The Most Famous
PHYSICISTS from Czechia
This page contains a list of the greatest Czech Physicists. The pantheon dataset contains 717 Physicists, 5 of which were born in Czechia. This makes Czechia the birth place of the 22nd most number of Physicists behind Belgium and Belarus.
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 72.68, Ernst Mach is the most famous Czech Physicist. His biography has been translated into 67 different languages on wikipedia.
Ernst Waldfried Josef Wenzel Mach ( MAHKH, German: [ɛʁnst ˈmax]; 18 February 1838 – 19 February 1916) was a Czech 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 64.92, Peter Grünberg is the 2nd most famous Czech Physicist. His biography has been translated into 71 different languages.
Peter Andreas Grünberg (German pronunciation: [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 50.41, Christian Mayer is the 3rd most famous Czech Physicist. His biography has been translated into 18 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 46.36, Franz Josef Gerstner is the 4th most famous Czech Physicist. His biography has been translated into 15 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 39.86, 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.
Pantheon has 5 people classified as physicists born between 1719 and 1939. Of these 5, none of them are still alive today. The most famous deceased physicists include Ernst Mach, Peter Grünberg, and Christian Mayer. As of April 2022, 1 new physicists have been added to Pantheon including Franz Josef Gerstner.
Deceased Physicists
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Ernst Mach
1838 - 1916
HPI: 72.68
Peter Grünberg
1939 - 2018
HPI: 64.92
Christian Mayer
1719 - 1783
HPI: 50.41
Franz Josef Gerstner
1756 - 1832
HPI: 46.36
Emil Wolf
1922 - 2018
HPI: 39.86
Newly Added Physicists (2022)
Go to all RankingsWhich Physicists were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 5 most globally memorable Physicists since 1700.
