Famous Mathematicians / Scientists from the Modern Western World
In chronological order — with a short intro
Nicolas Copernicus (1473–1543): Astronomer who proposed the heliocentric model of the solar system.
William Gilbert (1544–1603): Physicist and natural philosopher; studied magnetism and electricity.
Tycho Brahe (1546–1601): Astronomer known for his accurate and comprehensive astronomical observations
John Napier (1550–1617): Mathematician; invented logarithms and popularized the decimal point.
Galileo Galilei (1564–1642): Father of observational astronomy; improved the telescope.
Johannes Kepler (1571–1630): Formulated laws of planetary motion, advancing celestial mechanics.
René Descartes (1596–1650): Mathematician and philosopher; developed Cartesian coordinates.
Evangelista Torricelli (1608–1647): Inventor of the barometer; contributed to the understanding of atmospheric pressure.
Blaise Pascal (1623–1662): Mathematician and physicist; Pascal’s Law and Pascal’s Triangle.
Robert Boyle (1627–1691): Father of modern chemistry; Boyle’s Law and Boyle’s flask.
John Ray (1627–1705): Naturalist; developed the concept of species in biology.
Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695): Mathematician and physicist; wave theory of light and pendulum clock.
Isaac Newton (1643–1727): Formulated laws of motion and universal gravitation; pioneer in calculus.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716): Co-developed calculus independently; polymath.
Daniel Bernoulli (1700–1782): Mathematician and physicist; known for Bernoulli’s principle.
Anders Celsius (1701–1744): Astronomer and physicist; introduced the Celsius temperature scale.
Leonhard Euler (1707–1783): Pioneering mathematician; Euler’s formula and contributions to graph theory.
Joseph Black (1728–1799): Chemist; discovered carbon dioxide and latent heat.
Henry Cavendish (1731–1810): Discovered hydrogen and measured Earth’s density.
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804): Discovered several gases, including oxygen; contributed to chemistry.
William Herschel (1738–1822): Astronomer; discovered Uranus and studied stellar astronomy.
Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794): Father of modern chemistry; discovered the role of oxygen in combustion.
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744–1829): Early evolutionary theorist; proposed Lamarckism.
Alessandro Volta (1745–1827): Physicist; invented the voltaic pile, early battery.
Daniel Rutherford (1749–1819): Isolated nitrogen and discovered the concept of an inert gas.
Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749–1827): Mathematician and physicist; worked on celestial mechanics.
Thomas Malthus (1766–1834): Economist and demographer; proposed the theory of population growth.
John Dalton (1766–1844): Formulated atomic theory; pioneer in the understanding of chemistry.
John Dalton (1766–1844): Formulated atomic theory; contributed to the understanding of gases.
Joseph Fourier (1768–1830): Mathematician and physicist; developed Fourier series and transform.
Charles Fourier (1772–1837): Mathematician and social theorist; developed Fourier series and Fourier transform.
André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836): Physicist and mathematician; formulated Ampère’s Law.
Hans Christian Ørsted (1777–1851): Discovered the connection between electricity and magnetism.
Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855): Mathematician; significant contributions to many areas of mathematics.
Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779–1848): Chemist; introduced modern chemical symbols and notation.
Augustin-Louis Cauchy (1789–1857): Mathematician; contributed to analysis and mathematical rigour.
Michael Faraday (1791–1867): Experimental physicist; discovered electromagnetic induction.
Charles Babbage (1791–1871): Mathematician and inventor; designed the first mechanical computer.
Charles Darwin (1809–1882): Proposed theory of evolution by natural selection.
Gregor Mendel (1822–1884): Founder of modern genetics; conducted experiments with pea plants.
Louis Pasteur (1822–1895): Microbiologist; developed germ theory and pasteurization.
Adolf Clausius (1822–1888): Physicist; formulated the second law of thermodynamics.
William Thomson, Lord Kelvin (1824–1907): Physicist; formulated the Kelvin scale and laws of thermodynamics.
James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879): Formulated Maxwell’s equations, describing electromagnetism.
Dmitri Mendeleev (1834–1907): Chemist; developed the periodic table of elements.
Henri Poincaré (1854–1912): Mathematician, theoretical physicist, and philosopher of science.
Max Planck (1858–1947): Physicist; originated quantum theory, introducing the concept of quantized energy.
Marie Curie (1867–1934): Pioneering research on radioactivity; Nobel laureate in Physics and Chemistry.
Albert Einstein (1879–1955): Theoretical physicist; developed the theory of relativity, E=mc².
Niels Bohr (1885–1962): Physicist; contributed to the understanding of atomic structure and quantum mechanics.
Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961): Physicist; formulated wave mechanics in quantum physics.
James Chadwick (1891–1974): Physicist; discovered the neutron.
Louis de Broglie (1892–1987): Physicist; introduced wave-particle duality in quantum mechanics.
Werner Heisenberg (1901–1976): Physicist; formulated quantum mechanics and uncertainty principle.
Linus Pauling (1901–1994): Chemist; Nobel laureate in Chemistry and Peace.
Enrico Fermi (1901–1954): Physicist; led the team that created the first controlled nuclear reaction.
Paul Dirac (1902–1984): Theoretical physicist; contributed to quantum mechanics.
John von Neumann (1903–1957): Mathematician; made foundational contributions to game theory and computer science.
Alan Turing (1912–1954): Mathematician; a key figure in the development of computer science.
Francis Crick (1916–2004) and James Watson (1928–2003): Biologists; discovered the structure of DNA.
Richard Feynman (1918–1988): Quantum physicist; Nobel laureate in Physics.
Rosalind Franklin (1920–1958): Chemist; contributed to the understanding of DNA structure.
John Nash (1928–2015): Mathematician; contributions to game theory; subject of “A Beautiful Mind.”
Murray Gell-Mann (1929–2019): Physicist; discovered and classified elementary particles.
Peter Higgs (born 1929) and François Englert (born 1932): Physicists; proposed the Higgs mechanism.
Roger Penrose (born 1931): Mathematician and physicist; made contributions to general relativity.
Carl Sagan (1934–1996): Astronomer; popularized science through books and television.
Richard Dawkins (born 1941): Evolutionary biologist; known for popularizing gene-cantered view of evolution.
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018): Theoretical physicist; made significant contributions to cosmology.
Andrew Wiles (born 1953): Mathematician; proved Fermat’s Last Theorem.
I welcome further additions to this list. Thanks🍁
