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Complete History of Science

Can you name 101 of the most important scientists in the history of our civilization?
Year = when each scientist died
The hints are just that — hints. Each scientist is NOT solely responsible for what is attributed to them.
If you feel stumped, keep guessing! You know more of these names than you think.
Quiz by Elan
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Last updated: March 31, 2023
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First submittedMarch 24, 2023
Times taken1,003
Average score36.0%
Rating4.79
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Astronomy
170 AD
Geocentrism
Ptolemy
1543
Heliocentrism
Nicolas Copernicus
1601
Stellar dynamics
Tycho Brahe
1630
Elliptical orbits
Johannes Kepler
1642
Jupiter's moons
Galileo Galilei
1822
Infrared radiation
William Herschel
1953
Galaxies
Edwin Hubble
2018
Black hole radiation
Stephen Hawking
 
 
 
Biology
322 BC
Biology
Aristotle
1564
Anatomy
Andreas Vesalius
1657
Circulation
William Harvey
1703
Cells
Robert Hooke
1723
Microbiology
Antonie von Leeuwenhoek
1778
Taxonomy
Carl Linnaeus
1882
Evolution
Charles Darwin
1884
Genetics
Gregor Mendel
1894
Vision / hearing
Hermann von Helmholtz
1958
Structure of DNA
Rosalind Franklin
2004
Francis Crick
alive
James Watson
alive
Genes / memes
Richard Dawkins
 
 
 
Physics
495 BC
Acoustics
Pythagoras
1040
Optics
Ibn al-Haytham
1727
Gravity
Isaac Newton
1894
Radio waves
Heinrich Hertz
1923
Ionizing radiation
Wilhelm Röntgen
1908
Radioactivity
Henri Becquerel
1934
Radium / polonium
Marie Curie
1947
Quantum theory
Max Planck
1954
Nuclear energy
Enrico Fermi
1955
Relativity
Albert Einstein
1961
Wave mechanics
Erwin Schrödinger
1976
Uncertainty principle
Werner Heisenberg
1957
Quantum math
John von Neumann
1988
Particle physics
Richard Feynman
 
 
 
Medicine
370 BC
Medicine
Hippocrates
216 AD
Autopsy
Galen of Pergamun
1541
Toxicology
Paracelsus
1723
Bacteria
Antonie von Leeuwenhoek
1823
Vaccines
Edward Jenner
1858
Epidemiology
John Snow
1912
Sterilization
Joseph Lister
1895
_____ization
Louis Pasteur
1910
Germ theory
Robert Koch
1955
Penicillin
Alexander Fleming
1915
Chemotherapy
Paul Ehrlich
1995
Polio vaccine
Jonas Salk
 
 
 
Philosophy
545 BC
Naturalism
Thales of Miletus
399 BC
Philosophy
Socrates
348 BC
Education
Plato
322 BC
Logic
Aristotle
1626
Scientific method
Francis Bacon
1650
Rationalism
Rene Descartes
1704
Liberalism
John Locke
1778
Free speech
Voltaire
1957
Non-determinism
John von Neumann
Mathematics
545 BC
Proofs
Thales of Miletus
495 BC
Ratios
Pythagoras
270 BC
Geometry
Euclid
262 BC
Infinity
Zeno of Alea
212 BC
Pi
Archimedes
290 AD
Algebra
Diophantus
668 AD
Zero
Brahmagupta
1650
Coordinates
Rene Descartes
1665
Probability
Pierre de Fermat
1716
Calculus
Gottfried Leibniz
1727
Isaac Newton
1783
Functions
Leonhard Euler
1662
Calculator
Blaise Pascal
1855
Number theory
Carl Friedrich Gauss
1852
Programming
Ada Lovelace
1920
Infinite series
Srinivasa Ramanujan
1957
Game theory
John von Neumann
 
 
 
Chemistry
370 BC
Atomism
Democritus
1691
Gas pressure
Robert Boyle
1794
Oxygen
Antoine Lavoisier
1844
Atomic theory
John Dalton
1907
Absolute zero
Lord Kelvin
1907
Periodic Table
Dmitri Mendeleev
1940
Electrons
JJ Thomson
1937
Atomic nuclei
Ernest Rutherford
1962
Electron orbits
Niels Bohr
1968
Nuclear fission
Lise Meitner
 
 
 
Technology
212 BC
Simple machines
Archimedes
1819
Steam engine
James Watt
1827
Electric battery
Alessandro Volta
1867
Electric motor
Michael Faraday
1931
Direct current
Thomas Edison
1943
Alternating current
Nikola Tesla
1912, 1948
Aviation
Wilbur and Orville Wright
1947
Assembly line
Henry Ford
1967
Nuclear weapons
J. Robert Oppenheimer
1977
Rocket science
Wernher von Braun
1954
Computer science
Alan Turing
1957
Simulations
John von Neumann
 
 
 
Social Science
425 BC
History
Herodotus
348 BC
Political Science
Plato
322 BC
Aristotle
192 BC
Geography
Eratosthenes
1790
Economics
Adam Smith
1946
Macroeconomics
John Maynard Keynes
1936
Classical conditioning
Ivan Pavlov
1990
Operant conditioning
B.F. Skinner
1939
Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud
1961
Analytical psychology
Carl Jung
alive
Modern linguistics
Noam Chomsky
 
 
 
Miscellaneous
15 BC
Architecture
Vitruvius
1790
Lightning rod
Benjamin Franklin
1832
Paleontology
Georges Cuvier
1896
Dynamite
Alfred Nobel
1997
SCUBA
Jacques Cousteau
alive
Primate tool use
Jane Goodall
+4
Level 65
Mar 30, 2023
Nice one. Thanks. Nominated.
+3
Level 71
Jan 27, 2024
Enjoyed this!!! Surprised you didn't opt for 'a beautiful mind' for game theory given the chosen game theorist is already featured elsewhere - but I appreciate choosing/categorising all these talented people is, ironically, not an exact science!
+1
Level 65
Jan 28, 2024
Thanks for acknowledging how difficult it was to organize the categories and cut the list down to a hundred (and one) names. It was hard!

As far as game theory goes, John Nash made enormous contributions to this field but John von Neumann literally created the field.