List of scientific laws named after people
This is a list of scientific laws named after people. For other lists of eponyms, see eponym.
| Law | Field | Person Named After |
| Abel's theorem | Calculus | Niels Henrik Abel |
| Amdahl's law | Computer science | Gene Amdahl |
| Ampère's circuital law | Physics | André-Marie Ampère |
| Archie's law | Geology | Gus Archie |
| Archimedes's principle Axiom of Archimedes | Physics Analysis | Archimedes |
| Arrhenius equation | Chemical kinetics | Svante Arrhenius |
| Avogadro's law | Thermodynamics | Amedeo Avogadro |
| Bell's theorem | Quantum mechanics | John Stewart Bell |
| Benford's law | Mathematics | Frank Benford |
| Beer–Lambert law | Optics | August Beer, Johann Heinrich Lambert |
| Bernoulli's principle Bernoulli's equation | Physical sciences | Daniel Bernoulli |
| Biot–Savart law | Electromagnetics, fluid dynamics | Jean Baptiste Biot and Félix Savart |
| Birch's law | Geophysics | Francis Birch |
| Bogoliubov–Born–Green–Kirkwood–Yvon hierarchy | Physics | Nikolay Bogoliubov, Max Born, Herbert Green, John Kirkwood, and J. Yvon |
| Bogoliubov transformation | Quantum mechanics | Nikolay Bogoliubov |
| Boltzmann equation | Thermodynamics | Ludwig Boltzmann |
| Born's law | Quantum mechanics | Max Born |
| Boyle's law | Thermodynamics | Robert Boyle |
| Bragg's Law | Physics | William Lawrence Bragg, William Henry Bragg |
| Bradford's law | Computer science | Samuel C. Bradford |
| Bruun Rule | Earth science | Per Bruun |
| Buys Ballot's law | Meteorology | C.H.D. Buys Ballot |
| Byerlee's law | Geophysics | James Byerlee |
| Carnot's theorem | Thermodynamics | Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot |
| Cauchy's integral formula Cauchy–Riemann equations See also: List of things named after Augustin-Louis Cauchy | Complex analysis | Augustin Louis Cauchy Augustin Louis Cauchy and Bernhard Riemann |
| Cayley–Hamilton theorem | Linear algebra | Arthur Cayley and William Hamilton |
| Charles's law | Thermodynamics | Jacques Charles |
| Chandrasekhar limit | Astrophysics | Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar |
| Church–Turing thesis | Computer science | Alonzo Church and Alan Turing |
| Coulomb's law | Physics | Charles Augustin de Coulomb |
| Law of Charles and Gay-Lussac | Thermodynamics | Jacques Charles and Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac |
| Clifford's theorem Clifford's circle theorems | Algebraic geometry, Geometry | William Kingdon Clifford |
| Curie's law | Physics | Pierre Curie |
| Curie–Weiss law | Physics | Pierre Curie and Pierre-Ernest Weiss |
| D'Alembert's paradox D'Alembert's principle | Fluid dynamics, Physics | Jean le Rond d'Alembert |
| Dalton's law of partial pressure | Thermodynamics | John Dalton |
| Darcy's law | Fluid mechanics | Henry Darcy |
| De Bruijn–Erdős theorem | Mathematics | Nicolaas Govert de Bruijn and Paul Erdős |
| De Morgan's law | Logic | Augustus De Morgan |
| Dermott's law | Celestial mechanics | Stanley Dermott |
| Descartes's theorem | Geometry | René Descartes |
| Dirac equation Dirac delta function Dirac comb Dirac spinor Dirac operator See also: List of things named after Paul Dirac | Mathematics, Physics | Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac |
| Drake equation | Cosmology | Frank Drake |
| Doppler effect | Physics | Christian Doppler |
| Ehrenfest's theorem | Quantum mechanics | Paul Ehrenfest |
