Science through time
Science Encyclopedia
Meet the people, ideas and inventions that changed how we understand our world.
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From ancient knowledge to today's discoveries
2650 BCE-2600 BCE
Imhotep
Medicine and engineering
Early medical writing and the Step Pyramid.
624 BCE-546 BCE
Thales of Miletus
Astronomy and mathematics
Using natural explanations for events in the world.
570 BCE-495 BCE
Pythagoras
Mathematics
The theorem linking the sides of a right-angled triangle.
460 BCE-370 BCE
Hippocrates
Medicine
Careful observation of illness and medical ethics.
384 BCE-322 BCE
Aristotle
Biology and philosophy
Classifying animals and studying living things.
371 BCE-287 BCE
Theophrastus
Botany
Systematic studies of plants.
325 BCE-265 BCE
Euclid
Mathematics
Organising geometry into definitions, proofs and theorems.
287 BCE-212 BCE
Archimedes
Physics and engineering
Buoyancy, levers and ingenious machines.
276 BCE-194 BCE
Eratosthenes
Geography and astronomy
Estimating Earth's circumference.
190 BCE-120 BCE
Hipparchus
Astronomy
A star catalogue and the discovery of precession.
78-139
Zhang Heng
Astronomy and engineering
An early seismoscope for detecting earthquakes.
100-170
Claudius Ptolemy
Astronomy and geography
Mathematical models of the sky and map coordinates.
129-216
Galen
Medicine
Influential studies of anatomy and body systems.
476-550
Aryabhata
Mathematics and astronomy
Algorithms, trigonometry and explaining eclipses.
598-668
Brahmagupta
Mathematics and astronomy
Rules for calculating with zero and negative numbers.
780-850
Muhammad al-Khwarizmi
Mathematics
Foundational methods in algebra and algorithms.
865-925
Al-Razi
Medicine and chemistry
Clinical observation and distinguishing smallpox from measles.
936-1013
Al-Zahrawi
Surgery
Illustrated surgical instruments and procedures.
965-1040
Ibn al-Haytham
Optics and physics
Experiments showing how light enters the eye.
973-1048
Al-Biruni
Astronomy and geodesy
Measuring Earth and comparing minerals.
980-1037
Avicenna
Medicine
The Canon of Medicine.
1031-1095
Shen Kuo
Earth science and astronomy
Describing magnetic navigation and geological change.
1048-1131
Omar Khayyam
Mathematics and astronomy
Classifying cubic equations and calendar reform.
1098-1179
Hildegard of Bingen
Natural history and medicine
Writings about plants, health and the natural world.
1170-1240
Leonardo Fibonacci
Mathematics
Popularising Hindu-Arabic numerals in Europe.
1201-1274
Nasir al-Din al-Tusi
Astronomy and mathematics
The Tusi couple and a major observatory.
1213-1288
Ibn al-Nafis
Medicine
Describing pulmonary circulation.
1219-1292
Roger Bacon
Optics and scientific method
Promoting experiment and mathematical study.
1473-1543
Nicolaus Copernicus
Astronomy
A Sun-centred model of the planetary system.
1493-1541
Paracelsus
Medicine and chemistry
Using chemistry in medicine and studying dose.
1512-1594
Gerardus Mercator
Cartography
The Mercator map projection.
1514-1564
Andreas Vesalius
Anatomy
Accurate, illustrated studies of the human body.
1546-1601
Tycho Brahe
Astronomy
Precise naked-eye measurements of planets and stars.
1561-1626
Francis Bacon
Scientific method
Promoting organised observation and experiment.
1564-1642
Galileo Galilei
Astronomy and physics
Telescopic discoveries and experiments on motion.
1571-1630
Johannes Kepler
Astronomy
Three laws describing planetary motion.
1578-1657
William Harvey
Medicine
Showing that the heart circulates blood.
1596-1650
Rene Descartes
Mathematics and philosophy
Cartesian coordinates linking algebra and geometry.
