The following is a list of centenarians – specifically, people who became famous as scientists and mathematicians – known for reasons other than their longevity. For more lists, see lists of centenarians.
Name | Lifespan | Age | Notability |
---|---|---|---|
Charles Greeley Abbot | 1872–1973 | 101 | American astronomer and secretary of the Smithsonian Institution[1] |
Saleh Ajeery | 1920–2022 | 101 | Kuwaiti astronomer[2] |
Horace Alexander | 1889–1989 | 100 | British biologist and ornithologist[3] |
Doris Twitchell Allen | 1901–2002 | 100 | American psychologist and founder of Children's International Summer Villages[4] |
Franz Alt | 1910–2011 | 100 | Austrian mathematician[5] |
Heinz Ansbacher | 1904–2006 | 101 | German-American psychologist[6] |
Rudolf Arnheim | 1904–2007 | 102 | German psychologist of visual perception[7] |
Ira Baldwin | 1895–1999 | 103 | American bacteriologist and educator[8] |
David Bannett | 1921-2022 | 100 | Israeli-American electrical engineer[9] |
Preston Bassett | 1892–1992 | 100 | American inventor and aeronautics pioneer[10] |
Henry Beachell | 1906–2006 | 100 | American developer of "miracle rice"[11] |
Wilfried de Beauclair | 1912–2020 | 108 | Swiss-born German engineer and computer scientist[12] |
Arnold Orville Beckman | 1900–2004 | 104 | American chemist and businessman who founded Beckman Instruments[13] |
Bei Shizhang | 1903–2009 | 106 | Chinese biologist and educator[14] |
Julia Bell | 1879–1979 | 100 | English human geneticist[15] |
Harry Benjamin | 1885–1986 | 101 | German sexologist[16] |
Leo Beranek | 1914–2016 | 102 | American acoustical scientist[17] |
Theodor Bergmann | 1916–2017 | 101 | German agronomist and author[18] |
Bob Berry | 1916–2018 | 102 | New Zealand dendrologist[19] |
Adam Bielański | 1912–2016 | 103 | Polish chemist[20] |
Sidney W. Bijou | 1908–2009 | 100 | American child psychologist[21] |
Heinz Billing | 1914–2017 | 102 | German physicist and computer scientist[22] |
Winnett Boyd | 1916–2017 | 100 | Canadian engineer[23] |
Per Vilhelm Brüel | 1915–2015 | 100 | Danish physicist and engineer[24] |
Boris Yakovlevich Bukreev | 1859–1962 | 103 | Ukrainian mathematician[25] |
Su Buqing (aka Su Bu-Chin) | 1902–2003 | 100 | Chinese mathematician[26] |
Margaret Burbidge | 1919–2020 | 100 | British-American astrophysicist[27] |
Colin Gasking Butler | 1913–2016 | 102 | British entomologist[28] |
Cai Qirui | 1914–2016 | 102 | Chinese chemist[29] |
Beatrice De Cardi | 1914–2016 | 102 | British archaeologist[30] |
Henri Cartan | 1904–2008 | 104 | French mathematician[31] |
Hung-ta Chang | 1914–2016 | 101 | Chinese botanist and ecologist[32] |
Cheng Kaijia | 1918–2018 | 100 | Chinese nuclear physicist and engineer[33] |
Georgy Chernov | 1906–2009 | 102 | Russian geologist[34] |
Michel Eugène Chevreul | 1786–1889 | 102 | French chemist[35] |
Dame Harriette Chick | 1875–1977 | 102 | British microbiologist, protein scientist and nutritionist[36] |
Sir Rickard Christophers | 1873–1978 | 104 | British protozoologist[37] |
Muazzez İlmiye Çığ | 1914– | 107 | Turkish archaeologist[38] |
Thomas H. Clark | 1893–1996 | 102 | Canadian geologist[39] |
Seymour S. Cohen | 1917–2018 | 101 | American biochemist[40] |
H. Basil S. Cooke | 1915–2018 | 102 | Canadian geologist and paleontologist[41] |
William D. Coolidge | 1873–1975 | 101 | American engineer and developer of the Coolidge tube for production of x-rays[42] |
Morton Coutts | 1904–2004 | 100 | New Zealand inventor and developer of the continuous fermentation method[43] |
Ray Crist | 1900–2005 | 105 | American chemist[44] |
Kathleen Curtis | 1892−1994 | 102 | New Zealand mycologist and first female Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand[45] |
