People known as the father or mother of something

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Revisions and Citing sources additions are welcome; please only include historical figures. The following is a list of significant men and women known in history for being the father, mother, or considered the founders of something, listed by category. In some fields the title of being the "father" is debatable.

Sciences

Branches

Subject	Father / Mother of ...	Reason
Acoustics	Ernst Chladni	For important research in vibrating plates
Neuroscience	Santiago Ramón y Cajal (founder)	For his formation of neuron doctrine
Aerodynamics	George Cayley (founder)	Investigated theoretical aspects of flight and experimented with flight a century before the first airplane was built
Astronomy (modern)	Nicolaus Copernicus	Developed the first explicit heliocentric model in De revolutionibus orbium coelestium
Bacteriology	Robert Koch, Ferdinand Cohn, Louis Pasteur (founders)	For their studies and scientific findings on bacteria and algae
Biology	Aristotle
Chemical thermodynamics (modern)	Gilbert Lewis, Willard Gibbs Merle Randall, and Edward Guggenheim (founders)	Books: Thermodynamics and the Free Energy of Chemical Substances (1923) and Modern Thermodynamics by the Methods of Willard Gibbs (1933); because of the major contributions of these two books in unifying the applications of thermodynamics to chemistry
Chemistry (early)	Geber (Jabir ibn Hayyan)	Introduced the experimental method in alchemy (d. 815)
Chemistry (modern)	Antoine Lavoisier Robert Boyle Jöns Berzelius John Dalton (founders)	Book: Elements of Chemistry (1787) Book: The Sceptical Chymist (1661) Development of chemical nomenclature (1800s) Revival of atomic theory (1803)
Circulatory physiology	Ibn al-Nafis	Discovered the pulmonary circulation and the capillary and coronary circulations in the Commentary on Anatomy in Avicenna's Canon (1242)
Classical mechanics	Isaac Newton (founder)	Described laws of motion and law of gravity in Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687)
Economics (early)	Ibn Khaldun	Publication: Muqaddimah (1370)
Economics (modern)	Adam Smith	Publication: The Wealth of Nations (1776)
Energetics	Willard Gibbs	Publication: On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances (1876)
Experimental surgery	Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar)	Introduced experimental method into surgery in his Al-Taisir
Evolution and Natural Selection	Charles DarwinFor providing scientific evidence for evolution via natural selection	Publication: On the Origin of Species
Genetics	Gregor Mendel	For his study of the inheritance of traits in pea plants, which forms the basis for Mendelian inheritance
Geology	James Hutton	For formulating uniformitarianism and the Plutonic theory of thought
Human anatomy (modern)	Vesalius	Book: De humani corporis fabrica (1543)
Information theory	Claude Shannon	Article: A Mathematical Theory of Communication (1948)
Medicine (early)	Imhotep Hippocrates Charaka	Wrote the first medical treatise, the Edwin Smith papyrus. Prescribed practices for physicians through the Hippocratic Oath, establishing the profession. Wrote the Charaka Samhitā and founded the Ayurveda system of medicine.
Medicine (modern)	Avicenna	Introduced experimental medicine and systematic experimentation and quantification in physiology and discovered the contagious nature of infectious diseases in the The Canon of Medicine (1020).
Microbiology	Antonie van Leeuwenhoek	The first to microscopically observe micro-organisms in water and the first to see bacteria
Modern science	Galileo Galilei	For systemic use of experimentation in science and contributions to scientific method, physics, and observational astronomy
Nuclear physics	Ernest Rutherford	Developed the Rutherford atom model (1909)
Optics	Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen)	Correctly explained vision and carried out the first experiments on light and optics in the Book of Optics (1021).
Pediatrics	Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi (Rhazes)	Wrote The Diseases of Children, the first book to deal with pediatrics as an independant field
Plastic surgery	Sushruta	Wrote the Sushruta Samhita
Physical chemistry	Hermann von Helmholtz, Willard Gibbs(founders)	Devised much of the theoretical foundation for physical chemistry through their publications off, On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances(1876), and Thermodynamik chemischer Vorgange(1882)
Physics (modern)	Galileo Galilei	His development and use of experimental physics, e.g. the telescope.
Physiology	Claude Bernard	Publication: An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine (1865)
Quantum mechanics	Max Planck (founder)	Stated that electromagnetic energy could be emitted only in quantized form
Relativity	Albert Einstein(founder)	Pioneered special relativity (1905) and general relativity (1915)
Scientific method	Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen) Francis Bacon	Pioneered an early scientific method in the Book of Optics (1021). For Developing Baconian method in Novum Organum (1620).
Surgery (early)	Sushruta	Wrote the Sushruta Samhita, the first surgical treatise
Surgery (modern)	Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis) Ambroise Paré	Publication: Kitab al-Tasrif (1000). Leader in surgical techniques, especially the treatment of wounds.
Taxonomy	Carolus Linnaeus (founder)	naming of living organisms that became universally accepted in the scientific world
Thermodynamics	Sadi Carnot (founder)	Publication: On the Motive Power of Fire and Machines Fitted to Develop that Power (1824)
Virology	Martinus Beijerinck (founder)	His studies of agricultural microbiology and industrial microbiology yielded fundamental discoveries in the field of biology

