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.
Newton was a virgin. Probably saw the fiascoes the rest of us idiots deal with and decided to pass.
Try putting that and 'Bill Clinton' in the same sentence!
Yes, some of them do make that connection, but that is all. they also make some dumb crack about Fig Newtons. Ha, ha. THAT's original. In fact, I think Walt Disney dreamed that up. There is no mention anywhere in any of his work that I know of about being hit on the head by an apple.
He did talk about making an apple tree taller and taller and asking whether or not the apple would still fall the same. He extrapolated that out to the moon's orbit. Since the moon is 60 times farther from the center of the earth than an object on the surface of the earth, one might think that the attraction would either stay the same or possibly weaken to 1/60th that at the surface. Using the equation for centripetal acceleration, he show that it would actually be 1/3600th the attraction at the surface. The meant that gravitation depends upon 1 / (r, the radial separation) squared. This is a very brief, simplified version of how he discovered the inverse square law of gravitational attraction.
Newton related his ideas to Leibnitz in letters. Leibnitz developed the ideas, and published, but neglected to give Newton proper credit. That was the source of the conflict.
Back then it was nationalism and personal pride (it's said Newton himself wrote the report convincting Leibnitz of plaigirism!) played a role. I have no idea whether such a thing had anything to due with this latest "Einstein versus Newton" and I'm no authority on the subject - but you'd think they'd at least make a mention of it! Math history, suprisingly to some, is a such great subject - full of interesting characters and controversites all around the development of the beautiful ideas of mathematics.
Thanks. I thought calculus went as far back as the Egyptians as well. Wasn't trigonometry developed around that time as well?
An easy "quick and dirty" demo ( which I thought of myself ) is to put a piece of paper, say, and a penny on a large book such as an atlas, and drop it to the floor. Of course, they keep their place on the book as they fall.
It might be objected that the paper is being "sucked along," but if you watch closely, you can see this is not the case. It remains in quiet air.
( Be sure to warn others who might be alarmed by the thud ! )
Gauss is a safe bet for the math department but Gibbs for science? I don't think so. Newton was not the greatest mathematician by a long shot but then how many great mathematicians were great scientists.
I'll stand by by claim that Newton was the greatest scientist.
That's an interesting list. I assume the third name is supposed to be Galileo?
I think Einstein's development of a process to split the beer atom that put bubbles in beer is mankind's greatest achievement.
Actually, while it is difficult to compare the two, Newton's work allowed Einstein's to take place. The development of calculus alone contributes to every engineering project in the world today.
In a book listing the 100 most influential people of all time, Newton was ranked second, right after Mohammed. Christ was third.
Leibniz might disagree with you.
On the other hand, the same might be said about Einstein's work. Einstein's Relativity was quickly *accepted*, but its full implications are still being grappled with 80+ years later.
"Thanks. I thought calculus went as far back as the Egyptians as well. Wasn't trigonometry developed around that time as well?"
Yes. Probably any careful study of astronomy is going to get you into trigonometry, and the Epgyptian, Babylonians and others in that area were all interested in astronomy.
As of course was Ptolemy (the Ancient Greek), who really for all intents and purposes invented trigonometry proper.
St Paul should've been third.
Yeah, but in the end, it didn't do Alan Turing all that much good.
Actually, relativity was pretty much a group effort as well. Einstein put the icing on the cake.
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