Top 100 Scientists in Physics and Astronomy

Top 2% Scientists List

The Top 2% Scientists List, compiled by Stanford University, recognizes the world’s most influential researchers across various scientific disciplines. This prestigious list is based on standardized citation metrics and multiple criteria, providing a comprehensive evaluation of scientific impact. You can read this article to learn more about this list. The TopResearchersList Website provides a searchable Database for the Top 2% of Scientists. This article showcases the top 100 researchers in Physics and Astronomy, ranked based on the Top 2% Scientists Lis.

Physics and Astronomy

Physics and astronomy are two of the most fundamental and fascinating fields of science. Physics deals with the basic principles governing the behavior of matter and energy, while astronomy focuses on the study of celestial objects and phenomena. Together, these disciplines help us understand the universe, from the smallest subatomic particles to the largest cosmic structures. The interplay between physics and astronomy has led to some of the most profound discoveries in human history, such as the theory of relativity, the structure of the atom, and the existence of black holes. These fields continue to push the frontiers of knowledge, driven by the curiosity and ingenuity of scientists around the world.

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” – Albert Einstein

The following table showcases the top 100 researchers in Physics and Astronomy, ranked based on the Top 2% Scientists Lis. You can click on their names to check the TopResearchersList Profiles for more details.

Rank	Name	Institute	Country	Subfield 1	Subfield 2
1	Kresse, Georg	Universität Wien	Austria	Applied Physics	Chemical Physics
2	Perdew, John P.	Tulane University	United States	Applied Physics	Chemical Physics
3	Newman, M. E.J.	University of Michigan, Ann Arbor	United States	Fluids & Plasmas	General Physics
4	Becke, Axel D.	Dalhousie University	Canada	Chemical Physics	General Chemistry
5	Geim, A. K.	The University of Manchester	United Kingdom	Applied Physics	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
6	Witten, Edward	Institute for Advanced Study	United States	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Mathematical Physics
7	Barabási, Albert László	Harvard Medical School	United States	Fluids & Plasmas	General Physics
8	Saleh, Tawfik A.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Saudi Arabia	Chemical Engineering	Chemical Physics
9	Green, Martin A.	UNSW Sydney	Australia	Applied Physics	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
10	Smith, George Davey	University of Bristol	United Kingdom	Nuclear & Particle Physics	General Physics
11	He, Ji Huan	Soochow University	China	Energy	Mathematical Physics
12	Ferrari, Andrea C.	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom	Applied Physics	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
13	Blöchl, P. E.	Technische Universität Clausthal	Germany	Applied Physics	Chemical Physics
14	Vanderbilt, David	Rutgers University–New Brunswick	United States	Applied Physics	General Physics
15	Hawking, S. W.	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Mathematical Physics
16	Plimpton, S. J.	Temple University	United States	Fluids & Plasmas	Distributed Computing
17	Maldacena, Juan	Institute for Advanced Study	United States	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Mathematical Physics
18	Wazwaz, Abdul Majid	Saint Xavier University	United States	Numerical & Computational Mathematics	Applied Mathematics
19	Weinberg, Steven	The University of Texas at Austin	United States	Nuclear & Particle Physics	General Physics
20	Springel, Volker	Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics	Germany	Astronomy & Astrophysics	Nuclear & Particle Physics
21	Kohn, Walter	University of California, Santa Barbara	United States	Applied Physics	General Physics
22	Truhlar, Donald G.	University of Minnesota Twin Cities	United States	Chemical Physics	General Chemistry
23	Anderson, Philip W.	Princeton University	United States	General Physics	Applied Physics
24	Lloyd, Seth	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	United States	General Physics	Fluids & Plasmas
25	Fan, Shanhui	Stanford University	United States	Optics	Optoelectronics & Photonics
26	Lu, Tian	Beijing Kein Research Center for Natural Sciences	China	Chemical Physics	Organic Chemistry
27	Tokura, Yoshinori	The University of Tokyo	Japan	Applied Physics	General Physics
28	Langmuir, Irving	GE Global Research	United States	Applied Physics	General Chemistry
29	Fu, Liang	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	United States	Applied Physics	General Physics
30	Sachdev, Subir	Harvard University	United States	Applied Physics	General Physics
31	Ma, Wen Xiu	Zhejiang Normal University	China	Mathematical Physics	General Physics
32	Robertson, John	Wuhan University	China	Applied Physics	Materials
33	Israelachvili, Jacob	University of California, Santa Barbara	United States	Chemical Physics	Polymers
34	Boyd, Robert W.	University of Ottawa	Canada	Optics	Optoelectronics & Photonics
35	Preskill, John	California Institute of Technology	United States	General Physics	Nuclear & Particle Physics
36	El-Sayed, Mostafa A.	Georgia Institute of Technology	United States	Chemical Physics	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
37	Lieb, Elliott	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	United States	Mathematical Physics	General Physics
38	Bennett, Charles H.	IBM Research	United States	General Physics	Networking & Telecommunications
39	Watts, Duncan J.	University of Pennsylvania	United States	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Fluids & Plasmas
40	Balandin, Alexander A.	University of California, Los Angeles	United States	Applied Physics	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
41	Bader, Richard F.W.	McMaster University	Canada	Chemical Physics	General Chemistry
42	Behler, Jörg	Ruhr-Universitat Bochum	Germany	Chemical Physics	Applied Physics
43	Hopkins, Philip F.	California Institute of Technology	United States	Astronomy & Astrophysics	Nuclear & Particle Physics