1607-1665
Pierre de Fermat
Mathematics
Number theory and early probability.
1623-1662
Blaise Pascal
Mathematics and physics
Probability, fluid pressure and a mechanical calculator.
1627-1691
Robert Boyle
Chemistry and physics
Boyle's law for gases.
1629-1695
Christiaan Huygens
Physics and astronomy
The pendulum clock and wave theory of light.
1632-1723
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
Microscopy
First detailed observations of microorganisms.
1635-1703
Robert Hooke
Microscopy and physics
Hooke's law and naming cells.
1643-1727
Isaac Newton
Physics and mathematics
Laws of motion, gravity and calculus.
1647-1717
Maria Sibylla Merian
Entomology and illustration
Documenting insect metamorphosis.
1656-1742
Edmond Halley
Astronomy
Predicting the return of Halley's Comet.
1706-1790
Benjamin Franklin
Electricity and invention
Experiments with electricity and the lightning rod.
1707-1778
Carl Linnaeus
Biology
Binomial names for classifying organisms.
1707-1783
Leonhard Euler
Mathematics
Major advances across calculus, graphs and notation.
1726-1797
James Hutton
Geology
Deep time and gradual geological change.
1743-1794
Antoine Lavoisier
Chemistry
Conservation of mass and modern chemical naming.
1749-1823
Edward Jenner
Medicine
The smallpox vaccine.
1750-1848
Caroline Herschel
Astronomy
Discovering comets and cataloguing nebulae.
1766-1844
John Dalton
Chemistry
Modern atomic theory and studies of colour vision.
1769-1859
Alexander von Humboldt
Ecology and geography
Connecting climate, geography and living things.
1791-1871
Charles Babbage
Computing
Designs for programmable mechanical computers.
1791-1867
Michael Faraday
Physics and chemistry
Electromagnetic induction and the electric motor principle.
1799-1847
Mary Anning
Palaeontology
Major marine reptile fossils.
1809-1882
Charles Darwin
Biology
Evolution by natural selection.
1815-1852
Ada Lovelace
Computing
An algorithm for Babbage's Analytical Engine.
1822-1884
Gregor Mendel
Genetics
Basic laws of inheritance from pea experiments.
1822-1895
Louis Pasteur
Microbiology and medicine
Germ theory, pasteurisation and vaccines.
1823-1913
Alfred Russel Wallace
Biology and biogeography
Independently developing natural selection.
1827-1912
Joseph Lister
Medicine
Antiseptic surgery.
1831-1879
James Clerk Maxwell
Physics
Equations unifying electricity, magnetism and light.
1834-1907
Dmitri Mendeleev
Chemistry
The periodic table and predictions of missing elements.
1844-1929
Karl Benz
Engineering and invention
One of the first practical petrol-powered automobiles.
1845-1923
Wilhelm Rontgen
Physics and medicine
Discovering X-rays.
1847-1922
Alexander Graham Bell
Invention and acoustics
Development of the telephone.
1847-1931
Thomas Edison
Invention
Practical electric lighting, sound recording and research laboratories.
1849-1936
Ivan Pavlov
Physiology
Conditioned reflex experiments.
1852-1908
Henri Becquerel
Physics
Discovering natural radioactivity.
1852-1934
Santiago Ramon y Cajal
Neuroscience
Showing that the nervous system is made of separate cells.
1856-1943
Nikola Tesla
Electrical engineering
Alternating-current motors and power systems.
1858-1947
Max Planck
Physics
The quantum idea.
1864-1943
George Washington Carver
Agricultural science
Soil-restoring crop rotation and practical crop products.
1867-1934
Marie Curie
Physics and chemistry
Research on radioactivity and discovering polonium and radium.
1867-1912
Wilbur Wright
Aeronautical engineering
Controlled powered flight with his brother Orville.
