Scientific phenomena named after people
This is a list of scientific phenomena and concepts named after people (eponymous phenomena). For other lists of eponyms, see eponym.
A
- Abney effect – W. Abney
- Abrikosov lattice – Alexei Abrikosov
- Aharonov-Bohm effect – Yakir Aharonov and David Bohm
- Allais effect – Maurice Allais
- Allee effect – W. C. Allee
- Arndt-Schulz principle/law/rule – Rudolf Arndt and Hugo Paul Friedrich Schulz
- Auger electron – Pierre Victor Auger
B
- Baily's beads – Francis Baily
- Balmer line – Johann Jakob Balmer
- Barkhausen effect – Heinrich Barkhausen
- Barnett effect – Samuel Jackson Barnett
- Baskerville effect – the fictional Charles Baskerville of the novel The Hound of the Baskervilles
- Benioff zone – see Wadati-Benioff zone, below
- Bernoulli's principle – Daniel Bernoulli
- Betz limit – Albert Betz
- Biefeld-Brown effect – Paul Alfred Biefeld and Thomas Townsend Brown
- Blazhko effect – Sergei Blazko
- Bloch wave – Felix Bloch
- Bohr model – Neils Bohr
- Bose-Einstein condensate, Bose-Einstein statistics – Satyendra Nath Bose and Albert Einstein
- Boson – Satyendra Nath Bose
- Brackett lines – Frederick Sumner Brackett
- Bragg angle, Bragg plane – William Henry Bragg and his son William Lawrence Bragg
- Bragg diffraction – William Lawrence Bragg
- Brewster's angle – David Brewster
- Brillouin-Mandel'shtam effect – see Mandel'shtam-Brillouin scattering, below
- Brillouin zone – Léon Brillouin
- Brownian motion – Robert Brown
- Butcher-Oemler effect – Harvey Raymond Butcher and Augustus Oemler, Jr.
C
- Cabannes-Daure effect – Jean Cabannes and Pierre Daure
- Callippic cycle – Callippus of Cyzicus
- Calvin cycle (a.k.a. Calvin-Benson cycle) – Melvin Calvin (and Andy Benson)
- Carnot cycle – Nicolas Leonard Sadi Carnot
- Casimir effect – Hendrik Casimir
- Chandrasekhar limit – Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
- Cherenkov radiation – Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov
- Christofilos effect – Nicholas Christofilos
- Clarke orbit – Arthur C. Clarke
- Clayden effect – Arthur W. Clayden
- Coanda effect – Henri Coanda
- Compton effect, Compton scattering – Arthur Compton
- Cooper pair – Leon Cooper
- Coriolis effect – Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis
- Cotton effect – Aimé Auguste Cotton
- Cotton-Mouton effect – Aimé Auguste Cotton and H. Mouton
- Curie point – Pierre Curie
D
- De Broglie wavelength – Louis de Broglie
- Debye effect – Peter Joseph William Debye
- Dellinger effect (a.k.a. Mögel-Dellinger effect) – John Howard Dellinger (and H. Mögel)
- Destriau effect – Georges Destriau
- Doppler effect (a.k.a. Doppler-Fizeau effect), Doppler profile – Christian Doppler (and Hippolyte Fizeau)
E
- Eagle effect – Harry Eagle
- Early effect – James Early
- Eberhard effect – Gustav Eberhard
- Eddington limit – Arthur Eddington
- Edison effect – Thomas Edison
- Einstein shift – Albert Einstein
- Einstein-de Haas effect – Albert Einstein and Wander Johannes de Haas
- Ettingshausen effect – Albert von Ettingshausen
- Euler diagram – Leonhard Euler
- Evershed effect – John Evershed
F
- Faraday effect – Michael Faraday
