Famous Physicists - List of Famous Physicists - page 21
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 | |||
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Name | Birthday | Nationality | Bio |
Henry Cavendish | October 10, 1731 | British | Henry Cavendish was a theoretical chemist and physicist, renowned for discovery of hydrogen and calculation of the mass of earth |
Walter Kohn | March 9, 1923 | Austrian | Nobel Laureate Walter Kohn was an Austrian-born American theoretical chemist and physicist |
Isaac Newton | January 4, 1643 | British | Isaac Newton was an English scientist and mathematician, who discovered gravitation and Newtonian Mechanics |
Ernst Ruska | December 25, 1906 | German | Ernst Ruska was a German physicist who invented the electron microscope |
Amedeo Avogadro | August 9, 1776 | Italian | Amedeo Avogadro was an Italian scientist who formulated what is now known as Avogadro's law |
Paul Dirac | August 8, 1902 | British | Paul Dirac was an English theoretical physicist known for his contributions to quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics |
Nikola Tesla | July 10, 1856 | American | Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, best known for his development of alternating current electrical systems |
Franklin Chang Díaz | April 5, 1950 | Chinese, Costa Rican, American | Franklin Chang-Diaz is an American-Costa Rican physicist and former NASA astronaut |
Richard Feynman | May 11, 1918 | American | Richard Feynman was a Nobel Prize winning American physicist who proposed the theory of quantum electrodynamics |
J. J. Thomson | December 18, 1856 | British | J.J |
Daniel Bernoulli
Daniel Bernoulli was a Swiss mathematician and physicist who did pioneering work in the field of fluid dynamics and kinetic theory of gases
Arthur Compton
Arthur Compton was a renowned American physicist who discovered the Compton Effect
Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Sakharov was a Russian physicist and Noble Prize winning activist, popularly known as ‘The Father of Soviet nuclear bomb’
Abdus Salam
Abdus Salam was a renowned scientist who belonged to Pakistan
Abraham Pais
A physicist and science historian, Abraham Pais is known for his works on particle physics and his biography on Albert Einstein
Leonhard Euler
Leonhard Euler was a Swiss mathematician counted among the greatest mathematicians of all times
Sally Ride
Sally Ride was an American astronaut and physicist, who became the first American woman to travel into space
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Robert Oppenheimer is known “the father of atomic bomb” and was the lead figure of the “Manhattan Project”
Archimedes
Archimedes was one of the greatest scientists and mathematicians ever born who made incredible inventions and discoveries
Sir William Lawrence Bragg
William Lawrence Bragg was a British physicist and is the youngest ever Nobel Laureate in Physics so far