| Einstein's general theory of relativity Einstein's special theory of relativity See also: List of things named after Albert Einstein | Physics | Albert Einstein |
| Erdős–Anning theorem See also: List of things named after Paul Erdős | Mathematics | Paul Erdős and Norman H. Anning |
| Erdős–Beck theorem | Mathematics | Paul Erdős and József Beck |
| Erdős–Gallai theorem | Mathematics | Paul Erdős and Tibor Gallai |
| Erdős–Kac theorem | Mathematics | Paul Erdős and Mark Kac |
| Erdős–Ko–Rado theorem | Mathematics | Paul Erdős, Ke Zhao, and Richard Rado |
| Erdős–Nagy theorem | Mathematics | Paul Erdős and Béla Szőkefalvi-Nagy |
| Erdős–Rado theorem | Mathematics | Paul Erdős and Richard Rado |
| Erdős–Stone theorem | Mathematics | Paul Erdős and Arthur Harold Stone |
| Erdős–Szekeres theorem | Mathematics | Paul Erdős and George Szekeres |
| Erdős–Szemerédi theorem | Mathematics | Paul Erdős and Endre Szemerédi |
| Euclid's theorem | Number theory | Euclid |
| Euler's theorem See also: List of things named after Leonhard Euler | Number theory | Leonhard Euler |
| Faraday's law of induction Faraday's law of electrolysis | Electromagnetism Chemistry | Michael Faraday |
| Faxén's law | Fluid dynamics | Hilding Faxén |
| Fermat's principle Fermat's last theorem Fermat's little theorem | Optics Number theory Number theory | Pierre de Fermat |
| Fermi paradox Fermi's golden rule Fermi acceleration Fermi hole Fermionic field Fermi level See also: List of things named after Enrico Fermi | Cosmology, Physics | Enrico Fermi |
| Fick's law of diffusion | Thermodynamics | Adolf Fick |
| Fitts's law | Ergonomics | Paul Fitts |
| Fourier's law | Thermodynamics | Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier |
| Gauss's law Gauss's law for magnetism Gauss's principle of least constraint Gauss's digamma theorem Gauss's hypergeometric theorem Gaussian function See also: List of things named after Carl Friedrich Gauss | Mathematics, Physics | Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss |
| Gay-Lussac's law | Chemistry | Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac |
| Gibbs–Helmholtz equation | Thermodynamics | Josiah Willard Gibbs, Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz |
| Gödel's incompleteness theorems | Mathematics | Kurt Gödel |
| Graham's law | Thermodynamics | Thomas Graham |
| Green's law | Fluid dynamics | George Green |
| Grimm's law | Linguistics | Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm |
| Gustafson's law | Computer science | John L. Gustafson |
| Heisenberg's uncertainty principle | Theoretical physics | Werner Heisenberg |
| Heaps' law | LInguistics | Harold Stanley Heaps |
| Hellmann–Feynman theorem | Physics | Hans Hellmann, Richard Feynman |
| Henry's law | Thermodynamics | William Henry |
| Hertz observations | Electromagnetism | Heinrich Hertz |
| Hess's law | Thermodynamics | Germain Henri Hess |
| Hilbert's basis theorem Hilbert's axioms Hilbert function Hilbert's irreducibility theorem Hilbert's syzygy theorem Hilbert's Theorem 90 Hilbert's theorem | Mathematics | David Hilbert |
| Hohenberg–Kohn theorem | Quantum mechanics | Pierre Hohenberg and Walter Kohn |
| Helmholtz's theorems Helmholtz theorem Helmholtz free energy Helmholtz decomposition Helmholtz equation Helmholtz resonance | Thermodynamics Physics | Hermann von Helmholtz |
| Hooke's law | Physics | Robert Hooke |
| Hopkinson's law | Electromagnetism | John Hopkinson |
| Hubble's law | Cosmology | Edwin Hubble |
