General Science: 90 Most Important Scientists

Question 1. Name two prominent Greek astronomers or philosophers to propose a detailed model of the solar system with the earth (incorrectly) at the center. 
Claudius Ptolemy, Aristotle, and Hipparchus (favored the geocentric model)

Question 2. Who observed the phases of Venus with a telescope in the early 1600’s and also made notable contributions to uniformly accelerated motion?
Galileo Galilei (made extensive use of the telescope in the early 1600’s)

Question 3. Who received a Nobel Prize in 1922 for his work on a quantum model of the atom and its radiation?
Niels Bohr (proposed a quantum model of the hydrogen atom)

Question 4. Which Greek scientist discovered the nature of the buoyant force while determining if King Hieron’s crown was made of pure gold or if it was alloyed with a less precious metal?
Archimedes (discovered buoyancy)

Question 5. Who received the Nobel Prize in 1921 for his explanation of the photoelectric effect?
Albert Einstein (presented an explanation for the photoelectric effect)

Question 6. Which American inventor named the two types of electric charges as “positive” and “negative” in the 1700’s?
Benjamin Franklin (described charges as “positive” and “negative”)

Question 7. Which Greek librarian measured the length of a shadow in Alexandria at noon on a day when there was no shadow in Syene, and used this measurement to calculate the size of the earth?
Eratosthenes (calculated the circumference of the earth)

Question 8. Who received one Nobel Prize in physics in 1903 and received a second Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1911 for research and discoveries with radioactive elements?
Marie Curie (received one Nobel Prize in physics and another in chemistry)

Question 9. Who demonstrated that the electrostatic force between two charged particles obeys an inverse-square law?
Charles Coulomb (has an inverse-square law that now bears his name)

Question 10. Who analyzed precise astronomical measurements to determine that orbits in the solar system must be elliptical rather than circular with the sun at one focus?
Johannes Kepler (deduced that planets travel in elliptical orbits)

Question 11. Who published three volumes in Latin in 1687 now referred to as the Principia?
Sir Isaac Newton (wrote the Principia)

Question 12. Who received a Nobel Prize in 1908 for investigating the structure of nuclei by directing rays of alpha particles toward a thin metal foil?
Ernest Rutherford (discovered the positively charged nucleus)

Question 13. Who played a key role in developing AC electricity and designed a coil that bears his name?
Nikola Tesla (played a significant role in developing AC electricity)

Question 14. Which two US astronauts landed on the moon on July 20, 1969? (Naming one is not enough, but bonus for knowing who was orbiting in the command module.)
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin (landed on the moon on July 20, 1969); note that Michael Collins was orbiting in the command module at this time

Question 15. Who published a heliocentric model of the solar system in 1543 in a book entitled De Revolutionibus?
Nicolaus Copernicus (revived the heliocentric model)

Question 16. Name a Greek philosopher who developed or contributed to the notion that matter is composed of indivisible particles called atoms. (Bonus if you can name two or three.)
Leucippus, Democritus, and Epicurus (proposed atomic views)

Question 17. Who did Voltaire introduce as the “father of the scientific method”?
Sir Francis Bacon (is credited with developing the scientific method)

Question 18. Who invented the telephone?
Alexander Graham Bell (invented the telephone)

Question 19. Who is known for postulating an atomic theory in the early 1800’s?
John Dalton (is known for introducing atomic theory in the early 1800’s)

Question 20. What are the first and last names of the brothers who are credited with building and successfully flying the first airplane? (Knowing just the last name is not enough.)
Orville and Wilbur Wright (are credited with the first successful airplane flight)

Question 21. Who predicted that black holes emit radiation and postulated that the event horizon of a black hole can’t decrease in size?
Stephen Hawking (predicted that black holes emit radiation)

Question 22. Who invented the phonograph and a practical, long-lasting light bulb?
Thomas Alva Edison (invented the phonograph)

Question 23. Which Greek physician is considered to be the “father of medicine”?
Hippocrates II (credited with the Hippocratic Oath)

Question 24. Who published a work known as On the Origin of Species in 1859?
Charles Darwin (published On the Origin of Species)

Question 25. Who developed a technique to prevent bacterial contamination in milk and developed a vaccine against rabies?
Louis Pasteur (developed a technique that now bears his name)

Question 26. Who coined the term “cell” and also discovered the law of elasticity?
Robert Hooke (coined the term “cell” and discovered Hooke’s law)

Question 27. Who put forth the idea of uniformitarianism when he published Theory of the Earth in 1795, and is considered one of the founders of modern geology?
James Hutton (published Theory of the Earth)

Question 28. Who coined the term “invertebrates” and was an early proponent of evolution?
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (coined the term “invertebrates”)

Question 29. Who coined the terms “dominant” and “recessive” genes?
Gregor Johann Mendel (coined the terms “dominant” and “recessive”)

Question 30. Who devised in 1935 a magnitude scale for measuring seismic activity?
Charles Richter (devised a magnitude scale for measuring seismic activity)

Question 31. Which computer scientist invented the world wide web following research at CERN in the 1980’s?
Tim Berners-Lee (invented the world wide web)

