Libra Scientists

Vote for Your Favourite Libra Scientists

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 1 
Neil deGrasse Tyson
(American Astrophysicist, Planetary Scientist and Science Communicator)
Neil deGrasse Tyson
102
Birthdate: October 5, 1958
Birthplace: Manhattan, New York, United States

Public Welfare Medal-winning astrophysicist and academic Neil deGrasse Tyson hosted shows such as NOVA ScienceNow, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, and Star Talk. He is the director of Hayden Planetarium and contributed to the dismissal of Pluto’s status as the ninth planet. He has also written a monthly column as "Merlin.”

 2 
Niels Bohr
(Danish Physicist Who Made Foundational Contributions to Understanding Atomic Structure and Quantum Theory)
Niels Bohr
21
Birthdate: October 7, 1885
Birthplace: Copenhagen, Denmark
Died: November 18, 1962
Nobel Prize-winning Danish physicist Niels Bohr is remembered for his work on the atomic structure and quantum theory. He laid down the Bohr model of the atom and established the Niels Bohr Institute. The element Bohrium has been named after him. He was also part of the British nuclear project.
 3 
Alfred Nobel
(Swedish Chemist, Engineer, and Inventor Who Invented Dynamite)
Alfred Nobel
11
Birthdate: October 21, 1833
Birthplace: Stockholm, Sweden
Died: December 10, 1896

Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, and inventor. A prolific inventor, he held 355 different patents. Most popular as the inventor of dynamite, he was concerned with how he would be remembered after his death and bequeathed his fortune to the Nobel Prize institution. A wide traveler, he was proficient in several languages.

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 4 
Enrico Fermi
(Italian Physicist, Nobel Laureate and Creator of the World's First Nuclear Reactor)
Enrico Fermi
9
Birthdate: September 29, 1901
Birthplace: Rome, Italy
Died: November 28, 1954
Italian physicist Enrico Fermi created the Chicago Pile-1, the world's first nuclear reactor. Known widely as the "architect of the atomic bomb," he was equally proficient in theoretical and experimental physics, and won the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on radioactivity and for discovering transuranium elements.
 5 
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
(Astrophysicist Known for his 'Theoritical Studies of the Physical processes of importance to the Structure and Evolution of the Stars')
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
18
Birthdate: October 19, 1910
Birthplace: Lahore, Pakistan
Died: August 21, 1995

Remembered for his varied contribution to astrophysics, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar is perhaps best known for his work on the evolution of massive stars. Today known as Chandrasekhar limit, it contributed to final understanding of supernovas, neutron stars, and black holes. A prolific writer, he also did significant work on energy transfer by radiation in stellar atmospheres and convection on solar surface.

 6 
James Chadwick
(Discoverer of Neutron)
James Chadwick
6
Birthdate: October 20, 1891
Birthplace: Bollington
Died: July 24, 1974

Best remembered as a Nobel laureate who discovered neutron, Sir James Chadwick began his career at Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, where he worked with Ernest Rutherford to investigate the nature of atomic nucleus, a work that led to the epoch-making discovery. Credited with writing the final draft of the MAUD Report, he also headed the British team at the Manhattan Project

 7 
Henry Cavendish
(English Scientist Who Discovered Hydrogen)
Henry Cavendish
6
Birthdate: October 10, 1731
Birthplace: Nice, France
Died: February 24, 1810

English natural philosopher, scientist, and a prominent experimental and theoretical physicist and chemist Henry Cavendish is best-remembered for his discovery of hydrogen and his Cavendish experiment. He first recognized that hydrogen, which he termed inflammable air, is a discrete substance which produces water on combustion. He conducted the Cavendish experiment to measure and produce a value for Earth’s density.

 8 
Meghnad Saha
(Indian Astrophysicist Who Developed the ‘Saha Ionisation Equation’ and ‘Thermal Ionisation’)
Meghnad Saha
6
Birthdate: October 6, 1893
Birthplace: Bangladesh
Died: February 16, 1956

Indian astrophysicist Meghnad Saha is best remembered for developing the thermal ionization equation. A grocer’s son, he relied on merit alone to excel in academics and eventually became a professor at the universities of Allahabad and Calcutta. He was also a Lok Sabha MP and a Fellow of the Royal Society.

 9 
Thomas Hunt Morgan
(Geneticist)
Thomas Hunt Morgan
4
Birthdate: September 25, 1866
Birthplace: Lexington
Died: December 4, 1945

Thomas Hunt Morgan was an evolutionary biologist, geneticist, and embryologist. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933. He worked extensively on the role that the chromosome plays in heredity and demonstrated that genes are carried on chromosomes. In his later career, he established the division of biology at the California Institute of Technology. 

