James Clerk Maxwell, a Scottish physicist and mathematician, was a remarkable scientist. He brought together a large number of equations, experiments, and observations related to electricity and magnetism. and showed them to be different manifestations of the same phenomenon. Maxwell produced a set of equations that explain the properties of magnetic and electric fields, and help show that light is an electromagnetic wave. He also described the nature of Saturn's rings as numerous small particles, rather than a solid or fluid ring. Maxwell's contributions in the fields of kinetic theory and thermodynamics are many. He is even believed to have created the first true colour photograph. His contributions played an important role in the advances made in 20th century physics.
Nicholas Copernicus was 15 century astronomer and mathematician, translator artist and physicist among other things He is best known as the first astronomer to put forward the idea of a system in which the planets and planetary objects orbit the Sun. By 1508, Copernicus had begun to create his model of the planetary system, suggesting that the Sun, and not our Earth, was the centre of the Universe. His model of the Universe was accepted, whereas earlier models had not been, because his was more detailed and accurate. He also had a better formula for the calculation of the positions of the planets at different times of the year. The Roman Catholic Church criticised Copernicus' theories. It went so far as to ban his book 'De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium,' after he died, and it remained a forbidden book for almost three hundred years. The ideas of Copernicus were instrumental in the evolution of the field of astronomy. In fact, almost every notable astronomer who came afte...