| Hund's rules | Atomic physics | Friedrich Hund |
| Huygens–Fresnel principle | Optics | Christiaan Huygens and Augustin-Jean Fresnel |
| Joule's laws | Physics | James Joule |
| Jurin's law | Physics | James Jurin |
| Kasha's rule | Photochemistry | Michael Kasha |
| Kepler's laws of planetary motion | Astrophysics | Johannes Kepler |
| Kirchhoff's laws | Electronics, thermodynamics | Gustav Kirchhoff |
| Kopp's law | Thermodynamics | Hermann Franz Moritz Kopp |
| Lagrangian point Lagrange reversion theorem Lagrange polynomial Lagrange's four-square theorem Lagrange's theorem Lagrange's theorem Lagrange invariant Lagrange multiplier See also: List of things named after Joseph-Louis Lagrange | Mathematics, Astrophysics | Joseph-Louis Lagrange |
| Lambert's cosine law | Physics | Johann Heinrich Lambert |
| Lamm equation | Chemistry, Biophysics | Ole Lamm |
| Langmuir equation | Surface Chemistry | Irving Langmuir |
| Laplace transform Laplace's equation Laplace operator Laplace distribution Laplace invariant Laplace expansion Laplace principle Laplace limit See also: List of things named after Pierre-Simon Laplace | Mathematics Physics Probability Theory Statistical mechanics | Pierre-Simon Laplace |
| Le Chatelier's principle | Chemistry | Henri Louis le Chatelier |
| Leibniz's law | Ontology | Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz |
| Lenz's law | Physics | Heinrich Lenz |
| Leonard–Merritt mass estimator | Astrophysics | Peter Leonard, David Merritt |
| l'Hôpital's rule | Mathematics | Guillaume de l'Hôpital |
| Llinás's law | Neuroscience | Rodolfo Llinás |
| Mach principle Mach reflection | Physics | Ernst Mach |
| Marconi's law | Radio technology | Guglielmo Marconi |
| Markovnikov's rule | Organic chemistry | Vladimir Markovnikov |
| Maupertuis's principle | Mathematics | Pierre Louis Maupertuis |
| Maxwell's equations Maxwell relations | Electrodynamics Thermodynamics | James Clerk Maxwell |
| Mendelian inheritance/Mendel's laws | Genetics | Gregor Mendel |
| Metcalfe's law | Network theory | Robert Metcalfe |
| Mikheyev–Smirnov–Wolfenstein effect | Particle physics | Stanislav Mikheyev, Alexei Smirnov, and Lincoln Wolfenstein |
| Milner–Rado paradox | Mathematical logic | Eric Charles Milner and Richard Rado |
| Minkowski's theorem | Number theory | Hermann Minkowski |
| Mitscherlich's law | Crystallography Condensed matter physics | Eilhard Mitscherlich |
| Moore's law | Computing | Gordon Moore |
| Nash embedding theorem Nash equilibrium | Topology Game Theory | John Forbes Nash |
| Nernst equation | Electrochemistry | Walther Nernst |
| Newton's law of cooling Newton's law of universal gravitation Newton's laws of motion See also: List of things named after Isaac Newton | Thermodynamics Astrophysics Mechanics | Isaac Newton |
| Niven's theorem | Mathematics | Ivan Niven |
| Noether's theorem | Theoretical physics | Emmy Noether |
| Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem | Information theory | Harry Nyquist, Claude Elwood Shannon |
| Occam's razor | Philosophy of science | William of Ockham |
| Ohm's law | Electronics | Georg Ohm |
| Osipkov–Merritt model | Astrophysics | Leonid Osipkov, David Merritt |
| Ostwald dilution law | Physical chemistry | Wilhelm Ostwald |
| Paley–Wiener theorem | Mathematics | Raymond Paley and Norbert Wiener |
| Pareto distribution Pareto efficiency Pareto index Pareto principle | Economics | Vilfredo Pareto |
