Name↕ | Country↕ | Lifespan↕ | Field↕ | Known For↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Charles Darwin | UK | 1809-1882 | Evolution | On the Origin of Species (1859), natural selection, HMS Beagle Galapagos voyage |
Alfred Russel Wallace | UK | 1823-1913 | Evolution, Biogeography | Independently conceived natural selection, Wallace Line, fieldwork in Malay Archipelago |
Gregor Mendel | Austria | 1822-1884 | Genetics | Monk who discovered laws of inheritance via pea plant experiments, ignored until 1900 |
Louis Pasteur | France | 1822-1895 | Microbiology | Germ theory of disease, pasteurization, vaccines for rabies and anthrax |
Carl Linnaeus | Sweden | 1707-1778 | Taxonomy | Created modern binomial nomenclature (Homo sapiens), Systema Naturae |
James Watson | USA | 1928- | Molecular biology | Co-discovered DNA double helix 1953, wrote The Double Helix, later controversial remarks |
Francis Crick | UK | 1916-2004 | Molecular biology | Co-discovered DNA structure, central dogma of molecular biology, later consciousness research |
Rosalind Franklin | UK | 1920-1958 | X-ray crystallography | Photo 51 of DNA, key to double helix discovery, died before sharing Nobel |
Maurice Wilkins | New Zealand/UK | 1916-2004 | Molecular biology | Shared 1962 Nobel with Watson and Crick for DNA structure, King's College London |
Barbara McClintock | USA | 1902-1992 | Cytogenetics | Discovered transposons (jumping genes) in maize, Nobel alone in 1983 |
Lynn Margulis | USA | 1938-2011 | Evolution | Endosymbiotic theory for origin of mitochondria and chloroplasts, Gaia hypothesis |
Jane Goodall | UK | 1934- | Primatology | Chimpanzee tool use at Gombe, redefined line between humans and animals |
E.O. Wilson | USA | 1929-2021 | Sociobiology, Ants | Father of sociobiology and biodiversity, ant expert, Pulitzer Prizes twice |
Stephen Jay Gould | USA | 1941-2002 | Paleontology | Punctuated equilibrium theory with Eldredge, prolific essayist in Natural History |
Richard Dawkins | UK | 1941- | Evolution | The Selfish Gene (1976), coined meme, prominent atheist science communicator |
Thomas Hunt Morgan | USA | 1866-1945 | Genetics | Fruit fly chromosome theory of heredity, Nobel 1933, Columbia fly room |
Frederick Sanger | UK | 1918-2013 | Biochemistry | Two Nobels in chemistry, sequenced insulin, developed Sanger DNA sequencing |
Jennifer Doudna | USA | 1964- | Biochemistry | Co-developed CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, Nobel Prize 2020 with Emmanuelle Charpentier |
Emmanuelle Charpentier | France | 1968- | Microbiology | Co-developed CRISPR-Cas9, shared 2020 Nobel, first all-female team to win Nobel in science |
Rachel Carson | USA | 1907-1964 | Marine biology, Ecology | Silent Spring (1962) launched environmental movement, exposed DDT harms |
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