 10 
Evangelista Torricelli
3
Birthdate: October 15, 1608
Birthplace: Faenza
Died: October 25, 1647

Evangelista Torricelli, a student of Galileo, later made a name for himself as a physicist and a mathematician with his invention of the barometer. He also laid down the Torricelli’s theorem and discovered the Torricellian vacuum. The torr, a unit of pressure, bears his name.

 11 
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
(Aerospace Scientist & 11th President of India)
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
16
Birthdate: October 15, 1931
Birthplace: Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, India
Died: July 27, 2015
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, India’s 11th president, had earlier been an aerospace scientist at DRDO and ISRO. Known as the “People’s President” and the “Missile Man of India,” he was instrumental in India's Pokhran-II nuclear tests. He died of a cardiac arrest while delivering a lecture at IIM Shillong.
 12 
Juliane Koepcke
(Lone Survivor of 1971 LANSA Plane Crash)
Juliane Koepcke
9
Birthdate: October 10, 1954
Birthplace: Lima, Peru
Juliane Koepcke is a German Peruvian mammalogist. She is well-known for being the only survivor of the Líneas Aéreas Nacionales S.A. Flight 508 plane crash; she survived ten days in the Amazon rainforest after surviving a fall of 9843 feet while strapped to her airplane seat. Her story inspired films like Miracles Still Happen (1974) and Wings of Hope (1998).
 13 
Bennet Omalu
(Forensic Pathologist Known for His Research in ‘Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy’ in American Football Players)
Bennet Omalu
8
Birthdate: September 30, 1968
Birthplace: Idemili South, Nigeria

Nigerian-American physician, forensic-pathologist and neuropathologist Bennet Omalu is most-noted for discovering chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in American football players. He was serving at Allegheny County coroner's office in Pittsburgh at that time. He presently serves as President and Medical Director of Bennet Omalu Pathology, chief medical examiner for San Joaquin County, and as professor at the University of California, Davis.

 14 
William Ramsay
(Scottish Chemist Who Discovered the Noble Gases)
William Ramsay
5
Birthdate: October 2, 1852
Birthplace: Glasgow, Scotland
Died: July 23, 1916

The son of a civil engineer, Nobel Prize-winning Scottish chemist William Ramsay revolutionized science with his pathbreaking discovery of the noble gases, thus forming an entirely new segment of the periodic table. He is also remembered for his long association with UCL. He was knighted for his achievements.

 15 
Andre Geim
(Dutch-British Physicist Known for His Discovery of 'Graphene')
Andre Geim
4
Birthdate: October 21, 1958
Birthplace: Sochi, Russia

Andre Geim is a Russian-born Dutch-British physicist. He has been associated with the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester for several years. In 2010, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Konstantin Novoselov in recognition of his work on graphene. He is also a recipient of the 2000 Ig Nobel Prize in Physics. 

 16 
Ronald McNair
(American NASA Astronaut and Physicist)
Ronald McNair
9
Birthdate: October 21, 1950
Birthplace: Lake City, South Carolina, United States
Died: January 28, 1986

A doctorate in physics from MIT Cambridge, Ronald McNair worked on chemical lasers before joining NASA and in 1984 flew as a mission specialist on STS-41-B aboard Challenger, becoming the second African-American to do so. In January 1986, he was selected to fly on STS-51-L, but was killed along with rest of the crews when Challenger disintegrated soon after liftoff.

 17 
Sir Christopher Wren
4
Birthdate: October 20, 1632
Birthplace: East Knoyle
Died: February 25, 1723

Architect Sir Christopher Wren had built over 50 churches in London, the most popular of them being the St. Paul’s Cathedral. He was a major force behind the formation of the Royal Society and was also knighted for his achievements. He was also a member of the English Parliament.

 18 
Robert H. Goddard
4
Birthdate: October 5, 1882
Birthplace: Worcester, Massachusetts, United States
Died: August 10, 1945

The son of a machine shop owner, Robert H. Goddard grew up to become a pioneer of rocketry. Interested in physics and mechanics since childhood, he dreamed of space flight. He developed the world’s first rocket that ran on liquid fuel. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is named after him.

 19 
Craig Venter
(American Biotechnologist and Businessman)
Craig Venter
6
Birthdate: October 14, 1946
Birthplace: Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Craig Venter biotechnologist and businessman best known for leading the first draft sequence of the human genome. He is the founder of Celera Genomics and the Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) and the co-founder of Human Longevity Inc.  He received the Dan David Prize for his contribution to genome research and is a member of the American Philosophical Society. 

