A scientist is a person who researches to advance knowledge in an area of natural science. The most famous scientists have contributed immensely to the field of science.
The field of science covers a broad scope of fields, such as physics, chemistry, biology, and astronomy.
This broad subject wouldn’t developed if not for the efforts of these men and women who have taken it upon themselves to push the world of science forward, allowing answers to seemingly impossible questions and opening doors to new fields of research and inventions.
One can never imagine a world without computers, medicine, or engines. Breakthroughs in science have led to the discovery of galaxies and other planets thousands of miles away.
Here is a list of some of the most famous scientists
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin was born to a doctor in 1809 in Shrewsbury, England. His father, a doctor, hoping his son would bag a medical degree at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, enrolled him at the age of sixteen.
The sight of blood made Darwin sick to his stomach. He had more interest in natural history than medicine.
Over the years, Darwin embarked on journeys aboard the ship of the British Royal Navy, employed as a naturalist.
This marked the start of his journey to becoming one of the most famous scientists.
During this trip, Darwin spent much time on land collecting samples of plants, animals, rocks, and fossils.
On returning to England in 1836, his continuous work studying the samples and taking notes from the trip led to his outstanding discoveries in the field of science.
He postulated the theory of natural selection, which states that individuals of a species have more chances of survival in their environment and pass on these genes down to their offspring, allowing them to survive easily in that specific environment.
He died in 1882 and was buried in Westminster Abbey in London, England.
Sir Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton was known for the Laws of Gravity and Motion. He was born on December 25, 1642. As a young boy, he was a sickly infant, and his survival alone was an achievement.
Isaac Newton was an introverted scholar who helped publish his findings for decades.
A mathematician who transcended his time among one of the most famous scientists never left any stone unturned.
Newton explained how objects traveled through the air, leading to the gravitational force theory. This undoubtedly made him one of the most famous scientists of his time.
Among Newton’s works was the refinement of a reflecting telescope and other fundamental work in maths and heat. He tried to recreate the fabled philosopher’s stone in his quest for knowledge.
He dabbled into biblical prophecies, predicting the world would end in A.D. 2060. Newton died in 1727 at the age of 84.
Albert Einstein
The German physicist was born on March 14, 1897, in the southern German city of Ulm to a Jewish family. Einstein played the violin as a child and was keenly interested in mathematics and science.
In 1896, he renounced his German citizenship after moving to Switzerland, where he continued his schooling at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zurich.
While working as a clerk at a Swiss patent office, Einstein developed one of his groundbreaking theories.
After publishing four scientific articles in his name in 1905, He became one of the most famous scientists of that era.
Albert Einstein was famous worldwide for his general theory of relativity and won a Nobel prize in 1921 for his work on the photoelectric effect.
When the Nazis took power before World War II, Einstein emigrated from Germany to the United States, where he spent the remainder of his life. Einstein died of an aortic aneurysm in 1955.
Marie Curie
Marie Curie earned her place among the most famous scientists due to her research, which led to the discovery of radioactive elements. She was born Manya Sklodowska in November 1867 in Warsaw, Poland.
During her early days, she attended a secret school to avoid being discovered by the Russians.
Curie studied physics and natural history, as well as subjects of Polish history, which were unallowed during that period.
At 24, she had saved enough money to purchase a train ticket to Paris, where she met her husband, Pierre Curie, who had been studying crystals and magnetism.
Curie built on French physicist Henri Becquerel’s observation of the element uranium.
Becquerel discovered that uranium emitted something much more like X-rays, which was discovered a year before.
Pierre and Marie Curie made further studies to discover polonium, named after Marie’s native Poland.
Five months later, they discovered another element, radium. Curie, her husband, and Becquerel won the Nobel Prize in 1903 for their work on radioactivity, making her the first woman to win a Nobel.
Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla was dubbed the wizard of the Industrial Revolution due to his contribution to the electrification of life, which is vital to us now. He is one of the most famous scientists for inventing the alternating currency, AC.
Tesla went further to invent a high-voltage transmitter known as Tesla Coil, which is widely used by the telecom industry.
Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American engineer born in 1856 in what is now Croatia.
Tesla studied engineering and physics without getting a degree; he gained experience while working in telephony and the new power electric industry.
Tesla spent much of his time on a series of experiments trying to develop electric power transmission without wires.
He saw it also as a way to transmit large amounts of power worldwide and as a means of communication.
Nikola Tesla died of coronary thrombosis on 7 January 1943 in room 3227 of the Hotel New Yorker.
Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Franklin was born on July 25, 1920, to a Jewish family who valued public service and education.
She studied physics and chemistry at Cambridge University, after which she went to work for the British Coal Utilization Research Association.
Her work on the porosity of coal became her Ph.D. thesis, allowing her to be a guest speaker in several parts of the world.
Rosalind Franklin discovered the double helix structure of the DNA while working with a colleague at King’s College.
However, she and Maurice Wilkins, her colleague then, had clashing personalities, causing them to work independently.
Using Franklin’s unpublished data, Watson and Crick, friends of Wilkins, saw a photo of the DNA shown to them by Wilkins.
