Famous Physicists

Classical Period
William Gilbert 1544-1603 English 1564-1642 Italian 1580-1626 Dutch 1623-1662 French 1629-1695 Dutch 1635-1703 English 1643-1727 English 1700-1782 Swiss 1706-1790 American 1707-1783 Swiss 1731-1810 British 1736-1806 hypothesized that the Earth is a giant magnet performed fundamental observations, experiments, and mathematical analyses in astronomy and physics; discovered mountains and craters on the moon, the phases of Venus, and the four largest satellites of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede discovered law of refraction (Snell's law) discovered that pressure applied to an enclosed fluid is transmitted undiminished to every part of the fluid and to the walls of its container (Pascal's principle) proposed a simple geometrical wave theory of light, now known as ``Huygen's principle''; pioneered use of the pendulum in clocks discovered Hooke's law of elasticity developed theories of gravitation and mechanics, and invented differential calculus developed the fundamental relationship of fluid flow now known as Bernoulli's principle the first American physicist; characterized two kinds of electric charge, which he named ``positive'' and ``negative'' made fundamental contributions to fluid dynamics, lunar orbit theory (tides), and mechanics; also contributed prolifically to all areas of classical mathematics discovered and studied hydrogen; first to measure Newton's gravitational constant; calculated mass and mean density of Earth experiments on elasticity, electricity, and magnetism;

Galileo Galilei

Willebrod Snell Blaise Pascal

Christiaan Huygens Robert Hooke Sir Isaac Newton Daniel Bernoulli Benjamin Franklin

Leonard Euler

Henry Cavendish Charles Augustin de

Coulomb Joseph-Louis Lagrange James Watt Count Alessandro Volta Joseph Fourier

French 1736-1813 French 1736-1819 Scottish 1745-1827 Italian 1768-1830 French 1773-1829 British 1774-1862 French 1775-1836 French 1776-1856 Italian 1777-1855 German 1777-1851 Danish 1781-1868 English 1788-1827 French 1789-1854 German 1791-1867

established experimentally nature of the force between two charges developed new methods of analytical mechanics invented the modern condensing steam engine and a centrifugal governor pioneer in study of electricity; invented the first electric battery established the differential equation governing heat diffusion and solved it by devising an infinite series of sines and cosines capable of approximating a wide variety of functions studied light and color; known for his double-slit experiment that demonstrated the wave nature of light studied polarization of light; co-discovered that intensity of magnetic field set up by a current flowing through a wire varies inversely with the distance from the wire father of electrodynamics developed hypothesis that all gases at same volume, pressure, and temperature contain same number of atoms formulated separate electrostatic and electrodynamical laws, including ``Gauss' law''; contributed to development of number theory, differential geometry, potential theory, theory of terrestrial magnetism, and methods of calculating planetary orbits discovered that a current in a wire can produce magnetic effects deduced ``Brewster's law'' giving the angle of incidence that produces reflected light which is completely polarized; invented the kaleidoscope and the stereoscope, and improved the spectroscope studied transverse nature of light waves discovered that current flow is proportional to potential difference and inversely proportional to resistance (Ohm's law) discovered electromagnetic induction and devised first

Thomas Young Jean-Babtiste Biot Andr Marie Ampre Amadeo Avogadro

Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss

Hans Christian Oersted

Sir David Brewster

Augustin-Jean Fresnel Georg Ohm Michael Faraday

English Felix Savart Sadi Carnot Joseph Henry 1791-1841 French 1796-1832 French 1797-1878 American 1803-1853 Austrian 1804-1891 German 1805-1865 Irish 1818-1889 British 1819-1896 French 1819-1868 French 1819-1903 British 1821-1894 German 1822-1888 German 1824-1907 British 1824-1887

electrical transformer co-discovered that intensity of magnetic field set up by a current flowing through a wire varies inversely with the distance from the wire founded the science of thermodynamics performed extensive fundamental studies of electromagnetic phenomena; devised first practical electric motor experimented with sound waves; derived an expression for the apparent change in wavelength of a wave due to relative motion between the source and observer developed sensitive magnetometers; worked in electrodynamics and the electrical structure of matter developed the principle of least action and the Hamiltonian form of classical mechanics discovered mechanical equivalent of heat made the first terrestrial measurement of the speed of light; invented one of the first interferometers; took the first pictures of the Sun on daguerreotypes; argued that the Doppler effect with respect to sound should also apply to any wave motion, particularly that of light accurately measured speed of light; invented the gyroscope; demonstrated the Earth's rotation described the motion of viscous fluids by independently discovering the Navier-Stokes equations of fluid mechanics (or hydrodynamics); developed Stokes theorem by which certain surface integrals may be reduced to line integrals; discovered fluorescence developed first law of thermodynamics, a statement of conservation of energy developed second law of thermodynamics, a statement that the entropy of the Universe always increases proposed absolute temperature scale, of essence to development of thermodynamics developed three laws of spectral analysis and three rules

