William Bateson (August 8, 1861) was an English biologist whose work followed on Mendel and Darwin’s footsteps. He closely studied and developed further the concepts of variation, heredity, and evolution. In explaining his results and Mendel’s rediscovered studies, he coined the term “genetics”. The book” Mendel’s principles of heredity” by William Bateson and Gregor Mendel is an account of Mendel’s discoveries with Bateson’s commentary.

Paul Dirac (August 8, 1902) was an English physicist, his studies contributed to the development of quantum mechanics of the atom and quantum electrodynamics. He wrote a mathematical equation describing the atom and predicted the existence of antimatter. Dirac’s work allowed classic mechanics to be understood at the molecular and atomic level.

Jean Piaget (August 9, 1896) was a Swiss clinical psychologist, his studies focus of cognitive development of children. He emphasized the child conception of the world as an important starting point to understand how children construct reality. His seminal book “The origins of intelligence in children” has been the corner stone of any child psychology class. With the advent of coginitive neuroscience and modern psychology, most of his ideas are being re-evaluated.

Antoine Lavoisier (August 26, 1743) was a French chemist that proposed the oxygen theory of combustion and carried out many experiments with the aim to elevate chemistry to an experimental and hard science.

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