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EloRater: Physicists of all time

Celebrate and rank the most influential physicists throughout history, from Newton to Einstein and beyond.

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Rank Elo Rating Physicist name Contributions Birth and death years
1 1612 Albert Einstein Special relativity, general relativity, theory of Brownian motion, theory of photoelectric effect, … 1879–1955
2 1199 Werner Heisenberg Reformulating quantum mechanics, matrix mechanics, Heisenberg uncertainty principle, Heisenberg mod… 1901-1976
3 1195 Josiah Willard Gibbs Gibbs free energy, Gibbs phase rule, vector cross product, thermodynamic ensembles and thermodynami… 1839–1903
4 1192 Max Planck Introducing quantum mechanics, concept of quanta, statements of the laws of thermodynamics, Fokker–… 1858–1947
5 1185 Joseph Fourier Fourier series, Fourier transform, Fourier's law of heat conduction, Fourier–Motzkin elimination, G… 1768–1830
6 1181 Michael Faraday Faraday’s law of induction, Faraday’s law of electrolysis, Faraday cage, Faraday effect Faraday’s c… 1791–1867
7 1177 Leonhard Euler Rigid body dynamics, ideal fluid equations, elasticity theory, Euler angles, Euler nutation, Euler… 1707-1783
8 1174 Wolfgang Pauli Pauli exclusion principle, Pauli matrices, spin-statistics theorem, Pauli equation, Pauli-Villars r… 1900–1958
9 1161 Hermann Minkowski Four dimensional space-time geometry, Minkowski metric, Minkowski diagram, Minkowski's question-mar… 1864–1909
10 1156 James Clerk Maxwell Maxwell equations, Maxwell-Ampère equations, light as an electromagnetic wave, Maxwell–Boltzmann di… 1831–1879
11 1153 Hendrik Lorentz Length contraction, Lorentz transformation, Lorentz oscillator model, Lorentz force, aether theory,… 1853–1928
12 1138 Joseph-Louis Lagrange Euler-Lagrange equations, Lagrangian, calculus of variations, Lagrange multipliers and Lagrangian m… 1736 –1813
13 1135 Paul Dirac Fermi–Dirac statistics, Dirac equation (1928), predicting the positron, Dirac maagnetic monopole, D… 1902–1984
14 1124 Enrico Fermi Fermi–Dirac statistics, Fermi gas, Fermi theory of beta decay, Fermi paradox, development of the fi… 1901-1954
15 1113 Murray Gell-Mann Quark model, quantum chromodynamics, Eightfold way, Gell-Mann and Low theorem, Gell-Mann matrices, … 1929 – 2019
16 1112 Galileo Galilei Law of falling bodies, Galileo’s principle of inertia, development of the telescope, Galilean relat… 1564‐1642
17 1109 Marie Curie Discovery of radioactivity, discovery of polonium, discovery of radium. 1867-1934
18 1104 Niels Bohr Bohr atom model, Bohr quantization, complementarity principle, correspondence principle, Copenhagen… 1885–1962
19 1087 Pierre-Simon Laplace Predicting the existence of black holes, Laplace's equation, Laplacian operator, Laplace transform,… 1749–1827
20 1084 Archimedes Archimedes' principle, law of the lever, Archimedes' screw, Archimedean spiral, compound pulley sys… circa 287 BCE-212/211 BCE
21 1078 John Stewart Bell Bell's inequalities and Bell's theorem, Bell state, Bell's spaceship paradox, Bell–Kochen–Specker t… 1928–1990
22 1077 John von Neumann Mathematical formalizing of quantum mechanics, von Neumann entropy, von Neumann’s quantum measureme… 1903-1957
23 1073 Chien-Shiung Wu Experiment that demonstrated parity violations in physics. First Bell test. 1912–1997
24 1064 Richard Feynman Path integral formulation, Feynman diagrams, Feynman slash notation, Feynman gauge, Feynman sprinkl… 1918–1988
25 1051 Eugene Wigner Law of conservation of parity, Wigner D-matrix, Wigner–Eckart theorem, Wigner's friend thought expe… 1902–1995
26 1049 Steven Weinberg Standard Model, electroweak unification, Weinberg angle, Weinberg–Witten theorem, asymptotic safety… 1933–2021
27 1047 Isaac Newton Newton's laws of motion, Newton's law of universal gravitation, Newton's law of cooling, calculus, … 1642-1727
28 1047 Joseph von Fraunhofer Dark absorption lines in the spectrum of the sun (Fraunhofer lines), Fraunhofer diffraction, Fraunh… 1787–1826