Christian Doppler Wilhelm E. Weber Sir William Hamilton James Prescott Joule

Armand-HippolyteLouis Fizeau Jean-Bernard-Lon Foucault Sir George Gabriel Stokes Hermann von Helmholtz Rudolf Clausius Lord Kelvin (born William Thomson) Gustav Kirchhoff

German Johann Balmer Sir Joseph Wilson Swan James Clerk Maxwell Josef Stefan 1825-1898 Swiss 1828-1914 British 1831-1879 Scottish 1835-1893 Austrian

of electric circuit analysis; also contributed to optics developed empirical formula to describe hydrogen spectrum developed a carbon-filament incandescent light; patented the carbon process for printing photographs in permanent pigment propounded the theory of electromagnetism; developed the kinetic theory of gases studied blackbody radiation studied conditions that occur when an object moves through a fluid at high speed (the ``Mach number'' gives the ratio of the speed of the object to the speed of sound in the fluid); proposed ``Mach's principle,'' which states that the inertia of an object is due to the interaction between the object and the rest of the universe developed chemical thermodynamics; introduced concepts of free energy and chemical potential liquified nitrogen and invented the Dewar flask, which is critical for low-temperature work contributed to the fields of hydraulics and hydrodynamics; developed mathematical framework for turbulence and introduced the ``Reynolds number,'' which provides a criterion for dynamic similarity and correct modeling in many fluid-flow experiments developed statistical mechanics and applied it to kinetic theory of gases demonstrated equivalence of gravitational and inertial mass contributed to the development of electromagnetism; introduced operational calculus and invented the modern notation for vector calculus; predicted existence of the Heaviside layer (a layer of the Earth's ionosphere) hypothesized foreshortening of moving bodies (LorentzFitzGerald contraction) to explain the result of the Michelson-Morley experiment demonstrated that the energy flow of electromagnetic waves could be calculated by an equation (now called Poynting's vector)

Ernst Mach

1838-1916 Austrian

Josiah Gibbs James Dewar

1839-1903 American 1842-1923 British 1842-1912 British 1844-1906 Austrian 1848-1919 Hungarian 1850-1925 English 1851-1901 Irish 1852-1914 British

Osborne Reynolds

Ludwig Boltzmann Roland Etvs

Oliver Heaviside

George Francis FitzGerald John Henry Poynting

Henri Poincar

1854-1912 French

founded qualitative dynamics (the mathematical theory of dynamical systems); created topology; contributed to solution of the three-body problem; first described many properties of deterministic chaos; contributed to the development of special relativity analyzed the spectra of many elements; discovered many line series were described by a formula that depended on a universal constant (the Rydberg constant) discovered the ``Hall effect,'' which occurs when charge carriers moving through a material are deflected because of an applied magnetic field - the deflection results in a potential difference across the side of the material that is transverse to both the magnetic field and the current direction worked on electromagnetic phenomena; discovered radio waves and the photoelectric effect

Janne Rydberg

1854-1919 Swedish

Edwin H. Hall

1855-1938 American

Heinrich Hertz Nikola Tesla

1857-1894 German

1857-1943 Serbian-born created alternating current American

Nobel Laureates
Johannes van der Waals Lord Rayleigh (born John William Strutt) Wilhelm Rntgen Antoine Henri Becquerel Albert A. Michelson 1837-1923 Dutch 1842-1919 British 1845-1923 German 1852-1908 French worked on equations of state for gases and liquids discovered argon; explained how light scattering is responsible for red color of sunset and blue color of sky discovered and studied x rays discovered natural radioactivity

1852-1931 devised an interferometer and used it to try to measure German-born Earth's absolute motion; precisely measured speed of American light 1853-1928 Dutch introduced Lorentz transformation equations of special relativity; advanced ideas of relativistic length contraction and relativistic mass increase; contributed to theory of electromagnetism

Hendrik Antoon Lorentz

Heike KamerlinghOnnes Sir Joseph John Thomson Max Planck Pierre Curie Sir William Henry Bragg Philipp von Lenard Wilhelm Wien Pieter Zeeman Marie Curie

1853-1926 Dutch 1856-1940 British 1858-1947 German 1859-1906 French 1862-1942 British 1862-1947 German 1864-1928 German 1865-1943 Dutch 1867-1934 Polish-born French 1868-1953 American 1869-1959 British 1870-1942 French

liquified helium; discovered superconductivity demonstrated existence of the electron formulated the quantum theory; explained wavelength distribution of blackbody radiation studied radioactivity with wife, Marie Curie; discovered piezoelectricity worked on x-ray spectrometry studied cathode rays and the photoelectric effect discovered laws governing radiation of heat discovered splitting of spectral lines in a strong magnetic field discovered radioactivity of thorium; co-discovered radium and polonium measured the charge of an electron; introduced term ``cosmic rays'' for the radiation coming from outer space; studied the photoelectric effect invented the cloud chamber experimentally proved that cathode rays were streams of negatively charged particles; experimentally confirmed the correctness of Einstein's theory of Brownian motion, and through his measurements obtained a new determination of Avogadro's number theorized existence of the atomic nucleus based on results of the alpha-scattering experiment performed by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden; developed theory of Rutherford scattering (scattering of spinless, pointlike particles from a Coulomb potential) invented the first practical system of wireless telegraphy discovered splitting of spectral lines in a strong electric field