Mathematics

Subject	Father / Mother of ...	Reason
Algebra See also Father of Algebra	Brahmagupta, Al-Khwarizmi (Algorismi) Diophantus	Full exposition of solving quadratic equations in The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing. First use of symbolism (syncopation) in the Arithmetica.
Analytic Geometry	René Descartes Pierre de Fermat(founders)	For their independent invention of the Cartesian Coordinate System
Calculus	Isaac Newton Gottfried Leibniz	See Leibniz and Newton calculus controversy.
Classical analysis	Madhava of Sangamagrama	Developed Taylor series expansions of trigonometric functions
Descriptive geometry	Gaspard Monge (founder)	Developed a graphical protocol which creates three-dimensional virtual space on a two-dimensional plane
Geometry	Euclid	Euclid's Elements deduced the principles of Euclidean geometry from a set of axioms.
Non-Euclidean Geometry	János Bolyai, Nikolai Lobachevsky(founders)	Independent development of hyperbolic geometry in which Euclid's fifth postulate is not true
Projective Geometry	Gérard Desargues(founder)	By generalizing the use of vanishing points to include the case when these are infinitely far away
Statistics	Pierre de Fermat, Blaise Pascal,and Christiaan Huygens (founders)	For their development of probability theory, from which arises mathematical statistics
Tensor calculus	Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro (founder)	Book: The Absolute Differential Calculus
Trigonometry	Aryabhatta, Hipparchus	Constructed the first trigonometric table.
Vector algebra, Vector calculus	Willard Gibbs Oliver Heaviside (founders)	For their development and use of vectors in algebra and calculus

Other

Subject	Father / Mother of ...	Reason
Electricity	William Gilbert Michael Faraday Benjamin Franklin Thomas Edison	Book: De Magnete (1600) Discovered electromagnetic induction (1831) Proposed a kite experiment to prove that lightning is electricity (1750) Invented many electrical devices, such as the carbon microphone
Momentum	Avicenna	Described an early concept of momentum.
Periodic table	Dmitri Mendeleev	Arranged sixty-six elements (known at the time) in order of atomic weight by periodic intervals (1869)

