1. Otto Von Guericke (1602)

Physicist

Otto Von Guericke is a famous Physicist, who was born on November 20, 1602 in Germany. German scientist and politician who established the physics of vacuums and discovered an experimental...

2. Daniel Fahrenheit (1686)

Physicist

Best remembered for developing the Fahrenheit temperature scale and for inventing the modern mercury thermometer, this Polish-born engineer and physicist also worked as a glassblower and a chemistry teacher.

3. Alessandro Volta (1745)

Physicist

Italian physicist and inventor of the battery for whom the Volt was named. He was made a count by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1801 and his image was depicted upon the...

4. Giovanni Aldini (1762)

Physicist

Italian physicist most famous for his work in the field of galvanism, which involves the contraction of muscles via electricity. He as named a Councilor of State at Milan and...

5. Thomas Johann Seebeck (1770)

Physicist

Thomas Johann Seebeck is a famous Physicist, who was born on April 9, 1770 in Estonia. Estonian physicist who discovered the thermoelectric effect in 1821. He was also the first...

6. HC Oersted (1777)

Physicist

HC Oersted is a famous Physicist, who was born on August 14, 1777 in Denmark. Danish physicist and chemist who discovered the important aspect of electromagnetism that electric currents create...

7. Joseph Plateau (1801)

Physicist

Belgian physicist who made the first step towards making movies by demonstrating the illusion of the moving image with his device, the phenakistoscope. He was also a Professor of experimental...

8. Wilhelm Röntgen (1845)

Physicist

German physicist, who, in 1895, produced and detected electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range, which today are known as X-rays. For his work he won the first Nobel Prize in...

9. Albert Michelson (1852)

Physicist

Nobel Prize winning physicist who measured the speed of light, which laid the foundation for the Theory of Relativity. In his long and important career he also received he Copley...

10. Hendrik Lorentz (1853)

Physicist

Co-discoverer of the Zeeman Effect, which is the effect of splitting a spectral line into several components in the presence of a static magnetic field. He shared the 1902 Nobel...

11. Heinrich Hertz (1857)

Physicist

Heinrich Hertz is a famous Physicist, who was born on February 22, 1857 in Germany. German physicist who expanded on radio wave research by becoming the first person to send...

12. Joseph John Thomson (1856)

Physicist

Joseph John Thomson is a famous Physicist, who was born on December 18, 1856 in United Kingdom. Physicist who proved that cathode rays had a negatively charged particle, now commonly...

13. Mihajlo Pupin (1858)

Physicist

Serbian physicist who was a founding member of National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, an early incarnation of NASA. His inventions allowed for long-distance telephone communication for the first time.

14. Robert Millikan (1868)

Physicist

Physicist who became the second American to win the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1923 for his work measuring the charge of the electron. He coined the term "cosmic rays"...

15. Marie Curie (1867)

Physicist

Marie Curie is a famous Physicist, who was born on November 7, 1867 in Poland. Polish physicist and chemist who discovered two radioactive elements: radium and polonium. She became the...

16. Kerr Grant (1878)

Physicist

Physicist and chairman of the Scientific Manpower Advisory Committee during WWII. He was also involved in the Chemical Defence Board.

17. Leonid Mandelstam (1879)

Physicist

Leonid Mandelstam is a famous Physicist, who was born on May 4, 1879 in Belarus. Physicist known for his work on the theory of oscillations, including optics, and quantum mechanics....

18. Max Von Laue (1879)

Physicist

Max Von Laue is a famous Physicist, who was born on October 9, 1879 in Germany. Remembered for his contributions to the study of crystallography, he earned the 1914 Nobel...

19. Albert Einstein (1879)

Physicist

Iconic genius and legendary theoretical physicist who formulated the Theory of Relativity and the mass-energy equivalence formula. Born in Germany, he came to America when Hitler rose to power. He...

20. Clinton Davisson (1881)

Physicist

American physicist who won the 1937 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of Electron Diffraction.

21. Max Born (1882)

Physicist

Famous physicist and mathematician, who was instrumental in the development of quantum mechanics. He was also known for his research into solid-state physics and optics.

22. Hans Geiger (1882)

Physicist

Remembered for his development of a radiation measuring device known as the Geiger counter and for his role in the famous Geiger–Marsden experiment (which discovered the existence of the nuclei...

23. Erwin Schrödinger (1887)

Physicist

Austrian physicist who is best known for using a cat in a box to explain quantum mechanics. His 1944 book What Is Life? examines issues of genetics.

24. Sisir Kumar Mitra (1890)

Physicist

Sisir Kumar Mitra is a famous Physicist, who was born on October 24, 1890 in India. A renowned Bengali physicist who is known for his revolutionary investigations into the ionosphere....

25. Louis Debroglie (1892)

Physicist

Physicist whose discovery that matter had wave properties (wave-particle duality) was crucial to quantum physics and led to him winning the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1929. In 1942, he...

