Physics & Chemistry
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This Chinese-American physicist shared the 1957 prize for showing that parity symmetry can be violated.
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This American physicist shared the 1952 prize for co-developing nuclear magnetic resonance measurement methods.
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This Hungarian-British physicist's 1971 prize honored inventing holography, the technique behind 3D images.
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This British physicist shared the 1927 prize for inventing a chamber that makes charged particles' paths visible.
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This Italian physicist's 1984 prize led the project that discovered the W and Z force-carrying particles.
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All 100 questions in this topic, with answers — use it to study, or just browse. Every actual play of the puzzle only pulls a random handful of these into one game, so knowing them all here won't spoil which ones show up or where they're hidden in the grid. Play it here.
This American physicist's 1927 prize honored an effect showing that light scattering off electrons changes wavelength.
COMPTONThis German physicist's 1985 prize discovered that electrical resistance can change in exact, quantized steps.
KLITZINGPrefixed by 'von,' this German physicist won the 1914 prize for discovering that crystals diffract X-rays.
LAUEThis Dutch physicist shared the 1902 physics Nobel for experimentally proving that magnetic fields split spectral lines.
ZEEMANThis British physicist's 1950 prize developed photographic techniques for tracking nuclear particles.
POWELLThis American physicist shared the 1978 prize for accidentally discovering the universe's leftover microwave glow.
PENZIASThis American physicist completed the trio credited with inventing the transistor in 1956.
BRATTAINSharing the 1976 prize, this Chinese-American physicist independently found the same particle and named it differently.
TINGThis American physicist's 1989 prize developed a technique behind today's ultra-precise atomic clocks.
RAMSEYThis American physicist's 1960 prize recognized his invention of the bubble chamber for tracking particles.
GLASERThis American physicist's 1923 prize came from precisely measuring the electric charge carried by a single electron.
MILLIKANThis Dutch theorist shared the 1902 physics prize for explaining how magnetic fields affect the radiation given off by matter.
LORENTZThis American physicist's 1964 prize pioneered the maser, a precursor technology to the laser.
TOWNESThe first Japanese Nobel laureate, this physicist's 1949 prize predicted a subatomic particle called the meson.
YUKAWAThis German-British physicist's 1954 prize covered foundational work interpreting the quantum wavefunction statistically.
BORNThis American physicist's 1968 prize came from discovering particle resonances using a hydrogen bubble chamber.
ALVAREZThis Soviet physicist shared the 1964 prize for co-developing the principles behind masers and lasers.
BASOVThis British theorist's 1933 prize covered an equation merging quantum mechanics with special relativity.
DIRACThis British astronomer's 1974 prize pioneered a radio-telescope technique called aperture synthesis.
RYLEThis American physicist shared the 1976 prize for co-discovering a new heavy subatomic particle.
RICHTERThis German engineer's 1986 prize honored building the very first electron microscope decades earlier.
RUSKAThis American physicist's 1955 prize measured tiny shifts in the hydrogen atom's spectral lines.
LAMBThis American physicist shared the 1936 prize for discovering the positron, the electron's antimatter twin.
ANDERSONSharing the 1987 prize with Georg Bednorz, this Swiss physicist co-discovered high-temperature superconductivity at IBM Zurich.
MULLERThis German scientist's 1901 physics Nobel honored his 1895 discovery of a penetrating ray still used in medical imaging today.
RONTGENSharing the 1970 prize, this French physicist explained a magnetic phenomenon called antiferromagnetism.
NEELThis British physicist's 1948 prize improved the cloud-chamber method and applied it to cosmic rays and nuclear physics.
BLACKETTThis German physicist's 1954 prize honored a coincidence method for detecting particles arriving together.
BOTHESharing the 1925 prize with James Franck, this German was the nephew of the man who proved radio waves exist.
HERTZThis Swiss-American physicist's 1952 prize gave rise to the precision measurement technique behind MRI machines.
BLOCHThis American physicist's 1988 prize discovered a second type of neutrino tied to the muon.
LEDERMANThis British physicist's 1904 prize recognized his discovery of the element argon and precise gas-density studies.
RAYLEIGHThis American physicist's 1990 prize provided experimental evidence that quarks exist inside protons.
FRIEDMANThe first Muslim Nobel laureate in science, this Pakistani physicist shared the 1979 prize for unifying two fundamental forces.
SALAMThis Danish physicist's 1922 prize honored his model of atomic structure and the radiation atoms emit.
BOHRThis French physicist's 1926 prize honored proving that matter really is made of discrete, countable particles.
PERRINThis German physicist shared the 1987 prize for discovering superconductivity in an unexpected ceramic material.
BEDNORZThis American physicist's 1939 prize recognized his invention of the cyclotron particle accelerator.
LAWRENCEThis American physicist shared the 1956 prize for co-inventing the transistor that launched modern electronics.
SHOCKLEYThis American became the first US science laureate in 1907, honored for ultra-precise optical measuring instruments.
MICHELSONThis Soviet physicist shared the 1958 prize for the theory behind that eerie blue glow of fast charged particles.
TAMMSharing the 1957 prize with Chen Ning Yang, this Chinese-American co-proposed that parity is violated in weak interactions.
LEEThis American physicist shared the 1955 prize for precisely measuring the electron's own magnetic moment.
KUSCHThis British physicist's 1917 prize recognized his discovery of the characteristic X-ray radiation given off by elements.
BARKLAThis Italian physicist's 1938 prize honored producing new radioactive elements; he later built the first nuclear reactor.