Max Day | 1915–2017 | 101 | Australian ecologist[46] |
Nikolay Dollezhal | 1899–2000 | 101 | Russian mechanical engineer[47] |
Sergio Donadoni | 1914–2015 | 101 | Italian archaeologist[48] |
William Gould Dow | 1895–1999 | 104 | American scientist and inventor who helped develop radar jamming[49] |
Marion Downs | 1914–2014 | 100 | American audiologist[50] |
Dan Eley | 1914–2015 | 100 | British chemist[51] |
Frank Ellis | 1905–2006 | 100 | British radiologist[52] |
Rica Erickson | 1908–2009 | 101 | Australian naturalist[53] |
Henri Fabre | 1882–1984 | 101 | French aviation pioneer and inventor of the seaplane[54] |
D.J. Finney | 1917–2018 | 101 | British statistician[55] |
Sir Raymond Firth | 1901–2002 | 100 | New Zealand anthropologist[56] |
Edmond H. Fischer | 1920–2021 | 101 | American biochemist[57] |
Ron Fitch | 1910–2015 | 105 | Australian railroad engineer and executive[58] |
James C. Floyd | 1914– | 107 | Canadian aerospace engineer[59] |
Yves Oscar Fortier | 1914–2014 | 100 | Canadian geologist[60] |
Ronald Martin Foster | 1896–1998 | 101 | American engineer[61] |
Henry Jacques Gaisman | 1869–1974 | 104 | American philanthropist and inventor, first to develop the safety razor[62] |
Mohammad Hassan Ganji | 1912–2012 | 100 | Iranian meteorologist[63] |
Augusto Gansser-Biaggi | 1910–2012 | 101 | Swiss geologist[64] |
Theodore H. Geballe | 1920–2021 | 101 | American physicist[65] |
Maria Glazovskaya | 1912–2016 | 104 | Russian soil scientist[66] |
Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch | 1907–2007 | 100 | German-American geneticist[67] |
Arthur Goddard | 1921– | 101 | English-Australian engineer[68] |
Maurice Goldhaber | 1911–2011 | 100 | American nuclear physicist[69] |
David W. Goodall | 1914–2018 | 104 | Australian botanist and ecologist[70] |
Dieter Grau | 1913–2014 | 101 | German rocket scientist[71] |
Jean-Michel Guilcher | 1914–2017 | 102 | French ethnologist[72] |
Richard K. Guy | 1916–2020 | 103 | British mathematician[73] |
Bill Haast | 1910–2011 | 100 | American director of the Miami Serpentarium[74] |
Viktor Hamburger | 1900–2001 | 100 | German professor and embryologist[75] |
Alice Hamilton | 1869–1970 | 101 | American toxicologist[76] |
Michael Heidelberger | 1888–1991 | 103 | American immunologist[77] |
Rudolf Hell | 1901–2002 | 100 | German inventor[78] |
Joel Henry Hildebrand | 1881–1983 | 101 | American chemist[79] |
Polly Hill | 1907–2007 | 100 | American horticulturist[80] |
Arthur R. von Hippel | 1898–2003 | 105 | German-American physicist and co-developer of radar[81] |
Dorrit Hoffleit | 1907–2007 | 100 | American research astronomer[82] |
Albert Hofmann | 1906–2008 | 102 | Swiss discoverer of LSD[83] |
Bernard Holden | 1908–2012 | 104 | British railway engineer[84] |
Philip Hollom | 1912–2014 | 102 | British ornithologist[85] |
Hu Chengzhi | 1917–2018 | 100 | Chinese paleontologist and paleoanthropologist; discoverer of Keichousaurus[86] |
Holly Hu | 1910–2012 | 102 | Chinese botanist[87] |
Friedrich Hund | 1896–1997 | 101 | German physicist[88] |
Harry Huskey | 1916–2017 | 101 | American computer designer[89] |
Kees de Jager | 1921–2021 | 100 | Dutch astronomer[90] |
Katherine Johnson | 1918–2020 | 101 | American mathematician, physicist and NASA employee[91] |
Robert L. Kahn | 1918–2019 | 100 | American social psychologist[92] |
Alex Karczmar | 1917–2017 | 100 | American neuroscientist[93] |
Ke Jun | 1917–2017 | 100 | Chinese metallurgist[94] |
Ancel Keys | 1904–2004 | 100 | American biologist[95] |
Isaak Khalatnikov | 1919–2021 | 101 | Soviet and Russian physicist[96] |
Barys Kit | 1910–2018 | 107 | Belarusian scientist[97] |
Charles Kittel | 1916–2019 | 102 | American theoretical solid-state physicist.[98] |
