Famous Scottish Scientists

[Mavericker]

Hello. What famous scientists came from Scotland, and what was their claims to fame?

[Not_Just_DNA]

I am not Scottish, but the most prominent one I learned of in my line of work is Alexander Fleming for discovering (at first from accident I believe, then by experiementation) that mold prevented staph growth. He called the newly discovered substance penicillin. There are many famous inventors and scientists, however from Scotland, so perhaps do a Google search to find more.

[Polwarth]

Originally Posted by Not_Just_DNA

I am not Scottish, but the most prominent one I learned of in my line of work is Alexander Fleming for discovering (at first from accident I believe, then by experiementation) that mold prevented staph growth. He called the newly discovered substance penicillin. There are many famous inventors and scientists, however from Scotland, so perhaps do a Google search to find more.

Googling for the information is what 'normal' people would do, NJDNA.... I don't think that applies in this case!

[pogofish]

Here is an incomplete Wikipedia list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ish_scientists

William Aiton (1731-1793), botanist
Alexander Anderson (mathematician), (c. 1582-1620?) mathematician
John Hutton Balfour (1808-1884), botanist
Eric Temple Bell (1883-1960), mathematician
Joseph Black, (1728-1799), discoverer of carbon dioxide
David Brewster, (1781-1868), founder of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts
Thomas Brisbane, (1773-1860), astronomer
Robert Brown, (1773-1858), discoverer of Brownian Motion and botanist
John Craig (1663-1731), mathematician and friend of Newton
Alexander Crum Brown, (1838 - 1922), Organic chemist
William Cullen, (1710-1790), physician and chemist
James Dewar, (1842-1923), low temperature physicist, invented the vacuum flask
James Alfred Ewing, (1855-1935), physicist and engineer
Hugh Falconer, (1808-1865), paleontologist
James Ferguson, (1710–1776), Scottish astronomer and instrument maker
Alexander Fleming, (1881-1955), microbiologist
Williamina Fleming, (1857-1911), astronomer, contributed to the cataloguing of stars
James David Forbes (1809-1868), physicist and geologist
Professor George Forbes, (1849-1936), electrical engineering, hydro-electric power generation
Robert Fortune (1813-1880), botanist
Patrick Geddes, (1854-1932), biologist and urban theorist
Sir David Gill, (1843-1914), pioneer in astrophotography
Thomas Graham, (1805-1869), chemist, discovered dialysis
James Gregory, (1638-1675), first described the Gregorian reflecting telescope eventually built by Robert Hooke
James Hall (geologist), (1761-1832), geologist
Thomas Henderson, (1798–1844), astronomer, first person to measure the distance to Alpha Centauri
James Hutton, (1726-1797), put geology on a scientific basis
Robert T. A. Innes, (1861-1933), astronomer, discovered Proxima Centauri
James Ivory (mathematician) (1765-1842), mathematician
William Jardine (naturalist) (1800-1874), naturalist
Norman Boyd Kinnear (1882-1957), zoologist
Johann von Lamont, (1805-1879), astronomer, calculated the orbits of the moons of Uranus and Saturn
John Leslie (physicist), (1766-1832), mathematician and physicist best remembered for his research into heat
Joseph Lister, (1827-1912), surgeon, pioneered antisepsis techniques and antibiotics
John Macadam (1827-1865), Scottish-born Australian botanist
William MacGillivray (1796-1852), naturalist
Sheila Scott Macintyre (1910-1960), mathematician
Colin Maclaurin (1698-1746), mathematician, developed maclaurin series
William Maclure, (1760-1843), geologist
Francis Masson (1741-1805?), botanist
James Clerk Maxwell, (1831-1879), thermodynamics and electromagnetic theorist
Archibald Menzies, (1754-1852) explorer and botanist
Philip Miller (1691-1771), botanist
Roderick Murchison, (1792-1871), geologist who first described and investigated the Silurian era.
Alexander Murray (geologist),(1810–1884), geologist
John Napier, (1550-1617), mathematician (see logarithms)
William Robert Ogilvie-Grant (1863-1924), ornithologist
Sir William Ramsay, (1852-1916), Nobel prize for Chemistry 1904
John Richardson (naturalist) (1787-1865), naturalist
William Roxburgh (1759-1815), botanist
Andrew Smith (zoologist) (1797-1872), zoologist
Charles Piazzi Smyth, (1819-1900), Astronomer Royal of Scotland
Robert Angus Smith, (1817-1884), environmental chemist, discovered acid rain
Mary Fairfax Sommerville, mathematician and astronomer
Matthew Stewart (1717-1785), mathematician
James Stirling (mathematician), (1692-1770), mathematician
William Thomson, Lord Kelvin (1824-1907), mathematician, physicist, engineer
James Watt, 1736-1819), mathematician and engineer whose improvements to the steam engine contributed to a key stage in the Industrial Revolution.
Robert Watson-Watt, (1892-1973), invented radar
Joseph Wedderburn (1882-1948), mathematician
Alexander Wilson, (1766-1813), arguably the greatest American ornithologist before Audubon
Charles Wilson, (1869-1959), physicist, invented the cloud chamber
James 'Paraffin' Young, (1811-1883), chemist