The famous photo 51 was what led to their famous DNA model. Franklin Rosalind was only acknowledged for her contribution after her death.
Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison, an American inventor, was born on February 11, 1847. His early years were plagued with scarlet fever and ear infections, which almost left him deaf as an adult.
He was home-schooled by his mother after several complaints from his teacher as being difficult.
At 11, he had an unending desire for knowledge, reading several books on various subjects.
In 1869, Thomas Edison invented the Universal Stock Printer, which synchronizes stock ticker transactions.
Edison was the first person to project a motion picture, showing the first motion picture screening at Koster and Bial’s Music Hall in New York City.
Some of his other inventions were the quadruplex telegraph, phonograph, and the incandescent light bulb.
He got his inspiration from an English inventor, Humphrey Davy, who invented the first electric arc lamp in the early 1800s.
Edison died in the year 1931 due to complications of diabetes in his home in West Orange, New Jersey.
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell, a Scottish-born inventor, is credited with his telephone invention. He was born on March 3, 1847, in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Alexander was a curious child who began inventing things early and studied the piano.
A lot of controversy surrounded the invention of the telephone, although Alexander wasn’t the first to come up with the idea. However, he was the first to patent his design of a talking telegraph.
In 1875, Bell, with the assistance of his partner, Thomas Watson, had come up with a receiver that could turn electricity into sound.
The famous AT&T, formerly the Bell Telephone Company, was created in 1877.
Bell faced a 20-year legal battle with other scientists who claimed they created the telephone prototypes before Bell’s patent. After a long legal battle, the Bell Company won in a Supreme Court decision.
The Bell Company faced approximately 550 court cases, and none were successful. Alexander Graham Bell died at 75 in Nova Scotia, Canada, due to complications from diabetes.
Karl Benz
The German engineer Karl Benz is unarguably among one of the most famous scientists of his time. He was born on November 25, 1844. in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany.
Karl Benz invented the world’s first gasoline-powered automobile in 188. He received a Gold Medal in 1888 at the Munich Engineering Exposition for his car, the Patent Motowagen, the first commercial automobile.
He established a machine tool manufacturing company after working in machine shops and graduating from a German technical college. His love for bicycling inspired his desire for his first design, which drew on a tricycle.
Before building this car, Benz invented several key components, such as the electric ignition, spark plugs, and clutch.
In 1926, Benz & Co. merged with a car company started by a fellow German and automotive pioneer, Gottlieb Daimer.
The duo went on to sell Mercedes-Benz vehicles. Mercedes was gotten from the name of the daughter of the man who’d race and sold Daimler automobiles.
Karl Benz owed his success to his wife, Bertha, who supported him financially and emotionally for his work.
Bertha showed the feasibility of Benz vehicles as a mode of mobility. She took it on a 66-mile drive in August 1888.
Benz only knew of the plan after his wife had completed the trip. Karl Benz died on April 4, 1929, in Ladenburg, Germany.
Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday is an English physicist and chemist whose numerous experiments contributed immensely to understanding electromagnetism.
Faraday, one of the most famous scientists of the 19th century, began his career as a chemist. He was born to a poor religious family on September 22, 1971, in Newington (now South London), England.
Jams Faraday, his father, was a blacksmith with a slender income and challenged health; he struggled financially to make ends meet for the family.
As the third child, Michael Faraday only received a basic education in a church school.
Faraday worked as an apprentice at a book bindery in London, which allowed him to study several books, including the “Electricity” section of the Encyclopedia Britannica and Jane Marcel’s Conservation on Chemistry.
Faraday got a free ticket from one of the bookbinder’s customers to attend lectures given by Sir Humphry Davy at the Royal Institution. After attending, he aimed to work for Humphry Davy, which marked the beginning of his scientific journey.
He is most famous for contributing to the comprehension of electrochemistry and electricity. Faraday invented the world’s first electrical generator by converting magnetic into electrical force.
While proving that electricity created by various means is the same, Faraday discovered electrolysis laws, which are still relevant in modern-day science today.
Michael Faraday died on the 25th of August, 1867, at his house at Hampton Court in London.
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and scientist. He was born in 384 BC in Stagira, a small town on the northern coast of Greece, which was once a seaport.
His works cover various subjects stretching across philosophy, natural science, linguistics, economics, psychology, politics, and the arts.
Only a few details are known about Aristotle’s life because biographies written in ancient times are often unproven, and historians only agree on a minute point.
When he was 17, he joined Plato’s Academy in Athens and remained there till he was 37 years of age.
In his book Metaphysics, Aristotle clarified the difference between matter and form, stating that matter is the physical form of things.
In contrast, form is the distinct nature of an entity that gives it identity. His work on psychology shows how people view the world and continues to support many modern psychology theories.
Although, according to today’s definition, Aristotle was not technically a scientist, he believed knowledge could be acquired through the physical examination of objects.
Marine biology was one of his areas of interest, and he examined several anatomy of marine life and noted his observations in his books.
Aristotle died in 322 B.C. after contracting a disease of the digestive organ.