 20 
Oswald Avery
(Biologist, Physician, Geneticist)
Oswald Avery
4
Birthdate: October 21, 1877
Birthplace: Halifax Regional Municipality, Canada
Died: February 20, 1955

A pioneer of molecular biology, Oswald Avery revolutionized science with his research on the chemical processes involved in immunology. The Canadian-American bacteriologist initially aspired to be a musician. He later proved that DNA was the basis of heredity. Though nominated for the Nobel Prize multiple times, he never won it.

 21 
Barry Marshall
(Australian physician)
Barry Marshall
9
Birthdate: September 30, 1951
Birthplace: Kalgoorlie, Western Australia

Nobel Prize-winning Australian physician Barry Marshall, along with his colleague Robin Warren, proved that gastric ulcers were caused by the bacteria Helicobacter pylori and not by spicy food and other causes as previously believed. Their research made it possible to cure such ulcers by treating the bacteria with antibiotics.

 22 
Joseph Plateau
(Belgian Physicist & Mathematician - One of the First People to Demonstrate the Illusion of a Moving Image)
Joseph Plateau
4
Birthdate: October 14, 1801
Birthplace: Brussels
Died: September 15, 1883

Belgian physicist and mathematician Joseph Plateau was a pioneer of the modern animation and movie industry, as he invented the phenakistiscope, the world’s first device to create an illusion of motion through images. He also laid down the structure of soap films through Plateau's laws.

 23 
Otto Heinrich Warburg
(German Physiologist, Medical Doctor and Winner of the 1931 Nobel Prize in Medicine)
Otto Heinrich Warburg
5
Birthdate: October 8, 1883
Birthplace: Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
Died: August 1, 1970

Otto Heinrich Warburg was a German medical doctor and physiologist. In 1931, his discovery of the nature of the respiratory enzyme earned him the prestigious Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He also played an important role during World War I where he served as an officer in the cavalry regiment; he was honored with the Iron Cross for bravery.

 24 
Barnes Wallis
(English Scientist and Engineer Known for Inventing the ‘Bouncing Bomb’ and ‘Earthquake Bomb’)
Barnes Wallis
4
Birthdate: September 26, 1887
Birthplace: Ripley, Derbyshire, England
Died: October 30, 1979

Barnes Wallis was an English engineer, inventor, and scientist. He played an important role during the Second World War by inventing the bouncing bomb which was used in Operation Chastise by the Royal Air Force to attack the dams of the Ruhr Valley. Barnes Wallis is also credited with inventing the earthquake bomb and his version of the geodetic airframe.

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 25 
Marie Stopes
(Paleobotanist & Women’s Rights Activists)
Marie Stopes
4
Birthdate: October 15, 1880
Birthplace: Edinburgh
Died: October 2, 1958

Apart from being a successful botanist, Marie Stopes was also a popular activist, known for her contribution to the feminist cause. A leading supporter of birth control, she established the UK’s first clinic for family planning. She was also known for her books Married Love and Wise Parenthood.

 26 
Kathleen Rubins
(Astronaut, Biologist)
Kathleen Rubins
4
Birthdate: October 14, 1978
Birthplace: Farmington

Kathleen Rubins is a microbiologist and NASA astronaut. In 2016, she became the 60th woman to fly in space when she launched on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. She traveled to the International Space Station and returned to Earth after a few months. She has spent a total of 300 days, 1 hour, and 31 minutes in space. 

 27 
Johan de Witt
(Mathematician, Politician)
Johan de Witt
10
Birthdate: September 24, 1625
Birthplace: Dordrecht
Died: August 20, 1672
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 28 
Sean M. Carroll
(American Physicist Known for His Contributions to the Studies of Quantum Mechanics, Gravity and Cosmology)
Sean M. Carroll
6
Birthdate: October 5, 1966
Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Theoretical physicist Sean M. Carroll is a renowned Caltech professor who considers himself an old-school theorist and often maps his research using pencil and paper. Interested in field theory, gravitation, and cosmology, he blogs often, had written popular books, and has also appeared on shows such as The Universe.