Robert Millikan Charles Wilson

Jean Baptiste Perrin

1871-1937 Lord Ernest Rutherford New Zealander Guglielmo Marconi Johannes Stark 1874-1937 Italian 1874-1957 German

Charles Glover Barkla

1877-1944 British

discovered that every chemical element, when irradiated by x rays, can emit an x-ray spectrum of two line-groups, which he named the K-series and L-series, that are of fundamental importance to understanding atomic structure

Albert Einstein Otto Hahn Max von Laue

1879-1955 explained Brownian motion and photoelectric effect; German-born contributed to theory of atomic spectra; formulated American theories of special and general relativity 1879-1968 German 1879-1960 German 1879-1959 British 1881-1958 American discovered the fission of heavy nuclei discovered diffraction of x rays by crystals discovered the basic law of thermionic emission, now called the Richardson (or Richardson-Dushman) equation, which describes the emission of electrons from a heated conductor co-discovered electron diffraction

Sir Owen Richardson Clinton Joseph Davisson Max Born Percy Williams Bridgman James Franck Victor Franz Hess Peter Debye Niels Bohr Karl Manne Georg Siegbahn Gustav Hertz Erwin Schrdinger

1882-1970 contributed to creation of quantum mechanics; pioneer in German-born the theory of crystals British 1882-1961 American 1882-1964 German 1883-1964 Austrian 1884-1966 Dutch-born German 1885-1962 Danish 1886-1978 Swedish 1887-1975 German 1887-1961 invented an apparatus to produce extremely high pressures; made many discoveries in high-pressure physics experimentally confirmed that atomic energy states are quantized discovered cosmic radiation used methods of statistical mechanics to calculate equilibrium properties of solids; contributed to knowledge of molecular structure contributed to quantum theory and to theory of nuclear reactions and nuclear fission made important experimental contributions to the field of x-ray spectroscopy experimentally confirmed that atomic energy states are quantized contributed to creation of quantum mechanics;

Austrian Sir Chandrasekhara Raman Otto Stern 1888-1970 Indian

formulated the Schrdinger wave equation studied light scattering and discovered the Raman effect

1888-1969 contributed to development of the molecular beam German-born method; discovered the magnetic moment of the proton American 1888-1966 Dutch 1890-1971 British 1891-1957 German 1891-1974 British 1892-1965 English invented the phase-contrast microscope, a type of microscope widely used for examining specimens such as biological cells and tissues worked on crystal structure and x rays devised a coincidence counter for studying cosmic rays; demonstrated validity of energy-momentum conservation at the atomic scale discovered the neutron discovered the layer of the Earth's atmosphere, called the Appleton layer, which is the part of the ionosphere having the highest concentration of free electrons and is the most useful for radio transmission predicted wave properties of the electron discovered the increase in wavelength of x rays when scattered by an electron co-discovered electron diffraction discovered deuterium heralded a new era of low-temperature physics by inventing a device for producing liquid helium without previous cooling with liquid hydrogen; demonstrated that Helium II is a quantum superfluid co-developed the theoretical interpretation of the radiation of electrons moving through matter faster than the speed of light (the ``Cerenkov effect''), and developed the theory of showers in cosmic rays introduced the theoretical concept of the molecular orbital, which led to a new understanding of the chemical

Frits Zernike Sir William Lawrence Bragg Walther Bothe Sir James Chadwick

Sir Edward Appleton

Prince Louis-Victor de 1892-1987 Broglie French Arthur Compton Sir George Paget Thomson Harold Clayton Urey Pjotr Leonidovich Kapitsa 1892-1962 American 1892-1975 British 1893-1981 American 1894-1984 Soviet

Igor Y. Tamm Robert S. Mulliken

1895-1971 Soviet 1896-1986 American

bond and the electronic structure of molecules Lord Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett Sir John Cockcroft Irne Joliot-Curie 1897-1974 British 1897-1967 British 1897-1956 French 1898-1988 Austrianborn American 1900-1958 French 1900-1979 Hungarian 1900-1958 Austrianborn American 1901-1954 Italian-born American 1901-1976 German 1901-1958 American 1902-1984 British 1902-1984 French 1902-1995 Hungariandeveloped an automatic Wilson cloud chamber; discovered electron-positron pair production in cosmic rays co-invented the first particle accelerator co-discovered artificial radioactivity developed the resonance technique for measuring the magnetic properties of atomic nuclei co-discovered artificial radioactivity invented and developed the holographic method whereby it is possible to record and display a three-dimensional display of an object discovered the exclusion principle; suggested the existence of the neutrino performed experiments leading to first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction; developed a theory of beta decay that introduced the weak interaction; derived the statistical properties of gases that obey the Pauli exclusion principle contributed to creation of quantum mechanics; introduced the ``uncertainty principle'' and the concept of exchange forces invented the cyclotron helped found quantum electrodynamics; predicted the existence of antimatter by combining quantum mechanics with special relativity discovered and developed optical methods for studying the Hertzian resonances that are produced when atoms interact with radio waves or microwaves contributed to theoretical atomic and nuclear physics; introduced concept of the nuclear cross section

