Physicist Biographies: Oral Reports

Students will select one or more bios for extra credit during the school year. Classroom biography reports will be from 5 to 10 minutes in length and will include a Q&A session; once assigned, that student will be the “go to” expert for that scientist and their principals during the school year. Bios should include both personal history and scientific accomplishments; they are worth up to 3 points in that quarter’s grading calculation. Students may volunteer for up to one bio each quarter. The date when the bio will be given is negotiable. The following are suggested physicists; however, student may propose their own. Selections are first come first serve.

Luis Alvarez*                                  Developed bubble chambers, On Manhattan Project         

Daniel Bernoulli                 Bernoulli’s principal, fluid flow

Neils Bohr*                                     Quantum model of the atom; Founder Copenhagen School

Sir James Chadwick*                    Discovered the neutron

Marie Curie*                                   Pioneer in Radioactivity and Radium

Albert Einstein*+                           Special and General Relativity Theory, Time Man of the Century

Michael Faraday                           Electromagnetic Fields pioneer

Enrico Fermi*                                 Pioneer in nuclear fission, atomic pile, On Manhattan Project

Richard Feynman*                        Quantum electrodynamics, Educator, On Manhattan Project

Galileo Galilei                                  Pioneer in astronomy and physics

Murray Gell-Mann*                       Quantum Chromodynamics, postulated the quark

Stephen Hawking                          Black hole theory, Hawking radiation, ALS victim

Werner Heisenberg*                     Uncertainty Principle, Head of Nazi Germany A Bomb Program

Edwin Hubble                                 Astronomer discovered galaxies and universe’s expansion

Gustav Kirckhoff                           Circuit Theory pioneer

Masatoshi Koshiba                        Neutrino detection with massive detection scheme in Japan

Henrietta Leavitt                           Astronomy: Distance measurement with Cepheid Variables          

Ernst Mach                                     Mach Speed, Frame of Reference Theory

Juan Maldacena                                          String, Holographic and Field Theories

Ronald Mallett                                 UConn. Prof. proposes building a time machine (really)

Geoff Marcy                                   Astronomer and leading extra solar planet hunter

James Clerk Maxwell                    Major Pioneer in development of Electromagnetism

Lise Meitner                                   Discovered nuclear fission and theorized the chain reaction

J.J. Michaelson*                            Experiments determined the speed of light and invariance

Robert Millikan*                            Determined the charge of an electron

K.A. Muller*                                  Developed high temperature ceramic superconductor

Isaac Newton                                 Developed laws of motions and calculus

Robert Oppenheimer                     Science head of the Manhattan Project

Wolfgang Pauli*                            Postulated Neutrino, electron spin, exclusion principal

Arno Penzias*                                 Discovered cosmic background radiation from big bang

Max Planck*                                   Founder of Quantum Theory       

Chandrasekara Raman*                 Diffraction of Light and X-Rays

Lisa Randall                                    Leader in string theory and multiple dimension theories

Vera Rubin                                     Studies of Galaxies that confirmed existence of dark matter

Lord Rutherford*                          Discovered nature of the atomic nucleus

Andrei Sakharov*                          Father of the Soviet H Bomb, Nobel peace prize winner

Abdus Salam*                                 Developed Guage field Theory

Arthur Schawlow*                        Development of the Laser

Chandrasekhar, Subramanayam*              Theory of Dying stars; Black Holes, Neutron stars

Edward Teller                                 Manhattan Project, Father of H Bomb

J.J. Thompson*                               Discovered the electron

Neal Tyson                                     Astrophysicist, educator, author, Director of Hayden Planetarium

Steven Weinberg*                         Unified field theory of E/M and Weak Force

Edward Witten                                String Theory and M Theory Leader: Fields Medal winner

Chen Ning Yang*                          Co Proposed parity violation

Hideki Yukawa*                           Developed elementary particle theory, mesons

*Nobel Prize Winners,  +Multiple Bios