An Armory of Famous Mathematicians and Scientists

* Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), astronomer and physicist: Or a ladder of three rounds
per pale gules.
        [His tomb in Santa Croce, Florence; also in Rietstap.  His great-grandfather 
was already armiger, as shown on his tomb in the same location.]
* René Descartes (1599-1650), philosopher, mathematician: Argent a saltire sable between four palms vert. [Rietstap. Arms of Descartes de Chavaigne, ennobled 1611, a family to which he belonged.]
* Pierre de Fermat (1601-65), mathematician: a chevron between three alerions, on a chief three mullets of five points. [front page of a 17th c. edition of Diophantus.]
* Blaise Pascal (1623-62), mathematician, philosopher: Azure a Paschal lamb argent 
holding a pennon of the last thereon a cross gules, and in chief dexter a five-pointed
star or.
        [Jougla de Morenas]
* Joseph-Louis Lagrange (1736-1833), mathematician: sable an equilateral triangle voided
or, beneath a crescent argent.
        [Révérend.  Count 1808.]
* Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743-93), chemist: Azure on a chevron argent between two 
five-pointed stars in chief and a lion rampant in base argent, three ermine spots sable.
        [Rietstap supplement, III p. 140.  His ex-libris is shown, with lions as supporters
         and a count's coronet.]

* Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827), geometrician, astronomer: Azure the two planets
Jupiter and Saturn with their satellites and ring in natural order, all argent, in fess, 
in chief dexter a sun and in chief sinister a flower with five branches or; canton of 
counts-senators.
        [Révérend.  Made count by Napoleon in 1808, marquis by Louis XVIII in 1817.]

* Claude-Louis Berthollet (1748-1822), chemist, participated in the Egyptian
expedition of 1798: per fess, 1: per pale Azure a chemistry apparatus argent and Gules
an ibis or, 2: Gules a greyhound rampant or.
        [Rietstap]
* Gaspard Monge (1748-1818), mathematician, founder of the École Polytechnique: Or a palm-tree on a terrace vert, on a canton azure a mirror or thereon entwined and gazing a serpent argent (canton of counts-senators). [Révérend. Made comte de Péluse (an archaeological site in Egypt) by Napoleon in 1808.]
* Adrien-Marie Legendre (1752-1833), mathematician: Per pale: 1, azure on a rock issuant 
from a sea a tower embattled of five pieces, all argent; thereon a "fanal" argent allume 
gueules; 2, sable a terrestrial globe beneath a hand holding a compass and measuring,
all or.
        [Révérend.  Made knight of the Empire by Napoleon, 1811.  The second quarter
         alludes to the measurements of the meridian.]
* Joseph Fourier (1768-1830), mathematician: Per fess, I. per pale Azure a fess argent 
and Gules a wall embattled beneath an oak branch argent; II. Argent a bend sinister
chequy azure and or between two roosters azure.
        [Jougla de Morenas.  Made baron 1810.]
* Amedeo Avogadro (1776-1856), chemist and physicist, gave his name to the
number 6.022*10E23: Gules 23 bezants, 5, 4, 5, 4, 3, and 2.
	[Rietstap]
* Augustin Cauchy (1789-1863), mathematician: Argent a tower thereon a rooster azure.
        [Révérend.  His father was made knight by Napoleon in 1808, and ennobled 1825.]
* Sadi Carnot (1796-1832), physicist: Azure three ducks and a five-pointed star in chief
argent.
        [Jougla de Morenas. Arms used by his family, including Lazare Carnot and the President 
         of the Republic.]
* Wilhelm-Gottfried Leibnitz (1646-1716), philosopher, mathematician: quarterly
a stock (chicot) and a lion rampant.
        [frontispiece of the Theodicea, Amsterdam edition, 1723.  Rietstap states
        that Leibnitz was made baron in Hannover in 1711, and that the tinctures of
        the arms are unknown.]
* Emil von Behring (1854-1917), physician and Nobel laureate: checky 
sable and argent, a snake vert twined around a dagger gules, point down. 
On the helm a coronet, up from this dagger and snake as in the shield 
between two wings checky.
        [Klaus K]

* Carolus Linnæus (Carl von Linné, 1707-78):  

arms of Linnaeus
Source: Uppsala Universitet

The charge at the center is an egg, all living things come from an egg. The crest shows a Linnaea borealis, a small, pinkish-white bell-shaped flower that Linnaeus discovered on his first expedition, to Lapland in 1734. He was ennobled by letter patent from King Adolf Fredrik of Sweden 7th April 1757. He did not, however take his seat in the Swedish House of Nobility until 1776, only a little more than one year before his death on 10th January 1778. [Jan Bohme] * The Russian noble family Mendelejev, including the famous chemist Dimitrij Mendelejev (1834-1907): quarterly, 1st and 4th field gules, an ironclad arm proper holding a sword argent, issuing from a cloud argent. 2nd and 3rd field: vert, a horseshoe below a stirrup with a red ribbon(?), all argent. In the center of this another shield: azure, a cross patonce or between (above) three stars of five points and (below) a crescent, all argent. On the helm a coronet, up from that three white ostrich feathers. Supporters: two lions rampant regardant or, standing on a green, grassy mound. [Klaus K] * Niels Bohr (1885-1962): knighted in 1947 for "outstanding achievements in science and important contributions to Danish cultural life". He received the Order of the Elephant, an extremely prestigious award (he was the last to receive it who was not a royal or a head of state). Arms: Argent a t'ai chi gules and azure. The motto is "Contraria sunt complementa". [Jeremy Daniel Buhler, citing Fritjof Capra's "The Tao of Physics".] * The marquis lineage Marconi, including the physicist Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937): under a capo d'angio party per pale azure and argent, two lions rampant counter changed facing each other. In the centre of the shield a fleur-de-lis or. On the helm a marquis' coronet, no crest. [Klaus K] * Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, a.k.a. Paracelsus (1493-1541): Argent, an inescutcheon surrounded by eight crosses formy cooped sable. The inescutcheon: or, a bend sinister azure charged with 3 roundels argent. Or maybe it is a very broad bordure. On the helm a hat, or with bend and roundels as in the shield, topped with some sort of feathers, I think, There are six of them, and they are black. [Klaus K] * Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727): Sable, two shin bones in saltire argent. [A. Wagner]

* Frederick-William Herschel (1738-1822), astronomer, discoverer of Uranus: Argent on a mount vert a representation of the 40 feet reflecting telescope with its apparatus, directed to sinister, all proper, on a chief azure the astronomical symbol of Uranus irradiated or. Crest: a demi terrestrial sphere proper thereon an eagle wings elevated or. Motto: Coelis exploratis. [Burke. His son was made baronet in 1838.] * Charles Darwin (1809-82), naturalist: Argent, on a bend gules cottised vert, between two mullets each within an annulet gules three escallops or. [A. Wagner; Fox-Davies, Armorial Families] * Lord Kelvin of Largs (William Thomson, 1824-1907): Argent, a stag's head cabossed gules, on a chief azure a thunderbolt proper winged or between two spur revels of the first. [A. Wagner] * Lord Lister of Lyme (Joseph Lister, 1827-1912): Ermine, on a fess invected sable three mullets of six points argent, in chief a staff erect entwined by a serpent proper. [A. Wagner] * Lord Rutherford of Nelson (Ernest Rutherford, 1871-1937): Per saltire arched gules and or, two inescutcheons voided of the first in fess, within each a martlet sable. [A. Wagner]