Rabbi Levi

34.7S

23.6E

81

Levi ben Gerson (1288-1344),  French-born Jewish philosopher, mathematician and astronomer; invented Jacob's Staff, an instrument to measure the angular distance between celestial objects.

Racah

13.8S

179.8W

63

Giulio ~ (1909-1965), Italian-Israeli physicist.

Racine

8.3S

99.0E

30

Jean-Baptiste ~ (1639-1699), French classical playwright.

Raimond

14.6N

159.3W

70

J. J. ~, Jr. (1903-1961), Dutch astronomer.

Raman

27.0N

55.1W

10

Chandrasekhra Venkata ~ (1888-1970), Indian physicist; in 1930, he became the first Asian to receive a Nobel Prize in science (physics).

Ramsay

40.2S

144.5E

81

Sir William ~ (1852-1916), Scottish chemist; awarded Nobel Prize in chemistry (1904).

Ramsden

32.9S

31.8W

24

Jesse ~ (1735-1800), British inventor; perfected early sextants and barometers; devised the first satisfactory screw-cutting lathes at dawn of the Industrial Revolution.

Rankine

3.9S

71.5E

8

William John Macquorn ~ (1820-1872), Scottish inventor, civil engineer, poet and molecular physicist.

Raspletin

22.5S

151.8E

48

Aleksandr Andreyevich ~ (1908-1967), Soviet radio and electronics engineer.

Ravi

12.5S

1.9W

2.5

Indian male name.

Rayet

44.7N

114.5E

27

George A. P. (1839-1906), French astronomer.

Rayleigh

29.3N

89.6E

114

John William Strutt, Lord Rayleigh (1842-1919), British physicist; his theory of scattering (1871) was the first correct explanation of why the sky is blue; discovered the inert gas argon, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1904.

Razumov

39.1N

114.3W

70

Vladimir V. ~ (1890-1967), Soviet rocket builder.

Recht

9.8N

124.0E

20

Albert W. ~ (1892-1962), American astronomer and mathematician; director of Denver University's Chamberlin Observatory (1928-1958).

Regiomontanus

28.3S

1.0W

108

Johann Müller of Königsberg, or ~ (1436-1476), German astronomer and mathematician; first recorded observations of a comet later identified as Halley's.

Régnault

54.1N

88.0W

46

Henri Victor ~ (1810-1878), French chemist and physicist; two laws governing the specific heat of gasses are named after him.

Reichenbach

30.3S

48.0E

71

Georg von ~ (1772-1826), German optician.

Reimarus

47.7S

60.3E

48

Nicolai Baer of Reymers, or ~ (c. 1550-c.1600), German mathematician.

Reiner

7.0N

54.9W

29

Vincentio Reinieri (?-1634?), Italian astronomer and mathematician.

Reinhold

3.3N

22.8W

42

Erasmus ~ (1511-1553), German astronomer and mathematician.

Repsold

51.3N

78.6W

109

Johann Georg ~ (1770-1830), German inventor and innovator of astronomical and geodesic instruments.

Resnik

38.8S

150.1W

20

Judith Arlene ~ (1949-1986), American biomedical and systems engineer, astronaut; member of the Challenger crew.

Respighi

2.8N

71.9E

18

Lorenzo ~ (1824-1890), Italian astronomer; discovered methods to determine the diameter of the sun and the zenith distances of stars; cataloged the absolute declinations of 2534 boreal stars.

Reumur

2.4S

0.7E

52

Rene Antoine Ferchault de ~ (1683-1757), French physicist.

Rhaeticus
or Rheticus

0.0N

4.9E

45

Georg Joachim von Lauchen of Rhaetia, or ~ (1514-1574), Hungarian mystic, astronomer and mathematician.

Rheita

37.1S

47.2E

70

Anton Maria Schyrlaeus of Rhaetia, or ~ (1597-1660), Bohemian-Czechoslovakian academic, astronomer and optician; first devised an eyepiece for the telescope which reverted the image.

Riccioli

3.3S

74.6W

139

Giovanni Battista ~ (1598-1671), Italian astronomer, educator and Jesuit priest; his famous work Almagestum novum introduced the system of naming craters and mountains on the Moon after famous astronomers.

