LINDA BUCK

AMERICAN

1947-
Nobel prize winner honoured for
her work on smell that showed a
smell may activate many odour
receptors, to a greater or lesser
degree, so that each smell generates
its own unique scent .
 GERTRUDE ELION

AMERICAN

1918-1999
Responsible for some of the world's
most important medicines e.g.
Mercaptopurine, the first drug for
leukaemia, the first immuno-
suppressive agent and the malaria
drug Daraprim
 IRENE JOLIOT-CURIE

FRENCH

1897-1956

Discovered artificial radioactivity

and creating radioactive isotopes
received the Nobel prize for
Chemistry in 1935.
 RITA LEVI-MONTALCINI

ITALIAN

1909-

Nobel prize winner for her discovery

of nerve growth factor that has great
importance in understanding tissue
regeneration and cancer growth.
 BARBARA MCCLINTOCK

AMERICAN

1902-1992

Made fundamental discoveries about

genetics, in particular that genes are
not fixed but can 'jump' (be
transposed) from one chromosome
to another. Nobel Prize winner in
1983 for her work.
 CHRISTIANE NUSSLEIN
VOLHARD

GERMAN
1942-
Nobel Prize for Medicine 1995.
Worked with Drosophila and exposed
their eggs with chemicals and radiation
(which causes genetic mutations) to
look for strange looking larvae and
flies as this would help identify which
genes were responsible for forming
body pattern
 DANIEL HALE WILLIAMS

AMERICAN

1858–1931
Performed the first successful open
heart surgery in the closure of a
wound of the heart and pericardium.
First African-American cardiologist.
 CHARLES HENRY TURNER

1867-1923

AMERICAN
First person to prove that insects can
hear and can distinguish pitch. In
addition, he first discovered that
cockroaches can learn by trial and
error.
 PERCY LAVON JULIAN

AMERICAN

1899-1975
Most famous exploit is his synthesis
of cortisone which is used to treat
arthritis and other inflammatory
diseases
 TSUNG-DAO LEE

CHINESE

1926-

Won the 1957 Nobel Prize in

Physics for the "investigation of the
so-called parity laws” which has led
to important discoveries regarding
the elementary particles.