Scientists in Cosmology

Albert Einstein (/ˈaɪnstaɪn/ EYEN-styne;[4] German: [ˈalbɛɐɐt ˈʔaɪnʃtaɪn] (

listen); 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical
physicist[5] who developed the theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of
modern physics (alongside quantum mechanics).[3][6]:274 His work is also
known for its influence on the philosophy of science. [7][8] He is best known to
the general public for his mass–energy equivalence formula , which has
been dubbed "the world's most famous equation". [9] He received the
1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and
especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect",[10] a
pivotal step in the development of quantum theory.
Near the beginning of his career, Einstein thought that Newtonian
mechanics was no longer enough to reconcile the laws of classical
mechanics with the laws of the electromagnetic field. This led him to
develop his special theory of relativity during his time at the Swiss Patent
Office in Bern (1902–1909). However, he realized that the principle of
relativity could also be extended to gravitational fields, and he published a
paper on general relativity in 1916 with his theory of gravitation. He
continued to deal with problems of statistical mechanics and quantum
theory, which led to his explanations of particle theory and the motion of
molecules. He also investigated the thermal properties of light which laid
the foundation of the photon theory of light. In 1917, he applied the general
theory of relativity to model the structure of the universe. [11][12]
Except for one year in Prague, Einstein lived in Switzerland between 1895
and 1914, during which time he renounced his German citizenship in 1896,
then received his academic diploma from the Swiss federal polytechnic
school (later the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, ETH) in Zürich in
1900. After being stateless for more than five years, he acquired Swiss
citizenship in 1901, which he kept for the rest of his life. In 1905, he was
awarded a PhD by the University of Zurich. The same year, he
published four groundbreaking papers during his renowned annus
mirabilis (miracle year) which brought him to the notice of the academic
world at the age of 26. Einstein taught theoretical physics at Zurich
between 1912 and 1914, before he left for Berlin, where he was elected to
the Prussian Academy of Sciences.
In 1933, while Einstein was visiting the United States, Adolf Hitler came to
power. Because of his Jewish background, Einstein did not return to
Germany.[13] He settled in the United States and became an American
citizen in 1940.[14] On the eve of World War II, he endorsed a letter to
President Franklin D. Roosevelt alerting him to the potential development
of "extremely powerful bombs of a new type" and recommending that the
US begin similar research. This eventually led to the Manhattan Project.
Einstein supported the Allies, but he generally denounced the idea of
using nuclear fission as a weapon. He signed the Russell–Einstein
Manifesto with British philosopher Bertrand Russell, which highlighted the
danger of nuclear weapons. He was affiliated with the Institute for
Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, until his death in 1955.
Einstein published more than 300 scientific papers and more than 150 non-
scientific works.[11][15] His intellectual achievements and originality have
made the word "Einstein" synonymous with "genius". [16] Eugene
Wigner wrote of Einstein in comparison to his contemporaries that
"Einstein's understanding was deeper even than Jancsi von Neumann's.
His mind was both more penetrating and more original than von
Neumann's. And that is a very remarkable statement." [17]

Sir Isaac Newton PRS (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27[a]) was an
English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian,
and author (described in his own day as a "natural philosopher") who is
widely recognised as one of the most influential scientists of all time, and a
key figure in the scientific revolution. His book Philosophiæ Naturalis
Principia Mathematica ("Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy"),
first published in 1687, laid the foundations of classical mechanics. Newton
also made seminal contributions to optics, and shares credit with Gottfried
Wilhelm Leibniz for developing the infinitesimal calculus.
In Principia, Newton formulated the laws of motion and universal
gravitation that formed the dominant scientific viewpoint until it was
superseded by the theory of relativity. Newton used his mathematical
description of gravity to prove Kepler's laws of planetary motion, account
for tides, the trajectories of comets, the precession of the equinoxes and
other phenomena, eradicating doubt about the Solar
System's heliocentricity. He demonstrated that the motion of
objects on Earth and celestial bodies could be accounted for by the same
principles. Newton's inference that the Earth is an oblate spheroid was later
confirmed by the geodetic measurements of Maupertuis, La Condamine,
and others, convincing most European scientists of the superiority of
Newtonian mechanics over earlier systems.
Newton built the first practical reflecting telescope and developed a
sophisticated theory of colour based on the observation that
a prismseparates white light into the colours of the visible spectrum. His
work on light was collected in his highly influential book Opticks, published
in 1704. He also formulated an empirical law of cooling, made the first
theoretical calculation of the speed of sound, and introduced the notion of
a Newtonian fluid. In addition to his work on calculus, as a mathematician
Newton contributed to the study of power series, generalised the binomial
theorem to non-integer exponents, developed a method for approximating
the roots of a function, and classified most of the cubic plane curves.
Newton was a fellow of Trinity College and the second Lucasian Professor
of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. He was a devout but
unorthodox Christian who privately rejected the doctrine of the Trinity.
Unusually for a member of the Cambridge faculty of the day, he refused to
take holy orders in the Church of England. Beyond his work on the
mathematical sciences, Newton dedicated much of his time to the study
of alchemy and biblical chronology, but most of his work in those areas
remained unpublished until long after his death. Politically and personally
tied to the Whig party, Newton served two brief terms as Member of
Parliament for the University of Cambridge, in 1689–90 and 1701–02. He
was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705 and spent the last three decades of
his life in London, serving as Warden (1696–1700) and Master (1700–
1727) of the Royal Mint, as well as president of the Royal Society(1703–
1727).