 29 
Howard Florey
(Australian Pharmacologist and Pathologist Who Shared the Nobel Prize for His Role in the Development of Penicillin)
Howard Florey
7
Birthdate: September 24, 1898
Birthplace: Adelaide, Australia
Died: February 21, 1968

Howard Florey was an Australian pathologist and pharmacologist. He is best remembered for his role in the formation of penicillin, for which he shared the prestigious Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Alexander Fleming and Ernst Chain in the year 1945. Florey is credited with carrying out the first clinical trial of penicillin at the Radcliffe Infirmary in 1941.

 30 
Cédric Villani
(French Politician and Mathematician)
Cédric Villani
5
Birthdate: October 5, 1973
Birthplace: Brive-la-Gaillarde, France

Fields Medal-winning French politician and mathematician Cédric Villani works mainly on mathematical physics, partial differential equations and Riemannian geometry. He serves as Member of the National Assembly for Essonne's 5th constituency, after being elected during the 2017 legislative election. He was a member of La République En Marche! but defected later to form the political party Ecology, Democracy, Solidarity.  

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 31 
Karl Schwarzschild
(German Physicist and Astronomer)
Karl Schwarzschild
3
Birthdate: October 9, 1873
Birthplace: Frankfurt, Germany
Died: May 11, 1916

Karl Schwarzschild was a German astronomer and physicist. He is remembered for his contributions to the general theory of relativity; Schwarzschild came up with the first exact solution to the Albert Einstein field equations. He also contributed immensely to the theory of black holes.

 32 
Chen Ning Yang
(Physicist)
Chen Ning Yang
4
Birthdate: October 1, 1922
Birthplace: Hefei, Anhui Province, China

Chen Ning Yang is a Chinese theoretical physicist known for his significant contributions to statistical mechanics, gauge theory, integrable systems, and both particle physics and condensed matter physics. He and Tsung-Dao Lee were awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on parity nonconservation of weak interaction. The men also elucidated the Lee-Yang circle theorem. 

 33 
Carlo Urbani
(Epidemiologist)
Carlo Urbani
6
Birthdate: October 19, 1956
Birthplace: Castelplanio
Died: March 29, 2003
Microbiologist Carlo Urbani, a parasitic infections expert, was working at the WHO Hanoi office when the deadly and contagious disease SARS had started to spread across the world in 2003. He alerted the WHO headquarters in Geneva about the disease, thus saving many lives, though he eventually succumbed to it.
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 34 
Martin Hellman
(American Cryptologist and Mathematician)
Martin Hellman
4
Birthdate: October 2, 1945
Birthplace: New York, United States
 35 
Theodore Hall
(American Physicist Who was One of the Atomic Spies for the Soviet Union During World War II)
Theodore Hall
4
Birthdate: October 20, 1925
Birthplace: New York City, New York, United States
Died: November 1, 1999

Theodore Hall was an American physicist. He was one of the atomic spies for the Soviet Union during World War II. Hall gave a detailed description of a plutonium bomb named Fat Man to the Soviet Union. He also passed on vital information such as the processes involved for purifying plutonium. His life inspired a documentary titled A Compassionate Spy.

 36 
Trofim Lysenko
(Experimenter)
Trofim Lysenko
4
Birthdate: September 29, 1898
Birthplace: Karlivka
Died: November 20, 1976

Trofim Lysenko was a Soviet biologist and agronomist. Lysenko was one of the most influential supporters of Lamarckism. He also condemned Mendelian genetics and supported Lysenkoism, a political campaign that rejected natural selection. Lysenko used his political power to imprison his critics. Several Soviet scientists, including Nikolai Vavilov, who failed to renounce genetics were either imprisoned or killed.

 37 
Ashton Carter
Ashton Carter
7
Birthdate: September 24, 1954
Birthplace: Philadelphia

Yale and Oxford alumnus Ashton Carter had interestingly bagged his first job at a car wash at 11. He grew up to teach at Harvard and Stanford and also served as the U.S. Secretary of Defense under Barack Obama. The physicist now heads the Belfer Center for Science at Harvard.

 38 
John Vincent Atanasoff
(American Physicist and Inventor Known for Inventing the First Electronic Digital Computer)
John Vincent Atanasoff
5
Birthdate: October 4, 1903
Birthplace: Hamilton, New York, United States
Died: June 15, 1995

Born to an electrical engineer father and a math teacher mother, John V. Atanasoff grew up to invent the Atanasoff-Berry Computer, which was declared the world’s first electronic digital computer after a legal dispute. The physicist was also an active part of the atomic bomb tests conducted at Bikini Atoll.