Question 32. Who published The Interpretation of Dreams on psychoanalysis?
Sigmund Freud (published The Interpretation of Dreams on psychoanalysis)

Question 33. Which professor of biochemistry became a prolific writer of both science fiction and popular science, and is also believed to have coined the term “robotics”?
Isaac Asimov (was a prolific writer of science fiction and popular science); note that Karel Čapek introduced the word “robot” in 1920, while Isaac Asimov made the natural leap from “robot” to the field of “robotics”

Question 34. Who pioneered a vaccine for smallpox in the late 1700’s?
Edward Jenner (pioneered the smallpox vaccine)

Question 35. Who proposed an absolute scale of temperature?
Lord Kelvin nee William Thomson (proposed an absolute scale of temperature)

Question 36. Who popularized string theory with his book, The Fabric of the Cosmos?
Brian Randolph Greene (popularized string theory with The Fabric of the Cosmos)

Question 37. Who invented the stethoscope?
René Laennec (invented the stethoscope)

Question 38. Who is credited with developing binomial nomenclature?
Carl Linnaeus (is credited with developing binomial nomenclature)

Question 39. Who studied the relationship between heat and work in the 1800’s, leading to the law of conservation of energy and the first law of thermodynamics?
James Prescott Joule (showed that heat is a form of energy)

Question 40. Who received a Nobel Prize in 1945 for discovering penicillin? (Bonus for two or three.)
Alexander Fleming, Howard Flory, and Ernst Chain (discovered penicillin)

Question 41. Who received the Davy Medal from the Royal Society for organizing the periodic table and forming the periodic law? (Bonus if you can name two.)
Dmitri Mendeleev and Lothar Meyer (contributed towards the periodic table)

Question 42. Who reported in 1928 that he had transformed deadly bacteria into harmless bacteria, a result that would lead other researchers to discover the role of DNA?
Frederick Griffith (reported on bacterial transformation)

Question 43. Name one of three researchers who published a paper in 1944 which isolated DNA, not protein as believed at the time, as the carrier of genetic information. (Bonus for more.)
Oswald Avery, Collin MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty (isolated DNA, and not protein as believed at the time, as the carrier of genetic information)

Question 44. Who received a Nobel Prize in 1962 for their work on the structure of DNA?
James Dewey Watson and Francis Crick (discovered the structure of DNA)

Question 45. Who received a Nobel Prize in 1906 for the discovery of the electron?
Sir Joseph John Thomson (discovered the electron)

Question 46. Who discovered galaxies comparable in scale to the Milky Way in the 1920’s and also devised a system for classifying galaxies that is commonly used today?
Edwin Hubble (discovered galaxies comparable in size to the Milky Way)

Question 47. Who received a Nobel Prize in 1933 for the role that chromosomes play in heredity?
Thomas Hunt Morgan (studied the role that chromosomes play in heredity)

Question 48. Which astronomer wrote or coauthored several popular science books and wrote the science fiction novel Contact, and also promoted SETI?
Carl Sagan (wrote Contact and promoted SETI)

Question 49. Who received a Nobel Prize in 1932 for his work on uncertainty in quantum mechanics?
Werner Heisenberg (developed an uncertainty principle that now bears his name)

Question 50. Who proposed that equal volumes of gases held at the same temperature and pressure contain the same number of molecules?
Amedeo Avogadro (proposed the hypothesis that now bears his name); note that Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac’s law is quite similar

Question 51. Who demonstrated the wave-like nature of light in 1801 by shining light through two narrow, closely spaced slits?
Thomas Young (performed the double-slit experiment)

Question 52. Who did pioneering work on microscopy in the 1600’s and was the first to experiment with microbes?
Antonie van Leeuernhoek, aka Anton (made extensive early use of microscopes)

Question 53. Who developed a wave equation that incorporates the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics?
Erwin Schrodinger (developed a wave equation for quantum mechanics)

Question 54. Which Greek astronomer proposed that the sun lies at the center of the solar system, but had his theory rejected in favor of the (incorrect) geocentric model?
Aristarchus (proposed a heliocentric model for the solar system)

Question 55. Which scientist has an SI unit and a programming language named after him?
Blaise Pascal (has an SI unit and a programming language named after him)

Question 56. Who discovered the principles of electrolysis and electromagnetic induction?
Michael Faraday (discovered the induction law that now bears his name)

Question 57. Who independently described the idea of natural selection alongside Charles Darwin?
Alfred Russel Wallace (described natural selection independently of Darwin)

Question 58. Who received a Nobel Prize in 1929 for discovering that electrons exhibit wave-like properties?
Louis de Broglie (discovered the wave-like properties of electrons)

Question 59. Who is known for modifying the ideal gas law to describe more realistic gases?
Johannes van der Waals (introduced a formula for more realistic gases)

Question 60. Who estimated the speed of light in 1676 using observations of Jupiter’s moon, Io?
Ole Roemer (estimated the speed of light in 1676)

Question 61. Who proposed in 1925 that no two electrons can ever be in the same quantum state?
Wolfgang Pauli (formulated the exclusion principle that now bears his name)

