List of Scottish scientists

This article is part of the List of Scots series

List of Scottish engineers and scientists is a list of Scottish scientists.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• Thomas Addison (1881–1949), physician, pioneer in nephrology
• William Aiton (1731–1793), botanist
• Alexander Anderson (mathematician) (c. 1582 – c. 1620) mathematician
• William Arthur (1894 – 1979)
• John Logie Baird (1888-1946), engineer, inventor of the television
• Ken Bairden (1943–2007), Parasitologist, epidemiologist, veterinarian
• John Hutton Balfour (1808–1884), botanist
• Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), engineer and scientist, inventor of the telephone
• Eric Temple Bell (1883–1960), mathematician
• James W. Black (1924-2010), doctor, Nobel Prize for Medicine, 1988
• Joseph Black (1728–1799), discoverer of carbon dioxide
• David Brewster (1781–1868), founder of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts
• Thomas Brisbane (1773–1860), astronomer
• Robert Brown (1773–1858), discoverer of Brownian Motion and botanist
• David Bruce (1855–1931), pathologist and microbiologist
• Phillip Clancey (1917–2001), pioneering ornithologist
• John Craig (1663–1731), mathematician and friend of Newton
• Alexander Crum Brown (1838–1922), Organic chemist
• William Cullen (1710–1790), physician and chemist
• James Dewar (1842–1923), low temperature physicist, invented the vacuum flask
• David Drysdale (1877–1946), mathematician
• James Alfred Ewing (1855–1935), physicist and engineer
• Hugh Falconer (1808–1865), paleontologist
• James Ferguson (1710–1776), Scottish astronomer and instrument maker
• Alexander Fleming (1881–1955), microbiologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1945
• Williamina Fleming (1857–1911), astronomer, contributed to the cataloguing of stars
• James David Forbes (1809–1868), physicist and geologist
• Professor George Forbes (1849–1936), electrical engineering, hydro-electric power generation
• Robert Fortune (1813–1880), botanist
• Patrick Geddes (1854–1932), biologist and urban theorist
• Sir David Gill (1843–1914), pioneer in astrophotography
• Thomas Graham (1805–1869), chemist, discovered dialysis
• James Gregory (1638–1675), first described the Gregorian reflecting telescope eventually built by Robert Hooke
• James Hall (geologist) (1761–1832), geologist
• M R Henderson (1899-1982), botanist
• Thomas Henderson (1798–1844), astronomer, first person to measure the distance to Alpha Centauri
• James Hutton (1726–1797), put geology on a scientific basis
• Robert T. A. Innes (1861–1933), astronomer, discovered Proxima Centauri
• James Ivory (mathematician) (1765–1842), mathematician
• William Jardine (naturalist) (1800–1874), naturalist
• Norman Boyd Kinnear (1882–1957), zoologist
• Johann von Lamont (1805–1879), astronomer, calculated the orbits of the moons of Uranus and Saturn
• John Leslie (physicist) (1766–1832), mathematician and physicist best remembered for his research into heat
• Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, OM, FRS (1827 – 1912) introduced antiseptic surgery and eponymous Listerine
• Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, Kt FRS (1797–1875) was a British lawyer and the foremost geologist of his day.
• John Macadam (1827–1865), Scottish-born Australian botanist
• William MacGillivray (1796–1852), naturalist
• Sheila Scott Macintyre (1910–1960), mathematician
• Colin Maclaurin (1698–1746), mathematician, developed maclaurin series
• John James Rickard Macleod (1876–1935), biochemist and physiologist, 1923 Nobel prize laureate
• William Maclure (1760–1843), geologist
• Francis Masson (1741 – c. 1805), botanist
• James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879), thermodynamics and electromagnetic theorist
• Archibald Menzies (1754–1852) explorer and botanist
• Philip Miller (1691–1771), botanist
• Roderick Murchison (1792–1871), geologist who first described and investigated the Silurian period.
• Alexander Murray (geologist) (1810–1884), geologist
• John Napier (1550–1617), mathematician (see logarithms)
• William Robert Ogilvie-Grant (1863–1924), ornithologist
• Sir William Ramsay (1852–1916), Nobel prize in Chemistry, 1904
• William John Macquorn Rankine (1820–1872), an engineer and physicist who proposed the Rankine thermodynamic (absolute) temperature scale.
• John Richardson (naturalist) (1787–1865), naturalist
• William Roxburgh (1759–1815), botanist
• Daniel Rutherford (1749-1819), chemist, discoverer of element nitrogen
• Sir James Young Simpson (1811-1870), doctor, Professor of Midwifery, discoverer of chloroform as an anaesthetic.
• Andrew Smith (zoologist) (1797–1872), zoologist
• Charles Piazzi Smyth (1819–1900), Astronomer Royal of Scotland
• Robert Angus Smith (1817–1884), environmental chemist, discovered acid rain
• Mary Somerville, mathematician and astronomer
• Matthew Stewart (mathematician) (1717–1785), mathematician
• James Stirling (mathematician) (1692–1770), mathematician
• John Struthers (anatomist) (1823-1899), anatomist
• William Thomson, Lord Kelvin (1824–1907), mathematician, physicist, engineer
• Thomas Telford (1757–1834), civil engineer, architect, canal builder.
• James Watt (1736–1819), mathematician and engineer whose improvements to the steam engine contributed to a key stage in the Industrial Revolution.
• Robert Watson-Watt (1892–1973), invented radar
• Joseph Wedderburn (1882–1948), mathematician
• Alexander Wilson (1766–1813), arguably the greatest American ornithologist before Audubon
• Charles Wilson (1869–1959), physicist, invented the cloud chamber
• James 'Paraffin' Young (1811–1883), chemist
• William Fairbairn (1789 – 1874), structural engineer
• Key figures in the Scottish Enlightenment
• Wardrope David (19??), Physicist

v d e  Scotland topics History Timeline Prehistoric Roman times Early Middle Ages Kingdom High Middle Ages Davidian Revolution Wars of Independence Late Middle Ages Reformation Colonisation of the Americas Acts of Union 1707 Jacobitism Enlightenment Highland Clearances Lowland Clearances Modern Geography Geology Climate Demographics Mountains and hills Islands Lochs Waterfalls Fauna Flora Highlands Lowlands Central Belt Anglo-Scottish border Economy Companies Bank of Scotland Royal Bank of Scotland North Sea oil Whisky Tourism Harris Tweed Renewable energy Transport Saltire Foundation Law Courts Lord President Crown Office Lord Advocate Solicitor General Procurator fiscal Udal law People List of Scots Actors Inventors Musicians Scientists Writers Politics Political parties Elections Parliament Government First Minister Scotland Office Secretary of State Local government Monarchs Military Devolution Independence Unionism Religion Church of Scotland General Assembly Roman Catholicism Judaism Scottish Episcopal Church Islam Hinduism Languages Scottish Gaelic Scots Scottish English Highland English Culture Clans Cuisine Education Flags Coat of arms Anthem Hogmanay Innovations Literature Royal National Mod Music Sport World Heritage Sites National identity National symbols Scottish surnames Category Portal WikiProject