Riccius

36.9S

26.5E

71

Matteo Ricci, or ~, or Li Matou (1552-1610), Italian mathematician, explorer, artist and geographer; a Jesuit priest, Riccius traveled to China, where he became known as Li Matou and was renowned for his mathematical skills, extraordinary memory and knowledge of astronomy.

Ricco

75.6N

176.3E

65

Annibale ~ (1844-1911), Italian astronomer.

Richards

7.7N

140.1E

16

Theodore William ~ (1868-1928), American chemist; awarded Nobel Prize in chemistry (1914). He accurately redetermined the atomic weights of over thirty elements; also performed research that helped establish the atomic weight of isotopes in the modern concept of the atom.

Richardson

31.1N

100.5E

141

Sir Owen Willans ~ (1879-1959), British quantum physicist; awarded the 1928 Nobel Prize in physics "for his work on the thermionic phenomenon and especially for the discovery of the law named after him."

Riedel

48.9S

139.6W

0

Klaus ~ (1907-1944), German rocketry scientist; a pioneer of liquid oxygen-fuelled rockets; also Walther ~ (1902-1968), German rocketry scientist; research director and chief designer at Germany's rocket center in Peenemunde, he worked on the U.S. space program following World War II.

Riemann

38.9N

86.8E

163

Georg Friedrich Bernhard ~ (1826-1866), German mathematician; protegé of Gauss (q.v.).

Ritchey

11.1S

8.5E

24

George Willis ~ (1864-1945), American astronomer and optician; co-inventor of the Ritchey-Chrétien reflecting telescope. Builder of the telescopes at Yerkes, Mt. Wilson and U.S. Naval observatories. Director of the astrophotographic laboratory at Paris Observatory (1924–30).

Rittenhouse

74.5S

106.5E

26

David ~  (1732-1796), American inventor, astronomer and mathematician; his contributions include the use of measured grating intervals and "spider threads" on the focus of the telescope. Helped survey the Mason-Dixon Line. First director of the U.S. Mint. A member of the convention that framed Pennsylvania's constitution. Succeeded Benjamin Franklin as president of the American Philosophical Society.

Ritter

2.0N

19.2E

29

Karl ~ (1779-1859), German geographer; a founder of the science of modern human geography; also August ~ (fl. 1890), German astrophysicist.

Ritz

15.1S

92.2E

51

Walter ~ (1878-1909), Swiss physicist; devised the combination principle, which stated that the frequencies of spectral lines could be expressed as differences between a relatively small number of "terms."

Robert

19.0N

27.4E

1

English male name.

Roberts

71.1N

174.5W

89

Alexander W. ~ (1857-1938), Scottish-South African astronomer; noted variable star observer; also Isaac (1829-1904), British amateur astronomer; a pioneer of astrophotography, the first volume of his Photographs of Stars, Star Clusters and Nebulae was published in 1893.

Robertson

21.8N

105.2W

88

Howard Percy ~ (1903-1961), American physicist and mathematician; proved Poynting's theory that radiation from the Sun causes smaller particles in orbit about the Sun to spiral close and eventually plunge in, known as the Poynting-Robertson effect.

Robinson

59.0N

45.9W

24

John Thomas Romney ~ (1792-1882), Irish astronomer, natural philosopher, physicist and meteorologist; resident astronomer of the Armagh Observatory (Dublin) from 1823 until his death, he is best known as inventor of the cup-anemometer for registering wind velocity.

Rocca

12.7S

72.8W

89

Giovanni Antonio ~ (1607-1656), Italian mathematician and educator.

Rocco

28.9N

45.0W

4

Italian male name.

Roche

42.3S

136.5E

160

Edouard A. ~ (1820-1883), French astronomer and physicist; first to explain the principle governing the distance a body held together by self-gravity can come to a planet without being pulled apart by the planet's tidal (gravity) force, now commonly known as the Roche Limit.

Romeo

7.5N

122.6E

8

Italian male name.

