Eponyms: P
~~~~~ P ~~~~~
| paean, peony | Apollo (title, Paion), god of healing and physician of the gods in Greek mythology |
| Palladian | Andrea Palladio (1508-80), Italian architect |
| palladium | Wooden statue of the Greek goddess Pallas Athene |
| pander | Pandarus, character in poem Filostrato by the Italian Giovanni Boccaccio |
| Pandora’s box | Pandora (‘all gifts’), in Greek mythology, the Greek Eve, the first woman |
| panic | Pan, Greek god of woods, shepherds and flocks |
| pantaloons/pants | San Pantaleone, 4th century Venetian physician and saint |
| Pap test (or smear) | George Nicholas Papanicolaou (1883-1962), Greek-born American anatomist |
| Pareto principle | Vilfredo Frederico Pareto (1848-1923), Italian economist and sociologist |
| Parkinson’s disease | James Parkinson (1755-1824), British physician |
| Parkinson’s law | Cyril Northcote Parkinson (b.1909), English historian and author |
| pascal | Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), French mathematician |
| pasteurise | Louise Pasteur (1822-95), French chemist and bacteriologist |
| Pauling scale | Linus Carl Pauling (1901-94), American physical chemist |
| pavlova | Anna Pavlova (1885-1931), Russian ballerina |
| Pavlovian | Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936), Russian physiologist |
| Peach Melba | Dame Nellie Melba (1861-1931), Australian soprano |
| pecksniffian | Seth Pecksniff, character in novel Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-4) by Charles Dickens |
| Pennsylvania | Sir William Penn (1621-70), British admiral |
| Peter principle | Dr Laurence J. Peter (b.1919), Canadian educator |
| petersham | Charles Stanhope, Viscount Petersham, 4th Earl of Harrington (1780-1851), English army officer |
| Petrarchan sonnet | Petrarch (Italian name, Francesco Petrarca; 1304-74), Italian poet |
| Petri dish | Julius Petri (1852-1921), German bacteriologist |
| pinchbeck | Christopher Pinchbeck (c.1670-1732), English watchmaker |
| Planck’s constant | Max K. E. L. Planck (1858-1947), German physicist |
| platonic | Plato (c.427-347BC), Greek philosopher |
| Plinean eruption | Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus) (c. A.D.23-A.D.79), Roman naturalist |
| Plimsoll line, plimsoll | Samuel Plimsoll (1824-98), English shipping reform leader |
| poinsettia | Noel Roberts Poinsett (1779-151), American diplomat |
| poise | J. L. M. Poiseuille (1799-1869), French physician |
| pompadour | Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise De Pompadour (1721-64), French aristocrat |
| poncelet | Jean Victor Pocelet (1788-1867), French mathematician |
| Ponzi Scheme | Carlo Ponzi (1882-1949), Italian-born American swindler |
| praline | César de Choiseul, Count Plessis-Praslin (1598-1675), French field marshal |
| Pre-Raphaelite | Raphael (original name Raffaello Santi; 1483-1520), Italian painter |
| Procrustean | Procrustes, robber in Greek mythology |
| Promethean | Prometheus, demigod in Greek mythology |
| protean | Proteus, sea god in Greek mythology |
| Pulitzer prize | Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911), Hungarian-born US newspaper publisher |
| Pullman | George Mortimer Pullman (1831-97), American inventor |
| pyrrhic victory | Pyrrhus (c.318-272 BC), king of Epirus |
| Pythagoras’s theorem | Pythagoras (c569-c575BC), Greek philosopher and mathematician |
| python | Python, monstrous serpent in Greek mythology |
| pythonesque | In the comic fashion of the British TV show, Monty Python’s Flying CircusPython, monstrous serpent in Greek mythology |