20th-century American physicists

Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum theory. His mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2, which arises from special relativity, has been called "the world's most famous equation". 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".

Italian–American physicist (1901–1954)

American theoretical physicist (1918–1988)

J. Robert Oppenheimer was an American theoretical physicist who served as the director of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II. He is often called the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in overseeing the development of the first nuclear weapons.

Hungarian and American mathematician and physicist (1903–1957)

James Dewey Watson was an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist. In 1953, he and Francis Crick co-authored an academic paper in Nature proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule, building on research by Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling. In 1962, Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material".

German and later American aerospace engineer and space architect (1912–1977)

American physicist (1852–1931)

American physicist (1868–1953)

German-born American theoretical physicist (1906-1972)

Hungarian-American physicist and mathematician (1902–1995)

American physicist and engineer (1908–1991)

German-American nuclear physicist

American nuclear physicist (1901–1958)

American physicist and inventor (1910–1989)

American physicist (1929–2019)

Indian-American astrophysicist

American physicist (1892–1962)

German-American physicist (1888–1969)

American physicist (1898–1988)

American medical physicist (1921-2011)

American physicist

American astronaut and physicist (1951–2012)

American physicist

American experimental physicist, inventor, and professor (1911–1988)

American physicist (1881-1958)

Austrian physicist and Nobel prize laureate (1883-1964)

Swiss physicist (1905-1983)

American physicist and neurobiologist (1926–2013)

American physicist

American particle physicist and string theorist

Dutch-born American physicist

American physicist (1902–1987)

American mathematician and physicist

African-American mathematician

American physicist (1930–2024)

American physicist (1912-1997)

Hong Kong-British-American physicist

theoretical physicist and mathematician (1923–2020)

American physicist (1913–2008)

American theoretical physicist (1918–1994)

American theoretical physicist (1925–2018)

U.S.-American theoretical physicist, futurist and author (1947-)

American physicist

American biochemist (1891-1987)

American physicist

American physical chemist and theoretical physicist (1903-1976)

American physicist and Nobel laureate (1915-1990)

American physicist

German-American physicist (1911-1993)

American physicist

American physicist (1918–1998)

Hungarian-American Jewish physicist and inventor (1898–1964)

American physicist (1899–1980)

American physicist (1931-2019)

Seismologist and mathematician

Russian-American theoretical physicist and cosmologist (1904–1968)

Chinese-American physicist

Canadian-American astronomer & Nobel Laureate in Physics

American scientist (1914-2006)