Some of the constants used in science are named after great scientists. By this convention, their names are immortalised. Below is the list of the scientists whose names are used in physical constants.

List of the scientists and the physical constants

Name of the scientist

[1]

Life Nationality Name of the constant
Isaac Newton 1643–1727 British Newtonian constant of gravitation
Leonhard Euler 1707–1783 Swiss Euler's number
Charles-Augustin de Coulomb 1736–1806 French Coulomb constant
Amedeo Avogadro 1776–1856 Italian Avogadro constant
Michael Faraday 1791–1867 British Faraday constant
Johann Josef Loschmidt 1821–1895 Austrian Loschmidt constant
Johann Jakob Balmer 1825–1898 Swiss Balmer's constant
Josef Stefan 1835–1893 Slovene/Austrian Stefan's constant[2]
Ludwig Boltzmann 1844–1906 Austrian Boltzmann constant
Henri Victor Regnault 1810-1878 French Regnault constant
Johannes Rydberg 1854–1919 Swedish Rydberg constant
J. J. Thomson 1856–1940 British Thomson cross section
Erwin Madelung 1881–1972 German Madelung constant
Max Planck 1858–1947 German Planck constant
Wilhelm Wien 1864–1928 German Wien's constant
Arnold Sommerfeld 1868-1951 German Sommerfeld constant
Owen Willans Richardson 1879–1959 British Richardson constant
Otto Sackur 1880–1914 German Sackur–Tetrode constant
Niels Bohr 1885–1962 Danish Bohr magneton, Bohr radius
Ludvig Lorenz 1829–1891 Danish Lorenz number
Edwin Hubble 1889–1953 American Hubble constant[3]
Hugo Tetrode 1895–1931 Dutch Sackur–Tetrode constant
Douglas Hartree 1897–1958 British Hartree energy
Enrico Fermi 1901–1954 Italian/American Fermi coupling constant
Roger Apéry 1916–1994 Greek/French Apéry's constant
Brian Josephson 1940 British Josephson constant
Klaus von Klitzing 1943 German von Klitzing constant
Émile Verdet 1824-1866 French Verdet constant

See also

References and notes

  1. ^ Isaac Asimov: Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology Pan Reference Books, London, 1972, ISBN 0-330-24323-3
  2. ^ Also called Stefan–Boltzmann constant
  3. ^ A factor of proportionality, later on, corrected several times. Also called Hubble Humason constant (Milton L. Humason, 1881–1972)
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