29 1046 Lev Landau Landau levels, Landau–Lifshitz theory, Landau damping, Landau theory of phase transitions, Landau c… 1908–1968
30 1043 Phillip W. Anderson Anderson localization, Anderson's theorem, Kramers–Anderson superexchange, many-body localizatio… 1923–2020
31 1040 Johannes Kepler Kepler's three laws of planetary motion, Kepler conjecture, Kepler's equation, support for heliocen… 1571-1630
32 1026 David Bohm Bohmian mechanics, Aharonov–Bohm effect, Bohm diffusion, Bohm–EPR experiment, quantum potential, hi… 1917-1992
33 1024 Charles-Augustin de Coulomb Coulomb law, torsion balance, Coulomb friction, Coulomb damping. 1736–1806
34 1013 Lord Rayleigh Surface waves, Rayleigh scattering, discovering argon, Rayleigh-Jean law, Rayleigh-Ritz method, Ray… 1842 – 1919
35 1011 William Rowan Hamilton Hamiltonian mechanics, Hamilton's principle, quaternions, coining the term tensor, icosian calculus… 1805–1865
36 1007 Ludwig Boltzmann Boltzmann distribution, Boltzmann equation, H theorem, Boltzmann entropy formula, equipartition the… 1844–1906
37 1005 Christiaan Huygens Theory of waves, balance spring, discovering birefringence, centripetal force, collision formulas, … 1629–1695
38 1001 Otto Stern Experimentally proving spin with Stern–Gerlach experiment, discovery of proton magnetic moment, mol… 1888–1969
39 999 Daniel Bernoulli Bernoulli principle, Euler–Bernoulli beam theory, Early kinetic theory of gases, Gamma function, St… 1700 – 1782
40 991 Max Born Statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics, Born rule, Born-Oppenheimer approximation, Born-Ha… 1882–1970
41 991 Henri Poincaré Three body problem, Poincaré recursion time, Poincaré group, algebraic topology, gravitational wave… 1854–1912
42 989 Maria Goeppert Mayer Nuclear shell model, nuclear spin-orbit interaction, two-photon adsorption, proposing double beta d… 1906–1972
43 988 Felix Bloch Bloch theorem, Bloch equations, Bloch sphere, Bloch-Bethe formula, Bloch T^3/2 law, Bloch wall. 1905–1983
44 988 John Archibald Wheeler Coining wormhole, Breit–Wheeler process, Wheeler–DeWitt equation, Wheeler–Feynman absorber theory, … 1911–2008
45 987 Augustin-Jean Fresnel Proving that light is a wave, birefringence, light diffraction, Fresnel equations, Fresnel integral… 1788 – 1827
46 986 Emmy Noether Noether theorem, Noether second theorem, Noetherian abstract algebra 1882–1935
47 986 Satyendra Nath Bose Bose–Einstein statistics, bosons, Bose–Einstein condensate. 1894–1974
48 983 Gustav Kirchhoff Kirchhoff circuit laws, Kirchhoff laws of thermal radiation, discovering caesium, discovering rubid… 1824–1887
49 980 Edward Teller Hydrogen bomb, Teller–Ulam design, Gamow–Teller transitions, Jahn–Teller effect, Metropolis algorit… 1908–2003
50 979 Julian Schwinger Quantum electrodynamics, anomalous magnetic moment, source theory, Schwinger effect, Schwinger–Dyso… 1918–1994
51 978 Henry Cavendish Discovery of hydrogen, measuring gravitational force, Cavendish experiment, estimating Earth's dens… 1731–1810
52 978 André-Marie Ampère Discovering fluorine, Ampère's circuital law, Ampère's force law, Ampère's right hand grip rule, Am… 1775–1836
53 974 Karl Schwarzschild First black hole solution to Einstein's equation, Schwarzschild metric, Schwarzschild radius, Schwa… 1873 – 1916
54 973 J. Robert Oppenheimer Development of the first nuclear weapons, Born–Oppenheimer approximation, Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkof… 1904–1967
55 970 Jean le Rond d'Alembert Solving the wave equation, virtual work, d'Alembert paradox, d'Alembert operator, fictitious forces… 1717–1783
56 967 Thomas Young Young double-slit experiment and interference, Young's modulus, Young-Laplace equation, coining the… 1773–1829
57 958 Hermann von Helmholtz Mathematically formalizing the conservation of energy, Helmholtz coil, Helmholtz decomposition, Hel… 1821–1883
58 946 Arthur Eddington Proving Einstein's general relativity, Eddington experiment, Arrow of time Eddington approximatio… 1882–1944
