Name | Occupation | Birth | Death | Known for |
Charles Greeley Abbot |
Astronomer |
31-May-1872 |
17-Dec-1973 |
Solar energy |
Shirley S. Abrahamson |
Judge |
17-Dec-1933 |
|
Wisconsin Chief Justice |
John Adams |
Head of State |
30-Oct-1735 |
4-Jul-1826 |
2nd President of the U.S. |
John Quincy Adams |
Head of State |
11-Jul-1767 |
23-Feb-1848 |
6th US President, 1825-29 |
Roger Adams |
Chemist |
2-Jan-1889 |
6-Jul-1971 |
Organic chemist at Illinois |
Walter S. Adams |
Astronomer |
20-Dec-1876 |
11-May-1956 |
Long-time director of Mt. Wilson Observatory |
Felix Adler |
Educator |
13-Aug-1851 |
24-Apr-1933 |
Ethical Culture |
Louis Agassiz |
Paleontologist |
28-May-1807 |
14-Dec-1873 |
Ichthyologist at Harvard |
Peter Agre |
Biologist |
30-Jan-1949 |
|
Water channels of cell membranes |
William Foxwell Albright |
Archaeologist |
24-May-1891 |
19-Sep-1971 |
Biblical archaeologist at Johns Hopkins |
Sidney Altman |
Chemist |
7-May-1939 |
|
Proved enzyme role of RNA |
Luis W. Alvarez |
Physicist |
13-Jun-1911 |
1-Sep-1988 |
Particle accelerator, extinction of dinosaurs |
Carl David Anderson |
Physicist |
3-Sep-1905 |
11-Jan-1991 |
Discovered the positron, mu-meson |
Charles McLean Andrews |
Historian |
22-Feb-1863 |
9-Sep-1943 |
The Colonial Period of American History |
Leonore Annenberg |
Socialite |
20-Feb-1918 |
12-Mar-2009 |
Wife of Walter Annenberg |
Walter Annenberg |
Business |
13-Mar-1908 |
1-Oct-2002 |
Media mogul, created TV Guide |
Kenneth J. Arrow |
Economist |
23-Aug-1921 |
|
Social Choice and Individual Values |
Norman Augustine |
Business |
27-Jul-1935 |
|
CEO of Martin Marietta, 1987-97 |
Richard Axel |
Scientist |
2-Jul-1946 |
|
Odorant receptors and olfactory organization |
Walter Baade |
Astronomer |
24-Mar-1893 |
25-Jun-1960 |
German-American observational astronomer |
Horace W. Babcock |
Astronomer |
13-Sep-1912 |
29-Aug-2003 |
Adaptive optics and the Babcock Model |
Alexander Dallas Bache |
Physicist |
19-Jul-1806 |
17-Feb-1867 |
First President, National Academy of Sciences |
Leo Baekeland |
Scientist |
14-Nov-1863 |
23-Feb-1944 |
Father of plastics |
Bernard Bailyn |
Historian |
9-Sep-1922 |
|
The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution |
Simeon E. Baldwin |
Politician |
5-Feb-1840 |
30-Jan-1927 |
Governor of Connecticut, 1911-15 |
Jacqueline K. Barton |
Chemist |
7-May-1952 |
|
Professor of Chemistry at CalTech |
John Bartram |
Naturalist |
23-Mar-1699 |
22-Sep-1777 |
Colonial botanist to King George III |
Walter Jackson Bate |
Critic |
23-May-1918 |
26-Jul-1999 |
Samuel Johnson |
Gary S. Becker |
Economist |
2-Dec-1930 |
3-May-2014 |
Human Capital |
Daniel Bell |
Sociologist |
10-May-1919 |
25-Jan-2011 |
The End of Ideology |
Paul Berg |
Chemist |
30-Jun-1926 |
|
Pioneer in recombinant DNA |
Lipman Bers |
Mathematician |
22-May-1914 |
29-Oct-1993 |
Riemann surfaces |
Hans Bethe |
Physicist |
2-Jul-1906 |
6-Mar-2005 |
Atomic scientist |
Nicholas Biddle |
Business |
8-Jan-1786 |
27-Feb-1844 |
Second Bank of the United States |
James Billington |
Historian |
1-Jun-1929 |
|
13th Librarian of Congress |
Robert J. Birgeneau |
Educator |
1942 |
|
Chancellor, UC Berkeley |
George David Birkhoff |
Mathematician |
21-Mar-1884 |
12-Nov-1944 |
Modern theory of dynamical systems |
David H. Blackwell |
Mathematician |
24-Apr-1919 |
8-Jul-2010 |
Bayesian statistics |
Alfred Blalock |
Doctor |
5-Apr-1899 |
15-Sep-1964 |
"Blue baby" operation |
Alan S. Blinder |
Economist |
14-Oct-1945 |
|
Vice Chairman, Federal Reserve |
Konrad Bloch |
Scientist |
21-Jan-1912 |
15-Oct-2000 |
Cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism |
Harold Bloom |
Critic |
11-Jul-1930 |
|
Literary critic, Yale professor |
Jack Bogle |
Business |
8-May-1929 |
|
Founder, The Vanguard Group |
Niels Bohr |
Physicist |
7-Oct-1885 |
18-Nov-1962 |
Father of Quantum Theory |
Sissela Bok |
Scholar |
2-Dec-1934 |
|
Ethicist |
Lee C. Bollinger |
Educator |
c. 1946 |
|
President of Columbia University |
Edwin G. Boring |
Psychologist |
23-Oct-1886 |
1-Jul-1968 |
A History of Experimental Psychology |
Kenneth E. Boulding |