Isador Isaac Rabi

Frdric Joliot-Curie Dennis Gabor

Wolfgang Pauli

Enrico Fermi

Werner Heisenberg Ernest Orlando Lawrence Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac Alfred Kastler Eugene Wigner

born American Cecil F. Powell Ernest Walton Pavel A. Cherenkov Carl David Anderson Felix Bloch 1903-1969 British 1903-1995 Irish 1904-1990 Soviet 1905-1991 American 1905-1983 Swiss-born American 1905-1996 British 1905-1989 Italian-born American developed the photographic emulsion method of studying nuclear processes; discovered the charged pion co-invented the first particle accelerator discovered the ``Cerenkov effect'' whereby light is emitted by a particle passing through a medium at a speed greater than that of light in the medium discovered the positron and the muon contributed to development of the NMR technique; measured the magnetic moment of the neutron; contributed to the theory of metals contributed to theoretical condensed-matter physics by applying quantum theory to complex phenomena in solids; calculated cross section for relativistic Coulomb scattering co-discovered the antiproton; discovered technetium

Sir Nevill F. Mott

Emilio Segr

Hans Bethe

1906-2005 contributed to theoretical nuclear physics, especially German-born concerning the mechanism for energy production in stars American

1906-1972 Maria Goeppert-Mayer German-born advanced shell model of nuclear structure American Ernst Ruska Shin-Ichiro Tomonaga J. Hans D. Jensen Edwin M. McMillan Hideki Yukawa John Bardeen 1906-1988 German 1906-1979 Japanese 1907-1973 German 1907-1991 American 1907-1981 Japanese 1908-1991 designed the first electron microscope co-developed quantum electrodynamics advanced shell model of nuclear structure made discoveries concerning the transuranium elements predicted existence of the pion co-discovered the transistor effect; developed theory of

American 1908-1990 Soviet 1908-1968 Soviet 1910-1995 Indian-born American 1910-1989 American 1911-1988 American 1911-1995 American 1911-1993 American 1912-1997 American 1912-1999 American 1913-2008 American 1915-1990 American 1915-2011 American 1915-2001 American

superconductivity co-developed the theoretical interpretation of the radiation of electrons moving through matter faster than the speed of light (the ``Cerenkov effect''), and carried out experimental investigations of pair creation by gamma rays contributed to condensed matter theory on phenomena of superfluidity and superconductivity made important theoretical contributions concerning the structure and evolution of stars, especially white dwarfs co-discovered the transistor effect constructed huge bubble chambers and discovered many short-lived hadrons; advanced the impact theory for the extinction of the dinosaurs studied nuclear reactions of astrophysical significance; developed, with others, a theory of the formation of chemical elements in the universe experimentally established that the electron has an anomalous magnetic moment and made a precision determination of its magnitude developed method of nuclear resonance absorption that permitted the absolute determination of nuclear magnetic moments; co-discovered a line in the galactic radiospectrum caused by atomic hydrogen co-discovered plutonium and all further transuranium elements through element 102 made discoveries concerning fine structure of hydrogen measured charge distributions in atomic nuclei with high-energy electron scattering; measured the charge and magnetic-moment distributions in the proton and neutron developed the separated oscillatory fields method, which is the basis of the cesium atomic clock (our present time standard); co-invented the hydrogen maser developed a neutron scattering technique in which a neutron diffraction pattern is produced that may be used to determine the atomic structure of a material

Il'ja M. Frank

Lev Landau Subramanyan Chandrasekhar William Shockley Luis Walter Alvarez

William Fowler

Polykarp Kusch

Edward Mills Purcell

Glenn T. Seaborg Willis E. Lamb, Jr. Robert Hofstadter

Norman F. Ramsey, Jr.

Clifford G. Shull

Charles H. Townes Francis Crick Maurice Wilkins Bertram N. Brockhouse Richard P. Feynman

1915American 1916-2004 English 1916-2004 British 1918-2003 Canadian 1918-1988 American 1918-1998 American 1918-1994 American 1918-2007 Swedish

created first maser using ammonia to produce coherent microwave radiation co-proposed the double-helix structure of DNA investigated the structure of DNA developed the technique of neutron spectroscopy for studies of condensed matter co-developed quantum electrodynamics; created a new formalism for practical calculations by introducing a graphical method called Feynman diagrams established, together with Clyde L. Cowan, Jr., the existence of the electron antineutrino by detecting them using a reactor experiment co-developed quantum electrodynamics contributed to the development of high-resolution electron spectroscopy contributed to the development of laser spectroscopy co-discovered the antiproton contributed to elementary particle theory; recognized the role played by spontaneous symmetry-breaking in analogy with superconductivity theory; formulated QCD (quantum chromodynamics), the gauge theory of color father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb; awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his struggle for human rights, for disarmament, and for cooperation between all nations contributed to the development of laser spectroscopy