- Fermat's principle, – Pierre de Fermat
- Fermi energy, Fermi paradox, Fermi surface, Fermion – Enrico Fermi
- Fermi-Dirac statistics – Enrico Fermi and Paul Dirac
- Fermion – Enrico Fermi
- Feynman diagram – Richard Feynman
- Forbush effect – Scott E. Forbush
- Fraunhofer lines, Fraunhofer diffraction – Joseph von Fraunhofer
- Fresnel zone – Augustin Fresnel
- Frey effect – Allan H. Frey
- Froude number – William Froude
- Fujiwhara effect – Sakuhei Fujiwhara
G
- Gibbs free energy, Gibbs paradox, Gibbs' phase rule, Gibbs phenomenon – Josiah Willard Gibbs
- Gibbs-Helmholtz equation – Josiah Willard Gibbs and Hermann von Helmholtz
- Gibbs-Thomson effect – Josiah Willard Gibbs and three Thomsons: James Thomson, William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Sir Joseph John Thomson
- Goos-Hänchen effect/shift – F. Goos and H. Lindberg-Hänchen
- Grashof number – Franz Grashof
- Grotrian diagram – Walter Robert Wilhelm Grotrian
- Grotthuss chain – Theodor Christian Johann Dietrich von Grotthuss
- Grotthus-Draper law – Theodor Christian Johann Dietrich von Grotthuss and John William Draper
- Guggenheim method – Edward Armand Guggenheim
- Gunn effect, Gunn diode – John Battiscombe Gunn
H
- Hall effect – Edwin Hall
- Hanle effect – Wilhelm Hanle
- Harrod-Johnson diagram – Roy F. Harrod and Harry G. Johnson
- Hasse diagram – Helmut Hasse
- Hayflick limit – Leonard Hayflick
- Heisenberg uncertainty principle – Werner Heisenberg
- Herschel effect – Sir John Herschel
- Hertz effect – Heinrich Rudolf Hertz
- Hertzsprung-Russell diagram – Ejnar Hertzsprung and Henry Norris Russell
- Heusler alloy – Fritz Heusler
- Higgs field, Higgs boson – Peter Higgs
- Hill sphere (or Roche sphere) – George William Hill (and Édouard Roche)
- Hipparchic cycle – Hipparchus of Nicaea (a.k.a. Hipparchus of Rhodes)
- Hirayama family – Kiyotsugu Hirayama
- Holetschek effect – Johann Holetschek
- Hubble constant, Hubble expansion – Edwin Hubble
- Hueppe's rule – F. Hueppe
- Huggins effect – William H. Huggins
- Huygens' principle – Christiaan Huygens
I
- Imbert-Fedorov effect/shift (a.k.a. Imbert-Pavageau-Fedorov effect) – C. Imbert, F. I. Fedorov (and J. Pavageau)
- Ishikawa diagram – Kaoru Ishikawa
J
- Jackson diagram – Michael A. Jackson
- Jahn-Teller effect – Hans Jahn and Edward Teller
- Johnston diagram – ? Johnston
- Josephson constant, Josephson effect, Josephson junction – Brian David Josephson
- Joule's law (a.k.a. Joule-Lenz law) – James Prescott Joule (and Heinrich Lenz)
- Joule-Thomson effect – James Prescott Joule and William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin
K
- Kapitsa-Dirac effect – Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa and Paul Dirac
- Karnaugh map (a.k.a. Karnaugh-Veitch map, Veitch diagram) – Maurice Karnaugh (and Edward W. Veitch)
- Kennelly-Heaviside layer – Arthur Edwin Kennelly and Oliver Heaviside
- Keeling curve – Charles David Keeling
- Kerr effect – John Kerr
- Kirkendall effect – Ernest Kirkendall
- Klein-Nishina effect – Oskar Klein and Yoshio Nishina
- Knudsen number, Knudsen cell, Knudsen effect – Martin Hans Christian Knudsen
- Kohn effect – Walter Kohn
