# List of scientists whose names are used as units

Many scientists have been recognized with the assignment of their names as international units by the International Committee for Weights and Measures or as non-SI units. The International System of Units (abbreviated SI from French:Système international d'unités) is the most widely used system of units of measurement. There are 7 base units and 22 derived units (excluding compound units). These units are used both in science and in commerce. Two of the base SI units and 17 of the derived units are named after scientists. 28 non-SI units are named after scientists. By this convention, their names are immortalised. As a rule, the SI units are written in lowercase letters, but symbols of units derived from the name of a person begin with a capital letter.

## Scientists and SI units

| Base unit | Derived unit |
(colour legend)
| Name | Life | Nationality | Quantity | SI unit |
| André-Marie Ampère | 1775–1836 | French | Electric current | ampere (A) (Base unit) |
| William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin | 1824–1907 | British ( Scottish, Northern Irish) | Thermodynamic temperature | kelvin (K) (Base unit) |
| Blaise Pascal | 1623–1662 | French | Pressure | pascal (Pa) |
| Isaac Newton | 1643–1727 | British ( English) | Force | newton (N) |
| Anders Celsius | 1701–1744 | Swedish | Temperature | degree Celsius (°C) |
| Charles-Augustin de Coulomb | 1736–1806 | French | Electric charge | coulomb (C) |
| James Watt | 1736–1819 | British ( Scottish) | Power | watt (W) |
| Alessandro Volta | 1745–1827 | Italian | Electric potential | volt (V) |
| Georg Simon Ohm | 1789–1855 | German | Electrical resistance | ohm (Ω) |
| Michael Faraday | 1791–1867 | British ( English) | Capacitance | farad (F) |
| Joseph Henry | 1797–1878 | American | Inductance | henry (H) |
| Wilhelm Eduard Weber | 1804–1891 | German | Magnetic flux | weber (Wb) |
| Ernst Werner von Siemens | 1816–1892 | German | Conductance | siemens (S) |
| James Prescott Joule | 1818–1889 | British ( English) | Energy | joule (J) |
| Antoine Henri Becquerel | 1852–1908 | French | Radioactivity | becquerel (Bq) |
| Nikola Tesla | 1856–1943 | Serbian-American | Magnetic flux density | tesla (T) |
| Heinrich Rudolf Hertz | 1857–1894 | German | Frequency | hertz (Hz) |
| Rolf Maximilian Sievert | 1896–1966 | Swedish | Dose equivalent of radiation | sievert (Sv) |
| Louis Harold Gray | 1905–1965 | British ( English) | Absorbed dose of radiation | gray (Gy) |

## Scientists and non-SI units

| Name of the scientist | Life | Nationality | Quantity | Unit |
| William Gilbert | 1544–1603 | British ( English) | Magnetomotive force | gilbert (Gi) |
| John Napier | 1550–1617 | British ( Scottish) | Magnitude (ln, dimensionless) | neper (Np) |
| Galileo Galilei | 1564–1642 | Italian | Acceleration | gal (Gal) |
| Evangelista Torricelli | 1608–1647 | Italian | Pressure | torr (Torr) |
| René Réaumur | 1683–1757 | French | Temperature | degree Reaumur (°R) |
| Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit | 1686–1736 | Polish, Dutch, German | Temperature | degree Fahrenheit (°F) |
| Johann Heinrich Lambert | 1728–1777 | German | Luminance | lambert (L) |
| John Dalton | 1766–1844 | British | Mass (atomic) | dalton (Da) |
| Hans Christian Ørsted | 1777–1851 | Danish | Magnetic field | oersted (Oe) |
| Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss | 1777–1855 | German | Magnetic flux density | gauss (G) |
| Michael Faraday | 1791–1867 | British ( English) | Electric charge | faraday (F) |
| Jean Léonard Marie Poiseuille | 1797–1869 | French | Dynamic viscosity | poise (P) |
| Anders Jonas Ångström | 1814–1874 | Swedish | Length | angstrom (Å) |
| Sir George Stokes, 1st Baronet | 1818–1903 | British | Kinematic viscosity | stokes (St) |
| William John Macquorn Rankine | 1820–1872 | British ( Scottish) | Thermodynamic temperature | degree Rankine (°Ra ) |
| James Clerk Maxwell | 1831–1879 | British ( Scottish) | Magnetic flux | maxwell (Mx) |
| Samuel Pierpont Langley | 1834–1906 | American | Energy intensity | langley (Ly) |
| Ernst Mach | 1838–1916 | Austrian | Speed | Mach number (M) |
| John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh | 1842–1919 | British | Acoustic impedance | rayl |
| Wilhelm Röntgen | 1845–1923 | German | Ionizing radiation | röntgen (R) |
| Alexander Graham Bell | 1847–1922 | British ( Scottish), American | Magnitude (log$_{10}$, dimensionless) | bel (B) |
| Loránd Eötvös | 1848–1919 | Hungarian | Gravitational gradient | eotvos (E) |
| Heinrich Kayser | 1853–1940 | German | Wavenumber | kayser |
| Joseph John Thomson | 1856–1940 | British ( English) | Mass-to-charge ratio | thomson (Th) |
| Marie Curie Pierre Curie | 1867–1934 1859–1906 | Polish, French | Radioactivity | curie (Ci) |
| Heinrich Mache | 1876–1954 | Austrian | Radioactivity | Mache (ME) |
| Peter Debye | 1884–1966 | Dutch | Electric dipole moment | debye (D) |
| Karl Guthe Jansky | 1905–1950 | American | Spectral irradiance | jansky (JY) |
| Wallace Clement Sabine | 1868–1919 | American | Sound absorption | sabin |