Famous Physicists - List of Famous Physicists - page 20

Physicists are the scientists who study the field of physics in great detail. They conduct research into physical phenomena or the natural science that involve the study of matter and related concepts. They analyze the general happenings in nature and try to understand how the universe behaves. On the basis of research through observation and experiments, they discover physical laws and propound theories that explain the functioning of natural forces like gravity, electromagnetism, and nuclear interactions. The discovery of new physical laws and theories contribute to the existing base of theoretical knowledge and can also be used for more practical applications such as development of medial equipment, electronic devices, nuclear reactors, etc. During the earlier days, physics was considered a field of philosophy; it was only during the 19th century that physics was realized as a discipline separate from philosophy. Some of the major branches of physics are classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, theory of relativity and electromagnetism. Since physics covers a vast number of fields, most physicists specialize in one of the many subfields. However, the various subfields may overlap with each other and also with other sciences resulting in interdisciplinary fields such as biophysics, geophysics, meteorology, etc. Browse through this section to explore the biographies, life and works of various famous physicists from all over the world.

The Most Famous Physicists

NameBirthdayNationalityBio
Henry CavendishOctober 10, 1731BritishHenry Cavendish was a theoretical chemist and physicist, renowned for discovery of hydrogen and calculation of the mass of earth
Walter KohnMarch 9, 1923AustrianNobel Laureate Walter Kohn was an Austrian-born American theoretical chemist and physicist
Isaac NewtonJanuary 4, 1643BritishIsaac Newton was an English scientist and mathematician, who discovered gravitation and Newtonian Mechanics
Ernst RuskaDecember 25, 1906GermanErnst Ruska was a German physicist who invented the electron microscope
Amedeo AvogadroAugust 9, 1776ItalianAmedeo Avogadro was an Italian scientist who formulated what is now known as Avogadro's law
Paul DiracAugust 8, 1902BritishPaul Dirac was an English theoretical physicist known for his contributions to quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics
Nikola TeslaJuly 10, 1856AmericanNikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, best known for his development of alternating current electrical systems
Franklin Chang DíazApril 5, 1950Chinese, Costa Rican, AmericanFranklin Chang-Diaz is an American-Costa Rican physicist and former NASA astronaut
Richard FeynmanMay 11, 1918AmericanRichard Feynman was a Nobel Prize winning American physicist who proposed the theory of quantum electrodynamics
J. J. ThomsonDecember 18, 1856BritishJ.J

Lord Rayleigh

Lord Rayleigh was an English physicist who discovered the Argon gas and won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1904

BritishNovember 12, 1842155 views

Louis de Broglie

Louis de Broglie was a distinguished French physicist who made significant contribution to quantum theory

FrenchAugust 15, 1892134 views

Johannes Rydberg

Johannes Rydberg was a Swedish physicist who devised what became known as the Rydberg formula

SwedishNovember 8, 1854124 views

James Prescott Joule

James Prescott Joule was an English physicist, who studied the nature of heat, and discovered its relationship to mechanical work

BritishDecember 24, 1818166 views

Hermann von Helmholtz

Hermann von Helmholtz was a German physician and physicist, best known for his statement of the law of the conservation of energy.

GermanAugust 31, 1821125 views

Heinrich Hertz

Heinrich Hertz was a German scientist who proved the existence of electromagnetic waves

GermanFebruary 22, 1857173 views

Gustav Kirchhoff

Gustav Kirchhoff was a German physicist who made major contributions to the fields of thermochemistry and electrical circuits

GermanMarch 12, 1824139 views

Enrico Fermi

Enrico Fermi was an Italian physicist who made major contributions to the development of nuclear energy

ItalianSeptember 29, 1901132 views

Ernst Mach

Ernst Mach was a famous Austrian physicist who discovered the Mach number used to represent the ratio of velocity of sound

AustrianFebruary 18, 1838176 views