When asked to name a scientist, most people’s first pick is Albert Einstein. Marie Curie, Louis Pasteur and Thomas Edison also come up. But many people can’t name a scientist at all.
When asked to name a living scientist, 72 percent of Americans came up blank in a 2021 survey. Among those who could name one, the top pick was Anthony Fauci, then director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, followed by astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye, a mechanical engineer and host of the 1990s TV show Bill Nye the Science Guy.
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