The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word CURIE
C
U
R
I
E
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Name of distinguished scientists" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case name of distinguished scientists = curie.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does CURIE mean?
CURIE noun- 3.7×1010 decays per second, as a unit of radioactivity. Symbol Ci.