26. Satyendra Nath Bose (1894)

Physicist

Satyendra Nath Bose is a famous Physicist, who was born on January 1, 1894 in India. A physicist known for his work in quantum mechanics and for providing the foundation...

27. Robert S. Mulliken (1896)

Physicist

Robert S. Mulliken is a famous Physicist, who was born on June 7, 1896 in United States. An American physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1966 for...

28. Ali Moustafa Mosharafa (1898)

Physicist

Ali Moustafa Mosharafa is a famous Physicist, who was born on July 11, 1898 in Egypt. Theoretical physicist remembered for his contributions to the study of quantum theory and the...

29. Hyman G. Rickover (1900)

Physicist

Hyman G. Rickover is a famous Physicist, who was born on January 27, 1900 in Poland. Born Chaim Godalia Rickover, he is the ‘Father of the nuclear navy,’ who helped...

30. Ernest Lawrence (1901)

Physicist

Ernest Lawrence is a famous Physicist, who was born on August 8, 1901 in United States. American scientist who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1939 for inventing the...

31. Frederic Joliot Curie (1900)

Physicist

Frederic Joliot Curie is a famous Physicist, who was born on March 19, 1900 in France. A French physicist who won the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with his wife...

32. Werner Heisenberg (1901)

Physicist

German theoretical physicist and one of the key creators of quantum mechanics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1932 for his work.

33. Robert Van-de-Graaff (1901)

Physicist

Physicist who most notably invented the high-voltage electrical generator. He taught at both Princeton University and MIT.

34. Eastman Jacobs (1902)

Physicist

Scientist who focused on aerodynamics such as wind tunnels, turbulence and boundary layers while working for NACA's Langley Research Center from the 1920s to the 1940s. He also designed a...

35. Howard A. Rusk (1901)

Physicist

Howard A. Rusk is a famous Physicist, who was born on April 9, 1901 in United States. Physician who is considered by many to be the founder of rehabilitation medicine....

36. Walter Brattain (1902)

Physicist

American physicist who co-invented, with John Bardeen and William Shockley, the transistor, a device used to amplify and switch electronic signals and electrical power. He won a Nobel Prize for his invention in...

37. Edward Condon (1902)

Physicist

America's foremost nuclear scientist who helped develop radar and nuclear weapons during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project and was he director of the National Bureau of...

38. Paul Dirac (1902)

Physicist

English theoretical physicist who was a key figure in the early development of both quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics. He shared the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery...

39. Karl Guthe Jansky (1905)

Physicist

Karl Guthe Jansky is a famous Physicist, who was born on October 22, 1905 in United States. American physicist and radio engineer who, in August 1931, discovered radio waves, which...

40. Hans Bethe (1906)

Physicist

Remembered for his contributions to quantum electrodynamics and to nuclear, astro, and solid-state physics, he earned the 1967 Nobel Prize for his contributions to the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis.

41. Homi J. Bhabha (1909)

Physicist

Homi J. Bhabha is a famous Physicist, who was born on October 30, 1909 in India. Nuclear physicist from India who founded the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and the...

42. William Higinbotham (1910)

Physicist

American physicist who was a member of the team at Los Alamos National Laboratory that developed the first nuclear bomb and who later became a leader in the nonproliferation movement.

43. Edward Mills Purcell (1912)

Physicist

Edward Mills Purcell is a famous Physicist, who was born on August 30, 1912 in United States. Physicist known for his work in Nuclear magnetic resonance, which has been used...

44. Kip Thorne (1940)

Physicist

Notable for his contributions to the theoretical physics sub-fields of astrophysics and gravitational physics, he investigated relativity, black holes, red giants, wormholes, gravitational waves, and the possibility of time travel....

45. Michael Nielsen (1974)

Physicist

Known for a 2011 publication titled Reinventing Discovery: The New Era of Networked Science, this author, physicist, and computer programmer also taught at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in...

46. Roy J. Glauber (1925)

Physicist

Roy J. Glauber is a famous Physicist, who was born on September 1, 1925 in United States. Physicist who received the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contribution to...

47. Daniel Joseph Bradley (1928)

Physicist

Daniel Joseph Bradley is a famous Physicist, who was born on January 18, 1928 in Ireland. Award-winning Irish physicist and pioneer of laser physics who supervised over 60 PhD students...

48. Murray Gell-Mann (1929)

Physicist

Physicist who developed the theory of elementary particles and subsequently won the 1969 Nobel Prize for it. He also developed the quark constituents of all hadrons and introduced the sigma...

49. William T. Kane (1932)

Physicist

William T. Kane is a famous Physicist, who was born on September 8, 1932 in United States. Physicist who developed a heat sensory method that helped with the production of...

50. Sheldon Lee Glashow (1932)

Physicist

Sheldon Lee Glashow is a famous Physicist, who was born on December 5, 1932 in United States. For his work on the particle physics theory of electroweak interaction, he was...