Italian physicist known for his pioneering research on electricity. The volt, an electrical unit, is named for him.

• Invented the voltaic pile and the electrophorus

Italian physicist.

• Known for Avogadro''s law: Gasses of equal volumes at the same temperature contain the same number of molecules

French physicist who gave his name to a unit that measures the intensity of an electrical current.

• Noted for his work in magnetism, electricity and electrodynamics

Italian astronomer.

• Performed spectroscopic studies of the sun and other stars

German mathematician.

• Developed a non-Euclidean system of geometry

French astronomer.

• Founder of the French Astronomical Society

German mathematician and astronomer.

• Noted for his many contributions in pure and applied mathematics

Austrian physicist and mathematician.

• Noted for his observations on perceived differences in wave phenomena, now known as the Doppler effect

Swiss mathematician, anatomist, botanist, physicist and philosopher.

• Wrote Hydrodynamica

German mathematician.

• Known for his work on geometric and arithmetic axioms

British astronomer.

• Known for his studies of comets, particularly his prediction of the return of the comet now known by his name

American astronomer for whom the Hubble Space Telescope was named.

• Discovered the existence of galaxies outside our own

Italian-born American physicist who studied quantum theory and atomic structure.

• First synthesized element 93, transuranium

American physicist who invented the cyclotron.

• Founding director of the Radiation Laboratory at Berkeley

British physicist.

• Known for his work on atomic structure and radioactive decay

German-Dutch physicist.

• Developed the mercury thermometer and the temperature scale that bears his name

Italian astronomer, physicist and mathematician. Forced by the church to recant his support for Copernicus' theory that the planets orbit the sun.

• One of the first astronomers to use a telescope; discovered the moons of Jupiter

Italian physicist and electrical engineer.

• Discovered the magnetic principle used in hydroelectric generators

Italian astronomer.

• Discovered the asteroid Hesperia, and features on Mars which he thought were canals

German philosopher and mathematician.

• Developed calculus at the same time as Isaac Newton

German physicist.

• Discovered that electricity, like light, travels in waves; led to the development of wireless communication

French mathematician and physicist.

• Noted for his work on the electromagnetic theory of light

German physicist and physiologist.

• One of the originators of the principle of the conservation of energy

British mathematician and physicist.

• Formulated the basic laws of physics; invented differential calculus

Scottish physicist.

• Hypothesized that electricity and light are fundamentally similar

French mathematician and physicist.

• Noted for his work on heat transfer, which led him to the theory of the Fourier Series

German astronomer.

• Formulated the laws of planetary motion, including the fact that the planets travel in elliptical orbits

American mathematical physicist and philologist.

• Discovered the basic principles of physical chemistry

Hungarian-American physicist.

• Worked on chain reactions with Enrico Fermi

Swiss mathematician.

• Founded the calculus of variation; a pioneer of pure mathematics

French physicist who discovered the wave nature of electrons.

• Noted for his work on quantum theory
• Noted for his work on quantum theory

Italian physician and physicist.

• Best remembered for experiments in which he used electrical currents to make the legs of dead frogs twitch

Polish astronomer.

• Wrote De Revolutionibus Orbum Coelestium, which detailed his theory that the earth rotates daily and it and the other planets revolve around the sun

American astronomer.

• Predicted the existence of Pluto based on mathematical calculations; wrote several works on Mars and its ''''canals''''

French astronomer and mathematician.

• Discovered several principles regarding the orbits of heavenly bodies

French mathematician.

• Considered by some to be the inventor of differential calculus

American physicist.

• One of the key developers of the atomic bomb

American physicist and rocketry pioneer.

• Built the first liquid-fueled rocket

American physicist who helped develop the transistor.

• Known for his work in solid-state physics

German-American rocket engineer.

• Helped develop the V-2 rocket for Germany; later helped launch the first American satellite

British astronomer.

• Discovered Uranus and the Martian polar caps

Scottish physicist and inventor.

• Devised the absolute temperature scale that bears his name; also invented many scientific instruments

British physicist and chemist.

• Invented the radiometer

French scientist and philosopher.

• Mathematical prodigy as a child; carried out experiments on the equilibrium of fluids and barometric pressure

English physicist and chemist.

• Made several important discoveries in electromagnetics

American astronomer.

• Developed a method for determining the size of stars

Danish astronomer.

• His accurate and detailed naked-eye observations aided Johannes Kepler in developing the laws of planetary motion

American astronomer.

• Discovered the planet Pluto in 1930

Hungarian-born mathematician.

• One of the most influential and prolific mathematicians of the 20th century, with over 1500 published papers

Hindu mathematician and astronomer.

• Wrote Aryahitya, a mathematical discourse in verse couplets

Dutch-American astronomer

• Identified the nature of Quasars in 1963.

American astronomer.

• Discovered 300 variable stars, five new stars, and a spectroscopic binary

French physicist. Daughter of Pierre and Marie Curie.

• Working jointly with her husband, Frédéric Joliot-Curie, artificially produced radioactive elements by bombarding other elements with alpha particles

Polish-born French chemist known for her studies of radiation.

• Studied radioactive substances, particularly radium

Austrian physicist.

• Worked with Otto Hahn on the discovery of nuclear fission

• First female guest investigator at the Mount Palomar Astronomical Observatory

• Translated Kepler''s tables of planetary motion from the Latin

English astronomer.

• Sister of William Herschel (discoverer of Uranus), she continued his work, discovering several comets and nebulae

American astronomer.

• Discovered a comet; first woman admitted to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Scottish-American astronomer.

• Discovered white dwarf stars

American astronomer. First woman to receive a doctorate in astronomy from Harvard.

• Asserted that the sun contained a greater ratio of hydrogen than the earth

Canadian astronomer and educator after whom asteroid 2917 is named.

• Wrote The Stars Belong to Everyone

British astronomer.

• Discovered the first pulsar, in 1967

English astronomer. First female director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, 1972-73.

• Developed instrumentation for the Hubble space telescope

Russian mathematician.

• Winner of the French Academy of Science''s 1888 Prix Bordin

French mathematician. A close friend of Voltaire.

• Translated Newton''s Principia Mathematica into French

Scottish mathematician.

• Wrote The Mechanism of the Heavens, a popularization of the works of Newton and Laplace

English statistician.

• Wrote Games, Gods, and Gambling, a classic in the field of probablility theory

American mathematician.

• First female president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

American mathematician.

• Developed computer programs used in NASA''s Mercury and Apollo projects

Hungarian mathematician.

• Wrote Recursive Functions in Computer Theory

American physicist.

• Chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 1995-

Chinese-born American physicist.

• Proved that identical nuclear particles do not always exhibit identical behaviors