American Revolutionary Samuel Adams organized the Boston Tea Party and signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
1722-1803
1949-
1921-2007
Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, together with Socrates and Plato, laid much of the groundwork for western philosophy.
384-322
Deep-sea archaeologist and oceanographer Robert Ballard is best known for discovering the wreck of the RMS Titanic in 1985.
1942-
Henri Becquerel was a French physicist who discovered radioactivity, an achievement for which he won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903.
1852-1908
Sydney Brenner is a Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist and a science writer.
1927-
1898-1976
1876-1950
French philosopher Auguste Comte (1798–1857) greatly advanced the field of social science, giving it the name "sociology" and influenced many 19th-century social intellectuals.
1798-1857
French physicist Pierre Curie was of founding fathers of modern physics and is best known for being a pioneer in radioactive studies.
1859-1906
Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian painter and a genius in many realms of science. He is best known for two paintings: the "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper."
1452-1519
1787-1851
Humphry Davy was a British chemist best known for his contributions to the discoveries of chlorine and iodine. He is noted for suggesting the anesthetic use of nitrous oxide in human surgery.
1778-1829
1485-1541
1900-1993
Renato Dulbecco was an Italian virologist best known winning the Nobel Prize for pioneering the growing of viruses in culture in the 1950s.
1914-2012
Robert F. Engle is a co-recipient of the 2003 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, honored for developing methods to analyze unpredictable movements in the financial market.
1942-
1934-1967
Arthur Evans was a noted archaeologist and curator known for unearthing the remains of ancient Minoan civilization.
1851-1941
1918-1988
1910-1985
Jean Foucault was a French physicist and inventor best known for inventing the Foucault pendulum.
1819-1868
Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye is best known for his explorations of the northern U.S. and Canadian provinces.
1685-1749
1882-1945
American psychologist G. Stanley Hall was a trailblazer in his field. He established the concept of child psychology and founded Clark University.
1844-1924
Robert Hooke was an English philosopher, mathematician and architect who discovered the law of elasticity, now known as Hooke's law.
1635-1703
1730-1799
African-American chemist Percy Julian was a pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs such as cortisone, steroids and birth control pills.
1899-1975
1843-1910
Lewis Howard Latimer was an inventor and draftsman best known for his contributions to the patenting of the light bulb and the telephone.
1848-1928
1855-1916
The fourth U.S. president, James Madison believed in a robust yet balanced federal government and is known as the "Father of the Constitution."
1751-1836
Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell originated the idea of electromagnetic radiation. His ideas formed the basis for quantum mechanics.
1831-1879
1868-1953
Garrett Morgan blazed a trail for African-American inventors with his many patents, including those for a hair-straightening product, a breathing device, and an improved sewing machine and traffic signal.
1877-1963
1790-1868
1882-1935
1943-2005
Socrates was a Greek philosopher and the main source of Western thought. Little is known of his life except what was recorded by his students, including Plato.
470-399
1915-2005
1856-1915
Famed mathematician Alan Turing proved in his 1936 paper, "On Computable Numbers," that a universal algorithmic method of determining truth in math cannot exist.
1912-1954
Rudolf Virchow was a German pathologist and statesman, widely credited for his advancements in public health, particularly with his cell theory.
1821-1902
J. Robin Warren is a Nobel Prize-winning pathologist who, with Barry J. Marshall, identified the bacteria that causes ulcers.
1937-
1936-