PHYSICISTS from Czechia

Top 5

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Czech Physicists of all time. This list of famous Czech Physicists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Ernst Mach (1838 - 1916)

With an HPI of 72.48, Ernst Mach is the most famous Czech Physicist.  His biography has been translated into 70 different languages on wikipedia.

Ernst Waldfried Josef Wenzel Mach ( MAHKH; German: [ɛʁnst ˈmax]; 18 February 1838 – 19 February 1916) was an Austrian physicist and philosopher, who contributed to the physics of shock waves. The ratio of the speed of a flow or object to that of sound is named the Mach number in his honour. As a philosopher of science, he was a major influence on logical positivism and American pragmatism. Through his criticism of Isaac Newton's theories of space and time, he foreshadowed Albert Einstein's theory of relativity.

2. Peter Grünberg (1939 - 2018)

With an HPI of 66.86, Peter Grünberg is the 2nd most famous Czech Physicist.  His biography has been translated into 74 different languages.

Peter Andreas Grünberg (German: [ˈpeːtɐ ˈɡʁyːnbɛʁk] ; 18 May 1939 – 7 April 2018) was a German physicist, and Nobel Prize in Physics laureate for his discovery with Albert Fert of giant magnetoresistance which brought about a breakthrough in gigabyte hard disk drives.

3. Christian Mayer (1719 - 1783)

With an HPI of 54.16, Christian Mayer is the 3rd most famous Czech Physicist.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Christian Mayer (20 August 1719 Mederitz – 16 April 1783 in Mannheim) was a Moravian-German Catholic priest, astronomer and teacher.

4. Franz Josef Gerstner (1756 - 1832)

With an HPI of 47.98, Franz Josef Gerstner is the 4th most famous Czech Physicist.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Franz Josef Gerstner (from 1810 Franz Josef Ritter von Gerstner, Czech: František Josef Gerstner; 23 February 1756 – 25 July 1832) was a German-Bohemian physicist, astronomer and engineer.

5. Emil Wolf (1922 - 2018)

With an HPI of 42.05, Emil Wolf is the 5th most famous Czech Physicist.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Emil Wolf (July 30, 1922 – June 2, 2018) was a Czech-born American physicist who made advancements in physical optics, including diffraction, coherence properties of optical fields, spectroscopy of partially coherent radiation, and the theory of direct scattering and inverse scattering. He was also the author of numerous other contributions to optics.