Augustin Fresnel, Stay focused (1788-1827, Year of Entry: 1804)

With a keen passion for optics, Augustin Fresnel became interested in the behavior of light as a wave, refuting Newton’s theories and heralding one of the major conceptual difficulties of quantum physics in the future. And on the practical side of things, he designed a new type of lens that continues to be used in lighthouses to this day.