Physics and Astronomy
| Subject | Father/mother of … | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Acoustics | Ernst Chladni | For important research in vibrating plates |
| Aerodynamics | Nikolai Zhukovsky George Cayley |
Zhukovsky was the first to undertake the study of airflow, was the first engineer scientist to explain mathematically the origin of aerodynamic lift. Cayley Investigated theoretical aspects of flight and experimented with flight a century before the first airplane was built |
| Classical mechanics | Isaac Newton (founder) | Described laws of motion and law of gravity in Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687) |
| Electricity | William Gilbert Michael Faraday Thomas Edison Nikola Tesla |
Book: De Magnete (1600) Discovered electromagnetic induction (1831) Proposed a kite experiment to prove that lightning is electricity (1750) Invented many electrical devices, such as the carbon microphone Invented alternating current and many other electrical devices |
| Electrodynamics | André-Marie Ampère | Book: Memoir on the Mathematical Theory of Electrodynamic Phenomena, Uniquely Deduced from Experience (1827) |
| Energetics | Willard Gibbs | Publication: On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances (1876) |
| Experimental physics (founder) | Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) | For introducing experimental method into physics with his Book of Optics (1021) |
| Modern astronomy | Nicolaus Copernicus | Developed the first explicit heliocentric model in De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543) |
| Modern physics | Galileo Galilei | His development and extensive use of experimental physics, e.g. the telescope |
| Nuclear physics | Ernest Rutherford | Developed the Rutherford atom model (1909) |
| Nuclear science | Marie Curie Pierre Curie |
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| Optics | Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) | Correctly explained vision and carried out the first experiments on light and optics in the Book of Optics (1021). |
| Quantum mechanics | Max Planck (founder) | Stated that electromagnetic energy could be emitted only in quantized form |
| Relativity | Albert Einstein (founder) | Pioneered special relativity (1905) and general relativity (1915) |
| Spaceflight (rocketry) | Robert Hutchings Goddard Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Hermann Oberth |
Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket. Tsiolkovsky created the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation. |
| Thermodynamics | Sadi Carnot (founder) | Publication: On the Motive Power of Fire and Machines Fitted to Develop that Power (1824) |
Read more about this topic: List Of People Considered Father Or Mother Of A Scientific Field, Natural Sciences
Famous quotes containing the words physics and/or astronomy:
“Although philosophers generally believe in laws and deny causes, explanatory practice in physics is just the reverse.”
—Nancy Cartwright (b. 1945)
“It is noticed, that the consideration of the great periods and spaces of astronomy induces a dignity of mind, and an indifference to death.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)