We all know the big names in physics: Hawking, Einstein, Newton, and others. Their discoveries and teachings are well publicised, and much admired. We celebrate their accomplishments, even as we dedicate this article to the less renowned of this elite crew.
The word ‘physics’ is Greek for ‘knowledge of nature’. Throughout history, humans have gathered that knowledge, building on each other's discoveries. These twelve physicists did not brag about the amazing discoveries they made, and sometimes didn't get credit for them. Those are the physicists we recognise today.
| Physicist | Branch of Physics | known for |
|---|---|---|
| Max Planck (1858 – 1947) | Theoretical physics | Quantum theory Planck's Constant |
| Marie Curie (1867 - 1934) | Particle physics | Radium and polonium discoveries |
| Lise Meitner (1878 - 1968) | Nuclear physics | Auger–Meitner effect Meitner–Hupfeld effect |
| Emmi Noether (1882 - 1935) | Mathematician Theoretical physics | Noether's theorem |
| Nils Bohr (1885 – 1962) | Quantum physics | Quantum theory Atomic structure |
| Leo Szilard (1898 - 1964) | Experimental physics | The Szilard Point The Szilard Petition |
| Enrico Fermi (1901 – 1954) | Theoretical physics | The neutrino The Manhattan Project |
| Paul Dirac (1902 – 1984) | Theoretical physics | Dirac equation |
| Maria Goeppert Mayer (1906 - 1972) | Theoretical physics | Goeppert Mayer unit |
| Chien-Shiung Wu (1912 - 1997) | Particle physics Experimental physics | The Wu Experiment |
| Richard Feynman (1918 – 1988) | Quantum physics | Quantum computing Nanotechnology concept |
| Jocelyn Bell Burnell (1943 - present) | Astrophysics | Discovering radio pulsars |
Max Planck (1858 – 1947)
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck
Max was born into a family of intellectuals. However, they focused on theology, rather than science. His high school teacher, Hermann Müller, ignited Max's curiosity and his lifelong love of science by mentoring him in astronomy, mechanics and mathematics.
By contrast, Max's university professor tried to steer him away from theoretical physics. He insisted that scientists had little else to discover in physics. Nevertheless, Max steered his course, and won the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics for his assertion of the quantum field theory. Today, 83 scientific institutions bear his name, each dedicated to studying a scientific discipline.
Marie Curie (1867 - 1934)
Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie
Of all the women in physics, Marie Curie may be the most famous. She stopped at nothing in her quest for knowledge, even putting her life on the line to learn. In her day, women were not taken seriously, so she had to fight for everything from lab equipment to recognition for her work.
She is the first woman ever to earn a Nobel Prize, and the only woman to have earned one twice. Furthermore, she's one of two researchers who've won Nobel Prizes in two separate categories. Even today, Marie Curie is revered as one of the greatest scientific minds of all time.
Lise Meitner (1878 - 1968)
Elise Meitner
Lise was the second woman to earn a doctorate in Physics at the University of Vienna. And, she was the first woman in all of Germany to become a full professor of Physics. However, with the rise of Nazism, she lost her position. She ultimately fled to Sweden, making it her permanent home.
Elise is as famous for helping discover nuclear fission as for her Nobel snub. Her long-time collaborator, Otto Hahn, was stumped until she advised him to the path forward. The Committee awarded only her long-time collaborator the prize for their joint discovery. Despite receiving 49 nominations for the prize, she never received that award.
Emmy Noether (1882 - 1935)
Amalie Emmy Noether
Emmy was the mathematician famous theoretical physicists relied on. She was a pioneer in abstract algebra, a type of math used to prove every key concept in Physics. She used her advanced algebra skills to formulate Noether’s Theorem. It explains the connection between symmetry and conservation laws.
Emmy refused to accept that women should not pursue knowledge. When she was barred from teaching in Nazi Germany, she went underground, continuing to enrich her students’ minds and the field of physics. Many prominent physicians, in her time and now, call her the most important woman in the history of mathematics.
Niels Bohr (1885 – 1962)
Niels Henrik David Bohr
Nils came from a science home, his father and younger brother were also men of science. While still at university, Nils won a prize for finding a way to measure the surface tension of liquids. The most remarkable part was that he designed and made the test equipment to measure it with.