Nathaniel Kleitman | 1895–1999 | 104 | American father of sleep research and co-discoverer of REM sleep[99] |
Paul E. Klopsteg | 1889–1991 | 101 | American physicist[100] |
Frank L. Lambert | 1918–2018 | 100 | American chemist[101] |
Stanley Leavy | 1915–2016 | 101 | American psychoanalyst[102] |
S. Y. Lee | 1918–2018 | 100 | American engineer, physicist and inventor[103] |
Jerome F. Lederer | 1902–2004 | 101 | American engineer[104] |
Inge Lehmann | 1888–1993 | 104 | Danish seismologist[105] |
Emma Markovna Lehmer (née Trotskaia) | 1906–2007 | 100 | Russian-American mathematician best known for her work on reciprocity laws in algebraic number theory[106] |
Rita Levi-Montalcini | 1909–2012 | 103 | Italian neurologist (Nobel laureate) and senator[107] |
Paul A. Libby | 1921–2021 | 100 | American fluid dynamicist[108] |
Edward J. Lofgren | 1914–2016 | 102 | American physicist[109] |
James Lovelock | 1919– | 102 | British chemist[110] |
August Luebs | 1889–1989 | 100 | American mechanical engineer[111] |
John Walter Guerrier Lund | 1912–2015 | 102 | British phycologist[112] |
Amaro Macedo | 1914–2014 | 100 | Brazilian botanist[113] |
Karl Maramorosch | 1915–2016 | 101 | Austrian-born American virologist[114] |
Ernst Mayr | 1904–2005 | 100 | German-American biologist[115] |
John J. McKetta | 1915–2019 | 103 | American chemical engineer[116] |
Brockway McMillan | 1915–2016 | 101 | American government official and scientist; Director of the National Reconnaissance Office (1963–1965)[117] |
Rogers McVaugh | 1909–2009 | 100 | American botanist and educator[118] |
Wilhelm Meise | 1901–2002 | 101 | German ornithologist[119] |
Foil A. Miller | 1916–2016 | 100 | American chemist[120] |
William F. Milliken Jr. | 1911–2012 | 101 | American aerospace engineer and racing driver[121] |
Beatrice Mintz | 1921-2022 | 100 | American embryologist[122] |
Russell L. Mixter | 1906–2007 | 100 | American biologist[123] |
Ralph S. Moore | 1907–2009 | 102 | American horticulturalist[124] |
Walter Munk | 1917–2019 | 101 | American physical oceanographer[125] |
Margaret Murray | 1863–1963 | 100 | British anthropologist[126] |
Nellie May Naylor | 1885–1992 | 107 | American chemistry professor[127] |
Sterling Newberry | 1915–2017 | 101 | American microscopist[128] |
Sergey Nikolsky | 1905–2012 | 107 | Russian mathematician[129] |
Georg Nöbeling | 1907–2008 | 100 | German mathematician[130] |
Frances Oldham Kelsey | 1914–2015 | 101 | Canadian-American pharmacologist and physician[131] |
Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw | 1912–2014 | 101 | British mathematician[132] |
Antoni Opolski | 1913–2014 | 100 | Polish physicist[133] |
Nicanor Parra | 1914–2018 | 103 | Chilean mathematician, physicist and poet[134] |
Borys Paton | 1918–2020 | 101 | Ukrainian metallurgist, chairman of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine since 1962[135][136][137] |
Ruth Patrick | 1907–2013 | 105 | American limnologist[138] |
Luboš Perek | 1919–2020 | 101 | Czech astronomer[139] |
Luigi Poletti | 1864–1967 | 103 | Italian mathematician[140] |
Pelageia Yakovlevna Polubarinova Kochina | 1899–1999 | 100 | Russian mathematician[141] |
Martin Pope | 1918–2022 | 103 | American chemist and educator[142] |
G. Baley Price | 1905–2006 | 101 | American mathematician[143] |
Elsie Quarterman | 1910–2014 | 103 | American plant ecologist[144] |
Simon Ramo | 1913–2016 | 103 | American physicist[145] |
C. R. Rao | 1920– | 101 | Indian-American statistician[146] |
Karl Rawer | 1913–2018 | 104 | German physicist[147] |
Ren Xinmin | 1915–2017 | 101 | Chinese rocket scientist[148] |
Malcolm Renfrew | 1910–2013 | 103 | American chemist[149] |