Technology

Subject	Father / Mother of ...	Reason
Architecture	Imhotep	Built the first pyramid
Applied Mechanics (modern)	Stephen Timoshenko	Reputed to be the father of modern applied mechanics. Wrote many of the seminal works in this area, many of which are still used today.
Computing	Charles Babbage	Inventor of the Analytical Engine which was never constructed in his lifetime.
Computer	Konrad Zuse Alan Turing John von Neumann John V. Atanasoff	Invented world's first functional program-controlled computer. Was a secret code breaker during WWII and invented the Turing machine (1936) Became "intrigued" with Turing's universal machine and later emphasised the importance of the stored-program concept for electronic computing (1945), including the possibility of allowing the machine to modify its own program in useful ways while running Invented the digital computer in the 1930s
Computer Program	Ada Lovelace	Recognized by historians as the writer of the world's first computer program which was for the Charles Babbage Analytical Engine, but was never complete within either her or his lifetime.
Engineering (modern)	Al-Jazari	Invented devices fundamental to modern engineering, including the crankshaft, connecting rod, reciprocating piston suction pump, valve, combination lock, etc.
Internet	Vinton Cerf Robert E. Kahn
Japanese television	Kenjiro Takayanagi
Pentium microprocessor	Vinod Dham
Perfumery	Al-Kindi (Alkindus)	Founded the perfume industry.
Programmable logic controller	Dick Morley
Radio	Lee De Forest Guglielmo Marconi Jagdish Chandra Bose Nikola Tesla	The research of these pioneers led to the development of the radio
Radio (Radio broadcasting)	Reginald Fessenden David Sarnoff
Radio (FM radio)	Edwin H. Armstrong	Obtained the first FCC license to operate an FM station in Alpine, New Jersey at approximately 50 megahertz (1939)
Robotics	Al-Jazari	Invented the first programmable humanoid robot.
SGML	Charles Goldfarb
Telephone	Antonio Meucci , Alexander Graham Bell	See Invention of the telephone
Television	Philo T. Farnsworth, Vladimir Zworykin,	Co-Inventors of the Electronic Television. Farnsworth invented the Image dissector while Zworykin created the Iconoscope, both fully electronic forms of Television.
World Wide Web	Tim Berners-Lee
XML	Jon Bosak

Humanities

Subject	Father / Mother of ...	Reason
Anthropology	Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī
Demography	Ibn Khaldun	Muqaddimah (Prolegomena) (1377)
Egyptology	Jean-François Champollion
Geodesy	Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī
Grammar	Pāṇini	Wrote the Ashtadhyayi
Historiography	Ibn Khaldun	Muqaddimah (Prolegomena) (1377)
History	Herodotus
History of science	George Sarton	Founded Isis (1912) and wrote Introduction to the History of Science (1927)
Indology	Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī	Wrote the Indica and Critical study of what India says
Informatics	Pāṇini	Wrote the Ashtadhyayi
Linguistics	Pāṇini	Wrote the Ashtadhyayi
Microcredit	Muhammad Yunus	Founded Grameen Bank
Military strategy	Hannibal	Pioneered double envelopement manoeuver at Battle of Cannae
Philosophy of history	Ibn Khaldun	Muqaddimah (Prolegomena) (1377)
Political science (modern)	Niccolò Machiavelli	Discussion of and concern with how people actually behave, as opposed to how people should behave.
Psychoanalysis	Sigmund Freud
Sociology	Ibn Khaldun Auguste Comte	Wrote the first sociological book, the Muqaddimah (Prolegomena). Introduced the scientific method into sociology.

Arts

Subject	Father / Mother of ...	Reason
Bluegrass music	Bill Monroe
Country music	Jimmie Rodgers
Funk	George Clinton (godfather)
Grunge	Kurt Cobain
Television	Sandeep Marwah (Father Of Television Training In India)
Jazz	Buddy Bolden Jelly Roll Morton Theodore August Metz
Soul music	James Brown (godfather)

Sports

Subject	Father / Mother of ...	Reason
Baseball	Henry Chadwick
Karting	Art Ingels	Developed the world's first kart (1956)

Miscellaneous

Subject	Father / Mother of ...	Reason
Yellow school bus	Frank W. Cyr

Green revolution Norman Borlaug

Alphabetic list

Note: These are slowly being converted to category list (and many are being removed).

A

Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
Nikolaj Abraham Abildgaard	Danish painting
Erik Acharius	lichenology
Mikael Agricola	Finnish written language
Peter Artedi	ichthyology
Cyrus Avery	Route 66

B

Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
Mikhail Bakunin	anarchism
Earl Bascom	modern rodeo
Aaron T. Beck	cognitive therapy
William George Beers	lacrosse
Vytautas Beliajus	international folk dance in the United States
Edward Bernays	public relations
Leonardo Bruni	modern history

