Famous Physicists
- Ibn al-Haytham – Father of optics and discovered reflection and refraction.
- Archimedes – discovered the laws of flotation and developed Archimedes' principle.
- Galileo Galilei – "Father of modern physics.".
- Isaac Newton – Laid the groundwork for classical mechanics, made significant contributions to the field of optics and co-invented calculus. Often considered the greatest physicist of all time.
- Albert Einstein – Generally considered greatest scientist of the 20th century. Developed both the Special and General Theories of Relativity and proved the existence of atoms beyond doubt.
- Niels Bohr – made fundamental contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics. Widely considered one of the greatest physicists of the 20th century.
- Richard Feynman – Expanded the theory of quantum electrodynamics, and developed the tool known as Feynman diagrams.
- Robert Oppenheimer – "Father of the atomic bomb."
- Nikola Tesla – One of the main influences of the second industrial revolution and widely known for his work on electromagnetism.
- Stephen Hawking – made fundamental contributions to black hole physics and cosmology. Also authored popular books on these subjects.
Read more about this topic: Outline Of Physics
Famous quotes containing the words famous and/or physicists:
“The treasury of America lies in those ambitions and those energies that cannot be restricted to a special, favored class. It depends upon the inventions of unknown men; upon the originations of unknown men, upon the ambitions of unknown men. Every country is renewed out of the ranks of the unknown, not out of the ranks of those already famous and powerful and in control.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“Our science has become terrible, our research dangerous, our findings deadly. We physicists have to make peace with reality. Reality is not as strong as we are. We will ruin reality.”
—Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)