Physics and Astronomy
| Subject | Father/mother of … | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Acoustics | Ernst Chladni | For important research in vibrating plates |
| Aerodynamics | Nikolai Zhukovsky George Cayley |
Zhukovsky was the first to undertake the study of airflow, was the first engineer scientist to explain mathematically the origin of aerodynamic lift. Cayley Investigated theoretical aspects of flight and experimented with flight a century before the first airplane was built |
| Classical mechanics | Isaac Newton (founder) | Described laws of motion and law of gravity in Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687) |
| Electricity | William Gilbert Michael Faraday Thomas Edison Nikola Tesla |
Book: De Magnete (1600) Discovered electromagnetic induction (1831) Proposed a kite experiment to prove that lightning is electricity (1750) Invented many electrical devices, such as the carbon microphone Invented alternating current and many other electrical devices |
| Electrodynamics | André-Marie Ampère | Book: Memoir on the Mathematical Theory of Electrodynamic Phenomena, Uniquely Deduced from Experience (1827) |
| Energetics | Willard Gibbs | Publication: On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances (1876) |
| Experimental physics (founder) | Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) | For introducing experimental method into physics with his Book of Optics (1021) |
| Modern astronomy | Nicolaus Copernicus | Developed the first explicit heliocentric model in De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543) |
| Modern physics | Galileo Galilei | His development and extensive use of experimental physics, e.g. the telescope |
| Nuclear physics | Ernest Rutherford | Developed the Rutherford atom model (1909) |
| Nuclear science | Marie Curie Pierre Curie |
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| Optics | Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) | Correctly explained vision and carried out the first experiments on light and optics in the Book of Optics (1021). |
| Quantum mechanics | Max Planck (founder) | Stated that electromagnetic energy could be emitted only in quantized form |
| Relativity | Albert Einstein (founder) | Pioneered special relativity (1905) and general relativity (1915) |
| Spaceflight (rocketry) | Robert Hutchings Goddard Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Hermann Oberth |
Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket. Tsiolkovsky created the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation. |
| Thermodynamics | Sadi Carnot (founder) | Publication: On the Motive Power of Fire and Machines Fitted to Develop that Power (1824) |
Read more about this topic: List Of People Considered Father Or Mother Of A Scientific Field, Natural Sciences
Famous quotes containing the words physics and/or astronomy:
“The fundamental laws of physics do not describe true facts about reality. Rendered as descriptions of facts, they are false; amended to be true, they lose their explanatory force.”
—Nancy Cartwright (b. 1945)
“Awareness of the stars and their light pervades the Koran, which reflects the brightness of the heavenly bodies in many verses. The blossoming of mathematics and astronomy was a natural consequence of this awareness. Understanding the cosmos and the movements of the stars means understanding the marvels created by Allah. There would be no persecuted Galileo in Islam, because Islam, unlike Christianity, did not force people to believe in a “fixed” heaven.”
—Fatima Mernissi, Moroccan sociologist. Islam and Democracy, ch. 9, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. (Trans. 1992)