Who was the greatest scientist in the world?

Question

There are and were many great scientist like Darwin.Newton,Einstein .......etc.who was the greatest of them and why?

Answer 1

Jabir-Bin-Hayan. Also known as Geber. He is the father of chemistry.

Al-Jazari. Father Of Robotics. Invented the first programmable humanoid robot.

Al-Kindi. Father Of Perfumery. Founded the perfume industry.

Answer 2

Science is a body of knowledge contributed to by many thousands of scientists over the centuries; it's impossible to single out one scientist as the greatest. As Isaac Newton said, "If I appear to see farther than others, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants."

Answer 3

I would say the greeks produced the greatest scientist of the age. Archimedes perhaps,there were many advances made centuries ago. The reason I would select someone from a historical past is that they had to have a stronger vision of things to come in a primitive world where your thoughts could get you killed as blasphemous. Our new age scientists and philosophers had to overcome some disadvantages like the time of galileo who was killed just for thinking the world was round.

Answer 4

Mendeleev. Not only did he invent the periodic table for all the elements in the Universe, but he also established the standards for vodka!

Answer 5

In history, they are Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein.

In today, it is Sir Stephen Hawking.

Answer 6

Elmer Fudd.

He was my hero, that's why.

Answer 7

Issac Newton would probably win a poll of scientists if they were asked this question. As other have pertinently pointed out, no scientist has been able to come up with their theories and discoveries without the work of other scientists before them. Having said that, when you look at each individual's work, certain people's achievements stand out above the others.

Answer 8

Ricahrd Feynman (1918-1988) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Fey...

Theoretical physicists that gave particle physics some incredible boosts, among others the partons and Feynman diagrams.

"This was Richard Feynman nearing the crest of his powers. At twenty-three ... there was no physicist on earth who could match his exuberant command over the native materials of theoretical science.  Feynman seemed to possess a frightening ease with the substance behind the equations, like Albert Einstein at the same age, like the Soviet physicist Lev Landau—but few others."

    Ã¢Â€Â“ James Gleick , Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman

Answer 9

Isaac Newton

From the web:Sir Isaac Newton, FRS (pronounced /ˈnjuːtən/; January 4, 1643 – March 31, 1727 [OS: 25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726]) was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist and theologian. His Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, published in 1687, is considered to be the most influential book in the history of science. In this work, Newton described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion, laying the groundwork for classical mechanics, which dominated the scientific view of the physical universe for the next three centuries and is the basis for modern engineering. Newton showed that the motions of objects on Earth and of celestial bodies are governed by the same set of natural laws by demonstrating the consistency between Kepler's laws of planetary motion and his theory of gravitation, thus removing the last doubts about heliocentrism and advancing the scientific revolution.

In mechanics, Newton enunciated the principles of conservation of momentum and angular momentum. In optics, he invented the reflecting telescope and developed a theory of colour based on the observation that a prism decomposes white light into a visible spectrum. He also formulated an empirical law of cooling and studied the speed of sound.

In mathematics, Newton shares the credit with Gottfried Leibniz for the development of the differential and integral calculus. He also demonstrated the generalised binomial theorem, developed the so-called "Newton's method" for approximating the zeroes of a function, and contributed to the study of power series.

Newton was also highly religious (though unorthodox), producing more work on Biblical hermeneutics than the natural science he is remembered for today.

In a 2005 poll of the Royal Society asking who had the greater effect on the history of science, Newton was deemed much more influential than Albert Einstein

Answer 10

Nobody of them alone. Like Newton put it himself:

"I was only able to see that far, because I was standing on the shoulder of giants".

Einsteins work would have been impossible without the research done by many of his contemporaries. Darwin developed his theory of evolution not alone, but in correspondence with other scientists, who got him basic research data for his work. Newton relied on Copernicus, Kepler and others.

Answer 11

My vote is for Newton....He did work in many different areas of physics (mechanics, optics, statics)  and he invented calculus (along with Leibniz)

Answer 12

Einstein--He saw connections in such a unique way with quantum mechanics, relativity and nuclear energy.  It was a very unique combination of creativity and science that, I think, is unparalleled.

That being said, Newton and Galilieo also had a very unique way of seeing things.

Pastuer's ideas in biology were excellent and was one of the greatest achievements for improving our quality of life.

Pauling, Bohr, Oppenheimer, Fermi, Schrodinger, Feynman and Heisenberg had some really fantastic ideas also.

Hubble was pretty brilliant also.

Answer 13

Tesla.

Since he did both theoretical and practical at the same time.

He played with lightning  :) and was responsible for the Niagara Falls power plant which revolutionized not only Norht America, but the world for that matter, in regards to power generation systems and the distribution of power.

Answer 14

In physics, there is only one choice and that has already been noted.  Sir Isaac Newton.  Max Planck runs a close second for founding quantum theory.  

In chemistry, Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier.  He realised the discovery of oxygen by Scheele and Priestley meant an end to the phlogiston theory and he virtually invented modern chemistry.

Biological sciences - Probably Charles Darwin though Linnaeus might really have been more original in his classification of plants and animals which led to theories of evolution.

Medicine - John Snow, who identified the source of a cholera outbreak in London and had the city council remove the handle of a water pump.  Preventative medicine has saved far more lives than drugs and surgery.