Physicists and astronomers
C
Carnot, Nicolas
Léonard Sadi 1796-1832
A French physicist and engineer who founded the science of
Thermodynamics. Carnot cycle for heat engines (1824).
Cavalieri
Francesco Bonaventura 1598-1647
Italian mathematician, a Jesuit priest. Professor at
Bologna from 1629. Proposed the lens makers formula. He also invented the method
of indivisibles (1635) the forerunner of calculus.
Cavendish,
Henry 1731-1810
British physicist and chemist. Identified hydrogen in 1776. Used the torsion
balance to make the first measurement of the Universal Constant of Gravitation in a
laboratory. This was done in a shed on Clapham Common on the outskirts of London.
Experimental proof of the inverse square law of electrostatics (1772).
Celsius, Anders 1701-1744
Swedish astronomer who proposed the Celsius scale of
temperature in 1742
Chadwick, James 1891-1974
British
nuclear physicist. Discovered the neutron for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Physics in 1935.
Charles, Jacques Alexandre
Cesar 1746-1823
French physicist and mathematician. Discovered the law named after him for
the expansion of a gas – Charles' Law
Chladni, Ernst Florens
Friedrich 1756-1827
German physicist. Standing waves in dust on a plate. One of the founders
of the science of acoustics. Invented the euphonium.
Clausius,
Rudolf Julius Emmanuel 1822-1888
German physicist. Kinetic theory of gases (1857).
Foundations of thermodynamics and its second law.
Cockcroft, Sir
John Douglas 1897-1967
British nuclear physicist. Electrostatic accelerator. (see Walton). In
1932 he achieved (with Walton) the first artificial disintegration of a nucleus
Compton, Arthur Holly 1892-1962
American physicist. Compton effect – gamma ray
scattering. Nobel Prize for Physics in 1927. He also made large contributions to the
development of the atomic bomb.
Copernicus,
Nicholas 1473-1543
Born in Torun, Poland. Copernicus is the Latin form of his name.
Geocentric theory of the solar system. In 1514 he 'published' a small hand written book
which he gave to some of his friends. In it he proposed the following:
There is no one
centre in the universe.
The Earth's centre is not the centre of the universe.
The
centre of the universe is near the sun.
The distance from the Earth to the sun is
imperceptible compared with the distance to the stars.
The rotation of the Earth accounts
for the apparent daily rotation of the stars.
The apparent annual cycle of movements of
the sun is caused by the Earth revolving round it.
The apparent retrograde motion of the
planets is caused by the motion of the Earth from which one observes.
Coriolis, Gaspard Gustave de 1792-1843
Discovered the Coriolis force. Gave the name
kinetic energy to the quantity ½ mv
2 Cornu, Alfred
1841-1902
French physicist. Cornu's spiral. Measured the speed of light by a modified version
of the Foucault method.
Coulomb, Charles Augustin 1736-1806
Born
in Angouleme, France. Developed the torsion balance as an accurate way of measuring the
forces between electric charges. Also worked on magnetic fields. Gives his name to the law
of force between electric charges proposed by Joseph Priestley in 1766. Invented a form of
torsion balance.
Crookes, Sir William 1832-1919
British physicist and
chemist. Electron studies. Discharge in gases. Properties of cathode rays.
Curie, Marie 1867-1934
Radioactivity. Nobel Prize in 1903 for discovering
radioactivity. Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1911 for discovering radium and polonium and
isolating radium.
Curie, Pierre 1859-1906
Radioactivity. Nobel Prize
for Physics in 1903 for discovering radioactivity.