- Kohn-Sham equations– Walter Kohn and Lu Jeu Sham
- Kostinsky effect – Sergey Konstantinovich Kostinsky (a.k.a. S. K. Kostinskii)
- Kozai effect – Yoshihide Kozai
- Krebs cycle – Hans Adolf Krebs
- Kuiper Belt – Gerard Kuiper
L
- Lagrangian mechanics, Lagrange points – Joseph Louis Lagrange
- Laing-Garrington effect – Robert Laing and Simon Garrington
- Landau damping, Landau pole – Lev Davidovich Landau
- Larmor radius, Larmor precession, Larmor frequency – Sir Joseph Larmor
- Larsen effect – Soren Larsen
- Leduc-Righi effect (a.k.a. Righi-Leduc effect) – S. Leduc and Augusto Righi
- Leidenfrost effect, Leidenfrost point – Johann Gottlob Leidenfrost
- Lenard effect – Philipp Eduard Anton von Lenard
- Lennard-Jones potential – John Lennard-Jones
- Lense-Thirring effect – Josef Lense and Hans Thirring
- Little-Parks effect – W. A. Little and R. D. Parks
- London force – Fritz London
- Lorentz force – Hendrik Lorentz
- Loschmidt's paradox – Johann Loschmidt
- Lossev effect – O. V. Lossev
- Love waves – Augustus Edward Hough Love
M
- Mach number – Ernst Mach
- Maggi-Righi-Leduc effect – Gian Antonio Maggi, Augusto Righi and S. Leduc
- Magnus effect – Heinrich Gustav Magnus
- Malmquist effect – Karl Malmquist
- Mandel'shtam-Brillouin scattering – Leonid Isaakovich Mandel'shtam and Léon Brillouin
- Marangoni effect – Carlo Marangoni
- Maxwell effect (optics) – ? (hydrodynamically induced birefringence)
- Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution – James Clark Maxwell and Ludwig Boltzmann
- Maxwell-Wagner effect (a.k.a. Maxwell effect (electricity)) – ? Maxwell and ? Wagner
- McGurk effect – Harry McGurk
- Meissner effect (a.k.a. Meissner-Ochsenfeld effect) – Walter Meissner (and Robert Ochsenfeld)
- Metonic cycle – Meton of Athens
- Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein effect – Stanislav Mikheyev, Alexei Smirnov, and Lincoln Wolfenstein
- Miller effect – John "Doe" Miller
- Miller indices – William Hallowes Miller
- Misznay-Schardin effect – ? Miznay and Hubert Schardin
- Mögel-Dellinger effect – see Dellinger effect, above
- Mohorovičić discontinuity (Moho) – Andrija Mohorovičić
- Morse potential – Philip M. Morse
- Mössbauer effect – Rudolf Mössbauer
- Mpemba effect – Erasto B. Mpemba
- Munroe effect – Charles E. Munroe
N
- Nassi-Shneiderman diagram – Isaac Nassi and Ben Shneiderman
- Necker cube – Louis Albert Necker
- Nernst equation – Walther Hermann Nernst
- Nernst-Ettingshausen effect – Walther Hermann Nernst and Albert von Ettingshausen
- Newton's rings, Newtonian mechanics – Isaac Newton
O
- Ohm's law – Georg Ohm
- Oort cloud (a.k.a. Öpik-Oort Cloud) – Jan Oort (and Ernst Julius Öpik)
- Overhauser effect – Albert Overhauser
- Ovshinsky effect – Stanford R. Ovshinsky
P
- Paschen-Back effect – Friedrich Paschen and Ernst Back
- Pauli exclusion principle – Wolfgang Pauli
- Peano curve – Giuseppe Peano
- Pearson-Anson effect – S. O. Pearson and H. St. G. Anson
- Peltier effect – Jean Charles Athanase Peltier
- Petkau effect – Abram Petkau
- Petri net – Carl Adam Petri
- Planck mass, Planck length, Planck time – Max Planck
- Pockels effect – Friedrich Carl Alwin Pockels
