Valério, DuarteMachado, J. A. TenreiroKiryakova, Virginia2015-01-282015-01-2820141311-04541314-2224http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/5491In the last decades fractional calculus (FC) became an area of intensive research and development. This paper goes back and recalls important pioneers that started to apply FC to scientific and engineering problems during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Those we present are, in alphabetical order: Niels Abel, Kenneth and Robert Cole, Andrew Gemant, Andrey N. Gerasimov, Oliver Heaviside, Paul Lévy, Rashid Sh. Nigmatullin, Yuri N. Rabotnov, George Scott Blair.porPrimary 26A33Secondary 01A55,01A60, 34A08Fractional calculusApplicationsPioneersAbelColeGemantGerasimovHeavisideLévyNigmatullinRabotnovScott Blairjournal article10.2478/s13540-014-0185-1