[Ummon]

Who are the scientists or mathematicians that you think see/saw the universe/life/whatever most clearly?

[Thunderhawk]

Newton comes to mind immediately.

I suspect Gauss, Laplace, Euler and Maxwell are also up there, but from what I know of them they do not have Newton's quantity of high quality achievements (comparable quality), so I place them lower.

I dont know if Descarte's influence in mathematics and physics is comparable to the above, but given his philosophical writings I think that would compensate for any short comings.

[mikema63]

Depends on how you look at it.

Newton was an incredible genius and pushed physics forward by a ridiculous amount as a hobby while he was taking breaks from alchemy.

Einsteins insights into the nature of reality were also extraordinary.

Darwins discovered a process so elegant and simple many refuse to believe it's possible.

Really though most scientific discoveries, even the ones who get a big name scientist a nobel, are really the result of hundreds of scientists currently working on a problem and the hundreds of thousands who worked on it or more basic principles in the past. Few scientists really simply "did it all themselves" which is what makes people like Newton and Einstein so extrodinary.

[Potemkin]

extrodinary

*sigh* Extraordinary, Mike. The word is "extraordinary".

[mikema63]

I will plan a medieval torture just for you.

[Tomato_Cake]

Along with the others mentioned, I'd include:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfried_Wilhelm_Leibniz

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Crick

[noemon]

Ancient Time: Thales, discovered the substance of the universe in hydrogen.

Pre-Modern Time: Newton discovered the principles to apply physics & mathematics at an extra-ordinary degree.

Modern Time: Stephen Hawkings, understood the fundamental principles of all physics before him and has been devoted in unifying them all.




edit: added the reasons

[Potemkin]

I will plan a medieval torture just for you.

[Lexington]

Who are the scientists or mathematicians that you think see/saw the universe/life/whatever most clearly?

The problem is that the average first year physics student probably has a clearer understanding of the universe/life/whatever than Aristotle or Descartes had. A better question is "who advanced sciences the most, personally?"

Anyway...

- Aristotle, for almost inventing modern math.
- Descartes, for almost inventing even more almost modern math.
- Newton, for Newtonian physics. It's a thing.
- Maxwell, for Maxwell's Laws. For some reason Maxwell is not widely known unless you actually take physics.
- Einstein, for general relativity.

[Potemkin]

- Maxwell, for Maxwell's Laws. For some reason Maxwell is not widely known unless you actually take physics.

Indeed. Richard Feynman once said that, a thousand years from now, the 19th century would likely be remembered for only one thing: James Clark Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism. It made modern electronics possible, and led directly to Einstein's theory of relativity. It was Maxwell who proved what light actually is, for pete's sake. You can't get much more important than that.

[noemon]

I would really suggest for people interested in learning about the history of science to read Stephen Hawking's book On the Shoulders of Giants.

After a brief passing from the Greek philosophers he not only explains in laymans terms the discoveries of Copernicus, Newton and those who followed but he also gives you their original texts with his notes.

I can certainly say that his book influenced me profoundly.

The problem is that the average first year physics student probably has a clearer understanding of the universe/life/whatever than Aristotle or Descartes had.

I have thought about this many times, and the correct way of putting it is that the average physics student has the availability of knowledge and tools that would place him in theory far above earlier scientists, true but the average student also has severe handicaps imposed to him by the particularization of science, which make the average physics student into a technician rather than a philosopher and a button pusher cannot in any meaningful way surpass these people in understanding and comprehension and that is why only a handful of these students actually do.

-----

Regarding Maxwell, he was my tutors' in physics personal favorite and he always told me that Maxwell has been overshadowed in popular culture only because of Einstein's Hollywood image.

[Istanbuller]

1. The internet

2. Online education websites

3. Me

I can't think of anyone/ anything better than the internet and online education websites.

[Ganeshas Rat]

1. Euclid

2. Al-Khwarizmi

3. Descartes

4. Leibniz

5. Euler

Those are the fathers. I cannot really put the name of Newton in this list, the name of this English nothingness, the primitive religious fanatic known only because "we of course are better than everyone in the world, we've invented mathematical analysis and opened Neptune first". The glory of Newton is the same as the glory of Shakespeare, it's the fruit of labor of generations of those nauseous chauvinists who couldn't just stop and admit their secondness in anything.

[quetzalcoatl]

Indeed. Richard Feynman once said that, a thousand years from now, the 19th century would likely be remembered for only one thing: James Clark Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism. It made modern electronics possible, and led directly to Einstein's theory of relativity. It was Maxwell who proved what light actually is, for pete's sake. You can't get much more important than that.

True. Now stop saying James "Clark" Maxwell.

[Saeko]

Who are the scientists or mathematicians that you think see/saw the universe/life/whatever most clearly?

The most underrated mathematicians, oh, oh wait I'm sorry, I meant to say mathsematicians ever:

1. Archimedes
2. Apollonius of Perga
3. Diophantus
4. Riemann
5. Galileo (mainly because the most important work that he actually did (inertia, pendula, friction, etc.) was overshadowed by his admittedly weak arguments for a heliocentric model).

One of the most underrated philsopohers/scientists was Lucretius, who, if he was alive today, would have been a theoretician par excellence. He anticipated many modern ideas such as methodological naturalism, a boundless universe and the laws of thermodynamics.

[Potemkin]

True. Now stop saying James "Clark" Maxwell.

Oopsie!

[Rich]

Aristarchus of Samos

The notion that the Earth revolves around the Sun had been proposed as early as the 3rd century BC by Aristarchus of Samos

Like What?

We Pagans don't need no education from you Monotheists:

[youtube]7iITFrcNLcA[/youtube]

[fuser]

Depending on time, mood and memory, my (or anyone's) list will change but I know for sure that one name will always be there, in fact he is the most important Scientist/Mathematician of all time i.e. Sir Issac Newton. The quote that "everything was dark, then god said 'Let Newton be' and there was light" is no exaggeration at all.

[Rich]

What about Columbus is he not one of history's great scientists? He produced an important hypothesis and tested it experimentally. Sometimes disproving a hypothesis can produce more interesting new information that proving it.

[Rancid]

Maxwell
Faraday
Ohm
Ampere
Volta
Tesla

Volta = Ohm x Ampere

Yea, I went there.