FERMIThis American physicist's 1980 prize discovered a symmetry violation in the decay of neutral particles.
FITCHA French-Polish scientific couple shared the 1903 physics prize for radiation research; the wife later won a solo Chemistry Nobel too.
CURIEThis German-American physicist's 1967 prize explained the nuclear reactions that power the stars.
BETHEThis American theorist shared the 1965 prize for independently developing quantum electrodynamics theory.
SCHWINGERThis German physicist's 1911 prize covered the laws describing how hot objects radiate heat.
WIENThis Soviet physicist's 1958 prize explained the eerie blue glow charged particles make moving through a medium.
CHERENKOVThis Indian physicist's 1930 prize honored an effect describing how light changes when scattered by molecules.
RAMANThis Italian inventor shared the 1909 prize for pioneering wireless telegraphy across the Atlantic Ocean.
MARCONIThis Soviet theorist's 1962 prize covered pioneering theories of condensed matter, especially liquid helium.
LANDAUThis German physicist won the 1905 prize for his work on cathode rays, though he later embraced Nazi-era 'German Physics.'
LENARDThis Dutch physicist's 1953 prize honored inventing the phase-contrast microscope used to view transparent cells.
ZERNIKEThis Austrian theorist's 1945 prize honored a rule stating no two electrons can share the same quantum state.
PAULIOnly the second woman to win this prize, her 1963 award explained the nuclear shell structure; she's Maria Goeppert-'_ _ _ _ _.'
MAYERThis American physicist's 1965 prize introduced diagrams that simplified quantum electrodynamics calculations.
FEYNMANThis German physicist's 1918 prize honored his discovery that energy comes in discrete packets called quanta.
PLANCKThis Swedish physicist's 1970 prize founded the field studying plasma physics in magnetic fields.
ALFVENThis American physicist's 1969 prize classified subatomic particles and coined the term for a fundamental building block.
GELLMANNThis British physicist's 1977 prize covered the electronic structure of magnetic and disordered materials.
MOTTThis Austrian physicist's 1936 prize honored his discovery of cosmic radiation detected during high-altitude balloon flights.
HESSThis Swedish physicist's 1924 prize recognized his pioneering research into X-ray spectroscopy.
SIEGBAHNThis Swiss scientist won the 1920 prize for precision measurements enabled by a nickel-steel alloy resistant to temperature changes.
GUILLAUMEThis Hungarian-American physicist's 1963 prize applied symmetry principles to nuclear and particle physics.
WIGNEROddly, this famous physicist's 1921 Nobel was awarded for the photoelectric effect, not his theory of relativity.
EINSTEINBlinded in an accident, this Swedish inventor won the 1912 prize for automatic regulators used in lighthouse gas beacons.
DALENThis American physicist's 1937 prize confirmed that electrons diffract off crystals just like waves do.
DAVISSONThis American physicist shared the 1981 prize for developing high-resolution laser spectroscopy.
SCHAWLOWSharing the 1909 prize with Guglielmo Marconi, this German invented the cathode-ray tube still named after him in Germany.
BRAUNThis British physicist's 1935 prize recognized his discovery of the neutron, a chargeless particle in the atomic nucleus.
CHADWICKThis Italian-American physicist's 1959 prize honored discovering the antiproton, antimatter's mirror of the proton.
SEGREThis Dutch scientist's equation of state connects gas and liquid behavior; he is Johannes Diderik van der '_ _ _ _ _.'
WAALSThis Irish physicist shared the 1951 prize for being first to split an atomic nucleus using an accelerator.
WALTONThis French scientist won the 1903 physics Nobel for discovering that uranium salts emit radiation on their own.
BECQUERELThis American physicist's 1946 prize came from inventing apparatus that generates extremely high pressures.
BRIDGMANThis Japanese physicist's 1973 prize discovered electron tunneling through semiconductor barriers.
ESAKIThis French physicist won the 1908 prize for inventing an early method of reproducing color through light interference.
LIPPMANNThis French-Polish physicist's 1992 prize invented a widely used particle detector called the multiwire proportional chamber.
CHARPAKThis American physicist's 1944 prize developed a resonance technique for studying the magnetic properties of atomic nuclei.
RABIThis Dutch scientist first liquefied helium and discovered superconductivity; he is Heike Kamerlingh '_ _ _ _ _.'
ONNESThis German-American physicist's 1943 prize covered a molecular-beam method and measuring the proton's magnetism.
STERNThis French physicist's 1966 prize honored optical pumping techniques used to study atoms with light.
KASTLERSharing the 1974 prize, this British astronomer played the decisive role in discovering pulsars.
HEWISHThis British scientist's 1906 prize honored proving that gases conduct electricity via a negatively charged particle he identified.
THOMSONThis German physicist shared the 1925 prize for uncovering the laws governing how electrons collide with atoms.
FRANCKThis American physicist won two Nobels: the 1956 transistor prize and a later one for superconductivity theory.
BARDEENThis Norwegian-American physicist shared the 1973 prize for discovering tunneling in superconductors.
GIAEVERThis French physicist proposed that electrons can behave like waves; he is Louis de '_ _ _ _ _ _ _.'
BROGLIEThis British physicist's 1947 prize honored discovering a layer of the upper atmosphere that reflects radio waves.
APPLETONThis German physicist won the 1919 prize for discovering how spectral lines split apart inside electric fields.
STARKThis British physicist and his son analyzed crystal structure using X-rays, sharing the 1915 prize.
BRAGGThis American shared the 1979 prize for electroweak theory and, in 1964, co-proposed the charm quark with James Bjorken.
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