Most Famous Scientists & Academics in the World

100 Scientists & Academics in view out of 12,107

Science 12,107
All 152,953
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein German Physicist 1879 – 1955
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin British Biologist 1809 – 1882
#12
Karl Marx
Karl Marx German Economist 1818 – 1883
#16
Aristotle
Aristotle Greek Biologist -383 – -322
#26
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei Italian Astronomer 1564 – 1642
#28
Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking British Physicist 1942 – 2018
#40
Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton British Mathematician 1643 – 1727
#41
Marie Curie
Marie Curie Polish Physicist 1867 – 1934
#66
Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison American Inventor 1847 – 1931
#118
Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur French Biologist 1822 – 1895
#120
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus Polish Astronomer 1473 – 1543
#161
Alan Turing
Alan Turing British Computer Scientist 1912 – 1954
#167
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell British Mathematician 1872 – 1970
#181
Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla Austrian Inventor 1856 – 1943
#196
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus Swedish Geologist 1707 – 1778
#197
Adam Smith
Adam Smith British Economist 1723 – 1790
#220
Neil Armstrong
Neil Armstrong American Astronaut 1930 – 2012
#227
Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer German Academic 1788 – 1860
#244
Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal French Mathematician 1623 – 1662
#255
Max Weber
Max Weber German Sociologist 1864 – 1920
#268
John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes British Economist 1883 – 1946
#274
Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler German Naturalist 1571 – 1630
#283
Richard Feynman
Richard Feynman American Physicist 1918 – 1988
#319
Giordano Bruno
Giordano Bruno Italian Astronomer 1548 – 1600
#322
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels German Economist 1820 – 1895
#347
LE
Leonhard Euler Swiss Mathematician 1707 – 1783
#384
Archimedes
Archimedes Greek Mathematician -287 – -212
#398
Werner Heisenberg
Werner Heisenberg German Physicist 1901 – 1976
#416
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins British Biologist Born 1941
#441
Carl Friedrich Gauss
Carl Friedrich Gauss German Mathematician 1777 – 1855
#449
Émile Durkheim
Émile Durkheim French Anthropologist 1858 – 1917
#468
JV
John von Neumann Hungarian Mathematician 1903 – 1957
#486
Max Planck
Max Planck German Physicist 1858 – 1947
#513
Hippocrates
Hippocrates Greek Physician -460 – -370
#535
Omar Khayyam
Omar Khayyam Turkish Mathematician 1048 – 1131
#590
Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Nansen Norwegian Zoologist 1861 – 1930
#610
Ernest Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford New Zealand Scientist 1871 – 1937
#634
Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget Swiss Psychologist 1896 – 1980
#650
Nostradamus
Nostradamus French Physician 1503 – 1566
#653
Wernher von Braun
Wernher von Braun German Physicist 1912 – 1977
#674
Gregor Mendel
Gregor Mendel Austrian Biologist 1822 – 1884
#783
Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe Danish Astronomer 1546 – 1601
#807
Paracelsus
Paracelsus Swiss Physician 1493 – 1541
#815
Dmitri Mendeleev
Dmitri Mendeleev Russian Chemist 1834 – 1907
#851
J. J. Thomson
J. J. Thomson British Physicist 1856 – 1940
#882
LP
Linus Pauling American Chemist 1901 – 1994
#934
Robert Koch
Robert Koch German Biologist 1843 – 1910
#951
Srinivasa Ramanujan
Srinivasa Ramanujan Indian Mathematician 1887 – 1920
#984
Jacques Lacan
Jacques Lacan French Psychiatrist 1901 – 1981
#999
Alfred Nobel
Alfred Nobel Swedish Engineer 1833 – 1896
#1,030
Amartya Sen
Amartya Sen Indian Economist Born 1933
#1,031
Ibn Khaldun
Ibn Khaldun Tunisian Anthropologist 1332 – 1406
#1,037
George Boole
George Boole British Mathematician 1815 – 1864
#1,045
Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori Italian Psychologist 1870 – 1952
#1,046
Ptolemy
Ptolemy Roman Mathematician 100 – 160
#1,049
Ivan Pavlov
Ivan Pavlov Russian Chemist 1849 – 1936
#1,076
