List of 10 Greatest Physicists that lived with their contribution to the field

Albert Einstein

Born in 1879, Albert Einstein is a German-born physicist who is known for his theory of relativity. This theory is one of the three grand theories that best define our knowledge of the universe. The other two great theories are the theory of quantum mechanics and the theory of gravitation. Albert Einstein remains the greatest physicist for his reputation for the originality of thought. In 1940, Einstein became the citizen of the USA where he showed the world that time and space are not immutable but are malleable and fluid. His famous equation E=MC2 which demonstrates the relationship between mass and energy changed the world we live in today. In 1921, Albert Einstein was awarded a Nobel Prize for physics. Associated with the idea of genius, Einstein died in 1955 as a celebrity.

Neils Bohr

Born in 1885 in Copenhagen, Denmark, Neils Bohr is well known for his modern idea about an atom. He developed an idea that an atom has electron revolving around a nucleus which is at the Centre. He gave a details explanation of how electrons emit discrete quanta of energy when they move from one energy level to another. Due to his work in the development of the modern idea of an atom, Niels Bohr was awarded the Nobel Prize of 1922 in physics. Interestingly, due to his achievements, Niels Bohr was awarded a special gift by Carlsberg brewery. Guess what the gift was? He was given a house with a connected pipeline from the brewery which would provide him with free beer for life. Bohr assisted in the establishment of Cern, the famous European particle physics facility in 1954. Like father like son, Aage, his son, won the Nobel Prize of 1975 for his research on atomic nuclei.

James Clerk Maxwell

Born in 1831 in Edinburg, Maxwell stayed virtually unknown to the general public. His discovery of the theory of electromagnetism is quite significant in the field of physics. He demonstrated that the electromagnetic field is the same phenomenon manifested by magnetism, electricity and light. Due to his discovery of the theory of electromagnetism, TV, radio and radar were developed. Due to his God-fearing Scottish background, Maxwell wrote papers disputing and denouncing the natural selection and the evolutionary thinking of natural selection.

Michael Faraday

Faraday was born in the year 1791. He was a self-educated physicist who worked under the patronage of eminent English chemist Humphry Davy. He was famous for his discovery of the law of electrolysis. It is believed that Albert Einstein kept Faraday's picture alongside those of Maxwell and Newton on his study wall.

Marie Curie

Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in physics as well as the first person to win two separate Nobel prizes. In 1903, together with his husband, Pierre, she won her first Nobel Prize for discovering radioactivity. In 1911, she won her second Nobel Prize for her discovery of radium.

Paul Dirac

Bristol-born Dirac is well known for his prediction of antimatter which created some of the key equations of quantum mechanics. Although he won a Nobel in 1933, Paul Dirac remained "an Edwardian geek". His daughter, Monica, has never remembered his father laughing once. A character that made Einstein says to him that his balancing of a dizzying path between madness and genius is awful.

Earnest Rutherford

Rutherford was a New Zealand born physicist. He is well remembered for his experimental physics that discovered the idea of radioactive half-life. He clearly showed that radioactivity involved a transmutation of one chemical element to another. He won a Nobel in 1908 for his work. Later in life, Rutherford became the director of Cavendish laboratory at Cambridge University. Under his leadership in Cambridge University, James Chadwick discovered the neutron in 1932. Rutherfordium element was named after him.

Richard Feynman

Feynman was born in 1918.His key role in the development of quantum electrodynamics earned him the Nobel Prize in 1965. He is also well known for his contribution in the fields of nanotechnology and quantum computing.

Galileo Galilei

Our list of top 10 greatest physicists could not be complete without the contribution of Galileo in the field of physics. He discovered the telescope in 1609 which he used to provide the support of the idea that the earth revolves around the sun. This brought him trouble with the Roman Catholic Church hence abandoning that idea in 1633. His discovery of falling bodies laid a foundation for Newton's subsequent theories.

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