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.

Rajput

29.1

150.6

12

Sushant Singh ~ (1986-2020), Indian
astrophysicist, philanthropist, entrepreneur, actor.

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.