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Physics
This document provides biographical information on numerous scientists from the Classical Period in a chronological list. It describes their contributions, including William Gilbert's hypothesis about Earth's magnetism, Galileo's astronomical observations, Snell's discovery of the law of refraction, Pascal's principle of fluid pressure transmission, Huygens' wave theory of light, Hooke's law of elasticity, Newton's theories of gravity and mechanics, Bernoulli's principle of fluid flow, Franklin's characterization of positive and negative electric charges, and many other important scientific discoveries and theories from the 15th-19th centuries.
Physics
- 1. Classical Period William Gilbert 1544-1603 English hypothesizedthat the Earth is a giant magnet Galileo Galilei 1564-1642 Italian performed fundamental observations, experiments, and mathematical analyses in astronomy and physics; discovered mountains and craters on the moon, the phases of Venus, and the four largest satellites of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede Willebrod Snell 1580-1626 Dutch discovered law of refraction (Snell's law) Blaise Pascal 1623-1662 French discovered that pressure applied to an enclosed fluid is transmitted undiminished to every part of the fluid and to the walls of its container (Pascal's principle) Christiaan Huygens 1629-1695 Dutch proposed a simple geometrical wave theory of light, now known as ``Huygen's principle''; pioneered use of the pendulum in clocks Robert Hooke 1635-1703 English discovered Hooke's law of elasticity Sir Isaac Newton 1643-1727 English developed theories of gravitation and mechanics, and invented differential calculus Daniel Bernoulli 1700-1782 Swiss developed the fundamental relationship of fluid flow now known as Bernoulli's principle Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790 American the first American physicist; characterized two kinds of electric charge, which he named ``positive'' and ``negative'' Leonard Euler 1707-1783 Swiss made fundamental contributions to fluid dynamics, lunar orbit theory (tides), and mechanics; also contributed prolifically to all areas of classical mathematics Henry Cavendish 1731-1810 British discovered and studied hydrogen; first to measure Newton's gravitational constant; calculated mass and mean density of Earth Charles Augustin de Coulomb 1736-1806 French experiments on elasticity, electricity, and magnetism; established experimentally nature of the force between two charges Joseph-Louis Lagrange 1736-1813 French developed new methods of analytical mechanics James Watt 1736-1819 Scottish invented the modern condensing steam engine and a centrifugal governor Count Alessandro Volta 1745-1827 Italian pioneer in study of electricity; invented the first electric battery Joseph Fourier 1768-1830 French established the differential equation governing heat diffusion and solved it by devising an infinite series of sines and cosines capable of approximating a wide variety of functions Thomas Young 1773-1829 British studied light and color; known for his double-slit experiment that demonstrated the wave nature of light Jean-Babtiste Biot 1774-1862 French studied polarization of light; co-discovered that intensity of magnetic field set up by a current flowing through a wire varies inversely with the distance from the wire André Marie Ampère 1775-1836 French father of electrodynamics Amadeo Avogadro 1776-1856 Italian developed hypothesis that all gases at same volume, pressure, and temperature contain same number of atoms Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss 1777-1855 German formulated separate electrostatic and electrodynamical laws, including ``Gauss' law''; contributed to development of number theory, differential geometry, potential theory, theory of terrestrial magnetism, and methods of calculating planetary orbits
- 2. Hans Christian Oersted 1777-1851 Danish discovered thata current in a wire can produce magnetic effects Sir David Brewster 1781-1868 English deduced ``Brewster's law'' giving the angle of incidence that produces reflected light which is completely polarized; invented the kaleidoscope and the stereoscope, and improved the spectroscope Augustin-Jean Fresnel 1788-1827 French studied transverse nature of light waves Georg Ohm 1789-1854 German discovered that current flow is proportional to potential difference and inversely proportional to resistance (Ohm's law) Michael Faraday 1791-1867 English discovered electromagnetic induction and devised first electrical transformer Felix Savart 1791-1841 French co-discovered that intensity of magnetic field set up by a current flowing through a wire varies inversely with the distance from the wire Sadi Carnot 1796-1832 French founded the science of thermodynamics Joseph Henry 1797-1878 American performed extensive fundamental studies of electromagnetic phenomena; devised first practical electric motor Christian Doppler 1803-1853 Austrian experimented with sound waves; derived an expression for the apparent change in wavelength of a wave due to relative motion between the source and observer Wilhelm E. Weber 1804-1891 German developed sensitive magnetometers; worked in electrodynamics and the electrical structure of matter Sir William Hamilton 1805-1865 Irish developed the principle of least action and the Hamiltonian form of classical mechanics James Prescott Joule 1818-1889 British discovered mechanical equivalent of heat