1871-1937
Ernest Rutherford
Nuclear physics
Discovering the atomic nucleus.
1871-1948
Orville Wright
Aeronautical engineering
Piloting the first sustained controlled powered flight.
1878-1968
Lise Meitner
Nuclear physics
Explaining nuclear fission.
1879-1955
Albert Einstein
Physics
Relativity and explaining the photoelectric effect.
1880-1930
Alfred Wegener
Earth science
Continental drift.
1881-1955
Alexander Fleming
Medicine
Discovering penicillin's antibacterial effect.
1882-1935
Emmy Noether
Mathematics and physics
Linking symmetries with conservation laws.
1885-1962
Niels Bohr
Physics
A quantum model of the atom.
1887-1961
Erwin Schrodinger
Physics
Wave mechanics in quantum theory.
1889-1953
Edwin Hubble
Astronomy
Evidence for galaxies beyond the Milky Way and an expanding universe.
1894-1974
Satyendra Nath Bose
Physics
Quantum statistics for particles now called bosons.
1900-1979
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
Astronomy
Showing that stars are mostly hydrogen and helium.
1901-1954
Enrico Fermi
Physics
Nuclear reactions and the first controlled chain reaction.
1902-1992
Barbara McClintock
Genetics
Discovering mobile genetic elements.
1906-1992
Grace Hopper
Computing
Compilers and accessible programming languages.
1907-1964
Rachel Carson
Ecology
Revealing environmental harms from persistent pesticides.
1910-1994
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin
Chemistry
Using X-ray crystallography to solve molecular structures.
1912-1954
Alan Turing
Computing and mathematics
Foundations of computer science and wartime codebreaking.
1912-1997
Chien-Shiung Wu
Physics
An experiment showing parity violation.
1914-2000
Hedy Lamarr
Invention and communication
Co-inventing frequency-hopping communication.
1914-1995
Jonas Salk
Medicine
The first widely used polio vaccine.
1916-2004
Francis Crick
Molecular biology
Co-developing the double-helix model of DNA.
1918-2020
Katherine Johnson
Mathematics and spaceflight
Orbital calculations for NASA missions.
1920-1958
Rosalind Franklin
Chemistry and molecular biology
X-ray evidence crucial to understanding DNA structure.
1928-2016
Vera Rubin
Astronomy
Galaxy rotation evidence for dark matter.
Born 1930
Tu Youyou
Pharmacology
Discovering artemisinin treatment for malaria.
Born 1934
Jane Goodall
Primatology
Long-term field studies of wild chimpanzees.
1942-2018
Stephen Hawking
Cosmology
Black-hole radiation and the physics of the universe.
Born 1943
Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Astronomy
Discovering pulsars.
Born 1955
Katalin Kariko
Biochemistry
Nucleoside-modified mRNA for vaccines.
Born 1955
Svante Paabo
Genetics
Sequencing ancient hominin DNA.
Born 1955
Tim Berners-Lee
Computing
Inventing the World Wide Web.
Born 1956
Mae Jemison
Medicine and space science
Becoming the first Black woman in space.
Born 1959
Donna Strickland
Physics
Chirped pulse amplification for powerful lasers.
Born 1959
Drew Weissman
Immunology
Nucleoside-modified mRNA for vaccines.
Born 1962
Edvard Moser
Neuroscience
Grid cells used by the brain for navigation.
Born 1963
May-Britt Moser
Neuroscience
Grid cells used by the brain for navigation.
Born 1964
Jennifer Doudna
Biochemistry
Developing CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing.
Born 1965
Andrea Ghez
Astronomy
Evidence for a supermassive black hole at the Milky Way's centre.
Born 1966
Carolyn Bertozzi
Chemistry
Bioorthogonal chemistry inside living systems.
Born 1968
Emmanuelle Charpentier
Microbiology
Developing CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing.
Born 1976
Fei-Fei Li
Computer science
ImageNet and advances in computer vision.