Originally posted by amolv06I agree with you. It is Newton.
[b]Long version: I got into a friendly argument with a fellow student the other day about who the most influential scientist of all time was. My thought was Isaac Newton. He said Michael Faraday. We debated this for around an hour, went off on many tangents, and learned a few things I think. This process was interesting enough that I would like to co ...[text shortened]... time is, considering only his/her contribution to science, and not necessarily society at large?[/b]
Originally posted by KazetNagorraBut could Newton have done what he did without his scientific predecessors, I doubt it...So it could be argued that the most brilliant scientist was the first scientist..whoever that was.
I would say Newton. He laid the foundation of modern physics, basically.
Originally posted by joe shmoEarly Microbiologists
But could Newton have done what he did without his scientific predecessors, I doubt it...So it could be argued that the most brilliant scientist was the first scientist..whoever that was.
Originally posted by joe shmoBefore Newton was Galileo, but you could do that endlessly. Everybody builds on other peoples work at some point. You could go back to ancient Greece. I guess you could say they are all influential, but you have to pick one.
But could Newton have done what he did without his scientific predecessors, I doubt it...So it could be argued that the most brilliant scientist was the first scientist..whoever that was.
Originally posted by Metal BrainI think the first and possibly most important for the legacy he left was in ancient Egypt:
Before Newton was Galileo, but you could do that endlessly. Everybody builds on other peoples work at some point. You could go back to ancient Greece. I guess you could say they are all influential, but you have to pick one.
Originally posted by Metal BrainI would argue that unless the "compared" are of the same time, the comparison is meaningless.
Before Newton was Galileo, but you could do that endlessly. Everybody builds on other peoples work at some point. You could go back to ancient Greece. I guess you could say they are all influential, but you have to pick one.
Originally posted by sonhouseExcept he is only the first person on record to do a given thing. But who is to say he was the first, and who is to say what he did was more important than what others did?
Except when there is a real first person to do something, like my Imhotep.
Originally posted by joe shmoBut Newton made some really big steps. Of course he couldn't have made his discoveries without the invention of fire, agriculture or the wheel, but is it really relevant to regress so far back?
But could Newton have done what he did without his scientific predecessors, I doubt it...So it could be argued that the most brilliant scientist was the first scientist..whoever that was.
Originally posted by KazetNagorraSure it's relevant. Without the wheel, kiss it all goodbye.
But Newton made some really big steps. Of course he couldn't have made his discoveries without the invention of fire, agriculture or the wheel, but is it really relevant to regress so far back?
Originally posted by KazetNagorraI feel its relevant, you don't have to...
But Newton made some really big steps. Of course he couldn't have made his discoveries without the invention of fire, agriculture or the wheel, but is it really relevant to regress so far back?
Originally posted by joe shmoThe thing is, as far as we know, no single person made that leap. It was gradually evolved from iconic pictures, which were evolved from cave paintings, which were evolved from smudges of coloured earth. All this went gradually, in many places, over the course of centuries and millennia.
I would argue that the leap someone made to make the first written language is comparable to Newton inventing his language (calculus)...but who is credited with that? We don't know?
Originally posted by Shallow Bluebut all science now will be but a "smuge of color on the earth" when compared with the science of the future ( pending progression )
The thing is, as far as we know, no single person made that leap. It was gradually evolved from iconic pictures, which were evolved from cave paintings, which were evolved from smudges of coloured earth. All this went gradually, in many places, over the course of centuries and millennia.
Newton, OTOH, did make some giant advances all by himself. Standi ...[text shortened]... ety that Newton had. Of course, Newton has the temporal advantage by a few centuries.
Richard