Armand- Hippolyte-Louis Fizeau 1819-1896 French made the first terrestrial measurement of the speed of light; invented one of the first interferometers; took the first pictures of the Sun on daguerreotypes; argued that the Doppler effect with respect to sound should also apply to any wave motion, particularly that of light Jean-Bernard- Léon Foucault 1819-1868 French accurately measured speed of light; invented the gyroscope; demonstrated the Earth's rotation Sir George Gabriel Stokes 1819-1903 British described the motion of viscous fluids by independently discovering the Navier-Stokes equations of fluid mechanics (or hydrodynamics); developed Stokes theorem by which certain surface integrals may be reduced to line integrals; discovered fluorescence Hermann von Helmholtz 1821-1894 German developed first law of thermodynamics, a statement of conservation of energy Rudolf Clausius 1822-1888 German developed second law of thermodynamics, a statement that the entropy of the Universe always increases Lord Kelvin (born William Thomson) 1824-1907 British proposed absolute temperature scale, of essence to development of thermodynamics Gustav Kirchhoff 1824-1887 German developed three laws of spectral analysis and three rules of electric circuit analysis; also contributed to optics Johann Balmer 1825-1898 Swiss developed empirical formula to describe hydrogen spectrum Sir Joseph Wilson Swan 1828-1914 British developed a carbon-filament incandescent light; patented the carbon process for printing photographs in permanent pigment James Clerk Maxwell 1831-1879 Scottish propounded the theory of electromagnetism; developed the kinetic theory of gases
- 3. Josef Stefan 1835-1893 Austrian studied blackbodyradiation Ernst Mach 1838-1916 Austrian studied conditions that occur when an object moves through a fluid at high speed (the ``Mach number'' gives the ratio of the speed of the object to the speed of sound in the fluid); proposed ``Mach's principle,'' which states that the inertia of an object is due to the interaction between the object and the rest of the universe Josiah Gibbs 1839-1903 American developed chemical thermodynamics; introduced concepts of free energy and chemical potential James Dewar 1842-1923 British liquified nitrogen and invented the Dewar flask, which is critical for low-temperature work Osborne Reynolds 1842-1912 British contributed to the fields of hydraulics and hydrodynamics; developed mathematical framework for turbulence and introduced the ``Reynolds number,'' which provides a criterion for dynamic similarity and correct modeling in many fluid-flow experiments Ludwig Boltzmann 1844-1906 Austrian developed statistical mechanics and applied it to kinetic theory of gases Roland Eötvös 1848-1919 Hungarian demonstrated equivalence of gravitational and inertial mass Oliver Heaviside 1850-1925 English contributed to the development of electromagnetism; introduced operational calculus and invented the modern notation for vector calculus; predicted existence of the Heaviside layer (a layer of the Earth's ionosphere) George Francis FitzGerald 1851-1901 Irish hypothesized foreshortening of moving bodies (Lorentz-FitzGerald contraction) to explain the result of the Michelson-Morley experiment John Henry Poynting 1852-1914 British demonstrated that the energy flow of electromagnetic waves could be calculated by an equation (now called Poynting's vector) Henri Poincaré 1854-1912 French founded qualitative dynamics (the mathematical theory of dynamical systems); created topology; contributed to solution of the three-body problem; first described many properties of deterministic chaos; contributed to the development of special relativity Janne Rydberg 1854-1919 Swedish analyzed the spectra of many elements; discovered many line series were described by a formula that depended on a universal constant (the Rydberg constant) Edwin H. Hall 1855-1938 American discovered the ``Hall effect,'' which occurs when charge carriers moving through a material are deflected because of an applied magnetic field - the deflection results in a potential difference across the side of the material that is transverse to both the magnetic field and the current direction Heinrich Hertz 1857-1894 German worked on electromagnetic phenomena; discovered radio waves and the photoelectric effect Nikola Tesla 1857-1943 Serbian-born American created alternating current Alcaraz, Arturo: was a leading member of a team that used steam produced from the heat of a volcano to produce electric power in 1967. Banatao, Diosdado: introduced or developed accelerator chips that improved computer performance, helped make the internet possible by contributing to the development of the Ethernet controller chip, created the local bus concept for personal computers. Campos, Paulo: wrote many papers in the field of nuclear medicine and was instrumental in building the first radioisotope lab in the Philippines. Comiso, Josefino: the first person to discover a recurring area of open water in sea ice in the Cosmonaut Sea. Comiso was studying global warming at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Maramba, Felix: developed a profitable biogas system, building a power generator fuelled by coconut oil. Zara, Gregorio: discovered around 1930 the law of electrical kinetic resistance ("Zara Effect"). In 1955 he patented a two-way videophone. In the 1950's and 1960's he developed or improved alternate energy technologies. Jose O. Juliano Nuclear chemistry and physics.