Economist |
18-Jan-1910 |
18-Mar-1993 |
The Image: Knowledge of Life in Society |
Kenneth Bourne |
Historian |
17-Mar-1930 |
13-Dec-1992 |
Britain and the Balance of Power |
William G. Bowen |
Educator |
6-Oct-1933 |
|
President, Princeton University, 1972-88 |
Julian P. Boyd |
Historian |
3-Nov-1903 |
21-May-1980 |
Princeton University Librarian, 1940-52 |
Percy Williams Bridgman |
Physicist |
21-Apr-1882 |
20-Aug-1961 |
High-pressure physics |
Cleanth Brooks |
Critic |
16-Oct-1906 |
10-May-1994 |
The Well Wrought Urn |
Van Wyck Brooks |
Critic |
16-Feb-1886 |
2-May-1963 |
Finders & Makers |
Ernest W. Brown |
Astronomer |
29-Nov-1866 |
22-Jul-1938 |
Tables of the Motion of the Moon |
Peter Brown |
Historian |
26-Jul-1935 |
|
The Rise of Western Christendom |
Charles F. Brush |
Inventor |
17-Mar-1849 |
15-Jun-1929 |
Street lights |
Mac Bundy |
Government |
30-Mar-1919 |
16-Sep-1996 |
National Security Advisor, 1961-66 |
Frank Macfarlane Burnet |
Scientist |
3-Sep-1899 |
31-Aug-1985 |
Acquired immunological tolerance |
Vannevar Bush |
Scientist |
11-Mar-1890 |
30-Jun-1974 |
Pre-internet visionary |
Nicholas Murray Butler |
Educator |
2-Apr-1862 |
7-Dec-1947 |
President of Columbia University, 1901-45 |
Caroline Bynum |
Historian |
1941 |
|
Medieval historian |
Melvin Calvin |
Chemist |
8-Apr-1911 |
8-Jan-1997 |
Deciphered photosynthesis |
William W. Campbell |
Astronomer |
11-Apr-1862 |
14-Jun-1938 |
Stellar Motions |
Annie Jump Cannon |
Astronomer |
11-Dec-1863 |
13-Apr-1941 |
Census-taker of the sky |
Anton J. Carlson |
Biologist |
29-Jan-1875 |
2-Sep-1956 |
The Machinery of the Body |
Leonard Carmichael |
Educator |
9-Nov-1898 |
16-Sep-1973 |
Smithsonian Chief, 1953-64 |
Andrew Carnegie |
Business |
25-Nov-1835 |
11-Aug-1919 |
Robber baron turned philanthropist |
Gerhard Casper |
Educator |
25-Dec-1937 |
|
President of Stanford University, 1992-2000 |
James Chadwick |
Physicist |
20-Oct-1891 |
24-Jul-1974 |
Discovered the neutron |
Erwin Chargaff |
Biologist |
11-Aug-1905 |
20-Jun-2002 |
Biochemist at Columbia University |
Noam Chomsky |
Linguist |
7-Dec-1928 |
|
Linguist, dissident intellectual |
Warren Christopher |
Government |
27-Oct-1925 |
18-Mar-2011 |
US Secretary of State, 1993-97 |
Steven Chu |
Physicist |
28-Feb-1948 |
|
US Secretary of Energy, 2009-13 |
Joseph Sill Clark |
Politician |
21-Oct-1901 |
21-Jan-1990 |
US Senator from Pennsylvania, 1956-69 |
Stanley N. Cohen |
Biologist |
17-Feb-1935 |
|
Recombinant DNA |
Cadwallader Colden |
Physicist |
7-Feb-1689 |
20-Sep-1776 |
Colonial scientist and statesman |
James S. Coleman |
Sociologist |
12-May-1926 |
25-Mar-1995 |
Foundations of Social Theory |
Arthur H. Compton |
Physicist |
10-Sep-1892 |
15-Mar-1962 |
Discovered the Compton Effect |
Karl T. Compton |
Physicist |
15-Sep-1887 |
22-Jun-1954 |
Bikini Island atomic tests |
Edward Condon |
Physicist |
2-Mar-1902 |
26-Mar-1974 |
Quantum Mechanics |
William D. Coolidge |
Physicist |
23-Oct-1873 |
4-Feb-1975 |
Tungsten filaments and Coolidge tubes |
Leon N. Cooper |
Physicist |
28-Feb-1930 |
|
BCS Theory of Superconductivity |
Carl Cori |
Scientist |
5-Dec-1896 |
20-Oct-1984 |
Catalytic conversion of glycogen |
Gerty Cori |
Scientist |
15-Aug-1896 |
26-Oct-1957 |
Catalytic conversion of glycogen |
F. Albert Cotton |
Chemist |
9-Apr-1930 |
20-Feb-2007 |
Metal-metal bonds |
Walter Cronkite |
Journalist |
4-Nov-1916 |
17-Jul-2009 |
America's most trusted newscaster |
Alfred W. Crosby |
Historian |
15-Jan-1931 |
|
The Columbian Exchange |
Paul J. Crutzen |
Physicist |
3-Dec-1933 |
|
Ozone depletion |
Harvey Cushing |
Doctor |
8-Apr-1869 |
7-Oct-1939 |
Cushing's Syndrome |
Alexander J. Dallas |
Government |
21-Jun-1759 |
16-Jan-1817 |
US Secretary of the Treasury, 1814-16 |
Gerard Debreu |
Economist |
4-Jul-1921 |
31-Dec-2004 |
Supply and demand theorist |
Peter B. Dervan |
Chemist |
28-Jun-1945 |
|
DNA Researcher |
Persi Diaconis |
Mathematician |
31-Jan-1945 |
|
Science of random numbers |
Jared Diamond |
Scientist |
10-Sep-1937 |
|
Guns, Germs and Steel |
Robert H. Dicke |
Physicist |
6-May-1916 |