Question 62. Who conducted an oil-drop experiment to determine that electric charge is quantized and to determine the charge of an electron?
Robert A. Millikan (measured the charge of an electron)

Question 63. Who received a Nobel Prize in 1918 for his discovery that the energy of blackbody radiation is quantized?
Max Planck (showed that energy is quantized)

Question 64. Who received a Nobel Prize in 1960 for radioactive carbon dating?
Willard Libby (developed radioactive carbon dating)

Question 65. Who received a Nobel Prize in 1986 for their work on cholesterol? (Bonus for two.)
Joseph Leonard Goldstein and Michael Brown (received a Nobel Prize for their work on cholesterol)

Question 66. Which Greek astronomer discovered the precession of the equinoxes?
Hipparchus (discovered the precession of the equinoxes)

Question 67. Who is well-known for a set of four equations describing electromagnetic fields?
James Clerk Maxwell (is credited with assembling the set of four equations that now bears his name)

Question 68. Name one of the first geologists to write about seafloor spreading. (Bonus for more.)
Harry Hess and Robert Dietz (independently wrote about seafloor spreading in the early 1960’s); note that Arthur Holmes mentioned the idea in a textbook in 1944

Question 69. Who is credited for both producing pure hydrogen and also recognizing it as an element, and also measured the gravitational constant?
Henry Cavendish (produced hydrogen and measured the gravitational constant)

Question 70. Who received a Nobel Prize in 1935 for discovering the neutron?
James Chadwick (discovered the neutron)

Question 71. Who coined the term “virus”?
Martinus Beijerinck (coined the term “virus”)

Question 72. Who is credited with founding the first formal psychology laboratory, and is considered by many to be the “father of psychology”?
Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (is credited with founding the first psychology lab)

Question 73. Name one of the first geologists to write about the Pangaea or continental drift.
Alfred Wegener (suggested the ideas of the Pangaea and continental drift); note that Sir Francis Bacon had hinted at the notion in 1620, and F.B. Taylor outlined the idea of continental drift in a paper two years before Wegener

Question 74. Who received a Nobel Prize in 1902 for the splitting of spectral lines in a magnetic field? (Bonus if you can name both.)
Hendrik A. Lorentz and Pieter Zeeman (for their work on the Zeeman effect)

Question 75. Who wrote Silent Spring, which helped advance environmental science, and campaigned to ban the use of DDT?
Rachel Carson (wrote Silent Spring)

Question 76. Who received a Nobel Prize in 1920 for his work on heat in chemical reactions and for introducing the third law of thermodynamics?
Walther Nernst (formulated the third law of thermodynamics)

Question 77. Which physician discovered an area of the brain involved in speaking language?
Pierre Paul Broca, aka Paul Broca (discovered the area of the brain that now bears his name)

Question 78. Who first trained a chimpanzee in American Sign Language?
Allen and Beatrix Gardner (trained a chimpanzee in American sign language)

Question 79. Who is credited for leading a research group in the 1990’s that cloned a sheep?
Ian Wilmut (is credited for leading a research group that cloned a sheep)

Question 80. Who is considered by some to be the father of modern chemistry, contributed to the chemical revolution, was a pioneer of stoichiometry, and discovered the role that oxygen plays in combustion?
Antoine Lavoisier (is considered by some to be the father of modern chemistry)

Question 81. Which scientists conducted an experiment which is now famous for failing to detect small changes in the speed of light?
Albert Abraham Michelson and Edward Williams Morley (set out to detect small changes in the speed of light, but failed to detect any such changes)

Question 82. Who discovered covalent bonding and introduced dot structures that are now named after him?
Gilbert Newton Lewis (introduced structures that now bear his name)

Question 83. Which psychologist created the inkblot test that was widely used in the 1960’s?
Hermann Rorschach (created the inkblot test that now bears his name)

Question 84. Name one of the recipients of the 1990 Nobel Prize for their work on organ and cell transplants. (Bonus if you can name both.)
Joseph Edward Murray and Edward Donnall Thomas (worked on transplants)

Question 85. Who is considered one of the founders of modern geology and stratigraphy for his work in the 1600’s, which included the law of superposition?
Nicolaus Steno, aka Nicolas (introduced the law of superposition in the 1600’s)

Question 86. Who received a Nobel Prize in 1981 for his research on split-brain patients?
Roger Wolcott Sperry (studied split-brain patients)

Question 87. Who received a Nobel Prize in 1979 for developing the standard electroweak theory? (Bonus if you can name two or three.)
Sheldon L. Glashow, Abdus Salam, and Steven Weinberg (the standard model)

Question 88. Who described the rapid eye movement (REM) that occurs during sleep in 1953?
Eugene Aserinski and Nathaniel Kleitman (described rapid eye movement)

Question 89. Who received two Nobel Prizes in chemistry?
Frederick Sanger (received Nobel Prizes in chemistry in 1958 and 1980)

Question 90. Who received two Nobel Prizes in physics?
John Bardeen (received Nobel Prizes in physics in 1956 and 1972)