Römer

25.4N

36.4E

39

Ole ~ (1644-1710), Danish astronomer; made the first deduction of the speed of light in 1676 based upon his observations of the eclipses of Io, Jupiter's first moon.

Röntgen

33.0N

91.4W

126

Wilhelm Conrad ~ (1845-1923), German physicist; chiefly associated with the discovery of the so-called Röntgen rays or, as he called them, X-rays. Awarded the 1901 Nobel Prize in physics in recognition of his achievement.

Rosa

20.3N

32.3W

1

Spanish female name.

Rosenberger

55.4S

43.1E

95

Otto August ~ (1800-1890), German astronomer and mathematician.

Ross

11.7N

21.7E

24

Admiral Sir James Clark ~, R.N. (1800-1862), British explorer; discovered the North Magnetic Pole in 1831, made three voyages to Antarctica in an attempt to reach the South Magnetic Pole; also Frank E. ~ (1874-1966), American astronomer and optician; introduced the wide-angle lens as an important photographic tool in astronomy, best known for work at Yerkes Observatory (Chicago).

Rosse

17.9S

35.0E

11

Lord William Parsons, the third Earl of Rosse (1800-1867), Irish astronomer; constructed the largest telescopes of his time, a 36-inch reflector in 1839 and a 72-inch in 1845.

Rosseland

41.0S

131.0E

75

Svein ~ (1894-1985), Norwegian astrophysicist; developer of the so-called "Oslo Analyzer," the foremost large computational resource available to theoretical physicists of its time.

Rost

56.4S

33.7W

48

Johan Leonhard ~ (1688-1727), German astronomer and author.

Rothmann

30.8S

27.7E

42

Christopher ~ (?-1600), German astronomer; a Copernican, his works later influenced Sir Isaac Newton.

Rowland

57.4N

162.5W

171

Henry Augustus ~ (1848-1901), American physicist and inventor; determined the absolute value of the Ohm, the ratio of electrical units, the mechanical equivalent of heat, and the variation of the specific heat of water with temperature. Rowland's greatest contribution to science was the construction of diffraction gratings, which he sold at cost to a generation of physicists.

Rozhdestvenskiy
or Rozhdestvenskii

85.2N

155.4W

177

Dmitrii Sergeevich ~ (1876-1940), Soviet physicist and academic.

Rumford

28.8S

169.8W

61

Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford (1753-1814), American-born British inventor, physicist and spy; regarded as the father of thermodynamics. A turncoat during the American Revolution, he made numerous practical innovations, including central heating (the "Rumford Stove"), the smokeless chimney, the drip coffee pot, the kitchen oven, thermal underwear and the pressure cooker. Rumford was also responsible for bringing James Watt's steam engine into widespread use, reorganized the Bavarian army, and endowed the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Runge

2.5S

86.7E

38

Carl David Tolmé ~ (1856-1927), German mathematician.

Russell

26.5N

75.4W

103

Henry Norris ~ (1877-1957), American astronomer; longtime director of the Princeton Observatory; also John ~ (1745-1806), British portrait artist, selenographer and mathematician; considered the finest painter in crayons England ever produced, his work hangs in the Royal Academy and the Louvre.

Ruth

28.7N

45.1W

3

Hebrew female name.

Rutherford

10.7N

137.0E

13

Sir Ernest ~ (1871-1937), New Zealand-born British physicist; awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his research into the disintegration of elements and the chemistry of radioactive substances.

Rutherfurd

60.9S

12.1W

48

Lewis Morris ~ (1816-1892), American lawyer, astronomer and physicist; experimented in celestial photography, especially in spectral analysis, in which he was a pioneer. Rutherfurd invented several instruments for his work, including a micrometer for measuring positions on photographs, an apparatus for ruling diffraction gratings, and a telescope specially fitted for astronomical photography.

Rydberg

46.5S

96.3W

49

Johan Robert (Janne) ~ (1854-1919), Swedish physicist and mathematician.

Rynin

47.0N

103.5W

75

Nikolai Alexeyevich ~ (1877-1942), Soviet rocketry scientist; a pioneer in aeronautics, aviation and cosmonautics.