wing of the archive
The Modern Era
The industrial and imperial centuries: inventors, statesmen, artists, and the makers of the modern world.
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)
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)
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)
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
Virginia Apgar
June 7, 1909 – August 7, 1974
American obstetrical anesthesiologist (1909-1974)
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
Modern era
Rachel Carson
May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964
American marine biologist and conservationist (1907–1964)
Modern era
Jane Goodall
April 3, 1934 – October 1, 2025
English primatologist and anthropologist (1934–2025)
Modern era
Dian Fossey
January 16, 1932 – December 26, 1985
American zoologist, gorilla researcher (1932–1985)
Modern era
David Attenborough
b. May 8, 1926
British broadcaster and naturalist (born 1926)
Modern era
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
April 9, 1806 – September 15, 1859
British mechanical and civil engineer (1806-1859)
Modern era
Alexander Graham Bell
March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922
Canadian-American scientist inventor of telephone (1847–1922)
Modern era
Guglielmo Marconi
April 25, 1874 – July 20, 1937
Italian inventor and radio pioneer (1874-1937)
Modern era
Orville Wright
Co-inventor of powered flight with his brother Wilbur
Modern era
Wilbur Wright
April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912
American aviation pioneer (1867-1912)
Modern era
Karl Benz
November 25, 1844 – April 4, 1929
German automotive and engine designer and manufacturer (1844–1929)
Modern era
Rudolf Diesel
March 18, 1858 – September 30, 1913
German inventor and mechanical engineer (1858–1913)
Modern era
George Westinghouse
October 6, 1846 – March 12, 1914
American inventor and businessman (1846–1914)
Modern era
Grace Hopper
December 9, 1906 – January 1, 1992
American computer scientist and United States Navy officer (1906–1992)
Modern era
Hedy Lamarr
November 9, 1914 – January 19, 2000
Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)
Modern era
Philo Farnsworth
August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971
American inventor (1906–1971)
Modern era
John Logie Baird
August 13, 1888 – June 14, 1946
Scottish inventor, demonstrating the world's first working television (1888–1946)
Modern era
Louis Braille
January 4, 1809 – January 6, 1852
French organist and teacher (1809-1852), inventor of braille, a system for reading and writing text and music, used by people who are blind or visually impaired
Modern era
Garrett Morgan
March 4, 1877 – July 27, 1963
American inventor (1877–1963)
Modern era
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
September 5, 1857 – September 19, 1935
Russian and Soviet rocket scientist and pioneer of the astronautic theory (1857-1935)
Modern era
Sergei Korolev
December 30, 1906 – January 14, 1966
Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer (1907-1966)
Modern era
Wernher von Braun
March 23, 1912 – June 16, 1977
German and later American aerospace engineer and space architect (1912–1977)
Modern era
Soren Kierkegaard
May 5, 1813 – November 11, 1855
Danish theologian, philosopher, poet and social critic (1813–1855)
Modern era
Karl Marx
May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883
Philosopher and economist whose critique of capital shaped a century
Modern era
Friedrich Engels
November 28, 1820 – August 5, 1895
German philosopher, sociologist and economist (1820–1895)
Modern era
John Stuart Mill
May 20, 1806 – May 8, 1873
British philosopher and political economist (1806–1873)
Modern era
Friedrich Nietzsche
October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900
German philosopher (1844-1900)