Scientist Stephen Hawking was known for his groundbreaking work with black holes and relativity, and was the author of several popular science books including 'A Brief History of Time.'

• Scientist, Physicist
  (1942–2018)

According to Variety, Amazon Prime is working on a biopic of Marie Curie’s life: a film version of the 2010 graphic novel ‘Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout.’ Rosamund Pike will star as the Nobel Prize-winning French physicist and chemist.

• Physicist
  (1867–1934)

African-American physicist and astronaut Ronald McNair was one of the seven crew members killed in the 1986 Space Shuttle 'Challenger' explosion.

• Astronaut, Physicist
  (1950–1986)

Google Doodle is honoring Max Born’s 135 birthday today. The Nobel Prize-winning scientist helped develop quantum mechanics -- a branch of physics that’s led to the development of many major technologies including lasers, computers and MRIs.

• Educator, Scientist, Physicist
  (1882–1970)

In 1983, astronaut and astrophysicist Sally Ride became the first American woman in space aboard the space shuttle Challenger. Ride died on July 23, 2012 at the age of 61, following a battle with pancreatic cancer.

• Educator, Physicist, Astronaut
  (1951–2012)

Physicist Enrico Fermi built the prototype of a nuclear reactor and worked on the Manhattan Project to develop the first atomic bomb.

• Scientist, Physicist
  (1901–1954)

English physicist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton, most famous for his law of gravitation, was instrumental in the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century.

• Astronomer, Scientist, Physicist, Philosopher, Mathematician
  (1643–1727)

Physicist and mathematician P.A.M Dirac, who helped found quantum electrodynamics, is known for the Dirac equation and his prediction of antiparticles. He won the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics with Erwin Schrödinger.

• Educator, Scientist, Academic, Physicist, Mathematician
  (1902–1984)

Chinese-American nuclear physicist Chien-Shiung Wu, also known as "the First Lady of Physics,” contributed to the Manhattan Project and made history with an experiment that disproved the hypothetical law of conservation of parity.

• Physicist
  (1912–1997)

Robert Woodrow Wilson is a Nobel Prize–winning radio astronomer and physicist best known for a discovery that advanced the Big Bang model of creation.

• Astronomer, Scientist, Physicist
  (1936–)

Andrei Sakharov was a leading physicist in the development of the Soviet atomic bomb. He was also an ardent critic of the Soviet nuclear-arms program and the regime’s lack of political freedom.

• Activist, Physicist
  (1921–1989)

Through his experiments in wireless telegraphy, Nobel Prize-winning physicist/inventor Guglielmo Marconi developed the first effective system of radio communication.

• Physicist, Inventor, Entrepreneur
  (1874–1937)

Christian Doppler was an Austrian mathematician and physicist best known for articulating a principle known as the 'Doppler effect.'

• Scientist, Mathematician, Physicist
  (1803–1853)

French physicist Pierre Curie was one of the founding fathers of modern physics and is best known for being a pioneer in radioactive studies.

• Scientist, Chemist, Physicist, Academic
  (1859–1906)

J. Robert Oppenheimer is often called the "father of the atomic bomb" for leading the Manhattan Project, the program that developed the first nuclear weapon during World War II.

• Scientist, Physicist, Academic, Engineer
  (1904–1967)

For the first time, scientists have confirmed part of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity predicting what happens to a star passing close to a supermassive black hole: its light stretches to longer wavelengths due to the extreme gravitational field, making it appear redder.

• Physicist, Scientist
  (1879–1955)

Scientist George Carruthers created inventions, such as the ultraviolet camera, or spectograph, which was used by NASA in the 1972 Apollo 16 flight, revealing the mysteries of space and the Earth's atmosphere.

• Physicist, Scientist
  (1939–)

Robert Hooke is known as a "Renaissance Man" of 17th century England for his work in the sciences, which covered areas such as astronomy, physics and biology.

• Physicist, Academic, Scholar, Scientist
  (1635–1703)

German physicist Ferdinand Braun was the co-recipient of the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics for his developments with wireless technology.

• Scientist, Physicist, Inventor
  (1850–1918)

Erwin Schrödinger was a Nobel Prize-winning Austrian physicist whose groundbreaking wave equation changed the face of quantum theory.

• Scientist, Physicist, Scholar
  (1887–1961)

Blaise Pascal was a French mathematician, physicist and religious philosopher who laid the foundation for the modern theory of probabilities.

• Philosopher, Mathematician, Theologian, Physicist, Scientist
  (1623–1662)

American physicist John Hall shared the 2005 Nobel Prize for Physics for his contributions to the development of laser spectroscopy.

• Scientist, Physicist
  (c. 1934–)

Niels Bohr was a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and humanitarian whose revolutionary theories on atomic structures helped shape research worldwide.

• Scientist, Physicist
  (1885–1962)

Edwin Land is best known as the inventor of the Polaroid camera and film, and as the co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation.

• Scientist, Physicist, Inventor
  (1909–1991)