4-Mar-1997 |
Dicke radiometer |
Jeremiah Dixon |
Astronomer |
7-Aug-1733 |
22-Jan-1777 |
Mason-Dixon Line |
T. G. Dobzhansky |
Scientist |
25-Jan-1900 |
18-Dec-1975 |
Genetics and the Origin of Species |
Lewis W. Douglas |
Politician |
2-Jul-1894 |
7-Mar-1974 |
US Ambassador to the UK, 1947-50 |
John W. Dower |
Historian |
21-Jun-1938 |
|
Embracing Defeat |
Henry Draper |
Astronomer |
7-Mar-1837 |
20-Nov-1882 |
Early astrophotographer |
John William Draper |
Chemist |
5-May-1811 |
4-Jan-1882 |
Radiant energy and portrait photography |
Sidney D. Drell |
Physicist |
13-Sep-1926 |
|
In the Shadow of the Bomb |
John T. Dunlop |
Government |
5-Jul-1914 |
2-Oct-2003 |
US Secretary of Labor, 1975-76 |
Freeman Dyson |
Physicist |
15-Dec-1923 |
|
Theoretical physicist at Institute for Advanced Study |
Roger Easton |
Inventor |
30-Apr-1921 |
8-May-2014 |
Global Positioning System |
Gerald M. Edelman |
Scientist |
1-Jul-1929 |
17-May-2014 |
Chemical structure of antibodies |
Paul R. Ehrlich |
Scientist |
29-May-1932 |
|
The Population Bomb |
Albert Einstein |
Physicist |
14-Mar-1879 |
18-Apr-1955 |
Theory of relativity |
Joseph Erlanger |
Scientist |
5-Jan-1874 |
5-Dec-1965 |
Nerve conduction |
Leo Esaki |
Physicist |
12-Mar-1925 |
|
Electron tunneling |
James Pollard Espy |
Scientist |
9-May-1785 |
24-Jan-1860 |
The Philosophy of Storms |
Ulf von Euler |
Scientist |
7-Feb-1905 |
9-Mar-1983 |
Neurotransmitters, norepinephrine and prostaglandins |
Robert Fagles |
Translator |
11-Sep-1933 |
26-Mar-2008 |
Translator of Greek literature |
Michael Faraday |
Physicist |
22-Sep-1791 |
25-Aug-1867 |
Discovered electrical induction |
Drew Gilpin Faust |
Educator |
18-Sep-1947 |
|
President of Harvard University |
Martin Feldstein |
Economist |
25-Nov-1939 |
|
Reagan economist |
Enrico Fermi |
Physicist |
29-Sep-1901 |
29-Nov-1954 |
First controlled nuclear chain reaction |
Ronald Fisher |
Mathematician |
17-Feb-1890 |
29-Jul-1962 |
Analysis of variance and covariance |
Marye Anne Fox |
Educator |
9-Dec-1947 |
|
Chancellor, UC San Diego |
James Franck |
Physicist |
26-Aug-1882 |
21-May-1964 |
Franck-Hertz experiment |
Felix Frankfurter |
Judge |
15-Nov-1882 |
22-Feb-1965 |
US Supreme Court Justice, 1939-62 |
Benjamin Franklin |
Diplomat |
17-Jan-1706 |
17-Apr-1790 |
American founding father |
Milton Friedman |
Economist |
31-Jul-1912 |
16-Nov-2006 |
1976 Nobel Prize for Economics |
Thomas Friedman |
Journalist |
20-Jul-1953 |
|
New York Times |
Edward A. Frieman |
Physicist |
19-Jan-1926 |
11-Apr-2013 |
Director of Scripps, 1986-96 |
J. William Fulbright |
Politician |
9-Apr-1905 |
9-Feb-1995 |
Conceived the Fulbright Scholarships |
John Kenneth Galbraith |
Economist |
15-Oct-1908 |
29-Apr-2006 |
Modern economics renegade |
Albert Gallatin |
Politician |
29-Jan-1761 |
12-Aug-1849 |
US Secretary of the Treasury, 1801-14 |
Richard N. Gardner |
Diplomat |
9-Jul-1927 |
|
US Ambassador to Spain, 1993-97 |
Herbert S. Gasser |
Scientist |
5-Jul-1888 |
11-May-1963 |
Nerve conduction |
Ignace J. Gelb |
Scholar |
14-Oct-1907 |
22-Dec-1985 |
A Study of Writing |
Murray Gell-Mann |
Physicist |
15-Sep-1929 |
|
Quarks and strangeness |
Riccardo Giacconi |
Astronomer |
6-Oct-1931 |
|
Discovered cosmic X-ray sources |
William F. Giauque |
Chemist |
12-May-1895 |
28-Mar-1982 |
Adiabatic demagnetization |
Walter S. Gifford |
Business |
10-Jan-1885 |
7-May-1966 |
President of AT&T, 1925-48 |
Sheldon Glashow |
Physicist |
5-Dec-1932 |
|
Electroweak Theory |
Maria Goeppert-Mayer |
Physicist |
28-Jun-1906 |
20-Feb-1972 |
Shell nuclear model |
Thomas Gold |
Scientist |
22-May-1920 |
22-Jun-2004 |
Certain that oil is not a fossil fuel |
Maurice Goldhaber |
Physicist |
18-Apr-1911 |
11-May-2011 |
Neutrons |
Joseph L. Goldstein |
Scientist |
18-Apr-1940 |
|
Hypercholesterolemia and cell metabolism |
Ralph E. Gomory |
Business |
c. 1938 |
|
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation |
Jane Goodall |
Naturalist |
3-Apr-1934 |
|
Primate researcher |
Ragnar Granit |
Scientist |
30-Oct-1900 |
31-Mar-1990 |
Physiology of the retina |
Stephen Greenblatt |
