Albert Einstein; the master, the student, the teacher, the man who changed the world. Has ever a man been so successful in life that people who have no interest in his field of study quote them and use their name to measure intelligence? Einstein made a grand theory of relativity on paper and proved it with a photo, forever changing how we observe the universe.

Erwin Schrodinger would like it to be known that he loved cats and did not put them in boxes anywhere except in his mind. He famously posed a thought experiment which included cats while talking to Albert Einstein about quantum mechanics. if that last sentence is confusing in the slightest, you’re not alone, just know that no cats were harmed by schrodinger. Schrodinger did much more with his life through Austria-Hungary, Ireland, England, and the United States as well as having a close relationship with intellectuals and universities in India.

Marie and Pierre Curie whose love was as much a discovery as radium and glowed as brightly. Marie Curie was a woman of great renown, making her mark on physics while putting her own health and safety on the line earning her the honor of being the first woman buried beneath the Pantheon based on her own merit. We wish to make it quite clear, though Marie and Pierre were together in life, in study, and in history; both of them were brilliant and capable on their own. History would have been greatly altered had either of them not been where they were at the right time. Also, fun fact, Marie was given her early physics education by her father and Pierre was also taught by his father who was a physician! Way to go historical dads!

Enrico Fermi Italy gave America a great many people in our long history and Fermi was a brilliant man who became known as the “architect of the Nuclear age”. A master of both theoretical and experimental physics he was in attendance when three separate reactors went critical creating human made, self-sustaining, nuclear chain reactions. He is also one of 16 scientists who have elements named after them and he directly influenced at least eight future Nobel prize winners.