Scientists
The minds that decoded nature's laws.
records written
Modern era
J. J. Thomson
December 18, 1856 – August 30, 1940
British physicist (1856-1940)
Modern era
Ernest Rutherford
August 30, 1871 – October 19, 1937
New Zealand physicist (1871–1937)
Modern era
Niels Bohr
October 7, 1885 – November 18, 1962
Danish physicist (1885–1962)
Modern era
Max Planck
April 23, 1858 – October 4, 1947
German theoretical physicist (1858–1947)
Modern era
Werner Heisenberg
December 5, 1901 – February 1, 1976
German theoretical physicist and nobel prize winner (1901–1976)
Modern era
Erwin Schrodinger
August 12, 1887 – January 4, 1961
Austrian physicist (1887–1961)
Modern era
Paul Dirac
August 8, 1902 – October 20, 1984
British theoretical physicist (1902–1984)
Modern era
Wolfgang Pauli
April 25, 1900 – December 15, 1958
Physicist, Nobel prize winner (1900–1958)
Modern era
Enrico Fermi
September 29, 1901 – November 28, 1954
Italian–American physicist (1901–1954)
Modern era
Lise Meitner
1878 – October 27, 1968
Austrian-Swedish physicist
Modern era
James Chadwick
October 20, 1891 – July 24, 1974
English physicist (1891-1974), who discovered the neutron in 1932
Modern era
Chien-Shiung Wu
May 31, 1912 – February 16, 1997
Chinese-American physicist (1912–1997) (death at 85 years)
Modern era
Richard Feynman
May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988
American theoretical physicist (1918–1988)
Modern era
J. Robert Oppenheimer
April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967
American theoretical physicist (1904–1967)
Modern era
Satyendra Nath Bose
January 1, 1894 – February 4, 1974
Indian Bengali physicist and polymath (1894–1974)
Modern era
C. V. Raman
November 7, 1888 – November 21, 1970
Indian physicist (1888–1970)
Modern era
Abdus Salam
January 29, 1926 – November 21, 1996
Theoretical physicist, and Nobel Prize in Physics recipient
Modern era
Peter Higgs
May 29, 1929 – April 8, 2024
British physicist and Nobel Prize winner (1929–2024)
Modern era
Roger Penrose
b. August 8, 1931
English mathematical physicist, recreational mathematician and philosopher
Modern era
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
October 19, 1910 – August 21, 1995
Indian-American astrophysicist
Modern era
Henrietta Swan Leavitt
July 4, 1868 – December 12, 1921
American astronomer and human calculator (1868–1921)
Modern era
Annie Jump Cannon
December 11, 1863 – April 13, 1941
American astronomer (1863-1941)
Early Modern era
Antoine Lavoisier
August 26, 1743 – May 8, 1794
French nobleman and chemist (1743–1794)
Early Modern era
John Dalton
September 6, 1766 – July 27, 1844
British chemist and mathematician (1766–1844)
Early Modern era
Amedeo Avogadro
August 9, 1776 – July 9, 1856
Italian scientist
Early Modern era
Humphry Davy
December 17, 1778 – May 29, 1829
British chemist
Early Modern era
Joseph Priestley
March 13, 1733 – February 6, 1804
English chemist, theologian, educator, and political theorist (1733–1804)
Modern era
Dmitri Mendeleev
January 27, 1834 – January 20, 1907
Russian chemist (1834–1907)
Modern era
Alfred Nobel
October 21, 1833 – December 10, 1896
Swedish chemist and inventor (1833–1896)
Modern era
Fritz Haber
December 9, 1868 – January 29, 1934
German chemist and receiver of the Nobel prize (1868–1934)
Modern era
Linus Pauling
February 28, 1901 – August 19, 1994
American scientist (1901–1994)
Modern era
Dorothy Hodgkin
May 12, 1910 – July 29, 1994
British chemist
Modern era
George Washington Carver
January 1, 1864 – January 5, 1943
African American botanist and inventor (1864-1943)
Early Modern era
Anders Celsius
November 27, 1701 – April 25, 1744
Swedish astronomer, physicist, and naturalist (1701-1744)
Early Modern era
Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
May 24, 1686 – September 16, 1736
German-Polish physicist and engineer (1686-1736)
Early Modern era
Carl Linnaeus
May 23, 1707 – January 10, 1778
Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist (1707–1778)
Early Modern era
Alexander von Humboldt
September 14, 1769 – May 6, 1859
Prussian geographer, naturalist and explorer (1769–1859)
Early Modern era
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
August 1, 1744 – December 18, 1829
French naturalist (1744-1829)
Modern era
Alfred Russel Wallace
January 8, 1823 – November 7, 1913
British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist (1823–1913)
Modern era
Gregor Mendel
July 20, 1822 – January 6, 1884
Moravian scientist and Augustinian friar (1822–1884)
Modern era
Ivan Pavlov
September 14, 1849 – February 27, 1936
Russian physiologist (1849–1936)
Modern era
Santiago Ramon y Cajal
May 1, 1852 – October 17, 1934
Spanish scientist (1852-1934)
Modern era
Sigmund Freud
May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939
Founder of psychoanalysis and cartographer of the unconscious
Modern era
Carl Jung
July 26, 1875 – June 6, 1961
Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist (1875–1961)
Early Modern era
William Harvey
April 1, 1578 – June 3, 1657
English physician (1578-1657)
Early Modern era
Andreas Vesalius
December 31, 1514 – October 16, 1564
Flemish anatomist, physician and author (1514–1564)
Medieval era
Paracelsus
November 10, 1493 – September 24, 1541
Swiss physician, philosopher, theologian, and alchemist (c. 1493–1541)
Early Modern era
Edward Jenner
May 17, 1749 – January 26, 1823
English physician, scientist and pioneer of vaccination (1749–1823)
Modern era
Ignaz Semmelweis
July 1, 1818 – August 13, 1865
Hungarian physician, early pioneer of antiseptic procedures (1818–1865)
Modern era
Joseph Lister
April 5, 1827 – February 10, 1912
British surgeon and antiseptic pioneer (1827–1912)
Modern era
Robert Koch
December 11, 1843 – May 27, 1910
German physician, bacteriologist (1843–1910)
Modern era
John Snow
March 15, 1813 – June 16, 1858
English epidemiologist and physician (1813–1858)
Modern era
Elizabeth Blackwell
February 3, 1821 – May 31, 1910
American physician, abolitionist, women's rights activist (1821-1910)
Modern era
Frederick Banting
November 14, 1891 – February 21, 1941
Canadian medical scientist and doctor (1891-1941)
Modern era
Jonas Salk
October 28, 1914 – June 23, 1995
Jewish-American inventor of polio vaccine (1914–1995)
Modern era
Francis Crick
June 8, 1916 – July 28, 2004
British molecular biologist, biophysicist, neuroscientist; co-discoverer of the structure of DNA
Modern era
James Watson
April 6, 1928 – November 6, 2025
American molecular biologist, geneticist, zoologist and Nobel Laureate (1928–2025)
Modern era
Barbara McClintock
June 16, 1902 – September 2, 1992
American scientist and cytogeneticist
Contemporary era
Katalin Kariko
b. January 17, 1955
Hungarian biochemist
Contemporary era
Jennifer Doudna
b. February 19, 1964
American biochemist