Critic |
7-Nov-1943 |
|
The Swerve |
Alan Greenspan |
Economist |
6-Mar-1926 |
|
Federal Reserve Chairman, 1987-2006 |
Vartan Gregorian |
Educator |
8-Apr-1934 |
|
President of Carnegie Corporation |
Erich S. Gruen |
Historian |
7-May-1935 |
|
The Last Generation of the Roman Republic |
Amy Gutmann |
Educator |
19-Nov-1949 |
|
President, University of Pennsylvania |
Ernst Haeckel |
Zoologist |
16-Feb-1834 |
9-Aug-1919 |
Proponent of evolution |
Robert Hare |
Chemist |
17-Jan-1781 |
15-May-1858 |
Hydrostatic blow-pipe and spiritoscope |
George Russell Harrison |
Physicist |
14-Jul-1898 |
27-Jul-1979 |
Echelle spectrograph |
Haldan K. Hartline |
Scientist |
22-Dec-1903 |
17-Mar-1983 |
Physiology of the retina |
E. Newton Harvey |
Zoologist |
25-Nov-1887 |
21-Jul-1959 |
Light-emitting organisms |
Ethel Browne Harvey |
Zoologist |
14-Dec-1885 |
2-Sep-1965 |
Embryology of sea urchins |
John Herschel |
Astronomer |
7-Mar-1792 |
11-May-1871 |
Discovered many moons of Saturn |
William Hewlett |
Business |
20-May-1913 |
12-Jan-2001 |
Co-Founder of Hewlett-Packard |
James Hillier |
Physicist |
22-Aug-1915 |
15-Jan-2007 |
Electron microscope |
Gertrude Himmelfarb |
Historian |
8-Aug-1922 |
|
Victorian Minds |
Alan L. Hodgkin |
Scientist |
5-Feb-1914 |
20-Dec-1998 |
Electrical impulses in nerves |
Roald Hoffmann |
Chemist |
18-Jul-1937 |
|
Woodward-Hoffmann reaction |
Richard Hofstadter |
Historian |
6-Aug-1916 |
24-Oct-1970 |
Anti-Intellectualism in American Life |
Bert Hölldobler |
Zoologist |
25-Jun-1936 |
|
Social organizations in insects |
Johannes Holtfreter |
Zoologist |
9-Jan-1901 |
13-Nov-1992 |
Chemotaxis |
Edwin J. Houston |
Inventor |
9-Jul-1847 |
1-Mar-1914 |
Thomson-Houston Electric Company |
Fred Hoyle |
Astronomer |
24-Jun-1915 |
20-Aug-2001 |
Opposed the Big Bang but named it |
Freeman A. Hrabowski |
Educator |
13-Aug-1950 |
|
President, University of Maryland Baltimore |
Edwin Hubble |
Astronomer |
20-Nov-1889 |
28-Sep-1953 |
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble's Law |
Charles B. Huggins |
Scientist |
22-Sep-1901 |
12-Jan-1997 |
Hormonal treatment of prostate and breast cancers |
John Hunter |
Doctor |
13-Feb-1728 |
16-Oct-1793 |
English pathologist |
Herbert E. Ives |
Physicist |
21-Jul-1882 |
13-Nov-1953 |
Facsimile machine |
Shirley A. Jackson |
Physicist |
5-Aug-1946 |
|
NRC Chairman, 1995-99 |
François Jacob |
Scientist |
17-Jun-1920 |
19-Apr-2013 |
Operon theory of genetic control |
Kathleen Hall Jamieson |
Scholar |
24-Nov-1946 |
|
Annenberg Public Policy Center |
Thomas Jefferson |
Head of State |
13-Apr-1743 |
4-Jul-1826 |
3rd US President, 1801-09 |
Niels K. Jerne |
Scientist |
23-Dec-1911 |
7-Oct-1994 |
Immune theory (anti-antibody) |
Dale W. Jorgenson |
Economist |
7-May-1933 |
|
Economist at Harvard |
Leo P. Kadanoff |
Physicist |
14-Jan-1937 |
26-Oct-2015 |
Second-order phase transitions |
Eric R. Kandel |
Scientist |
7-Nov-1929 |
|
Signal transduction in the nervous system |
Helene L. Kaplan |
Attorney |
19-Jun-1933 |
|
Of Counsel, Skadden Arps |
Jerome Karle |
Chemist |
18-Jun-1918 |
6-Jun-2013 |
X-Ray diffraction studies |
Nancy Kassebaum |
Politician |
29-Jul-1932 |
|
US Senator from Kansas, 1979-97 |
Judith S. Kaye |
Judge |
4-Aug-1938 |
7-Jan-2016 |
Chief Judge, State of New York, 1993-2008 |
David T. Kearns |
Business |
11-Aug-1930 |
25-Feb-2011 |
CEO of Xerox, 1985-91 |
William N. Kelley |
Doctor |
23-Jun-1939 |
|
Kelley-Seegmiller Syndrome |
Donald Kennedy |
Educator |
18-Aug-1931 |
|
Editor-in-Chief of Science |
Paul Kennedy |
Historian |
17-Jun-1945 |
|
The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers |
Nan Keohane |
Scholar |
18-Sep-1940 |
|
Political scientist |
Linda K. Kerber |
Historian |
23-Jan-1940 |
|
Federalists in Dissent |
Charles P. Kindleberger |
Economist |
12-Oct-1910 |
7-Jul-2003 |
The World in Depression |
Lawrence R. Klein |
Economist |
14-Sep-1920 |
20-Oct-2013 |
Macroeconometric modeling |
F. W. de Klerk |
Head of State |
18-Mar-1936 |
|
President of South Africa, 1989-94 |
Jeremy R. Knowles |
Business |
1935 |
|
