Biologists from United States

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary American Biologists of all time. This list of famous American Biologists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of American Biologists.

1. #1

   

   James Watson

   1928 - 2025

   HPI 83.1486 languages

   James Watson is most famous for being one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA.

2. #2

   

   George Beadle

   1903 - 1989

   HPI 77.6356 languages

   Beadle was a publisher of dime novels and is most famous for publishing the first dime novel, Beadle's Dime Novels, which was a collection of stories that were published in the early 1800s.

3. #3

   

   Thomas Hunt Morgan

   1866 - 1945

   HPI 76.7173 languages

   Thomas Hunt Morgan is most famous for his work with Drosophila, a type of fruit fly.

4. #4

   

   Edward Tatum

   1909 - 1975

   HPI 76.3452 languages

   Edward Tatum was an American biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1958 for his work on the structure of proteins.

5. #5

   

   George Smith

   b. 1941

   HPI 74.7749 languages

   American biologist, Nobel laureate

6. #6

   

   Barbara McClintock

   1902 - 1992

   HPI 74.6281 languages

   Barbara McClintock is most famous for her discovery of transposons, which are segments of DNA that can move to different locations in the genome.

7. #7

   

   Rachel Carson

   1907 - 1964

   HPI 74.4291 languages

   Rachel Carson is most famous for her book Silent Spring, which was published in 1962. In the book, she argued that the indiscriminate use of pesticides, such as DDT, threatened both human health and the environment. The book helped to launch the environmental movement in the United States.

8. #8

   

   Irwin Rose

   1926 - 2015

   HPI 73.6057 languages

   Irwin Rose is most famous for his discovery of the hormone erythropoietin (EPO) in 1979. EPO is a hormone that stimulates the production of red blood cells and is used to treat anemia.

9. #9

   

   Linda B. Buck

   b. 1947

   HPI 72.7078 languages

   Linda B. Buck is most famous for her Nobel Prize-winning work on olfactory receptors.

10. #10

    

    Dian Fossey

    1932 - 1985

    HPI 72.5066 languages

    Dian Fossey was an American zoologist who studied gorillas in the mountain forests of Rwanda. She is most famous for her work in studying and protecting the mountain gorillas in Rwanda.