| Pascal's law Pascal's theorem | Physics Geometry | Blaise Pascal |
| Pauli exclusion principle | Quantum mechanics | Wolfgang Pauli |
| Peano axioms | Foundational mathematics | Giuseppe Peano |
| Planck's law | Electromagnetism | Max Planck |
| Poincaré–Bendixson theorem | Mathematics | Henri Poincaré and Ivar Otto Bendixson |
| Poincaré–Birkhoff–Witt theorem | Mathematics | Henri Poincaré, George David Birkhoff, and Ernst Witt |
| Poincaré–Hopf theorem | Mathematics | Henri Poincaré and Heinz Hopf |
| Poincaré recurrence theorem Poincaré conjecture Poincaré lemma See also: List of things named after Henri Poincaré | Mathematics | Henri Poincaré |
| Poiseuille's law | Fluidics | Jean Léonard Marie Poiseuille |
| Poisson distribution Poisson's equation See also: List of things named after Siméon Denis Poisson | Statistics Calculus | Siméon Denis Poisson |
| Price's theorem | Natural selection | George R. Price |
| Ptolemy's theorem | Geometry | Ptolemy |
| Pythagorean theorem | Geometry | Pythagoras |
| Raman scattering | Physics | Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman |
| Rado's theorem | Discrete mathematics | Richard Rado |
| Ramanujan–Nagell equation See also: List of things named after Srinivasa Ramanujan | Mathematics | Srinivasa Ramanujan and Trygve Nagell |
| Raoult's law | Physical chemistry | François-Marie Raoult |
| Riemann zeta function Riemann hypothesis Riemann integral Riemann lemma Riemannian manifold Riemann sphere Riemann theta function See also: List of things named after Bernhard Riemann | Number theory, analysis, geometry | Bernhard Riemann |
| Rolle's theorem | Differential calculus | Michel Rolle |
| Saha ionization equation | Plasma physics | Meghnad Saha |
| Schrödinger equation | Physics | Erwin Schrödinger |
| Sérsic's law | Astrophysics | J. L. Sérsic |
| Snell's law | Optics | Willebrord van Roijen Snell |
| Sokolov–Ternov effect | Particle Physics | Arsenij Sokolov and Igor Ternov |
| Sommerfeld–Kossel displacement law | Spectroscopy | Arnold Sommerfeld and Walther Kossel |
| Stefan–Boltzmann law | Thermodynamics | Jožef Stefan and Ludwig Boltzmann |
| Stokes's law | Fluid mechanics | George Gabriel Stokes |
| Stoletov's law | Photoelectric effect | Aleksandr Stoletov |
| Tarski's undefinability theorem Tarski's axioms See also: List of things named after Alfred Tarski | Mathematical logic, Geometry | Alfred Tarski |
| Thales's theorem | Geometry | Thales |
| Titius–Bode law | Astrophysics | Johann Daniel Titius and Johann Elert Bode |
| Torricelli's law | Physics | Evangelista Torricelli |
| Umov effect | Physics | Nikolay Umov |
| Van der Waals equation | Chemistry | Johannes Diderik van der Waals |
| Vlasov equation | Plasma physics | Anatoly Vlasov |
| Von Neumann bicommutant theorem Von Neumann entropy von Neumann paradox Von Neumann ergodic theorem Von Neumann universe Von Neumann neighborhood Von Neumann's trace inequality See also: List of things named after John von Neumann | Mathematics, Quantum mechanics | John von Neumann |
| Weinberg–Witten theorem | Quantum Gravity | Steven Weinberg and Edward Witten |
| Weyl character formula See also: List of things named after Hermann Weyl | Mathematics | Hermann Weyl |
| Wien's law | Physics | Wilhelm Wien |
| Wiener–Khinchin theorem | Mathematics | Norbert Wiener and Aleksandr Khinchin |
| Young–Laplace equation | Fluid dynamics | Thomas Young and Pierre-Simon Laplace |
| Zipf's law | Linguistics | George Kingsley Zipf |