The Most Famous
Physicists from Sweden
This page contains a list of the greatest Swedish Physicists. The pantheon dataset contains 851 Physicists, 17 of which were born in Sweden. This makes Sweden the birth place of the 11th most number of Physicists behind Japan and Poland.
Top 10 Physicists
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Swedish Physicists of all time. This list of famous Swedish Physicists 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 Swedish Physicists.
- #1
Manne Siegbahn
1886 - 1978
HPI 77.1677 langsManne Siegbahn is most famous for his work in the field of X-ray crystallography.
- #2
Gustaf Dalén
1869 - 1937
HPI 76.8484 langsGustaf Dalén is most famous for inventing the gas-operated fire extinguisher.
- #3
Hannes Alfvén
1908 - 1995
HPI 75.4976 langsHannes Alfvén is most famous for his work in plasma astrophysics. He helped develop the theory of magnetohydrodynamics, which explains how...Read moreShow less
Hannes Alfvén is most famous for his work in plasma astrophysics. He helped develop the theory of magnetohydrodynamics, which explains how plasmas behave in space.
- #4
Anders Jonas Ångström
1814 - 1874
HPI 74.9162 langsAnders Ångström is most famous for his discovery of the Ångström unit, a measurement of length.
- #5
Kai Siegbahn
1918 - 2007
HPI 74.0063 langsKai Siegbahn is most famous for his work with x-rays. He was the first to demonstrate that x-rays are electromagnetic waves, and he won the...Read moreShow less
Kai Siegbahn is most famous for his work with x-rays. He was the first to demonstrate that x-rays are electromagnetic waves, and he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1924 for this work.
- #6
Johannes Rydberg
1854 - 1919
HPI 69.1145 langsJohannes Rydberg is most famous for his work on atomic spectra. He was the first to correctly explain the difference between the spectra of...Read moreShow less
Johannes Rydberg is most famous for his work on atomic spectra. He was the first to correctly explain the difference between the spectra of hydrogen and helium.
- #7
Rolf Maximilian Sievert
1896 - 1966
HPI 68.3438 langsRolf Maximilian Sievert is most famous for his work in radiation protection. He was a Swedish physicist who is known for his work on...Read moreShow less
Rolf Maximilian Sievert is most famous for his work in radiation protection. He was a Swedish physicist who is known for his work on dose-response relationships in radiation protection.
People by Birth Decade
Browse notable Swedish Physicists grouped by birth decade. Each decade shows the top 10 by HPI; expand to see everyone.
1960s(2)
1920s(1)
1900s(2)
1880s(1)
1870s(1)
1860s(1)
1850s(2)
1810s(1)
1760s(1)
1660s(1)
Overlapping Lives
Which Physicists were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 14 most globally memorable Physicists since 1700.
