James Clerk Maxwell was a Scottish scientist in the field of

mathematical

physics.

His

most

notable

achievement

was

to

formulate the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, bringing

together for the first time electricity, magnetism, and light as
manifestations of the same phenomenon. Maxwell's equations for
electromagnetism have been called the "second great unification in
physics" after the first one realized by Isaac Newton.
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck was a German theoretical physicist
who originated quantum theory, which won him the Nobel Prize in
Physics in 1918.

Planck made many contributions to theoretical

physics, but his fame as a physicist rests primarily on his role as an

originator of the quantum theory.
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist. Einstein's
work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science. He
developed the general theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of
modern physics. Einstein is best known in popular culture for his
massenergy equivalence formula E = mc2 . He received the 1921
Nobel Prize in Physics for his "services to theoretical physics", in
particular his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect, a
pivotal step in the evolution of quantum theory.
Niels

Bohr

was

Danish

physicist

who

made

fundamental

contributions to understanding the structure of atoms and to the

early

development

of

quantum

mechanics.

In

particular,

he

developed the Bohr model of the atom and the principles of

correspondence and complementarity. He is recognized as one of
the most influential physicists of the 20th Century, and received the
Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922.
Louis-Victor-Pierre-Raymond was a French physicist who made
groundbreaking contributions to quantum theory. In his 1924 PhD

thesis he postulated the wave nature of electrons and suggested

that all matter has wave properties. This concept is known as the de
Broglie hypothesis, an example of wave-particle duality, and forms a
central part of the theory of quantum mechanics.
Werner Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist who made
foundational contributions to quantum theory. He is best known for
the development of the matrix mechanics formulation of quantum
mechanics in 1925 and for asserting the uncertainty principle in
1926, although he also made important contributions to nuclear
physics, quantum field theory and particle physics. He was awarded
the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1932 for the creation of quantum
mechanics.
Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger was a Nobel Prize-winning
Austrian physicist who developed a number of fundamental results
in the field of quantum theory, which formed the basis of wave
mechanics: he formulated the wave equation and revealed the
identity of his development of the formalism and matrix mechanics.
Schrdinger proposed an original interpretation of the physical
meaning of the wave function.