Sigmund Freud (6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939), physiologist, medical doctor, psychologist, was an influential thinker of the twentieth century. Freud’s innovative treatment of human actions, dreams, and indeed of cultural objects as invariably possessing implicit symbolic significance has proven to be extraordinarily productive, and has had immense implications for a wide variety of […]

The American physicist, Sheldon Lee Glashow received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1979, with Steven Weinberg and Abdus Salam for their complementary efforts in originating the electroweak theory. This theory is an important contribution to the unification of elementary particles and forces. He is also known for his work which led to the prediction

Salim Ali, one of the greatest ornithologists and naturalists of all times, is also known as the “birdman of India”. He was one of the very first scientists to carry out systematic birds’ surveys in India and abroad. His research work is considered highly influential in the development of ornithology. As a 10-year-old, Salim once

Rudolf Virchow was an eminent German pathologist and politician, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential physicians in history. One of the founding fathers of “social medicine”, Virchow developed the concept of pathological processes, and by drawing influence from the cell theory, analyzed the effects of disease in various organs

There is probably no other woman scientist with so much controversy surrounding her life and work as Rosalind Franklin. As a scientist, Miss Franklin was distinguished by extreme clarity and perfection in everything she undertook. Rosalind Franklin was born in London, England, on 25th July 1920. Franklin did extremely well at science and then studied

Robert Koch was a German physician who is widely credited as one of the founders of bacteriology and microbiology. He investigated the anthrax disease cycle in 1876, and studied the bacteria that cause tuberculosis in 1882, and cholera in 1883. He also formulated Koch’s postulates. Koch won the 1905 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

The British natural philosopher, architect and polymath, Robert Hooke is perhaps the most neglected natural philosophers of all times despite the significant role he played in the scientific revolution. His prominent contributions include: the iris diaphragm in a camera, the universal joint used in a motor vehicle, the balance wheel in a watch, the origination

Robert Goddard (In full: Robert Hutchings Goddard) was an eminent American physicist and inventor. Widely regarded as the founder of modern rocketry, Goddard created the first liquid-fuelled rocket. He published “A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes” in 1919, a classic treatise that remains the most influential work in 20th century rocket science. Born in Worcester,

Robert Bunsen (In full: Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen) was an eminent German chemist. Bunsen, along with his fellow scientist, Gustav Kirchhoff, is credited with the breakthrough discovery (1859) that each element emits a light of characteristic wavelength. The event caused a revolution in the field of spectrum analysis, and later led to the discovery of

Robert Boyle was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, scientist and theological writer. As one of the early pioneers of modern experimental scientific method, Boyle’s contributions ranged over a number of subjects, including chemistry, physics, medicine, hydrostatics, natural history and earth sciences. Born in Ireland on 25 January, 1627 to a wealthy and influential family, Robert Boyle’s

Robert August Bosch was a German inventor, engineer and industrialist who founded Robert Bosch GmbH, one of the world’s leading engineering firms, in 1886. Robert Bosch is also noted for inventing the spark plug and the electrical magneto for automobiles. Born on September 23, 1861, near Ulm in Württemberg, south-western Germany, Robert Bosch attended the

“Above all, don’t fear difficult moments. The best comes from them.”—Rita Levi-MontalciniToday women have occupied a greater name in the field of science, proving that they are capable of equating men in their abilities to conduct scientific research. They have taken significant positions in the scientific field as compared to the more traditional roles: mother,

Richard Phillips Feynman was a prominent American scientist, widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential theoretical physicists in history. Feynman revolutionized the field of quantum mechanics and formulated the theory of quantum electrodynamics. He won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1965. Born in 1918 in Brooklyn, Richard Feynman’s parents were

René Descartes was a highly influential French philosopher, scientist and mathematician, who is widely considered to be one of the celebrated geniuses of the 17th century. His legendary experiment of presenting a geometrical point using a pair of ordered numbers (now called coordinate geometry) almost kick-started modern mathematics. The famous scepticism of Descartes, that distrusted

“Through all these new, imaginative and creative approaches to the problem of sharing our earth with other creatures there runs a constant theme, the awareness that we are dealing with life, with living populations and all their pressures and counter pressures, their surges and recessions. Only by taking account of such life-forces and by cautiously