Frederick Reines Julian Schwinger Kai M. Siegbahn

1920Nicolaas Bloembergen Dutch-born American Owen Chamberlain 1920-2006 American 1921Japaneseborn American 1921-1989 Russian 1921-1999 American

Yoichiro Nambu

Andrei Sakharov Arthur L. Schawlow Jack Steinberger Nikolai Basov Aage Bohr

1921made many important discoveries in particle physics; coGerman-born discovered the neutral pion via photoproduction; coAmerican discovered the muon neutrino 1922-2001 Soviet 1922-2009 worked in quantum electronics; independently worked out theoretical basis of the maser contributed to theoretical understanding of collective

Danish Leon Lederman Chen Ning Yang Val Logsdon Fitch Jack S. Kilby Willard S. Boyle Georges Charpak Roy J. Glauber Simon van der Meer Donald A. Glaser 1922American

motion in nuclei contributed to the discovery of the muon neutrino and the bottom quark

1922Chinese-born co-proposed parity violation in weak interactions American 1923American 1923-2005 American 1924-2011 Canadian 1924-2010 French 1925American 1925-2011 Dutch 1926American 1926-1999 American 1926American co-discovered that decays of neutral kaons sometime violate CP conservation invented the monolithic integrated circuit - the microchip - which laid the foundation for the field of microelectronics; co-invented the hand held calculator co-invented the CCD (charge-coupled device) invented the multiwire proportional chamber made important contributions to the theoretical understanding of quantum optics and high-energy collisions contributed to experiments that led to the discovery of the carriers (W and Z) of the weak interaction invented the bubble chamber co-discovered, through investigations of deep-inelastic electron scattering, clear signs that there exists an inner structure (quarks and gluons) in the protons and neutrons of the atomic nucleus contributed to theoretical understanding of collective motion in nuclei

Henry W. Kendall

Ben Mottelson Tsung-Dao Lee Abdus Salam K. Alexander Mller Martin L. Perl

1926Chinese-born co-proposed parity violation in weak interactions American 1926-1996 Pakistani 1927Swiss 1927American co-developed gauge field theory of the electroweak interaction; suggested that the proton might be unstable co-discovered the first ceramic superconductors discovered the tau lepton

Murray Gell-Mann Rudolf Ludwig Mssbauer

1929American 1929German 1929Canadian 1930American 1930American 1930American 1931American 1931American 1931American 1931American 1932-2007 French 1932American 1932-2006 American 1933French

advanced an explanation of strange particles; predicted the existence of the Omega- particle; postulated existence of quarks; founded the study of QCD experimented with resonance absorption of gamma radiation; discovered ``Mssbauer effect,'' the recoilless emission of gamma rays by nuclei co-discovered, through investigations of deep-inelastic electron scattering, clear signs that there exists an inner structure (quarks and gluons) in the protons and neutrons of the atomic nucleus contributed to condensed matter theory on phenomena of superconductivity co-discovered, through investigations of deep-inelastic electron scattering, clear signs that there exists an inner structure (quarks and gluons) in the protons and neutrons of the atomic nucleus co-invented the CCD (charge-coupled device) co-discovered that decays of neutral kaons sometime violate CP conservation co-discovered that the isotope Helium-3 becomes a quantum superfluid near absolute zero carried out an experiment leading to the discovery of charmonium contributed to condensed matter theory on phenomena of superconductivity developed theories in condensed matter physics applicable to liquid crystals and polymers co-developed gauge field theory of the electroweak interaction proposed that it should be possible to produce and use a beam of neutrinos; co-discovered the muon neutrino developed methods, with his colleagues, of using laser light to cool helium atoms to a temperature of about 0.18 K and capturing the chilled atoms in a trap

Richard E. Taylor

Leon Cooper

Jerome I. Friedman

George E. Smith James W. Cronin David M. Lee Burton Richter J. Robert Schrieffer Pierre-Gilles de Gennes Sheldon Glashow Melvin Schwartz Claude CohenTannoudji Charles K. Kao

1933pioneer in the development and use of fiber optics in Chinese-born telecommunications British-

American Arno A. Penzias 1933co-discovered the cosmic microwave background German-born radiation American 1933Swiss 1933American 1934Italian 1936American 1936American 1936American 1937American 1938French 1939German 1940British 1940Japanese 1941American 1943German 1944Japanese co-designed the scanning tunneling microscope (STM), a type of microscope in which a fine conducting probe is held close the surface of a sample co-developed gauge field theory of the electroweak interaction contributed to experiments that led to the discovery of the carriers (W and Z) of the weak interaction co-discovered the cosmic microwave background radiation carried out an experiment leading to the discovery of charmonium invented renormalization group methods to develop a theory for critical phenomena in connection with phase transitions; contributed to solving QCD using lattice gauge theory co-discovered that the isotope Helium-3 becomes a quantum superfluid near absolute zero co-discovered Giant Magnetoresistance, which brought about a breakthrough in gigabyte hard disks co-discovered Giant Magnetoresistance, which brought about a breakthrough in gigabyte hard disks contributed to theoretical predictions of the properties of a supercurrent through a tunnel barrier contributed to theoretical understanding of CP-violation; co-discovered the origin of the broken symmetry that predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks co-discovered ``asymptotic freedom'' in non-Abelian gauge theories; contributed to the development of string theory discovered the quantized Hall effect contributed to theoretical understanding of CP-violation; co-discovered the origin of the broken symmetry that predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks

Heinrich Rohrer Steven Weinberg Carlo Rubbia Robert W. Wilson Samuel C. C. Ting

Kenneth Wilson

Robert C. Richardson Albert Fert Peter Grnberg Brian Josephson Toshihide Maskawa

David J. Gross Klaus von Klitzing Makato Kobayashi

Douglas D. Osheroff

1945American 1946Dutch 1947German 1948American 1948American 1949American 1950German 1950American 1951American 1958DutchRussian 1974RussianBritish

co-discovered that the isotope Helium-3 becomes a quantum superfluid near absolute zero contributed to theoretical understanding of gauge theories in elementary particle physics, quantum gravity and black holes, and fundamental aspects of quantum physics co-designed the scanning tunneling microscope (STM), a type of microscope in which a fine conducting probe is held close the surface of a sample developed the Doppler cooling method of using laser light (optical molasses) to cool gases and capturing the chilled atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) developed, with his colleagues, a device called a Zeeman slower, with which he could slow down and capture atoms in a purely magnetic trap co-discovered ``asymptotic freedom'' in non-Abelian gauge theories; co-predicted the existence of charmonium - the bound state of a charm quark and its antiparticle co-discovered the first ceramic superconductors developed a theory of quantum fluids that explained the fractional quantum Hall effect co-discovered ``asymptotic freedom'' in non-Abelian gauge theories; contributed to the study of ``anyons'' (particle-like excitations in two-dimensional systems that obey ``fractional statistics'') co-discovered a simple method for isolating single atomic layers of graphite, known as graphene co-discovered a simple method for isolating single atomic layers of graphite, known as graphene

Gerard t' Hooft

Gerd Binnig

Steven Chu

William D. Phillips

H. David Politzer

J. Georg Bednorz Robert Laughlin

Frank Wilczek

Andre Geim

Konstantin Novoselov

Others
Wallace Clement Sabine Arnold Sommerfeld 1868-1919 American 1868-1951 German founded the science of architectural acoustics generalized the circular orbits of the atomic Bohr model to elliptical orbits; introduced the magnetic quantum

number; used statistical mechanics to explain the electronic properties of metals Lise Meitner 1878-1968 co-discovered the element protactinium and studied the Austrianeffects of neutron bombardment on uranium; introduced born Swedish term ``fission'' for splitting the atomic nucleus 1880-1933 Austrian 1881-1963 Hungarianborn American 1882-1974 German 1883-1945 German 1885-1955 German 1886-1950 Canadianborn American 1887-1915 British 1892-1973 Scottish 1894-1974 Indian applied quantum mechanics to rotating bodies; helped develop the modern statistical theory of nonequilibrium thermodynamics provided major contributions to our understanding of fluid mechanics, turbulence theory, and supersonic flight co-discovered the ``Meissner effect'', whereby a superconductor expells a magnetic field helped measure charge-to-mass ratio for alpha particles; invented Geiger counter for detecting ionizing particles attempted to incorporate electromagnetism into general relativity; evolved the concept of continuous groups using matrix representations and applied group theory to quantum mechanics discovered the isotope uranium-235 developed the modern form of the period table of elements based on their atomic numbers developed radar worked out statistical method of handling bosons (a group of particles named in his honor) introduced the physical notion of extra dimensions that helped develop the Kaluza-Klein theory; co-developed the Klein-Gordon equation describing the relativistic behavior of spinless particles; co-developed the KleinNishina formula describing relativistic electron-photon scattering made fundamental contributions to quantum theory; invented the Hartree-Fock approximation method and the notion of Fock space

Paul Ehrenfest

Theodor von Krmn

Walther Meissner Hans Geiger

Hermann Weyl

Arthur Jeffrey Dempster Henry Moseley Sir Robert WatsonWatt Satyendra Bose

Oskar Klein

1894-1977 Swedish

Vladimir A. Fock

1898-1974 Russian

Leo Szilard

1898-1964 Hungarianborn American 1899-1993 French

first suggested possibility of a nuclear chain reaction discovered the Auger effect whereby an electron is ejected from an atom without the emission of an x-ray or gamma-ray photon as the result of the de-excitation of an excited electron within the atom; discovered cosmic-ray air showers

Pierre Auger

Ernst Ising

1900-1998 German-born developed the Ising model of ferromagnetism American co-developed the phenomenological theory of 1900-1954 superconductivity; co-developed the first quantumGerman-born mechanical treatment of the hydrogen molecule; American determined that the electromagnetic gauge is the phase of the Schrdinger wave function 1900-1985 American 1900-1988 Dutch 1901-1967 American 1902-1978 Dutch 1903-1960 Soviet 1903-1957 Hungarianborn American established the Richter scale for the measurement of earthquake intensity co-discovered that the electron has an intrinsic spin invented the Van de Graaf electrostatic generator co-discovered that the electron has an intrinsic spin headed the Soviet atomic and hydrogen bomb programs formulated a fully quantum mechanical generalization of statistical mechanics