Chemistry Professor, Harvard University |
Walter Kohn |
Chemist |
9-Mar-1923 |
|
Density-functional theory |
Arthur Kornberg |
Scientist |
3-Mar-1918 |
26-Oct-2007 |
Synthesized DNA |
Alfred Kroeber |
Anthropologist |
11-Jun-1876 |
5-Oct-1960 |
Pioneer in American Anthropology |
Polykarp Kusch |
Physicist |
26-Jan-1911 |
20-Mar-1993 |
Magnetic moment of the electron |
Simon Kuznets |
Economist |
30-Apr-1901 |
8-Jul-1985 |
National Income and Its Composition |
Edwin H. Land |
Inventor |
7-May-1909 |
1-Mar-1991 |
Polaroid Land Camera |
Samuel P. Langley |
Astronomer |
22-Aug-1834 |
2-Feb-1906 |
Heavier-than-air flying machine |
Richmond Lattimore |
Poet |
6-May-1906 |
26-Feb-1984 |
Translator of Iliad and Odyssey |
Henry Laurens |
Politician |
24-Feb-1724 |
8-Dec-1792 |
Captured negotiating treaty with Holland |
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier |
Chemist |
26-Aug-1743 |
8-May-1794 |
Father of modern chemistry |
Joshua Lederberg |
Biologist |
23-May-1925 |
2-Feb-2008 |
Genetic properties of bacteria |
Morris E. Leeds |
Business |
6-Mar-1869 |
8-Feb-1952 |
Leeds & Northrup Co. |
Anthony J. Leggett |
Physicist |
26-Mar-1938 |
|
Particle physicist, explored superfluidity |
Jean-Marie Lehn |
Chemist |
30-Sep-1939 |
|
Synthesis of molecules |
Joseph Leidy |
Biologist |
9-Sep-1823 |
30-Apr-1891 |
Trichinosis and dinosaurs |
Luis Leloir |
Chemist |
6-Sep-1906 |
2-Dec-1987 |
Conversion of carbohydrates |
Wassily Leontief |
Economist |
5-Aug-1906 |
5-Feb-1999 |
Structure of the American Economy |
Jill Lepore |
Historian |
27-Aug-1966 |
|
The Name of War |
Claude Lévi-Strauss |
Anthropologist |
28-Nov-1908 |
1-Nov-2009 |
French anthropologist |
Bernard Lewis |
Scholar |
31-May-1916 |
|
Middle East scholar |
Edward B. Lewis |
Scientist |
20-May-1918 |
21-Jul-2004 |
Drosophila researcher, Nobel laureate |
Susan L. Lindquist |
Biologist |
5-Jun-1949 |
|
Protein folding |
Carolus Linnaeus |
Botanist |
23-May-1707 |
10-Jan-1778 |
Created a taxonomy of the species |
Walter Lippmann |
Journalist |
23-Sep-1889 |
14-Dec-1974 |
Today and Tomorrow |
Alfred Lee Loomis |
Physicist |
4-Nov-1887 |
1-Aug-1975 |
Millionaire scientist |
Robert Lucas |
Economist |
15-Sep-1937 |
|
Theory of rational expectations |
Salvador Luria |
Biologist |
13-Aug-1912 |
6-Feb-1991 |
Natural selection in bacteria |
Robert Morrison MacIver |
Sociologist |
17-Apr-1882 |
15-Jun-1970 |
The Web of Government |
Roderick MacKinnon |
Biologist |
19-Feb-1956 |
|
Ion channels of cell membranes |
Burton Malkiel |
Economist |
28-Aug-1932 |
|
A Random Walk Down Wall Street |
Rudolph A. Marcus |
Chemist |
21-Jul-1923 |
|
Electron-transfer reactions |
Tomas Masaryk |
Head of State |
7-Mar-1850 |
14-Sep-1937 |
Czech President, 1920-35 |
Charles Mason |
Astronomer |
Apr-1728 |
25-Oct-1786 |
Mason-Dixon Line |
Walter E. Massey |
Business |
5-Apr-1938 |
|
Morehouse College president, physicist |
Jessica Tuchman Mathews |
Government |
1946 |
|
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace |
Ernst Mayr |
Biologist |
5-Jul-1904 |
3-Feb-2005 |
Evolutionary biologist |
Barbara McClintock |
Scientist |
16-Jun-1902 |
2-Sep-1992 |
Discovered transposable genes |
William D. McElroy |
Biologist |
22-Jan-1917 |
17-Feb-1999 |
Bioluminescence |
Victor A. McKusick |
Scientist |
21-Oct-1921 |
22-Jul-2008 |
Father of medical genetics |
Edwin M. McMillan |
Physicist |
18-Sep-1907 |
7-Sep-1991 |
Discovered neptunium and plutonium |
Robert McNamara |
Government |
9-Jun-1916 |
6-Jul-2009 |
US Secretary of Defense, 1961-68 |
Peter Medawar |
Biologist |
28-Feb-1915 |
2-Oct-1987 |
Acquired immunological tolerance |
Dmitri Mendeleev |
Chemist |
8-Feb-1834 |
2-Feb-1907 |
Periodic Table of the Elements |
Robert K. Merton |
Sociologist |
4-Jul-1910 |
23-Feb-2003 |
On the Shoulders of Giants |
Richard A. Meserve |
Attorney |
20-Nov-1944 |
|
President of the Carnegie Institution |
Albert A. Michelson |
Physicist |
19-Dec-1852 |
9-May-1931 |
Measured the speed of light |
Maria Mitchell |
Astronomer |
1-Aug-1818 |
28-Jun-1889 |
First American female astronomer |
Samuel Eliot Morison |
Historian |
