Peter Higgs and Francois Englert were the physicists who were instrumental in the discovery of the "God particle" that won the Nobel for Physics. Their names were finally hailed by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Tuesday after waiting for 50 years. It may be long to get the Nobel but they eventually had it.

Some iconic physicists despite being talented did not get the chance to get the Nobel. They may no longer be eligible to receive the most prestigious award in Science as they have passed away. Tom Siegfried names some of these physicists on ScienceNews in his blog published on Oct. 7.

John Archibald Wheeler

Wheeler was known for popularizing the concept of "black hole." He was a leading figure who established the relevance of astrophysics. The authentic existence of the "black hole" was proved in 1990s. The American theoretical physicist was responsible for revitalizing attention in general relativity in the country after World War II. He died in 2008.

David Schramm

Schramm pioneered the understanding of formation of light chemical components in the Big Bang theory. Eventually, this was applied to understanding the universe. He was one of the first scientists to study the Big Bang nucleosynthesis where contributed significantly to the study of supernova explosions, heavy-element nucleosynthesis and cosmic rays. He died in a plane crash in 1997.

Rolf Landauer

Landauer led the "Landauer's principle," which is the foundation of modern physics of computing. This principle states that energy is consumed by deletion of data in computational process. He made significant contributions in the conductivity of disordered media, condensed matter physics and thermodynamics of information processing. Although he was awarded the Oliver Buckley Prize of the American Physical Society, the Stuart Ballantine Medal of the Franklin Institute and the IEEE Edison Medal, he did not get the Nobel. He passed away in 1999.