Fritz London

Charles Francis Richter George E. Uhlenbeck Robert J. Van de Graaf Samuel Abraham Goudsmit Igor Vasilievich Kurchatov John von Neumann

George Gamow J. Robert Oppenheimer Sir Rudolf Peierls

1904-1968 Russian-born first suggested hydrogen fusion as source of solar energy American 1904-1967 American headed Manhattan Project to develop the nuclear fission bomb

1907-1995 many contributions in theoretical physics, including an German-born improved calculation of the critical mass needed to make British a fission bomb

Edward Teller

1908-2003 Hungarianborn American 1908-2002 Austrianborn American 1909-1966 Indian

helped develop atomic and hydrogen bombs

Victor F. Weisskopf

made theoretical contributions to quantum electrodynamics, nuclear structure, and elementary particle physics initiated nuclear research programs in India; carried out experiments in cosmic rays; calculated cross section for elastic electron-positron scattering theoretical physicist and mathematician who contributed to the microscopic theory of superfluidity; also contributed to theory of elementary particles, including the S-matrix and dispersion relations, and to nonlinear mechanics and the general theory of dynamical systems first measured (with James Chadwick) an accurate mass for the neutron; participated in experiments proving that beta rays are identical to atomic electrons; developed (with Edward Teller) the concept of coherent oscillations of protons and neutrons in nuclei leading to the giant dipole resonance; performed an experiment showing that neutrinos are created with negative helicity, which provided conclusive evidence for the V-A theory of weak interactions; participated in experiments that obtained an upper limit on the rate of proton decay and that provided evidence for neutrino oscillations

Homi Jehangir Bhabha

Nikolai N. Bogolubov

1909-1992 Russian

Maurice Goldhaber

1911-2011 Austrianborn American

Chien-Shiung Wu

1912-1997 experimentally proved that parity is not conserved in Chinese-born nuclear beta decay American co-developed the theory of spin waves; first described the process that became known as the ``Primakoff effect'' 1914-1983 (the coherent photoproduction of neutral mesons in the Russian-born electric field of an atomic nucleus); contributed to American understanding of various manifestations of the weak interaction, including muon capture, double-beta decay, and the interaction of neutrinos with nuclei 1914-2000 American driving force behind creation of Fermilab and Cornell University's Laboratory of Nuclear Studies; a leader in the formation of the Federation of Atomic Scientists; did extensive measurements of kaon and pion photoproduction in which he made the first observation

Henry Primakoff

Robert Rathbun Wilson

of a new state of the nucleon, N(1440) Vitaly L. Ginzburg 1916-2009 Russian contributed to theory of superconductivity and theory of high-energy processes in astrophysics; co-discovered transition radiation, emitted when charged particles traverse interface between two different media contributed to theoretical particle physics; independently proposed (with George Sudarshan) the V-A theory of weak interactions; developed explanation of how shock waves behave under conditions of extremely high temperatures

Robert E. Marshak

1916-1993 American

Wolfgang K. H. Panofsky

1919-2007 co-discovered the neutral pion via photoproduction; German-born studied gamma rays from pi- captured in hydrogen and American first measured the ``Panofsky ratio'' 1919-2010 Canadianborn American 1921-2003 American 1923British-born American used the Mssbauer effect to measure (with Glen A. Rebka, Jr.) the gravitational redshift predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity participated in experiments to test the fundamental QED interaction using the muonium atom made many important contribututions to quantum field theory, including the demonstration that the Feynman rules are direct and rigorous consequences of quantum field theory; advocated exploration of the solar system by humans; speculated on the possibility of extraterrestrial civilizations made pioneering contributions to nanoscale measurement science through the development and application of scanning probe microscropes contributed to theory of weak interactions, especially concerning neutrino masses, the origin of CP violation, lepton number violation, the solar neutrino problem, and Higgs boson properties co-invented the radio-frequency superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID), a practical magnetometer/amplifier with extreme sensitivity limited only by the uncertainty principle pioneered the use of nuclear-physics techniques for exploring fundamental questions concerning the weak interactions and the nature of neutrinos contributed to the theoretical understanding of how

