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Science & Medicine

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

17 people

James Watson 1928–2025Science & MathematicsCo-discoverer of the DNA double helix structure, earning a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.E. O. Wilson 1929–2021Science & MathematicsBiologist whose studies of ants, biodiversity, and sociobiology reshaped ecology, evolution, and conservation debate.Francis Collins b. 1950Medicine & Public HealthLed the public Human Genome Project and directed the National Institutes of HealthJennifer Doudna b. 1964Science & MathematicsBiochemist who co-developed CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, revolutionizing genetics and medicine.Katalin Karikó b. 1955Medicine & Public HealthBiochemist whose work on modified messenger RNA enabled highly effective mRNA vaccines and new therapeutic platforms.Stephen Jay Gould 1941–2002Science & MathematicsPaleontologist and essayist who advanced punctuated equilibrium and became a leading public interpreter of evolution.Barbara McClintock 1902–1992Science & MathematicsCytogeneticist who discovered transposable elements and won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.Selman Waksman 1888–1973Medicine & Public HealthRan the soil-screening programme that produced streptomycin, the first effective treatment for tuberculosis.Stanley Miller 1930–2007Science & MathematicsThe 1953 experiment that made amino acids from a simulated early atmosphereMaurice Hilleman 1919–2005Medicine & Public HealthVirologist who developed or improved more than forty vaccines, preventing millions of deaths and transforming public health.ASAlbert Schatz 1920–2005Medicine & Public HealthIsolated streptomycin, the first drug effective against tuberculosis, and went to court for the credit.Drew Weissman b. 1959Medicine & Public HealthImmunologist whose collaboration with Katalin Karikó made mRNA vaccines practical and safe.Mary-Claire King b. 1946Medicine & Public HealthGeneticist who identified the BRCA1 locus and applied DNA science to human-rights investigations.Stanley Prusiner b. 1942Medicine & Public HealthNeurologist who discovered prions, establishing a new biological mechanism for infectious neurodegenerative disease.Baruch Blumberg 1925–2011Medicine & Public HealthPhysician-scientist whose discovery of the hepatitis B virus led to diagnostic tests and a widely used vaccine.George Beadle 1903–1989Science & MathematicsGeneticist who won the Nobel Prize for showing that genes control biochemical reactions in cells.Florence R. Sabin 1871–1953Medicine & Public HealthPioneering medical researcher and public-health reformer who advanced knowledge of the lymphatic and immune systems.