9 most outstanding scientific figures in 2012

Former astronaut Neil Armstrong , who first set foot on the moon. He died in August due to complications of heart surgery. (Photo: NASA)

Professor Peter Higgs , an English physicist. He was the first to propose the hypothesis of the existence of the Higgs particle, which gives mass to matter. In July, physicists from the European Atomic Research Organization announced that they had discovered a particle with the same characteristics as the Higgs. (Photo: Guardian)

Felix Baumgartner , 43, performed a historic jump in the southeastern New Mexico desert, USA on October 14 at GMT (1 am October 15, Hanoi time). With that jump, Baumgartner became the first person in the world to move faster than the vertical speed of sound in the atmosphere and also the first to jump from a height of 39km. (Photo: AP)

James Cameron , a famous director in the US, has dived into the deepest world in the Pacific Mariana trench on March 24. Along with the special submarine, he dived to a depth of 11 km from the water. The train moved to the deepest place after 2 hours and 36 minutes. Director Cameron has been down there for 6 hours collecting specimens. (Photo: AP)

Physical King Stephen Hawking is one of the scientists who received Yuri Milner's Basic Physics Prize, a Russian billionaire, for his work on black holes. (Photo: PA)

Liu Yang (who sat in a chair), the first female Chinese astronaut to fly into space in June 2012. She and two male colleagues entered the Thien Cung 1 module in orbit. (Photo: Xinhua)

Bernando de Bernardinis (left), a former deputy director of the Italian Civil Protection Agency, and six prisoner earthquake experts for failing to predict a massive earthquake in Italy's L'Aquila city in 2009. The earthquake left 308 people dead. (Photo: aquilatv.it)

Patrick Moore , the famous British television host in astronomy, died in December at the age of 89. He taught himself to be an astronomer. (Photo: Radio Times)