Natural Philosophy/ Physics and Quantum Mechanics
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Marie-Sophie Germain (April 1, 1776 – June 27, 1831) was a French mathematician , physicist , and philosopher . Despite initial opposition from her parents and difficulties presented by a sexist society, she gained education from books in her father's library and from correspondence with famous mathematicians such as Lagrange , Legendre , and Gauss . One of the pioneers of elasticity theory , she won the grand prize from the Paris Academy of Sciences for her essay on the subject.
Sophie Germain
Thomas Young (13 June 1773 – 10 May 1829) was an English polymath . Young made notable scientific contributions to the fields of vision , light , solid mechanics , energy , physiology , language , musical harmony , and Egyptology . He "made a number of original and insightful innovations" [ 2 ] in the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs (specifically the Rosetta Stone ) before Jean-François Champollion eventually expanded on his work. He was admired by, among others, Herschel , Helmholtz , Maxwell , and Einstein .
Thomas Young (scientist)
André-Marie Ampère
André-Marie Ampère (20 January 1775 – 10 June 1836) was a French physicist and mathematician who is generally regarded as one of the main founders of the science of classical electromagnetism , which he referred to as "electrodynamics". The SI unit of measurement of electric current , the ampere , is named after him. [ edit ] BiographyMichael Faraday
Michael Faraday , FRS (22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English scientist who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry . His main discoveries include those of electromagnetic induction , diamagnetism and electrolysis . Although Faraday received little formal education he was one of the most influential scientists in history. [ 1 ] It was by his research on the magnetic field around a conductor carrying a direct current that Faraday established the basis for the concept of the electromagnetic field in physics. Faraday also established that magnetism could affect rays of light and that there was an underlying relationship between the two phenomena. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] He similarly discovered the principle of electromagnetic induction , diamagnetism , and the laws of electrolysis .
Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot (1 June 1796 – 24 August 1832) was a French military engineer and physicist , often described as the "father of thermodynamics ". In his only publication, the 1824 monograph Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire , Carnot gave the first successful theory of the maximum efficiency of heat engines . Carnot's work attracted little attention during his lifetime, but it was later used by Rudolf Clausius and Lord Kelvin to formalize the second law of thermodynamics and define the concept of entropy .
Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot
Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 [ O.S. January 6, 1705] [ Note 1 ] [ Note 2 ] – April 17, 1790) was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States . A noted polymath , Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist , politician , postmaster , scientist, musician, inventor, satirist , civic activist, statesman, and diplomat . As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity .
Benjamin Franklin
Johann Heinrich Lambert
Johann Heinrich Lambert (26 August 1728 – 25 September 1777) was a Swiss mathematician , physicist , philosopher and astronomer . He is best known for proving the Irrationality of π . Asteroid 187 Lamberta was named in his honour. [ edit ] Biography Lambert was born in 1728 in the city of Mulhouse (now in Alsace , France ), at that time an exclave of Switzerland.James Watt
James Watt , FRS , FRSE (19 January 1736 – 25 August 1819) [ 1 ] was a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer whose improvements to the Newcomen steam engine were fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world. While working as an instrument maker at the University of Glasgow , Watt became interested in the technology of steam engines . He realised that contemporary engine designs wasted a great deal of energy by repeatedly cooling and re-heating the cylinder . Watt introduced a design enhancement, the separate condenser, which avoided this waste of energy and radically improved the power, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of steam engines. Eventually he adapted his engine to produce rotary motion, greatly broadening its use beyond pumping water. Watt attempted to commercialise his invention, but experienced great financial difficulties until he entered a partnership with Matthew Boulton in 1775.
Joseph Louis Lagrange
Joseph-Louis Lagrange (25 January 1736 – 10 April 1813), born Giuseppe Luigi Lagrancia [ 1 ] (often known as Giuseppe Luigi Lagrangia in the scientific literature) [ 2 ] was an Italian mathematician and astronomer born in Turin , Piedmont , who lived part of his life in Prussia and part in France . [ 1 ] He made significant contributions to all fields of analysis , number theory , and classical and celestial mechanics . On the recommendation of Euler and d'Alembert , in 1766 Lagrange succeeded Euler as the director of mathematics at the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin , where he stayed for over twenty years, producing a large body of work and winning several prizes of the French Academy of Sciences . Lagrange's treatise on analytical mechanics ( Mécanique Analytique , 4. ed., 2 vols.
Pierre-Simon Laplace
Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace ( / l ə ˈ p l æ s / ; French: [pjɛʁ simɔ̃ laplas] ; 23 March 1749 – 5 March 1827) was a French mathematician and astronomer whose work was pivotal to the development of mathematical astronomy and statistics . He summarized and extended the work of his predecessors in his five-volume Mécanique Céleste ( Celestial Mechanics ) (1799–1825). This work translated the geometric study of classical mechanics to one based on calculus , opening up a broader range of problems. In statistics, the so-called Bayesian interpretation of probability was developed mainly by Laplace. [ 1 ] Laplace formulated Laplace's equation , and pioneered the Laplace transform which appears in many branches of mathematical physics , a field that he took a leading role in forming.
Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov ( Russian : Михаи́л Васи́льевич Ломоно́сов ; IPA: [mʲɪxɐˈil vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ləmɐˈnosəf] ; November 19 [ O.S. November 8] 1711 – April 15 [ O.S. April 4] 1765) was a Russian polymath , scientist and writer , who made important contributions to literature , education , and science . Among his discoveries was the atmosphere of Venus . His spheres of science were natural science , chemistry , physics , mineralogy , history , art , philology , optical devices and others.
Mikhail Lomonosov
Joseph Fourier
Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier (21 March 1768 – 16 May 1830) was a French mathematician and physicist born in Auxerre and best known for initiating the investigation of Fourier series and their applications to problems of heat transfer and vibrations . The Fourier transform and Fourier's Law are also named in his honour. Fourier is also generally credited with the discovery of the greenhouse effect . [ 1 ] [ edit ] Biography Fourier was born at Auxerre (now in the Yonne département of France), the son of a tailor .John Dalton FRS (6 September 1766 – 27 July 1844) was an English chemist , meteorologist and physicist . He is best known for his pioneering work in the development of modern atomic theory , and his research into colour blindness (sometimes referred to as Daltonism, in his honour). Early life John Dalton was born into a Quaker family at Eaglesfield , near Cockermouth , Cumberland , England. The son of a weaver, he joined his older brother Jonathan at age 15 in running a Quaker school in nearby Kendal .