9-Jul-1887 |
15-May-1976 |
Rear Admiral and naval historian |
Robert S. Mulliken |
Chemist |
7-Jun-1896 |
31-Oct-1986 |
Molecular orbital theory |
Gerry Neugebauer |
Astronomer |
3-Sep-1932 |
|
Infrared astronomy |
Ernest Fox Nichols |
Physicist |
1-Jun-1869 |
29-Apr-1924 |
Infrared radiation |
Roy Franklin Nichols |
Historian |
3-Mar-1896 |
12-Jan-1973 |
The Disruption of American Democracy |
Marshall W. Nirenberg |
Scientist |
10-Apr-1927 |
15-Jan-2010 |
RNA's role in protein synthesis |
Martha Nussbaum |
Philosopher |
6-May-1947 |
|
The Fragility of Goodness |
Sandra Day O'Connor |
Judge |
26-Mar-1930 |
|
US Supreme Court Justice, 1981-2006 |
Onora O'Neill |
Philosopher |
23-Aug-1941 |
|
President of the British Academy, 2005-09 |
George A. Olah |
Chemist |
22-May-1927 |
|
Isolated carbonium ions |
Lars Onsager |
Chemist |
27-Nov-1903 |
5-Oct-1976 |
Fourth Law of Thermodynamics |
Robert Oppenheimer |
Physicist |
22-Apr-1904 |
18-Feb-1967 |
Physicist, headed the Manhattan Project |
Donald E. Osterbrock |
Astronomer |
13-Jul-1924 |
11-Jan-2007 |
Director of Lick Observatory, 1973-81 |
Elinor Ostrom |
Sociologist |
7-Aug-1933 |
12-Jun-2012 |
Common-pool resources |
David Packard |
Business |
7-Sep-1912 |
26-Mar-1996 |
Co-Founder of Hewlett-Packard |
Thomas Paine |
Activist |
29-Jan-1737 |
8-Jun-1809 |
Common Sense |
Pief Panofsky |
Physicist |
24-Apr-1919 |
24-Sep-2007 |
Stanford Linear Accelerator |
Louis Pasteur |
Chemist |
27-Dec-1822 |
28-Sep-1895 |
Discovered process of pasteurization |
Linus Pauling |
Chemist |
28-Feb-1901 |
19-Aug-1994 |
Scientist and peacenik |
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin |
Astronomer |
10-May-1900 |
7-Dec-1979 |
Hydrogen in the Sun |
Raymond Pearl |
Biologist |
3-Jun-1879 |
17-Nov-1940 |
Biogerontology |
Benjamin Peirce |
Mathematician |
4-Apr-1809 |
10-Jun-1880 |
Idempotent and nilpotent |
Jaroslav Pelikan |
Historian |
17-Dec-1923 |
13-May-2006 |
The Christian Tradition |
Itzhak Perlman |
Violinist |
31-Aug-1945 |
|
Israeli violinist |
Philip Syng Physick |
Doctor |
7-Jul-1768 |
15-Dec-1837 |
Father of American surgery |
Kenneth S. Pitzer |
Chemist |
6-Jan-1914 |
26-Dec-1997 |
President of Rice University, 1961-68 |
Max Planck |
Physicist |
23-Apr-1858 |
4-Oct-1947 |
Originator of quantum theory |
J. G. A. Pocock |
Historian |
7-Mar-1924 |
|
The Machiavellian Moment |
Henri Poincaré |
Mathematician |
29-Apr-1854 |
17-Jul-1912 |
Poincaré Conjecture |
George Porter |
Chemist |
6-Dec-1920 |
31-Aug-2002 |
Rapid chemical and biological processes |
David M. Potter |
Historian |
6-Dec-1910 |
18-Feb-1971 |
The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861 |
Colin Powell |
Government |
5-Apr-1937 |
|
US Secretary of State, 2001-05 |
Joseph Priestley |
Chemist |
13-Mar-1733 |
6-Feb-1804 |
Investigated gases, discovered Oxygen |
Stanley B. Prusiner |
Scientist |
28-May-1942 |
|
Prions |
E. M. Purcell |
Physicist |
30-Aug-1912 |
7-Mar-1997 |
Nuclear magnetic resonance |
Isidor Isaac Rabi |
Physicist |
29-Jul-1898 |
11-Jan-1988 |
Magnetic beam resonances |
Norman F. Ramsey |
Physicist |
27-Aug-1915 |
4-Nov-2011 |
Energy levels of atoms |
Don Michael Randel |
Educator |
9-Dec-1940 |
|
President, University of Chicago, 2000-06 |
C. N. R. Rao |
Chemist |
30-Jun-1934 |
|
Chemistry of superconductivity |
John S. Reed |
Business |
1939 |
|
CEO of Citibank, 1984-2000 |
Martin Rees |
Astronomer |
23-Jun-1942 |
|
President of the Royal Society |
Owen Willans Richardson |
Physicist |
26-Apr-1879 |
15-Feb-1959 |
Electron emissions of metals |
Oscar Riddle |
Biologist |
27-Sep-1877 |
29-Nov-1968 |
Prolactin |
Rebecca Rimel |
Administrator |
c. 1951 |
|
CEO of Pew Charitable Trusts |
David Rittenhouse |
Astronomer |
8-Apr-1732 |
26-Jun-1796 |
Early Pennsylvania scientist and statesman |
Alice Rivlin |
Economist |
4-Mar-1931 |
|
Founding director, Congressional Budget Office |
Owen J. Roberts |
Judge |
2-May-1875 |
17-May-1955 |
US Supreme Court Justice, 1930-45 |
Mary Robinson |
Head of State |
21-May-1944 |
|
President of Ireland, 1990-97 |
David Rockefeller |
Business |