Robert V. Pound

Vernon W. Hughes

Freeman J. Dyson

Calvin F. Quate

1923American 1923American

Lincoln Wolfenstein

James E. Zimmerman

1923-1999 American 1924Swiss-born American 1924-

Felix Hans Boehm Ernest M. Henley

symmetries place restrictions on theories and models; the German-born connection of quarks and gluons to nucleon-meson American degrees of freedom; the changes that occur when hadrons are placed in a nuclear medium Benoit Mandelbrot 1924-2010 FrenchAmerican 1926-2005 Canadian 1926American 1927-2009 British-born American 1928-1990 Irish 1928South African developed theory of fractals served as Science Advisor to the President of the United States; carried out pioneering studies of nuclear structure and dynamics; considered the father of modern heavyion science made important theoretical contributions to particle physics and quantum electrodynamics; specialist in arms control and national security developed the first practical scanning electron microscope proved the inherent nonlocality of quantum mechanics contributed to the modern understanding of relativistic particle scattering through his representation of the analytic properties of scattering amplitudes in the form of double dispersion relations (Mandelstam representation); applied path-integral quantization methods to string theory proposed with others the Higgs mechanism by which particles are endowed with mass by interacting with the Higgs field, which is carried by Higgs bosons co-developed the Interacting Boson Model of the atomic nucleus contributed to the advance of solid-state physics, especially involving carbon-based materials, including fullerenes and nanotubes (a.k.a., buckyballs and buckytubes) contributed to condensed matter theory, especially involving statistical mechanics: phase transitions; derivation of hydrodynamical equations from microscopic kinetics; statistical mechanics of plasmas studied nuclear structure, pion absorption in nuclei, ion traps and crystalline beams, heavy-ion physics, and the

D. Allan Bromley

Sidney D. Drell

Albert V. Crewe John Stewart Bell

Stanley Mandelstam

Peter Higgs Akito Arima

1929British 1930Japanese

1930Mildred S. Dresselhaus American 1930Swiss-born American 1930American

Joel Lebowitz John P. Schiffer

Mssbauer effect T. Kenneth Fowler 1931American 1931Italian 1932American contributed to the theory of plasma physics and magnetic fusion developed the theory of Regge trajectories by investigating the asymptotic behavior of potentialscattering processes through the analytic continuation of the angular momentum to the complex plane introduced color as a quantum number to resolve the quark statistics paradox contributed to the theoretical understanding of the atomic nucleus as a relativistic quantum many-body system; provided theoretical guidance in exploiting electromagnetic and weak probes of the nucleus co-invented the hydrogen maser; explores quantum chaos by optical spectroscopy of Rydberg atoms contributed to understanding the role of massless particles in spontaneous symmetry breaking (Goldstone bosons) made important theoretical contributions to understanding solar neutrinos and quasars formulated the scaling law for deep inelastic processes and made other outstanding contributions to particle physics and quantum field theory made many theoretical contributions in quantum field theory and mathematical physics; developed the Faddeev equation in connection with the three-body system; codeveloped the Faddeev-Popov covariant prescription for quantizing non-Abelian gauge theories; contributed to the quantum inverse scattering method and the quantum theory of solitons contributed to condensed matter theory, especially vortices in superfluids, the quantum Hall effect, and topological quantum numbers contributed to several areas of theoretical physics, including condensed matter, quantum optics, elementary particle physics, and field theory; statistics and dynamics of galaxy distributions contributed to several areas of theoretical physics,

Tullio Regge Oscar Wallace Greenberg

John Dirk Walecka

1932American 1932American 1933American 1934-2005 American 1934American

Daniel Kleppner Jeffrey Goldstone John N. Bahcall James D. Bjorken

Ludvig Faddeev

1934Russian

David J. Thouless

1934American 1935-1997 American 1935-

Peter A. Carruthers Gordon A. Baym

American

including condensed matter, low-temperature physics including superfluidity, statistical physics, nuclear physics, and astrophysics; made advances in quantum statistical mechanics and the study of neutron stars contributed to theoretical understanding of high-energy physics, especially the quark-gluon structure of hadrons in quantum chromodynamics predicted the existence of the top quark, which he named; also named the bottom quark contributed to theoretical understanding of black holes and gravitational radiation; co-founded the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory Project (LIGO) co-developed the Interacting Boson Model of the atomic nucleus; introduced supersymmetry in nuclei (1980); developed the Vibron Model of molecules (1981) first introduced string theory to describe the strong force without using quantum fields contributed to theoretical understanding of high-energy collisions and the fundamental interactions of elementary particles contributed to theory of soft condensed matter; structured fluids co-developed the SU(5) and SO(10) grand unified theories of all elementary particle forces; developed the modern QCD-inspired quark model; helped develop the modern theory of perturbative QCD contributed to understanding the quark structure of baryon resonances; discovered a new symmetry of nature that describes the behavior of heavy quarks made fundamental contributions to manifold theory, string theory, and the theory of supersymmetric quantum mechanics leading theorist of molecular nanotechnology; invented the encryption technology that allows secure translations over the internet father of nanotechnology contributed to the development of supersymmetric field

Stanley J. Brodsky Haim Harari

1940American 1940Israeli 1940American 1942Italian-born American 1942Italian 1944American 1944American 1947American 1947-2001 American 1951American 1952American 1955American 1956-

Kip S. Thorne

Francesco Iachello Gabriele Veneziano Chris Quigg Thomas A. Witten

Howard Georgi

Nathan Isgur

Edward Witten

Ralph Charles Merkle K. Eric Drexler Nathan Seiberg

American Stephen Wolfram

theories and string theories in various dimensions

1959created Mathematica, the first modern computer algebra British system; contributed to development of complexity theory Please also visit the companion site, Famous Astronomers and Astrophysicists. Haitian Creole translation of this web page (by Web Geek Science) Send corrections or comments to manley@kent.edu. This page maintained by D. Mark Manley. Last updated on January 25, 2012.