- Pourbaix diagram – Marcel Pourbaix
- Poynting effect, Poynting vector – John Henry Poynting
- Poynting-Robertson effect – John Henry Poynting and Howard Percy Robertson
- Primakov effect – ? Primakov
- Pulfrich effect – Carl Pulfrich
- Purkinje effect/shift – Johannes Evangelista Purkinje
R
- Raman scattering – Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman
- Ramsauer-Townsend effect – Carl Ramsauer and John Sealy Townsend
- Ramsden circle/disc/eyepoint, Ramsden eyepiece – Jesse Ramsden
- Rayleigh scattering, Rayleigh fading, Rayleigh waves – Lord Rayleigh
- Richardson number – Lewis Fry Richardson
- Righi-Leduc effect (a.k.a. Leduc-Righi effect) – Augusto Righi and S. Leduc
- Roche limit – Édouard Roche
- Roche sphere (a.k.a. Hill sphere) – Édouard Roche (and George William Hill)
- Runge's phenomenon – Carle David Tolmé Runge
S
- Sabatier or Sabattier effect – Sabat[t]ier, first name unknown
- Sachs-Wolfe effect – Rainer Kurt Sachs and Arthur Michael Wolfe
- Sagnac effect – Georges Sagnac
- St. Elmo's fire – Erasmus of Formiae
- Schwarzschild effect, Schwarzschild metric, Schwarzschild radius – Karl Schwarzschild
- Schottky effect – Walter H. Schottky
- Schülen-Wilson effect – see Wilson effect, below
- Seebeck effect – Thomas Johann Seebeck
- Shapiro effect – Irwin Shapiro
- Staebler-Wronski effect – David L. Staebler and Christopher R. Wronski
- Stark effect (a.k.a. Stark-Lo Surdo effect) – Johannes Stark (and Antonino Lo Surdo)
- Stark ladder (a.k.a. Wannier-Stark ladder, q.v.) – Johannes Stark
- Stark-Einstein law – Johannes Stark and Albert Einstein
- Stebbins-Whitford effect – Joel Stebbins and Albert Edward Whitford
- Stewart-Tolman effect – Stewart (maybe Ian Stewart?) and ? Tolman
- Stroop effect – John Ridley Stroop
- Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect – Rashid Sunyaev and Yakov Zel'dovich
T
- Talbot effect – William Henry Fox Talbot
- Tesla effect – Nikola Tesla
- Thomas precession – Llewellyn Thomas
- Thomas-Fermi model – Llewellyn Thomas and Enrico Fermi
- Thomson effect – William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin
V
- Van Allen radiation belt – James Van Allen
- Van der Waals force – Johannes Diderik van der Waals
- Van Stokum cylinder – W. J. van Stokum
- Veitch diagram – see Karnaugh map, above
- Venturi effect – Giovanni Battista Venturi
- Venn diagram – John Venn
- Voigt effect, Voigt notation, Voigt profile – Woldemar Voigt
- Von Klitzing constant – Klaus von Klitzing
- Von Restorff effect – Hedwig von Restorff
W
- Wadati-Benioff zone (a.k.a. Benioff zone) – Kiyoo Wadati and Hugo Benioff
- Wannier orbital – Gregory Wannier
- Wannier-Stark ladder (a.k.a. Stark ladder) – Gregory Wannier and Johannes Stark
- Weissenberg effect – Karl Weissenberg
- Wigner energy, Wigner effect – Eugene Wigner
- Wigner-Seitz cell – Eugene Wigner and Frederick Seitz
- Wilson cycle – John Tuzo Wilson
- Wilson effect (a.k.a. Schülen-Wilson effect) – Alexander Wilson (and ? Schülen)
- Woodward effect – James F. Woodward
Y
- Yarkovsky effect – Ivan Osipovich Yarkovsky
- YORP effect – Ivan Osipovich Yarkovsky, John A. O'Keefe, V. V. Radzievskii, and Stephen J. Paddack