Nils helped reveal the structure of the atom, and he worked to explain quantum theory. However, he is most famous for the Principle of Complementarity. Today, the Nils Bohr Institut in Copenhagen encourages study in biophysics, particle physics, and quantum mechanics, among other disciplines. You can learn what all of this science verbiage means from our physics glossary.
Leo Szilard (1898 - 1964)
Leó Spitz
Leo Szilard might be the most underrated physicist on our list. He made many contributions to physics studies, and to biology, too. Even in high school, he excelled at maths, winning the Hungarian national Maths prize in 1916. Unfortunately persecuted during Europe's great wars, he and his family moved first to England, and then to the US.
While in England, he grew annoyed at the official dismissal that atomic power might have any practical purpose. In short order, he established the concept of nuclear chain reaction. Leo might have been torn between biology and physics, but this debacle set his feet firmly on the physics path. After emigrating to the US, he contributed to the Manhattan Project.
Enrico Fermi (1901 – 1954)
Enrico Fermi
As a child, Enrico and his older brother built things like electric motors, just for fun. One day, he happened on a book he found by chance, which opened the door for his physics studies. Enrico worked in theoretical physics and experimental physics. He also taught a generation of explorers about physics.
He designed equations to satisfy any theory and then, worked in the lab to prove them. He identified and named the neutrino. After discussing Wolfgang Pauli’s Exclusion Principle, the physics community honoured him by naming fermions after him. He was a Manhattan Project leader, but later spoke out against using atomic energy as a weapon.
Paul Dirac (1902 – 1984)
Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac
Paul hailed from Bristol, and showed no scientific aptitude. Still, he applied himself to earn scholarships to enrol at Cambridge. There, he studied mathematics and indulged his fascination with the General Relativity Theory. As my Physics tutor Melbourne opines, he might have been on the spectrum.
Once graduated, he commanded the physics community's attention. His work on the fundamentals of quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics was groundbreaking. However, it is the Dirac Equation that immortalises him. After his death, the Institute of Physics (UK) founded the Paul Dirac medal for outstanding contributions to theoretical physics.
Maria Goeppert Mayer (1906 - 1972)
Maria Goeppert Mayer
Maria Mayer is the second woman ever to win a Nobel Prize in Physics. This theoretical physicist ranks among famous scientists and their discoveries for establishing nuclear shell model of the atomic nucleus.
However, even before that, her graduate thesis on two-photon absorption by atoms was a landmark work. That theory was difficult to prove in 1930, when she wrote it. Thirty years later, laser technology proved her theory right. Today, the Goeppert-Mayer unit (GM, for short) represents the unit for two-photon absorption cross-section.
Chien Shiung Wu (1912 - 1997)
Chien Shiung Wu
Some people nickname Chien Shiung Wu the Chinese Marie Curie. However, that diminishes Ms Wu's accomplishments, as she didn't copy Mme Curie. Other nicknames, such as The First Lady of Physics and the Queen of Nuclear Research, are more respectful.
Ms Wu’s works include separating uranium by gaseous diffusion, and the Manhattan Project. However, we know her best for the Wu Experiment, which contradicted the conservation of parity laws. The Nobel prize for that discovery went to her colleagues, but she was awarded the first-ever Wolf Prize in Physics. She is the only female scientist to have won it.
Richard Feynman (1918 – 1988)
Richard Phillips Feynman
Richard pioneered the field of quantum computing and introduced the concept of nanotechnology. You can learn about his discoveries with your HSC physics tutor. Here, we talk about how Richard became a physics genius. Even as a child, his curiosity found an outlet in his home laboratory, where he tinkered with radios and built a home alarm system.
He was a keen teacher, to himself and his sister, the astrophysicist Joan Feynman. While still in high school, he taught himself higher maths, and created symbols for sine, cosine, and tangent functions. He experimented with fractional calculus, too. Richard was a charming person and accomplished author, besides being a keen physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project.
Jocelyn Bell Burnell (1943 - present)
Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Jocelyn was not a good student. She failed her 11+ exam, which led to more intensive studies at an English boarding school. At the time, searching the internet for a physics tutor near me was out of the question, so she had to go where the knowledge was.
Like Leo Szilard, the science community underrates Dame Burnell's contributions to physics. As a graduate student, her keen attention to detail helped her detect rotating neutron stars. However, the credit for her discovery went to her colleague, Antony Hewish. He accepted the Nobel Prize for her discovery, despite being sceptical of her findings.
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