Galileo Galilei (/ˌɡælɪˈleɪoʊ/ GAL-il-AY-oh, also US: /-ˈliːoʊ/ -EE-

oh, Italian: [ɡaliˈlɛːo ɡaliˈlɛi]; 15 February 1564[3] – 8 January 1642) was
an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as
a polymath.[4] Galileo has been called the "father of observational
astronomy",[5] the "father of modern physics",[6][7] the "father of the scientific
method",[8] and the "father of modern science".[9][10]
Galileo studied speed and velocity, gravity and free fall, the principle of
relativity, inertia, projectile motion and also worked in applied science and
technology, describing the properties of pendulums and
"hydrostatic balances", inventing the thermoscope and various military
compasses, and using the telescope for scientific observations of celestial
objects. His contributions to observational astronomy include the telescopic
confirmation of the phases of Venus, the observation of the four largest
satellites of Jupiter, the observation of Saturn's rings, and the analysis
of sunspots.
Galileo's championing of heliocentrism and Copernicanism was
controversial during his lifetime, when most subscribed to geocentric
models such as the Tychonic system.[11] He met with opposition from
astronomers, who doubted heliocentrism because of the absence of an
observed stellar parallax.[11] The matter was investigated by the Roman
Inquisition in 1615, which concluded that heliocentrism was "foolish and
absurd in philosophy, and formally heretical since it explicitly contradicts in
many places the sense of Holy Scripture".[11][12][13] Galileo later defended his
views in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632), which
appeared to attack Pope Urban VIII and thus alienated him and the Jesuits,
who had both supported Galileo up until this point. [11] He was tried by the
Inquisition, found "vehemently suspect of heresy", and forced to recant. He
spent the rest of his life under house arrest. [14][15] While under house arrest,
he wrote Two New Sciences, in which he summarized work he had done
some forty years earlier on the two sciences now
called kinematics and strength of materials.[16][17]

Nicolaus Copernicus (/koʊˈpɜːrnɪkəs, kə-/;[2][3][4] Polish: Mikołaj Kopernik;

[b]
German: Nikolaus Kopernikus; Niklas Koppernigk; 19 February 1473 –
24 May 1543) was a Renaissance-era mathematician and astronomer, who
formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than the
Earth at the center of the universe, in all likelihood independently
of Aristarchus of Samos, who had formulated such a model some eighteen
centuries earlier.[5][c][d]
The publication of Copernicus' model in his book De revolutionibus orbium
coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), just before his
death in 1543, was a major event in the history of science, triggering
the Copernican Revolution and making a pioneering contribution to
the Scientific Revolution.[7]
Copernicus was born and died in Royal Prussia, a region that had been
part of the Kingdom of Poland since 1466. A polyglot and polymath, he
obtained a doctorate in canon law and was also
a mathematician, astronomer, physician, classics
scholar, translator, governor, diplomat, and economist. In 1517 he derived
a quantity theory of money—a key concept in economics—and in 1519 he
formulated an economic principle that later came to be called Gresham's
law.[e]

Aristotle (/ˈærɪstɒtəl/;[3] Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης Aristotélēs, pronounced [aristo

télɛːs]; 384–322 BC)[A] was a Greek philosopher during the Classical
period in Ancient Greece, the founder of the Lyceum and the Peripatetic
school of philosophy and Aristotelian tradition. Along with his teacher Plato,
he has been called the "Father of Western Philosophy". His writings cover
many subjects – including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic,
ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theatre,
music, rhetoric, psychology, linguistics, economics, politics and
government. Aristotle provided a complex synthesis of the various
philosophies existing prior to him, and it was above all from his teachings
that the West inherited its intellectual lexicon, as well as problems and
methods of inquiry. As a result, his philosophy has exerted a unique
influence on almost every form of knowledge in the West and it continues
to be a subject of contemporary philosophical discussion.
Little is known about his life. Aristotle was born in the city
of Stagira in Northern Greece. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle
was a child, and he was brought up by a guardian. At seventeen or
eighteen years of age, he joined Plato's Academy in Athens and remained
there until the age of thirty-seven (c. 347 BC).[4] Shortly after Plato died,
Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip II of Macedon,
tutored Alexander the Great beginning in 343 BC.[5] He established a library
in the Lyceum which helped him to produce many of his hundreds of books
on papyrus scrolls. Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and
dialogues for publication, only around a third of his original output has
survived, none of it intended for publication. [6]
Aristotle's views on physical science profoundly shaped medieval
scholarship. Their influence extended from Late Antiquity and the Early
Middle Ages into the Renaissance, and were not replaced systematically
until the Enlightenment and theories such as classical mechanics. Some of
Aristotle's zoological observations found in his biology, such as on
the hectocotyl (reproductive) arm of the octopus, were disbelieved until the
19th century. His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic,
studied by medieval scholars such as Peter Abelard and John Buridan.
Aristotle's influence on logic also continued well into the 19th century.
He influenced Islamic thought during the Middle Ages, as well as Christian
theology, especially the Neoplatonism of the Early Churchand
the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church. Aristotle was revered among
medieval Muslim scholars as "The First Teacher" and among medieval
Christians like Thomas Aquinas as simply "The Philosopher". His ethics,
though always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent
of virtue ethics, such as in the thinking of Alasdair MacIntyre and Philippa
Foot.