44	Kitaev, Alexei	Google LLC	United States	General Physics	Nuclear & Particle Physics
45	Hafner, Jürgen	Universität Wien	Austria	Applied Physics	Chemical Physics
46	Perc, Matjaž	Complexity Science Hub Vienna	Austria	Fluids & Plasmas	Mathematical Physics
47	Strogatz, Steven H.	Cornell University	United States	Fluids & Plasmas	General Physics
48	Chen, Gang	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	United States	Applied Physics	Mechanical Engineering & Transports
49	Hess, Berk	The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)	Sweden	Chemical Physics	Fluids & Plasmas
50	Bhushan, Bharat	The Ohio State University	United States	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Applied Physics
51	Wang, Lihong V.	California Institute of Technology	United States	Optics	Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
52	Wilczek, Frank	Center for Theoretical Physics	United States	Nuclear & Particle Physics	General Physics
53	Pendry, J. B.	Imperial College London	United Kingdom	Applied Physics	General Physics
54	Dresselhaus, Mildred S.	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	United States	Applied Physics	Materials
55	Alù, Andrea	The City University of New York	United States	Networking & Telecommunications	Optics
56	Iijima, Sumio	Meijo University	Japan	Applied Physics	Chemical Physics
57	Helbing, Dirk	ETH Zürich	Switzerland	Fluids & Plasmas	Logistics & Transportation
58	Feynman, Richard P.	Université de Bretagne Occidentale	France	Applied Physics	Nuclear & Particle Physics
59	Damour, Thibault	Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques	France	Nuclear & Particle Physics	General Physics
60	Einstein, Albert	Institute for Advanced Study	United States	General Physics	Materials
61	Coey, J. M.D.	Trinity College Dublin	Ireland	Applied Physics	General Physics
62	Biswas, Anjan	King Abdulaziz University	Saudi Arabia	Optics	Optoelectronics & Photonics
63	Hosono, H.	Tokyo Institute of Technology	Japan	Applied Physics	Materials
64	Padgett, Miles J.	University of Glasgow	United Kingdom	Optics	Optoelectronics & Photonics
65	Dickinson, Eric	University of Leeds	United Kingdom	Chemical Physics	Food Science
66	Wen, Xiao Gang	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	United States	Applied Physics	General Physics
67	Capozziello, Salvatore	Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II	Italy	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Astronomy & Astrophysics
68	Pople, John A.	Carnegie Mellon University	United States	Chemical Physics	General Chemistry
69	Delley, Bernard	Paul Scherrer Institut	Switzerland	Applied Physics	Chemical Physics
70	de Gennes, Pierre Gilles	Collège de France	France	Fluids & Plasmas	Applied Physics
71	Brédas, Jean Luc	The University of Arizona	United States	Chemical Physics	Applied Physics
72	Haldane, F. D.M.	Princeton University	United States	General Physics	Applied Physics
73	Van de Walle, Chris G.	University of California, Santa Barbara	United States	Applied Physics	General Physics
74	Dunning, Thom H.	University of Washington	United States	Chemical Physics	General Chemistry
75	Scott, J. F.	University of St Andrews	United Kingdom	Applied Physics	Fluids & Plasmas
76	Heeger, Alan	University of California, Santa Barbara	United States	Applied Physics	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
77	Mitzi, David B.	Duke University	United States	Applied Physics	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
78	Strominger, Andrew	Harvard University	United States	Nuclear & Particle Physics	General Physics
79	Walsh, Aron	Imperial College London	United Kingdom	Applied Physics	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
80	Ezawa, Motohiko	The University of Tokyo	Japan	Applied Physics	General Physics
81	Adachi, Chihaya	Kyushu University	Japan	Applied Physics	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
82	Gisin, Nicolas	Université de Genève	Switzerland	General Physics	Optoelectronics & Photonics
83	Chu, Steven	Stanford University	United States	General Physics	Optics
84	Brunton, Steven L.	University of Washington	United States	Fluids & Plasmas	Applied Mathematics
85	Linde, Andrei	Stanford University	United States	Nuclear & Particle Physics	General Physics
86	Penrose, Roger	University of Oxford	United Kingdom	Nuclear & Particle Physics	General Mathematics
87	Vidal, Guifré	Google LLC	United States	General Physics	Applied Physics
88	Woosley, Stan	University of California, Santa Cruz	United States	Astronomy & Astrophysics	Nuclear & Particle Physics
89	Marcus, Rudolph A.	California Institute of Technology	United States	Chemical Physics	Applied Physics
90	Friesner, Richard A.	Columbia University	United States	Chemical Physics	General Chemistry
91	Biot, Maurice A.	Columbia University	United States	Applied Physics	Acoustics
92	Barone, Vincenzo	INSTM	Italy	Chemical Physics	Organic Chemistry
93	Kivshar, Yuri	The Australian National University	Australia	Optics	Optoelectronics & Photonics
94	MacKerell, Alexander D.	University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB)	United States	Chemical Physics	Medicinal & Biomolecular Chemistry
95	Spaldin, Nicola A.	ETH Zürich	Switzerland	Applied Physics	General Physics
96	Hernquist, Lars	Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics	United States	Astronomy & Astrophysics	Nuclear & Particle Physics
97	Klamt, Andreas	Dassault Systemes	France	Chemical Physics	Chemical Engineering
98	Stanley, H. Eugene	Boston University	United States	Fluids & Plasmas	General Physics
99	Antoni, Jerome	INSA Lyon	France	Acoustics	Mechanical Engineering & Transports
100	Nagaosa, Naoto	RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science	Japan	Applied Physics	General Physics

The top 100 scientists in physics and astronomy have made immeasurable contributions to our understanding of the natural world. Their work has not only advanced scientific knowledge but has also inspired countless individuals to explore the mysteries of the universe. As we continue to push the boundaries of what is known, it is essential to remember the importance of curiosity, questioning, and the relentless pursuit of knowledge.