12-Jun-1915 |
|
Founder of the Trilateral Commission |
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. |
Business |
29-Jan-1874 |
11-May-1960 |
Built Rockefeller Center |
William Barton Rogers |
Educator |
7-Dec-1804 |
30-May-1882 |
Founder, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Theodore Roosevelt |
Head of State |
27-Oct-1858 |
6-Jan-1919 |
26th US President, 1901-09 |
Elihu Root |
Government |
15-Feb-1845 |
7-Feb-1937 |
Senator, Secretary of War, State |
Bruno Rossi |
Astronomer |
13-Apr-1905 |
21-Nov-1993 |
Rossi curve and magnetopause |
Walt Rostow |
Government |
7-Oct-1916 |
13-Feb-2003 |
National Security Advisor, 1966-69 |
F. Sherwood Rowland |
Chemist |
28-Jun-1927 |
10-Mar-2012 |
Ozone depletion |
Vera Rubin |
Astronomer |
23-Jul-1928 |
|
Structure of galaxies |
Neil Rudenstine |
Educator |
21-Jan-1935 |
|
President of Harvard, 1991-2001 |
Henry Norris Russell |
Astronomer |
25-Oct-1877 |
18-Feb-1957 |
Giant stars and dwarfs |
Ernest Rutherford |
Physicist |
30-Aug-1871 |
19-Oct-1937 |
Father of nuclear physics |
Carl Sagan |
Astronomer |
9-Nov-1934 |
20-Dec-1996 |
Popular astronomer, host of Cosmos |
Andrei Sakharov |
Physicist |
21-May-1921 |
14-Dec-1989 |
Developed the Soviet hydrogen bomb |
Paul Samuelson |
Economist |
15-May-1915 |
13-Dec-2009 |
Theory of revealed preference |
Frank Schlesinger |
Astronomer |
11-May-1871 |
10-Jul-1943 |
Stellar parallaxes |
Robert Schrieffer |
Physicist |
31-May-1931 |
|
BCS Theory of Superconductivity |
Theodore W. Schultz |
Economist |
30-Apr-1902 |
26-Feb-1998 |
Investment in Human Capital |
Martin Schwarzschild |
Astronomer |
31-May-1912 |
10-Apr-1997 |
Structure and Evolution of the Stars |
Glenn Seaborg |
Physicist |
19-Apr-1912 |
25-Feb-1999 |
Co-Discoverer of Plutonium |
Frederick Hanley Seares |
Astronomer |
17-May-1873 |
20-Jul-1964 |
Astronomer at Mt. Wilson Observatory |
Amartya Sen |
Economist |
3-Nov-1933 |
|
Poverty and Famines |
Claude Shannon |
Scientist |
30-Apr-1916 |
24-Feb-2001 |
Pioneer in information theory |
Harold T. Shapiro |
Educator |
8-Jun-1935 |
|
President of Princeton, 1988-2000 |
Judith Shapiro |
Educator |
24-Jan-1942 |
|
President, Barnard College |
Phillip A. Sharp |
Biologist |
6-Jun-1944 |
|
Eukaryotic (split) genes |
Ruth J. Simmons |
Educator |
3-Jul-1945 |
|
President, Brown University |
Isadore Singer |
Mathematician |
3-May-1924 |
|
Atiyah-Singer index theorem |
B. F. Skinner |
Psychologist |
20-Mar-1904 |
18-Aug-1990 |
Radical Behaviorism |
Quentin Skinner |
Historian |
26-Nov-1940 |
|
The Foundations of Modern Political Thought |
Theda Skocpol |
Educator |
4-May-1947 |
|
Harvard sociologist, political scientist |
George D. Snell |
Scientist |
19-Dec-1903 |
6-Jun-1996 |
Recognition of HLA antigens |
Robert M. Solow |
Economist |
23-Aug-1924 |
|
Theory of economic growth |
Hugo F. Sonnenschein |
Economist |
1941 |
|
President, University of Chicago, 1993-2000 |
Sonia Sotomayor |
Judge |
25-Jun-1954 |
|
US Supreme Court Justice |
Jonathan D. Spence |
Historian |
11-Aug-1936 |
|
The Search for Modern China |
Jonathan Sperber |
Historian |
26-Dec-1952 |
|
The European Revolutions, 1848-1851 |
Joan Spero |
Diplomat |
2-Oct-1944 |
|
Under Secretary of State, 1993-97 |
Roger W. Sperry |
Scientist |
20-Aug-1913 |
17-Apr-1994 |
"Split brain" hemispheric neurophysiology |
Lyman Spitzer, Jr. |
Astronomer |
26-Jun-1914 |
31-Mar-1997 |
Father of space telescopes |
Wendell M. Stanley |
Chemist |
16-Aug-1904 |
15-Jun-1971 |
First to crystallize a virus |
Harold Stassen |
Politician |
13-Apr-1907 |
4-Mar-2001 |
Perennial presidential candidate |
Fritz Stern |
Historian |
2-Feb-1926 |
|
German historian |
Otto Stern |
Physicist |
17-Feb-1888 |
17-Aug-1969 |
Molecular beam experiment |
Joseph Stiglitz |
Economist |
9-Feb-1943 |
|
Ex-Chief Economist of the World Bank |
Kathleen Sullivan |
Scholar |
20-Aug-1955 |
|
Scholar of constitutional law |
The Svedberg |
Chemist |
30-Aug-1884 |
25-Feb-1971 |
Inventor of the ultracentrifuge |
Ambrose Swasey |
Business |
19-Dec-1846 |
15-Jun-1937 |
Warner and Swasey Company and Observatory |