59 942 Arnold Sommerfeld Bohr–Sommerfeld model, Sommerfeld free electron model, Sommerfeld quantization, azimuthal quantum n… 1868–1951
60 939 John Bardeen Inventing the transistor, BCS theory, charge density waves, metal surface theory. 1908–1991
61 938 Lord Kelvin Kelvin scale of temperature, Kelvin's statements of the laws of thermodynamics, vortex theory of th… 1824–1907
62 935 Eratosthenes Measuring the radius of Earth circumference, determining Earth axial tilt, sieve of Erathostenes. circa 276 BCE - 195 BCE
63 933 Edwin Hubble Proving the expansion of the universe, Hubble's law, Hubble constant, Hubble sequence, Hubble lumi… 1889–1953
64 927 Sadi Carnot Carnot cycle, Carnot heat engine, thermal efficiency limit, Carnot theorem, second law of thermodyn… 1796–1832
65 925 Freeman Dyson Quantum electrodynamics, Dyson series, Dyson sphere, proving stability of matter, Dyson brownian mo… 1923–2020
66 925 Hideki Yukawa Predicting the pion, Yukawa interaction, Yukawa potential 1907–1981
67 925 Paul Ehrenfest Ehrenfest theorem, phase transition classification, Ehrenfest model, Ehrenfest paradox. 1880–1933
68 923 Abdus Salam Electroweak unification, Pati–Salam model. 1926–1996
69 919 Heinrich Hertz Demonstrating the existence of electromagnetic waves, discovering radio waves, discovering the phot… 1857–1894
70 913 Alessandro Volta Inventing the voltaic pile, discovering methane, Volta potential, Volta law of capacitance. 1745–1827
71 905 Oliver Heaviside Telegrapher's equations, compactifying Maxwell's equations, Heaviside step function, coining the te… 1850–1925
72 901 Erwin Schrödinger Schrödinger equation, Schrödinger's cat 1887–1961
73 901 Aristarchus Proposing Earth revolves about the Sun, estimating the Moon-Earth size ratio, estimating the Sun-Mo… circa 310 BCE – 230 BC
74 900 Alexander Friedmann Friedmann equations for cosmology, Friedmann metric 1888–1925
75 897 Robert A. Millikan Measuring the charge of the electron, proving Einstein theory of photoelectric effect, measuring Pl… 1868–1953
76 897 William Herschel Discovery of Uranus, discovery of infrared radiation, discovery of moons Saturn and Uranus, discove… 1738–1822
77 894 Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Chandrasekhar limit for the mass of star, Chandrasekhar–Kendall function, Chandrasekhar's X-, Y- an… 1910–1995
78 883 Georges Lemaître Big Bang hypothesis, Hubble–Lemaître law Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric, Lemaître–Tolm… 1894–1966
79 883 Nikolay Bogolyubov Bogoliubov approximation, Bogoliubov causality condition, Bogolyubov edge-of-the-wedge theorem, Bog… 1909 –1992
80 881 J. J. Thomson Discovering the electron, Thomson plum-pudding model of the atom, Thomson scattering. 1856–1940
81 876 Robert Hooke Balance spring and Hooke law, discovery of Gamma Arietis, discovery of the cell, discovery of Great… 1635–1703
82 874 Stephen Hawking Gravitational singularity theorems, Hawking radiation, black hole information paradox, chronology p… 1942–2018
83 869 Lise Meitner Discovery of nuclear fission, Auger-Meitner effect, protactinium. 1878–1968
84 864 Ernest Rutherford Discovering the atomic nucleus, discovering the proton, discovering radon, proposing the Rutherford… 1871–1937
85 852 Hans Bethe Stellar nucleosynthesis, Bethe ansatz, Bethe formula, Bethe lattice, Bethe–Salpeter equation, Bethe… 1906–2005)
86 835 Pyotr Kapitsa Superfluidity, Kapitza instability, Kapitza number, Kapitza resistance, Kapitza's pendulum, Kapitsa… 1894–1984
87 833 Ettore Majorana Majorana equation, Majorana fermion, Majorana representation, predicting the neutron, theory of exc… 1906–unknown
88 831 Blaise Pascal Probability theory, Pascal distribution, Pascal's wager, Pascal's triangle Pascal's pressure law, … 1623–1662
89 816 Georg Gamow Gamow tunneling for alpha decay, Gamow–Teller transition, Alpher–Bethe–Gamow paper of Big Bang nucl… 1904–1968
90 814 Ptolemy Precise geocentric model, Ptolemy epicycles, table of chords, Ptolemy theorem. circa 100 – 160 AD
91 760 Nicolaus Copernicus Heliocentric model. 1473–1543