Thomas Andrews (1813-1885)
physicist and chemist. Thomas Andrews was born in Belfast in 1813 and completed a long student career, including in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Paris. The later member of the London Royal Society (from 1849) practiced simultaneously as a doctor and taught as a chemistry professor in Belfast. His research and knowledge in the field of ozone and gas liquefaction were remarkable. Andrews died in his hometown in 1885.
Charles Babbage (1791-1871)
mathematician, inventor, political economist. Babbage was born in Walworth in 1791, later studied at Cambridge and fundamentally reformed mathematics. Babbage invented the Analytical Engine, a mechanical computing device that is believed to be the forerunner of the computer. He died in London in 1871.
Sir Roger Bannister (born 1929)
neurologist and middle distance runner. Bannister was born in Harrow in 1929. First he made a career as a competitive athlete in the disciplines of mile running and middle distance running. He was the first person in the world to run the mile under 4 minutes. After his athletic successes, he devoted himself intensively to neurology and finally held a position as director of the National Clinic for Nervous Diseases in London. Elisabeth II ennobled Bannister in 1975.
Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922)
speech therapist, inventor of the telephone. Alexander Graham Bell was born in Edinburgh in 1847, where he later studied. His father was a teacher for deaf people, among others. Bell was fascinated by everything to do with telephony from a young age. Together with his assistant Thomas Watson, he invented the first telephone that could be used in everyday life and was granted a patent for it in 1876. Furthermore, his name stands for one of the best language experts in America at the time. Bell died, receiving several awards, in Canada in 1922.
John Stewart Bell (1928-1990)
physicist. John Stewart Bell was born in Belfast in 1928, where he studied physics. His field was quantum physics. His most famous work is called “Six Possible Worlds of Quantum Mechanics”. In 1964 he made his most important discovery, which was also named after him: Bell’s inequality. It deals with mean values for measurement data and their limitation. Bell died in 1990 in Geneva, where he previously worked at CERN.
Joseph Black (1728-1799)
chemist, physicist. Joseph Black was born in Bordeaux, France in 1728, but is considered a Scot. He completed his studies at the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, where he later also worked as a professor. Black is the discoverer of carbon dioxide (1757). Furthermore, he is traded as one of the pioneers of exact pneumatic chemistry and is listed as the discoverer of magnesium. He was also responsible for the discovery of so-called heat capacity. The scientist died in Edinburgh in 1799.
Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910),
medical doctor. Elizabeth Blackwell was born in Bristol in 1821 and died in Kilmun in 1910. When she was eleven, she emigrated to the United States with her parents and was allowed to study medicine there after long struggles. In 1849 she was the first female doctor in the USA to graduate and advocated preventive medicine (“prevention is better than cure”) worldwide. After her return to the island in 1871 she founded the “National Health Society”, the forerunner of today’s NHS. She also fought for the first time and at the forefront of health policy.
David Brewster (1781-1868)
physicist and inventor. Sir David Brewster was born in Jedburgh in 1781 and studied at the University of Edinburgh. The inventor of the kaleidoscope and the dioptric stereoscope then worked as a professor at the renowned Saint Andrews University. In 1815 he made a name for himself in the field of optics when he worked out a law named after him about the reflection of light at a certain angle (Brewster’s law). Brewster died in Allerly in 1868.
James Bruce (1730-1794)
astronomer, botanist, ornithologist. Born as James Bruce of Kinnaird in Kinnaird in 1730, the highly gifted descendant of Scottish nobility boasted a command of 11 languages. After studying law, he traveled a lot, especially through Africa, and then wrote his main 5-volume work “Travels to discover the sources of the Nile”. Bruce, who is considered the discoverer of the Blue Nile and became Algerian consul in 1762, died in his native city in 1794.
Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
naturalist. Darwin was born in Shrewsbury in 1809. He studied medicine in Edinburgh and theology in Cambridge. Then he dealt with geology. The opportunity to take part in a circumnavigation of the world, which was a survey trip, laid the foundation for his later theory of evolution, for which Darwin became world famous. He died in Downe in 1882.
Richard Dawkins (born 1941)
evolutionary biologist, zoologist. Clinton Richard Dawkins was born in Nairobi in 1941 to a British member of the Allied Forces. As a child he moved back to England with his family. He studied at Oxford, where he later taught as a professor and became the “most influential biologist of his time” (Spiegel). One of his most important works is called “The egoistic gene” (1976). The multi-award-winning researcher also made a name for himself as an atheist.