William Howard Taft |
Head of State |
15-Sep-1857 |
8-Mar-1930 |
27th US President, 1909-13 |
David S. Tatel |
Judge |
16-Mar-1942 |
|
US Court of Appeals, DC Circuit |
Edward Tatum |
Scientist |
14-Dec-1909 |
7-Nov-1975 |
One gene, one enzyme theory |
Henry Taube |
Chemist |
30-Nov-1915 |
16-Nov-2005 |
Mechanisms of electron transfer |
Joseph H. Taylor, Jr. |
Astronomer |
24-Mar-1941 |
|
Co-Discovered first binary pulsar |
Samuel O. Thier |
Doctor |
23-Jun-1937 |
|
CEO of Massachusetts General, 1996-2002 |
Lonnie Thompson |
Scientist |
1-Jul-1948 |
|
Paleoclimatologist, glaciologist |
Charles Thomson |
Politician |
29-Nov-1729 |
16-Aug-1824 |
Designed Great Seal of the U.S. |
Elihu Thomson |
Inventor |
29-Mar-1853 |
13-Mar-1937 |
Electric welding and A/C motors |
William Thornton |
Architect |
20-May-1759 |
28-Mar-1828 |
First architect of the US Capitol |
Shirley M. Tilghman |
Educator |
17-Sep-1946 |
|
President of Princeton University |
Stephen Timoshenko |
Engineer |
23-Dec-1878 |
29-May-1972 |
Mechanical engineering professor at Stanford |
Charles H. Townes |
Physicist |
28-Jul-1915 |
27-Jan-2015 |
Invention of the maser and laser |
Harold C. Urey |
Chemist |
29-Apr-1893 |
5-Jan-1981 |
Discovered Deuterium |
James Van Allen |
Astronomer |
7-Sep-1914 |
9-Aug-2006 |
Discovered the Van Allen Belt |
John H. van Vleck |
Physicist |
13-Mar-1899 |
27-Oct-1980 |
Quantum theory of paramagnetism |
Cyrus Vance |
Government |
27-Mar-1917 |
12-Jan-2002 |
US Secretary of State, 1977-80 |
Vincent du Vigneaud |
Chemist |
18-May-1901 |
11-Dec-1978 |
Synthesized vasopressin and oxytocin |
Paul Volcker |
Economist |
5-Sep-1927 |
|
Chairman of the Federal Reserve, 1979-87 |
Hermann von Helmholtz |
Physicist |
31-Aug-1821 |
8-Sep-1894 |
Law of Conservation of Energy |
John von Neumann |
Mathematician |
28-Dec-1903 |
8-Feb-1957 |
Computing pioneer, inventor of Game Theory |
Johannes Diderik van der Waals |
Physicist |
23-Nov-1837 |
9-Mar-1923 |
Investigated states of matter |
George Wald |
Biologist |
18-Nov-1906 |
12-Apr-1997 |
Physiology of the retina |
Michael Walzer |
Philosopher |
3-Mar-1935 |
|
Just and Unjust Wars |
Earl Warren |
Judge |
19-Mar-1891 |
9-Jul-1974 |
US Chief Justice, 1953-69 |
James Craig Watson |
Astronomer |
28-Jan-1838 |
23-Nov-1880 |
Claimed to discover the planet Vulcan |
Thomas J. Watson |
Business |
17-Feb-1874 |
19-Jun-1956 |
Led IBM into the computer era |
Eugen Weber |
Historian |
24-Apr-1925 |
17-May-2007 |
The Western Tradition |
Alvin M. Weinberg |
Physicist |
20-Apr-1915 |
18-Oct-2006 |
Nuclear scientist |
Steven Weinberg |
Physicist |
3-May-1933 |
|
Electroweak Theory |
Jack Welch |
Business |
19-Nov-1935 |
|
CEO of GE, 1981-2001 |
Eric F. Wieschaus |
Scientist |
8-Jun-1947 |
|
Embryonic development of fruit flies |
Eugene Wigner |
Physicist |
17-Nov-1902 |
1-Jan-1995 |
Law of conservation of parity |
Frank Wilczek |
Physicist |
15-May-1951 |
|
Deep structure of matter |
Edward O. Wilson |
Biologist |
10-Jun-1929 |
|
Father of Sociobiology |
James Q. Wilson |
Scholar |
27-May-1931 |
2-Mar-2012 |
The Moral Sense |
Kenneth G. Wilson |
Physicist |
8-Jun-1936 |
15-Jun-2013 |
Second-order phase transitions |
William Julius Wilson |
Sociologist |
20-Dec-1935 |
|
Poverty in America's inner cities |
Edward Witten |
Physicist |
26-Aug-1951 |
|
String theorist at Princeton |
James Wolfensohn |
Business |
1-Dec-1933 |
|
World Bank president, 1995-2005 |
Gordon S. Wood |
Historian |
27-Nov-1933 |
|
The Creation of the American Republic |
Robert B. Woodward |
Chemist |
10-Apr-1917 |
8-Jul-1979 |
Synthesized cholesterol, Vitamin B12, etc. |
Sewall Wright |
Biologist |
21-Dec-1889 |
3-Mar-1988 |
Mathematics of evolution |
Mark S. Wrighton |
Educator |
1949 |
|
Chancellor, Washington University in St. Louis |
E. A. Wrigley |
Historian |
17-Aug-1931 |
|
Continuity, Chance and Change |
Charles W. Yost |
Diplomat |
6-Nov-1907 |
21-May-1981 |
US Ambassador to the UN, 1969-71 |
Ahmed H. Zewail |
Chemist |
26-Feb-1946 |
|
Femtochemistry |
Hans Zinsser |
Scientist |
17-Nov-1878 |
4-Sep-1940 |
Typhus vaccine |