17-02-2003 10:21									#1
	Who is the greatest scientist in the last 500 years? Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

My vote goes to Charles Darwin by how he utterly changed the perceptions of ourselves from a divine creation to the result of evolution, and he ticked off Creationists for the past 144 years.

	17-02-2003 10:24									#2
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Sir John Harrington.

	17-02-2003 10:26									#3
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Galileo Galelei.. eh screw spelling...

	17-02-2003 10:27									#4
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Unfortunatley Darwin's Theory was used and abused as justification for empire and subjugation of the "savages".

	17-02-2003 10:31									#5
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In all seriousness, the award goes to Victor Theremin.

	17-02-2003 10:34									#6
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Either Newton or Einstein.

In terms of genius and advancement of pure scientific understanding, there's nobody else in the last 500 years that even comes close.

	17-02-2003 10:45									#7
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I'll agree with Einstein and Newton.

	17-02-2003 10:46									#8
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Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night.
God said, "Let Newton Be!", and all was light.

	17-02-2003 10:47									#9
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I'll go with Newton and Einstein at the top, with Maxwell, Feynman, and Galileo at a secondary level.

	17-02-2003 10:55									#10
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Don't forget Copernicus.

	17-02-2003 11:04									#11
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quote: Originally posted by Ramo I'll go with Newton and Einstein at the top, with Maxwell, Feynman, and Galileo at a secondary level.

I agree. That second tier is pretty big for me. Includes a bunch of 18th century chemists, 19th century biologists (Darwin, Mendel) and 20th century physicists.

quote: Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night. God said, "Let Newton Be!", and all was light.

Of course. I can't remember who originally wrote that right now...

Newton's work seem more "obvious" to us nowadays than Einstein's, and it's thus easy to overlook it. But to look at it and realise that before Newton there was absolutely nothing of comparable significance to just basic science, and then realise that Newton just pulled all this stuff out of his ass gives me enormous respect for the man.

1) Kinetics
2) Half credit for calculus
3) Universal Gravitation. Holy crap. To look at the motion of the planets, realise that it has to do with the same force that holds us to the ground, and then deduce the law this must obey to give rise to the observed data...

	17-02-2003 11:06									#12
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Not to mention his second tier discoveries like optics...

	17-02-2003 11:07									#13
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Greatest would definitely be one of Einstein or Newton.

Turing is understated, though.

	17-02-2003 11:08									#14
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quote: Originally posted by Frogger 3) Universal Gravitation. Holy crap. To look at the motion of the planets, realise that it has to do with the same force that holds us to the ground, and then deduce the law this must obey to give rise to the observed data...

I didn't pay attention to history class and physics class when they were talking about scientists but wasnt that kepler?

	17-02-2003 11:08									#15
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How about Tesla? He's highly underrated as well.

	17-02-2003 11:09									#16
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I vote for Galileo Galilei.

	17-02-2003 11:11									#17
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quote: Originally posted by monkspider How about Tesla? He's highly underrated as well.

causes he's a psycho

	17-02-2003 11:11									#18
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As for Einstein, if he was "just" special relativity, brownian motion, photoeffect (what won him his Nobel), some stat mech stuff anda few other things then he wouldn't rank with Newton.

But GR blows my mind. He was the first of a new breed of physicists who realised that they needed more math than calculus to do physics.

Apparently in his day physicists didn't even do linear algebra. He had to sit down and learn tensors, then realise that they were actually applicable.

IMO, in addition to completely altering our perception of gravitation and space/time this also made the formalisation of the quantum revolution a lot easier...

	17-02-2003 11:12									#19
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quote: Originally posted by Calc II I didn't pay attention to history class and physics class when they were talking about scientists but wasnt that kepler?

No, wha Kepler did was to deduce the fact that planets moved in ellipses. He had no idea why.

	17-02-2003 11:15									#20
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quote: Originally posted by Propaganda Sir John Harrington.

Come on, this man is the father of the flush toilet.

	17-02-2003 11:15									#21
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Kepler did a lot of grunt work on actual calculations. He deserves an A for hard work and a B for inspiration.

It took him 10 years (!) to work through the calculations he needed to prove the validity of his laws. But those calculations were just classical geometry and trig...

	17-02-2003 11:19									#22
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Definitely Einstein and Newton in tier 1. I'll leave beyond that for the philosophes.

	17-02-2003 11:20									#23
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Gordon Moore is absolutely #1!

	17-02-2003 11:21									#24
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quote: Kepler did a lot of grunt work on actual calculations. He deserves an A for hard work and a B for inspiration. It took him 10 years (!) to work through the calculations he needed to prove the validity of his laws. But those calculations were just classical geometry and trig...

Yep, and without Kepler's work, Newton wouldn't have gone too far. He had an interesting life too. His mother was once accused of witchcraft, and he had to learn law to defend her. Besides maybe Feynman or Einstein, he's the physicist I'd have most liked to meet. Newton, of course, was a total bastard.

	17-02-2003 11:23									#25
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meeting Einstein would be a blast. Some stories I hear of him.... He is defintely quirky

	17-02-2003 11:24									#26
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Can't I see correctly, or hasn't anyone yet mentioned stephen hawkins?

	17-02-2003 11:26									#27
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"Of course. I can't remember who originally wrote that right now..."

Alexander Pope.

	17-02-2003 11:28									#28
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quote: Originally posted by Ramo Yep, and without Kepler's work, Newton wouldn't have gone too far. He had an interesting life too. His mother was once accused of witchcraft, and he had to learn law to defend her. Besides maybe Feynman or Einstein, he's the physicist I'd have most liked to meet. Newton, of course, was a total bastard.

Sure...but Kepler didn't have it in him to do what Newton did. Otherwise he'd have done it.

And even without universal gravitation, Newton presents a pretty impressive CV. I would definitely have liked to meet the old codger, though. And told him that 400 years later his attempts at character assassination hadn't worked and Leibniz was still getting half credit.

	17-02-2003 11:32									#29
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Ronald Reagan. USA all the way! YEAH!

	17-02-2003 16:04									#30
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quote: Originally posted by Frogger In terms of genius and advancement of pure scientific understanding, there's nobody else in the last 500 years that even comes close.

Disagree.

"Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution," contended Theodosius Dobzhansky.

I rekcon it is Darwin, for an entirely new way of thinking.