Robert Hallowell Richards | 1844–1945 | 100 | American metallurgist[150] |
Henry Nicholas Ridley | 1855–1956 | 100 | British biologist[151] |
George Rosenkranz | 1916–2019 | 102 | Hungarian-born Mexican steroid chemist[152] |
Nancy Sandars | 1914–2015 | 101 | British archaeologist and prehistorian[153] |
Tadashi Sasaki | 1915–2018 | 102 | Japanese engineer[154] |
Victor Blanchard Scheffer | 1906–2011 | 104 | American zoologist and author[155] |
Waldo Semon | 1898–1999 | 100 | American chemist[156] |
Shen Panwen | 1916–2017 | 100 | Chinese chemist[157] |
Sharadchandra Shankar Shrikhande | 1917–2020 | 102 | Indian mathematician[158] |
David Shugar | 1915–2015 | 100 | Polish-Canadian physicist[159] |
Louis Siminovitch | 1920–2021 | 100 | Canadian molecular biologist[160] |
Robert Simpson | 1912–2014 | 102 | American meteorologist[161] |
Hobart Muir Smith | 1912–2013 | 100 | American herpetologist[162] |
Ralph Solecki | 1917–2019 | 101 | American archaeologist[163] |
Esther Somerfeld-Ziskind | 1901–2002 | 101 | American psychiatry researcher[164] |
Arnold Spielberg | 1917–2020 | 103 | American electrical engineer; father of film producer Steven Spielberg[165] |
Jeremiah Stamler | 1919–2022 | 102 | American scientist[166] |
Gerolf Steiner | 1908–2009 | 101 | German professor of zoology[167] |
Clarence F. Stephens | 1917–2018 | 100 | American mathematician[168] |
Ralph Randles Stewart | 1890–1993 | 103 | American botanist[169] |
Dirk Jan Struik | 1894–2000 | 106 | Dutch-born American mathematician[170] |
Su Buqing | 1902–2003 | 101 | Chinese mathematician, educator and poet[171] |
Ralph Tambs-Lyche | 1890–1991 | 100 | Norwegian mathematician[172] |
Wilmer W. Tanner | 1909–2011 | 101 | American zoologist[173] |
Harold Neville Vazeille Temperley | 1915–2017 | 102 | British mathematician[174] |
John Kenneth Terres | 1905–2006 | 100 | American naturalist and author[175] |
Dorothy Burr Thompson | 1900–2001 | 100 | American classical archaeologist and art historian[176] |
Peter Thonemann | 1917–2018 | 100 | Australian-born British physicist[177] |
Georg von Tiesenhausen | 1914–2018 | 104 | German-American rocket scientist[71] |
Germaine Tillion | 1907–2008 | 100 | French anthropologist[178] |
Constance Tipper | 1894–1995 | 101 | British metallurgist and crystallographer[179] |
László Tisza | 1907–2009 | 101 | Hungarian-American physicist[180] |
Lise Thiry | 1921– | 101 | Belgian scientist and politician[181] |
Graham Turbott | 1914–2014 | 100 | New Zealand ornithologist and zoologist[182] |
Victor Vacquier | 1907–2009 | 101 | Russian-American geophysicist[183] |
Joan Henri van der Waals | 1920– | 101 | Dutch physicist[184] |
Ruth van Heyningen | 1917–2019 | 102 | British biochemist[185] |
Gordon John Van Wylen | 1920–2020 | 100 | American physicist and textbook author[186] |
Leopold Vietoris | 1891–2002 | 110 | Austrian mathematician[187] |
Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya | 1860/1861–1962 | 100/101 | Indian engineer[188][189] |
Marthe Vogt | 1903–2003 | 100 | German-English neuroscientist[190] |
Sir Frederick Warner | 1910–2010 | 100 | British chemical engineer[191] |
Walter Francis Willcox | 1861–1964 | 103 | American statistician[192] |
Evelyn M. Witkin | 1921– | 101 | American geneticist[193] |
Aliki "Alice" Yotopoulos-Marangopoulos | 1916/1917–2018 | 101 | Greek criminologist and women's rights activist, President of the International Alliance of Women (1989–1996)[194] |
Filippo Zappata | 1894–1994 | 100 | Italian aircraft designer and pioneer[195] |
Zhang Guangdou | 1912–2013 | 101 | Chinese engineer[196] |
Zhang Tianfu | 1910–2017 | 106 | Chinese agronomist and tea expert[197] |
Zheng Ji | 1900–2010 | 110 | Chinese nutritionist and biochemist[198] |