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Explained the whole of life with one mechanism: descent with modification.

Proved that invisible organisms cause disease — and that we can beat them.

Pea plants in a monastery garden gave the world genetics.

Four equations that unified electricity, magnetism and light — hence radio and Wi-Fi.

Invented dynamite, then endowed the prizes to redeem the legacy.

Arranged the elements so precisely that he could describe ones nobody had found.

The silver stain that made neurons visible.

Founded neuroscience by drawing the neuron doctrine.

Alternating current, induction motors and radio principles.

Quantised energy and started quantum theory.

The only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences.

Ammonia synthesis feeds around half of humanity; also weaponised chlorine gas.

Made radio a transatlantic reality.

Explained nuclear fission; passed over by the Nobel committee. Element 109 is meitnerium.

Rewrote space, time, gravity and light in a single year of work.

Opened Britain's first birth-control clinic; the charity still operates in 37 countries.

Penicillin; antibiotics have saved an estimated 200 million lives.

Noether's theorem links symmetry to conservation laws — the backbone of modern physics.

Quantum atom and the Copenhagen interpretation.

Built the world's first seed bank; starved to death in Stalin's prison.

Wave mechanics and What Is Life?, which inspired the DNA hunters.