C

Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
Willis Carrier	air conditioning
Raymond Carhart	audiology
Vint Cerf	Internet
Geoffrey Chaucer	English literature
Noam Chomsky	modern linguistics
Del Close	modern improv comedy
Alan Cooper	Visual Basic
Jonas Chickering	American piano manufacture
Marie Curie	nuclear science

D

Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
Louis Daguerre	photography
Richard Dorson	American folklore

E

Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
Dwight D. Eisenhower	the American Interstate Highway System
William Phelps Eno	traffic safety
Jan van Eyck	oil painting

F

Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
Philo Farnsworth	television
Pierre Fauchard	modern dentistry
Reginald Fessenden	radiotelephony

G

Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
Hugo Gernsback	science fiction magazine
Robert H. Goddard	astronautics
Anthony Norris Groves	faith missions
Gary Gygax	Dungeons & Dragons and role-playing games
Heinz Guderian	Blitzkrieg

H

Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
Albert Hofmann	LSD
Kurt Haertel	European patent law
John Harrison	the marine chronometer
Joseph Haydn	the symphony and the string quartet
Theodor Herzl	Zionism
Earl "Fatha" Hines	modern jazz piano
Homer	Novel Poetry/literature
G. Evelyn Hutchinson	modern limnology
James Hutton	modern geology
Maulvi Abdul Haq	Urdu

I

Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
Kees Immink	Compact Disc

J

Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
John Paul Jones	United States Navy

K

Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
Kirk Kerkorian	Megaresort
Søren Kierkegaard	existentialism
O. Raymond Knight	Canadian rodeo

L

Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
Jack LaLanne	fitness
Ivy Lee	public relations
Vladimir Lenin	the Soviet Union
Justus von Liebig	modern nutrition
Carolus Linnaeus	modern taxonomy
Lucian of Samosata	science fiction
Martin Luther	Protestantism (Lutheranism)

M

Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
Bernarr Macfadden	physical culture
James Madison	the United States Constitution
Harry Markowitz	Modern portfolio theory
Karl Marx	Communism
Matthew Fontaine Maury	modern naval oceanography and meteorology

N

Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
Robert Napier	Clyde shipbuilding
Thomas Nast	the American political cartoon
Necessity	Invention
Nicéphore Niépce	photography
Florence Nightingale	Nursing (modern)

O

Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
Francis Ohanyido	African Neo-Renaissance
Hermann Oberth	astronautics
Robert Oppenheimer	the atomic bomb

P

Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
Frank Pantridge	emergency medicine
Lester B. Pearson	UN peacekeeping
Linus Pauling	molecular biology
Paracelsus	toxicology
Petrarch	humanism

R

Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
Ma Rainey	the blues
David Ricardo	communism
Hyman G. Rickover	the "atomic" submarine and "nuclear navy"
Charles S. Roberts	wargaming
Jimmie Rodgers	country music
Benjamin Rush	American Psychiatry
Ernest Rutherford	nuclear physics

S

Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
Andrei Sakharov	the Soviet Union's hydrogen bomb
Italo Santelli	modern sabre fencing
Erik Satie	ambient music
Thomas Say	entomology in North America
Moritz Schlick	Logical positivism
J. Marion Sims	gynaecology
George C. Stoney	public access television
Hubertus Strughold	space medicine
Leó Szilárd	the atomic bomb

T

Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
William Henry Fox Talbot	photography
Edward Teller	the hydrogen bomb
LaMarcus Adna Thompson	"gravity" (the rollercoaster)
J. R. R. Tolkien	modern fantasy literature
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky	cosmonautics
Tsunekazu Ishihara	Pokémon
Mark Twain	American literature

V

Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
Jules Verne	science fiction

W

Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
Alice Waters	California cuisine
Muddy Waters	Chicago blues / electric blues
John B. Watson	Behaviorism
Thomas Wedgwood	photography
H.G. Wells	science fiction
H.G. Wells	miniature wargaming
John Wesley	Methodism
Frank Whittle	the jet engine
Mary Wollstonecraft	feminism
Norbert Wiener	cybernetics
Steve Wozniak	the personal computer
Wilhelm Wundt	modern psychology

Y

Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
Mike Yurosek	the baby carrot

Z

References

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Name	Father / Mother of ...	Sources
Vladimir Zworykin	Television	,