Albert Einstein may have made the discoveries that led to nuclear and solar power, lasers and even a physical description of space and time, but Sir Isaac Newton had a greater impact on science and mankind, according to a poll published Wednesday.
Posted on 11/23/2005 6:04:12 PM PST by PatrickHenry
Newton, the 17th-century English scientist most famous for describing the laws of gravity and motion, beat Einstein in two polls conducted by eminent London-based scientific academy, the Royal Society.
More than 1,300 members of the public and 345 Royal Society scientists were asked separately which famous scientist made a bigger overall contribution to science, given the state of knowledge during his time, and which made a bigger positive contribution to humankind.
Newton was the winner on all counts, though he beat the German-born Einstein by only 0.2 of a percentage point (50.1 percent to 49.9 percent) in the public poll on who made the bigger contribution to mankind.
The margin was greater among scientists: 60.9 percent for Newton and 39.1 percent for Einstein.
The results were announced ahead of the "Einstein vs. Newton" debate, a public lecture at the Royal Society on Wednesday evening.
"Many people would say that comparing Newton and Einstein is like comparing apples and oranges, but what really matters is that people are appreciating the huge amount that both these physicists achieved, and that their impact on the world stretched far beyond the laboratory and the equation," said Royal Society president Lord Peter May.
Pro-Newton scientists argue he led the transition from an era of superstition and dogma to the modern scientific method.
His greatest work, the "Principia Mathematica", showed that gravity was a universal force that applied to all objects in the universe, finally ruling out the belief that the laws of motion were different for objects on Earth and in the heavens.
Einstein's supporters point out that his celebrated theory of relativity disproved Newton's beliefs on space and time and led to theories about the creation of the universe, black holes and parallel universes.
He also proved mathematically that atoms exist and that light is made of particles called photons, setting the theoretical foundations for nuclear bombs and solar power.
And now for our next question, who was the more enlightened, the guy who invented the chisel or Michelangelo?
He could have gotten his ideas that atoms exist, specific heat was due to motion, and the photoelectric effect there too. Einstein's work ranged much farther than most people tend to hear about.
Air resistance is not always very minor! Drop a sheet of paper flat and the same paper balled up. The ball will kill the paper. Different weight objects only reliably fall with the same acceleration in a vacuum. There are countless examples of heavier and lighter objects falling faster or slower.
As far as the penny goes, a steel ball will beat the penny. The penny will usually tumble and reach a lower terminal velocity than the ball. Drop it from a skyscraper and see what happens.
Nonsense.
"I would say that maybe Einstein's insight was more brilliant than Newton's were, but when you think of it, the laws of gravity really were a major insight."
This ranking business is childish.
Newton's Principia (written in 18 months) changed the world like nobody has before or since.
Before him there was no belief that the laws of nature were universal. That is, that things on Earth acted liked they did in the heavens and vice versa.
And theories, like Copernicus' were just fairytales. Myths. Likely stories. For there was no reason for things to be that way. No glue. (Such as gravity.)
Not to mention the small fact that Newtonian physics got us to the moon. Enstein and these other johnny come latelys had practically nothing to do with that-- or much else that is done in every day engineering and applied physics.
That is changing and will change more in the future. But still, there it is.
You need to read a book on Newton if you don't even know that.
This is a surprise? There never would have been an Einstein if there never was a Newton.
I don't know what the fuss is all about -- the statue was in the rock the whole time, Michaelangelo just chipped the covering off so people could see it.
;-)
You have a very small idea of what you are talking about.
Ok, technically, you're correct.
Now, what if you dropped a canon ball and at the same time shot a similar canon ball out at a 90 degree angle. Which would land first?
Yes, wasn't Einstein Newton's son by Marilyn Monroe.
"Now, what if you dropped a canon ball and at the same time shot a similar canon ball out at a 90 degree angle. Which would land first?"
That's popularly called the "Monkey Ball" experiment. Galileo invented it.
And he showed that they land at the same time.
Fermi can be in the top 20 scientists in history.
You're right. But why?
(Galileo was earlier than Newton though, right?)
OH, How funny!
Not to demean Newton's rightful historical prominence at all, but just out of curiosity I wonder how much Newton's vote total by the Royal Society was enhanced by the fact that he was "one of the hometown boys" -- Newton was a very prominent early member of the Royal Society itself.
Given this, I don't think the result of the poll was ever in question. I doubt if any London bookies would have even given odds.
Over reasonable distances and speeds, they hit at about the same time if dropped/fired horizontally from the same level since their downward acceleration is the same (even though the fired ball travels a much greater horizontal distance).
If you drop one cannon ball on the moon and fire the other cannon ball horizontally on the moon at very high speed, it will never hit the moon while the dropped one will.
Correct. And it might hit you in the back in head at some point... Unless it hits escape velocity.
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