 39 
William J. Perry
(Mathematician)
William J. Perry
5
Birthdate: October 11, 1927
Birthplace: Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, United States U.S.
 40 
David Heinemeier Hansson
(Programmer)
David Heinemeier Hansson
4
Birthdate: October 15, 1979
Birthplace: Copenhagen, Denmark

David Heinemeier Hansson is a Danish programmer best known as the creator of the popular Ruby on Rails web development framework. Along with Dave Thomas, he co-wrote Agile Web Development with Rails. He is a partner at the web-based software development firm Basecamp. Also a car racing enthusiast, he took part in the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans. 

 41 
Werner Vogels
(Computer scientist, Chief technology officer, Vice president)
Werner Vogels
4
Birthdate: October 3, 1958
Birthplace: Ermelo
 42 
Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard
(German Developmental Biologist and Winner of 1995 Nobel Prize in Medicine)
Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard
4
Birthdate: October 20, 1942
Birthplace: Magdeburg, Germany

Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard is a German developmental biologist. She studied at the University of Tübingen where she earned a Ph.D. for her research on protein–DNA interactions. Together with biologist Eric Wieschaus and geneticist Edward B. Lewis, she received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1995. She is also a recipient of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize. 

 43 
Richard Dedekind
(German Mathematician Known for His Important Contributions to Number Theory, Abstract Algebra and Modern Set Theory)
Richard Dedekind
3
Birthdate: October 6, 1831
Birthplace: Brunswick, Germany
Died: February 12, 1916

German mathematician Richard Dedekind is best remembered for his ideas on the real number and infinity. Initially interested in subjects such as physics and chemistry, he later deviated to math. He taught at various institutes and was awarded honorary doctorates from universities of Zurich, Oslo, and Braunschweig.

 44 
Martin Gardner
(Mathematician, Writer, Journalist, Literary critic, Science fiction writer, Stage magician)
Martin Gardner
8
Birthdate: October 21, 1914
Birthplace: Tulsa
Died: May 22, 2010
 45 
Kathryn D. Sullivan
(US Oceanographer, Geologist, and Astronaut, Who Was the First American Woman to Walk in Space)
Kathryn D. Sullivan
3
Birthdate: October 3, 1951
Birthplace: Paterson, New Jersey, United States

US oceanographer, geologist, and former US Navy officer and NASA astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan scripted history in 1984 when she became the first woman from the US to walk in space. Apart from being part of 3 Space Shuttle missions, she also worked in various administrative posts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

 46 
Gilbert N. Lewis
(American Physical Chemist Best Known for His Discovery of the Covalent Bond)
Gilbert N. Lewis
3
Birthdate: October 23, 1875
Birthplace: Weymouth, Massachusetts, United States
Died: March 23, 1946

Gilbert N. Lewis was an American physical chemist best remembered for his detection of the covalent bond. He made immense contributions to photochemistry, chemical thermodynamics, and isotope separation. Gilbert N. Lewis received 41 nominations for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, but never won the award. However, he influenced and mentored numerous Nobel laureates, including Harold Urey and William F. Giauque.

 47 
Michael Stonebraker
(Computer scientist)
Michael Stonebraker
3
Birthdate: October 11, 1943
Birthplace: Milton
 48 
Mark Oliphant
(Australian Physicist Who Played an Important Role in the First Experimental Demonstration of Nuclear Fusion)
Mark Oliphant
6
Birthdate: October 8, 1901
Birthplace: Adelaide, Australia
Died: July 14, 2000

Mark Oliphant was an Australian humanitarian and physicist who played a prominent role in the first experimentation of nuclear fusion. He also played an influential role in the development of nuclear weapons. Oliphant is credited with founding the Australian Academy of Science. Over the course of his illustrious career, Mark Oliphant received several prestigious awards, such as the Hughes Medal.

 49 
Randall Munroe
(Programmer, Comics artist, Writer, Computer scientist, Physicist)
Randall Munroe
4
Birthdate: October 17, 1984
Birthplace: Easton

Randall Munroe quit his career as a NASA roboticist to re-live his childhood obsession with comics by creating the award-winning webcomic xkcd. He also writes a science blog and has penned New York Times bestsellers such as What If? and Thing Explainer. His other interests include kite photography.

 50 
Bruce Lipton
(American Developmental Biologist)
Bruce Lipton
6
Birthdate: October 21, 1944
Birthplace: Mount Kisco, New York, United States

Bruce Lipton is a developmental biologist. He is best known as the author of the book The Biology of Belief, in which he claims that beliefs control human biology rather than DNA and inheritance. He earned a Ph.D. in developmental biology from the University of Virginia and began his academic career. He received the 2009 Goi Peace Award.