INTRODUCTION.
Here is a full list of the 20 people in TIME 100: “Scientists & Thinkers”, (December, 1999).
TIME 100 — Scientists & Thinkers.
1. Leo Baekeland (1863–1944).
Inventor of Bakelite, the world’s first fully synthetic plastic. His work launched the modern plastics industry and transformed manufacturing, electronics, and consumer goods.
2. Tim Berners-Lee (1955– )
British computer scientist who invented the World Wide Web in 1989–1991. His protocols and vision of an open, decentralized web revolutionized global communication.
3. Rachel Carson (1907–1964).
Marine biologist and author of “Silent Spring”, which exposed the dangers of pesticides and inspired the modern environmental movement and U.S. environmental regulation.
4. Albert Einstein’ (1879–1955).
Theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity, reshaping modern physics. His work on quantum mechanics and E = mc² influenced everything from cosmology to nuclear energy.
5. Philo T. Farnsworth (1906–1971).
Self-taught inventor who created the first fully electronic television system, including the image dissector camera tube. His work enabled modern broadcasting.
6. Enrico Fermi (1901–1954).
Nobel-prize–winning physicist who built the first self-sustaining nuclear reactor (Chicago Pile-1). Pioneer of nuclear physics and quantum statistics (“Fermi–Dirac”).
7. Alexander Fleming (1881–1955).
Scottish bacteriologist who accidentally discovered penicillin in 1928, sparking the antibiotic revolution and saving countless lives.
8. Sigmund Freud (1856–1939).
Neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis. His theories on the unconscious, dreams, and sexuality reshaped psychology, art, and culture.
9. Robert H. Goddard (1882–1945).
American physicist and engineer who built and launched the world’s first liquid-fuel rocket in 1926. Often called the father of modern rocketry.
10. Kurt Gödel (1906–1978)
Austrian-American logician and mathematician. His Incompleteness Theorems (1931) revolutionized logic, mathematics, and philosophy by showing limits of formal systems.
11. Edwin Hubble (1889–1953).
Astronomer whose observations proved the existence of galaxies beyond the Milky Way and revealed the expansion of the universe, leading to Big Bang cosmology.
12. John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946).
British economist whose ideas founded modern macroeconomics. Advocated government intervention during recessions; shaped global economic policy after WWII.
13. Leakey Family (Louis,Mary,Richard).
Anthropologists whose discoveries in Africa (e.g., Homo habilis, Australopithecus) transformed understanding of human origins and evolution.
14. Jean Piaget (1896–1980).
Swiss psychologist who founded the field of cognitive developmental psychology. Proposed stages of childhood development still used in education and psychology.
15. Jonas Salk (1914–1995).
Medical researcher who developed the first inactivated polio vaccine (1955). Chose not to patent it, enabling rapid global distribution.
16. William Shockley (1910–1989)
Physicist and co-inventor of the transistor, which launched the electronics and computing revolution. Later controversial for his views, but technologically pivotal.
17. Alan Turing (1912–1954).
Mathematician, computer science pioneer, and WWII codebreaker. Formulated the concept of the Turing machine, foundational in computing and AI; key figure in breaking the Enigma cipher.
18. James D. Watson (1928– ) & 19. Francis Crick (1916–2004). Molecular biologists who proposed the double-helix DNA in 1953, launching modern molecular genetics. (TIME lists them jointly.)
20. Wright Brothers (Orville 1871–1948, Wilbur 1867–1912).
Inventors of the first successful heavier-than-air powered aircraft (1903). Their controlled flight transformed transportation, warfare, and globalization.
