What living scientists do you consider heroes?

I'm curious to see what scientists the community here holds us. I'm looking specifically for scientists currently working today, not necessarily the historical giants.

I'll add mine: The work of Laurent Ballesta and others studying shark interactions is fascinating to me. His work really underscores how little we understand of the natural world around us, and how stereotypes of a species are often very wrong.

Jennifer Doudna [1] for sure, both for CRISPR and for her stance on the ethical use of it. [2]

[1] https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/faculty/jennifer-doudna

[2] https://www.hmhbooks.com/shop/books/A-Crack-in-Creation/9780...

All of them, except those compromising their integrity or bending their results to please the money providers

Donald Knuth and Ed Boyden

https://www.edboyden.com/

He has so many incredible contributions, it's difficult to understate his impact

First name that comes to mind overall: Neil deGrasse Tyson. Nerds should understand that having great communication skills is paramount. IMHO he's better than Carl Sagan, exactly because of his communication skills.

Donald Knuth. First Computer Scientist that comes to mind.

Bonus: there's a chance Alan Turing could still be alive today and had advanced Computer Science much more if it weren't for stupid homophobia and distorted religion shit.

I don't know about heroism, but Sam Harris has my utmost respect.