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck French Botanist 1744 – 1829
#1,138
Wilhelm Röntgen
Wilhelm Röntgen German Physicist 1845 – 1923
#1,141
Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin American Astronaut Born 1930
#1,147
Max Born
Max Born German Physicist 1882 – 1970
#1,149
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek Dutch Zoologist 1632 – 1723
#1,183
Kurt Gödel
Kurt Gödel Austrian Mathematician 1906 – 1978
#1,209
Galen
Galen Roman Physician 129 – 216
#1,221
Pierre-Simon Laplace
Pierre-Simon Laplace French Mathematician 1749 – 1827
#1,233
John Forbes Nash Jr.
John Forbes Nash Jr. American Mathematician 1928 – 2015
#1,235
Henri Poincaré
Henri Poincaré French Mathematician 1854 – 1912
#1,238
Gustave Eiffel
Gustave Eiffel French Engineer 1832 – 1923
#1,242
Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace British Mathematician 1823 – 1913
#1,276
James Watt
James Watt British Engineer 1736 – 1819
#1,332
Edmund Husserl
Edmund Husserl German Mathematician 1859 – 1938
#1,335
Thomas Robert Malthus
Thomas Robert Malthus British Economist 1766 – 1834
#1,342
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar American Mathematician 1910 – 1995
#1,392
Edward Jenner
Edward Jenner British Physician 1749 – 1823
#1,402
Paul Krugman
Paul Krugman American Economist Born 1953
#1,483
Christiaan Huygens
Christiaan Huygens Dutch Astronomer 1629 – 1695
#1,485
B. F. Skinner
B. F. Skinner American Psychologist 1904 – 1990
#1,532
Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Franklin British Chemist 1920 – 1958
#1,538
Thor Heyerdahl
Thor Heyerdahl Norwegian Anthropologist 1914 – 2002
#1,567
Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich Austrian Psychiatrist 1897 – 1957
#1,576
Claude Shannon
Claude Shannon American Mathematician 1916 – 2001
#1,599
Robert Boyle
Robert Boyle Irish Physicist 1627 – 1691
#1,609
Ernst Haeckel
Ernst Haeckel German Biologist 1834 – 1919
#1,611
John Dalton
John Dalton British Chemist 1766 – 1844
#1,654
Rachel Carson
Rachel Carson American Biologist 1907 – 1964
#1,808
Santiago Calatrava
Santiago Calatrava Spanish Engineer Born 1951
#1,809
Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade Romanian Anthropologist 1907 – 1986
#1,843
Mikhail Lomonosov
Mikhail Lomonosov Russian Astronomer 1711 – 1765
#1,866
Alan Shepard
Alan Shepard American Astronaut 1923 – 1998
#1,882
IJ
Irène Joliot-Curie French Physicist 1897 – 1956
#1,893
Ibn al-Haytham
Ibn al-Haytham Iraqi Mathematician 965 – 1039
#1,909
Frederick Banting
Frederick Banting Canadian Physician 1891 – 1941
#1,930
Thomas Henry Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley British Biologist 1825 – 1895
#1,951
Oliver Sacks
Oliver Sacks British Neurologist 1933 – 2015
#1,970
Rudolf Virchow
Rudolf Virchow German Biologist 1821 – 1902
#1,991
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi Turkish Mathematician 780 – 850
#2,015
Évariste Galois
Évariste Galois French Mathematician 1811 – 1832
#2,022
Albertus Magnus
Albertus Magnus German Chemist 1206 – 1280
#2,047
B. R. Ambedkar
B. R. Ambedkar Indian Economist 1891 – 1956
#2,069
Santiago Ramón y Cajal
Santiago Ramón y Cajal Spanish Physician 1852 – 1934
#2,085
Ludwig Feuerbach
Ludwig Feuerbach German Anthropologist 1804 – 1872
#2,092

By the numbers

Inside Scientists & Academics

12,107 notable people in this slice of the dataset.

Through the Centuries

One face per century — the leading figure from Scientists & Academics born in each.

Notable Births by Decade

Notable births among Scientists & Academics peaked in the 1940s with 889 people.

What Scientists & Academics Are Known For

Disciplines inside this family, plus countries that over- and under-produce them.

Academia is the largest group within Scientists & Academics — 1,171 people, 10% of the family.

Scientists & Academics over-index on germany1.8× the global rate.

Scientists & Academics under-produce canada — only 0.6× the global rate.

  1. Academia1,171
  2. Physician1,158
  3. Mathematician954
  4. Botanist873
  5. Engineer829
  6. Physicist639
  7. Chemist595
  8. Economist529
  1. Germany2,7871.8×
  2. Switzerland2751.6×
  1. Canada1650.6×
  2. India2030.7×

City Hot Spots

Cities that over-produce Scientists & Academics compared to the world average — multiplier shows how much more.