Physicists from United States

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Americans Physicists of all time. This list of famous Americans 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 Americans Physicists.

1. #1

   

   J. Robert Oppenheimer

   1904 - 1967

   HPI 90.85101 langs

   J. Robert Oppenheimer is most famous for being the director of the Manhattan Project, which was a project to develop the first atomic bomb.

2. #2

   

   Charles H. Townes

   1915 - 2015

   HPI 80.6375 langs

   Charles H. Townes is most famous for his invention of the laser in 1958. He shared the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics with Nikolay Basov and...Read moreShow less

   Charles H. Townes is most famous for his invention of the laser in 1958. He shared the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics with Nikolay Basov and Alexander Prokhorov for his work on the maser.

3. #3

   

   Philip Warren Anderson

   1923 - 2020

   HPI 79.3567 langs

   Philip Warren Anderson is most famous for his work in the field of condensed matter physics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in...Read moreShow less

   Philip Warren Anderson is most famous for his work in the field of condensed matter physics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1977 for his discovery of how electrons behave in a metal.

4. #4

   

   Richard Feynman

   1918 - 1988

   HPI 78.55112 langs

   Richard Feynman is most famous for his work in quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, and the physics of the...Read moreShow less

   Richard Feynman is most famous for his work in quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics.

5. #5

   

   Sheldon Lee Glashow

   b. 1932

   HPI 78.5367 langs

   Sheldon Lee Glashow is most famous for his work in the field of particle physics. He is best known for his work with Steven Weinberg and...Read moreShow less

   Sheldon Lee Glashow is most famous for his work in the field of particle physics. He is best known for his work with Steven Weinberg and Abdus Salam on the electroweak theory, which describes the unification of electromagnetism and the weak force.

6. #6

   

   Norman Foster Ramsey Jr.

   1915 - 2011

   HPI 77.8862 langs

   Norman Foster Ramsey Jr. is most famous for being the youngest person to receive a Nobel Prize in any field. He was awarded the Nobel Prize...Read moreShow less

   Norman Foster Ramsey Jr. is most famous for being the youngest person to receive a Nobel Prize in any field. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1988 at the age of 31 for his work in quantum physics.

7. #7

   

   Luis Walter Alvarez

   1911 - 1988

   HPI 76.9974 langs

   American physicist, inventor and professor

8. #8

   

   Robert Andrews Millikan

   1868 - 1953

   HPI 76.6193 langs

   Robert Andrews Millikan was an American physicist who is most famous for his work on the photoelectric effect.

9. #9

   

   Carl David Anderson

   1905 - 1991

   HPI 76.3381 langs

   Carl David Anderson was an American physicist who is most famous for his discovery of the positron in 1932.

10. #10

    

    Barry Barish

    b. 1936

    HPI 76.2056 langs

    Barry Barish is most famous for being the director of the LIGO project, which was the first to detect gravitational waves.