HomeScience & Medicine

Science & Medicine

Researchers, physicians and mathematicians who worked out how the world and the body behave.

All Science & Mathematics Medicine & Public Health
Role: Any Physician 29 Physicist 22 Biologist 17 Chemist 17 Public Health Leader 12 Astronomer 11 Author 11 Educator 10 Inventor 9 Mathematician 7 Activist 6 Earth Scientist 5
Order: Most notable By term A–Z Born earliest Born latest Longest lived Shortest lived

11 people

Carl Sagan 1934–1996Science & MathematicsAstronomer and science communicator who brought cosmology to millions through Cosmos and popular books.Edwin Hubble 1889–1953Science & MathematicsAstronomer whose discovery of expanding galaxies provided the foundation for the Big Bang theory.Neil deGrasse Tyson b. 1958Science & MathematicsAstrophysicist and science communicator who has made cosmology accessible to millions through television.Vera Rubin 1928–2016Science & MathematicsMeasured galaxy rotation curves that provided the main observational evidence for dark matter.Benjamin Banneker 1731–1806Science & MathematicsFree Black astronomer and almanac author who helped survey the federal district and challenged Jefferson on race.George Ellery Hale 1868–1938Science & MathematicsBuilt four telescopes that were each the largest in the world, and found that sunspots are magneticHarlow Shapley 1885–1972Science & MathematicsDetermined the size of the Milky Way and displaced the Sun from its center.Percival Lowell 1855–1916Science & MathematicsFounded Lowell Observatory and initiated the search that led to Pluto's discovery.Annie Jump Cannon 1863–1941Science & MathematicsDeveloped the stellar spectral classification system still used to categorize stars.Maria Mitchell 1818–1889Science & MathematicsFirst American woman professional astronomer who discovered a comet and taught at Vassar College.Henrietta Swan Leavitt 1868–1921Science & MathematicsDiscovered the Cepheid period-luminosity relation that made measuring cosmic distances possible.