Physicists

Becquerel, Antoine-Henri (physicist)

  (1852-1908) French Experimentalist (Radioactivity) Antoine-Henri Becquerel changed the course of modern physics by his accidental discovery in 1896 of natural radioactivity, the spontaneous emission of radiation by a material. For this achievement he shared the 1903 Nobel Prize with Pierre Curie and marie curie, who further investigated Becquerel’s discovery. He was born in Paris […]

Barkla, Charles Glover (physicist)

  (1877-1944) British Experimentalist (X-ray Scattering), Solid State Physicist, Quantum Physicist Charles Glover Barkla made important experiments involving the scattering of X rays, proving that they are a form of transverse electromagnetic radiation like that of visible light. He received many honors for this work, including the 1917 Nobel Prize in physics “for his discovery […]

Bhabha, Homi Jehangir (physicist)

  (1909-1966) Indian Theoretician, Particle Physicist Homi Jehangir Bhabha was a brilliant theoretician whose best-known contribution to particle physics is an accurate expression of a cross section (i.e., the probability) of the quantum elec-trodynamic scattering of positrons by electrons, what is now called Bhabha scattering. He was also the chief architect of India’s atomic energy […]

Bethe, Hans Albrecht (physicist)

  (1906- ) German/American Theoretician, Nuclear Physicist, Astrophysicist, Solid State Physicist During his long and brilliant career, Hans Bethe has made numerous contributions to both fundamental and applied science. His early work laid the foundation for nuclear physics and explained the dynamics of the energy of stars. During World War II, he headed the theoretical […]

Bloembergen, Nicolaas (physicist)

  (1920- ) Dutch/American Theoretical and Experimental Physicist, Laser Spectroscopist Nicolaas Bloembergen made his mark on 20th-century physics through his contributions to the technology of the laser, the revolutionary device that creates and amplifies a narrow, intense beam of coherent light, and its forerunner, the maser. His three-level crystal maser proved strikingly more powerful than […]

Bloch, Felix (physicist)

  (1905-1983) Swiss/American Experimentalist, Quantum Theorist (Statistical Mechanics), Solid State Physicist Felix Bloch was a major figure in 20th-century physics, who was among the first to demonstrate the power of quantum mechanics to illuminate many hitherto mysterious physical phenomena. He did groundbreaking work in the quantum theory of metals and solids, discovering what came to […]

Blackett, Patrick Maynard Stuart, Lord (physicist)

  (1897-1974) British Experimentalist, Atomic Physicist, Particle Physicist Patrick Blackett made the first photograph of an atomic transmutation and in the early 1920s developed the cloud chamber, invented in 1911 by charles thomson rees wilson, into an invaluable instrument for studying nuclear reactions. These achievements garnered him the 1948 Nobel Prize in physics. His discovery […]

Born, Max (physicist)

  (1882-1970) German/British Theoretical Physicist, Quantum Theorist, Solid State Physicist Max Born is best known for his distinctive contributions to the revolution in subatomic physics of the 1920s. It was Born who, in 1924, anointed the new physics quantum mechanics. The following year, along with his students, werner heisenberg and Pascual Jordan, he formulated matrix […]

Boltzmann, Ludwig (physicist)

  (1844-1906) Austrian Theoretical Physicist (Statistical Mechanics, Electromagnetism, Thermodynamics) Ludwig Boltzmann was an intuitive genius whose belief in the existence of an underlying atomic structure in nature, governed by the laws of probability, helped set the course for 20th-century physics. An embattled figure, whose ideas contradicted the scientific dogmas of his times and who died […]

Bohr, Niels Henrik David (physicist)

  (1885-1962) Danish Theoretical Physicist, Quantum Theorist, Philosopher of Science Among the revolutionary geniuses of 20th-century physics, the name of Niels Bohr, whose model of the atom laid the basis for quantum mechanics, is second only to that of albert einstein. By wedding max planck’s notion of discrete quanta of energy to ernest rutherford’s nuclear […]

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