Physicists and Their Major Contributions

For Class 11/Class 12 Physics - NEET - JEE

Physics deals with the study of the basic laws of nature and their manifestation in different phenomena. The basic laws of physics are universal and are applied in widely different contexts and conditions. Physics is a basic discipline in the category of natural sciences which also includes other disciplines like Chemistry and Biology. The word physics comes from a Greek word meaning nature.

Here is a partial list of Physicists and their contributions in various fields of physics.

Name of the Physicist	Contribution/Discovery	Country Of Origin
Archimedes	Principle of buoyancy; Principle of the lever	Greece
Galileo Galilei	Law of inertia	Italy
Christiaan Huygens	Wave theory of light	Holland
Isaac Newton	Universal law of gravitation; Laws of motion; Reflecting telescope	U.K.
Michael Faraday	Laws of electromagnetic induction	U.K.
James Clerk Maxwell	Electromagnetic theory; Light - an electromagnetic wave	U.K.
Heinrich Rudolf Hertz	Generation of electromagnetic waves	Germany
J.C. Bose	Short radio waves	India
W.K.Roentgen	X-rays	Germany
J.J. Thomson	Electron	U.K.
Marie Curie	Discovery of radium and polonium; Studies on natural radio activity	Poland
Albert Einstein	Explanation of photoelectric effect;Theory of relativity	Germany
Victor Francis Hess	Cosmic radiation	Austria
R.A. Millikan	Measurement of electronic charge	U.S.A.
Ernest Rutherford	Nuclear model of atom	New Zealand
Niels Bohr	Quantum model of hydrogen atom	Denmark
C.V. Raman	Inelastic scattering of light by molecules	India
Louis Victor de Broglie	Wave nature of matter	France
M.N. Saha	Thermal ionisation	India
S.N. Bose	Quantum statistics	India
Wolfgang Pauli	Exclusion principle	Austria
Enrico Fermi	Controlled nuclear fission	Italy
Werner Heisenberg	Quantum mechanics; Uncertainity principle	Germany
Paul Dirac	Relativistic theory of electron; Quantum statistics	U.K.
Edwin Hubble	Expanding universe	U.S.A.
Ernest Orlando Lawrence	Cyclotron	U.S.A.
James Chadwick	Neutron	U.K.
Hideki Yukawa	Theory of nuclear forces	Japan
Homi Jehangir Bhabha	Cascade process of cosmic radiation	India
Lev Davidovich Landau	Theory of condensed matter; Liquid helium	Russia
S.Chandrasekhar	Chandrasekhar limit, structure and evolution of stars	India
John Bardeen	Transistors ; Theory of super conductivity	U.S.A.
C.H. Townes	Maser; Laser	U.S.A.
Abdus Salam	Unification of weak and electromagnetic interactions	Pakistan
Stephan Hawking	Quantum Gravity, Black Holes	U.K.
Roger Penrose	Black Holes	U.K.
Nikola Tesla	Alternating Current	USSR, later USA