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The Great Scientist is a type of Great Person in Civilization VI dedicated to the advancement of science and technology. Each Great Scientist has a unique ability which may be activated at least once, granting its owner a potentially game-changing bonus. Locations suitable for activation will vary wildly, depending on the particular ability of the Great Scientist; they may be a particular
District, or even some feature in the open world.
Earning Great Scientists[]
Great Scientists may be claimed by any player who has earned enough Great Scientist points. Campuses and their replacements generate +1
Great Scientist point per turn, +2 more if the city has built the Oracle, and provide an additional point for each building completed in that district. (For example, a Campus with a Library, University, and Research Lab would generate +4
Great Scientist points per turn.) Further points may also be earned by completing the Campus Research Grants project in a city with a Campus. Players who do not have enough points may patronize a Scientist by paying the difference using
Faith or
Gold.
Several wonders also provide Great Scientist points. The Great Library provides +1
Great Scientist point, the University of Sankore provides +2
Great Scientist points, Oxford University provides +3
Great Scientist points, and the Amundsen-Scott Research Station provides +5
Great Scientist points every turn.

Players can also increase their Great Scientist point yields by using the Inspiration policy card, which generates +2
Great Scientist points per turn. Once the player completes the Nuclear Program civic, the Inspiration card is replaced with the Nobel Prize policy card, which generates +4
Great Scientist points per turn. In Gathering Storm, this card is replaced with Science Foundations, and it provides +2
Great Scientist points for every University owned and +4 for every Research Lab owned, as well as Great Engineer points.
The Divine Spark pantheon bonus and the Stockholm Suzerain bonus (or Bologna in Gathering Storm) both increase the number of Great Scientist points generated from each Campus by +1. (Note that in Rise and Fall, Stockholm's bonus is only active if the Campus has a completed Library building.)
All Great Scientist point yields are doubled if Pingala with the Grants title is in the city.
Great Scientists[]
Name | Era | Bonus |
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Zhang Heng[1] | Classical | Triggers the ![]() |
Aryabhata | Classical | Triggers the ![]() |
Euclid | Classical | Triggers the ![]() |
Hypatia | Classical | Libraries provide +1 ![]() |
Abu Al-Qasim Al-Zahrawi | Medieval | Active: Triggers the ![]() Passive: +20 HP Healing for all units within one tile. |
Hildegard of Bingen | Medieval | Gain 100 ![]() ![]() |
Omar Khayyam | Medieval | Triggers the ![]() ![]() |
Ibn Khaldun[1] | Renaissance | Chosen Campus gains 2 ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Emilie Du Chatelet | Renaissance | Triggers the ![]() |
Galileo Galilei | Renaissance | Gain 250 ![]() |
Isaac Newton | Renaissance | Instantly builds a Library and a University in this district. Universities provide +2 ![]() |
Charles Darwin | Industrial | Gain 500 ![]() |
Dmitri Mendeleev | Industrial | Triggers the ![]() |
James Young | Industrial | Triggers the ![]() ![]() |
Alan Turing | Modern | Triggers the ![]() |
Albert Einstein | Modern | Triggers the ![]() ![]() |
Alfred Nobel | Modern | Triggers one random ![]() ![]() |
Erwin Schrödinger | Atomic | Triggers the ![]() |
Janaki Ammal | Atomic | Gain 400 ![]() |
Mary Leakey | Atomic | Gain 350 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Margaret Mead[1] | Atomic | Gain 1000 ![]() ![]() |
Carl Sagan | Information | Provides 3000 ![]() |
Stephanie Kwolek | Information | +100% ![]() |
Abdus Salam | Information | Triggers the ![]() |
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Available with the Babylon Pack DLC.
Scenario-specific Great Scientists[]
Jadwiga's Legacy[]
Strategy[]
Unsurprisingly, Great Scientists' abilities are focused primarily on technological advancement. Most of them trigger Eurekas for technologies from their respective era and/or the next one. Some, however, improve the working of
Science-related buildings, and/or build these instantly (so, try to use them in Campuses which don't yet have the relevant buildings). Furthermore, some Great Scientists provide lump sums of
Science when activated next to certain terrain features, requiring you to explore the world and physically bring the Scientist there!
End-game Great Scientists help rush Space Race projects, which may determine whether or not a player is able to complete a Science Victory.
Civilopedia entry[]
Great scientists try to offer innovative and insightful notions of how the world does work … as opposed to philosophers and prophets who offer thoughts on how the world should work. In some cases, the lines between these – especially as the notion of directed mutagenesis, quantum physics, asymptotic math, and other theoretical constructs take hold – can be very thin indeed. One of mankind’s best, or worst, attributes is curiosity, and this is something great scientists have in plenty. They pry into everything natural and unnatural, and the results of their “scientific method” can be a boon or a curse, and often both, to their fellows. Despite the academic arcade that issues advanced degrees in every scientific cul-de-sac possible and the monolithic corporate research institutes (for these days science is a lucrative business), there is still room for the occasional great scientist to come along and change everything yet again.
Related achievements[]
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Man on the Moon
Win a regular game with a Science victory on any difficulty with any leader with a captured Egyptian city -- having also activated Newton and Darwin
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The Origin of Species
Activate Darwin adjacent to the Galapagos Islands
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Civilization VI Great People [edit] |
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Artist • Admiral • Engineer • General • Comandante General1 • Merchant • Musician • Prophet • Scientist • Writer |
Great Works |
Great Scientists |
Abdus Salam • Abu Al-Qasim Al-Zahrawi • Alan Turing • Albert Einstein • Alfred Nobel • Aryabhata • Carl Sagan • Charles Darwin • Dmitri Mendeleev • Emilie Du Chatelet • Erwin Schrödinger • Euclid • Galileo Galilei • Hildegard of Bingen • Hypatia • Ibn Khaldun1 • Isaac Newton • James Young • Janaki Ammal • Margaret Mead1 • Mary Leakey • Omar Khayyam • Stephanie Kwolek • Zhang Heng1 |
1 Requires a DLC
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