Who was the smartest physicist?

Question

This is a poll: (I didn't want to place it in polls section as most of them are idiots)

Who do you think was more of a genius

1. Copernicus
2. Archimedes
3. Galileo
4. Newton
5. Einstein

Answer 1

Its hard not to go with Newton because he invented Calculus which I honestly believe started the ball rolling for the industrial revolution. And also his discoveries about gravity were very groundbreaking too.

But I must say Einstein has a slight edge on Newton because he actually disproved Newton's laws at high speed. Not only that but his work with Quantum Physics started the ball rolling for the Information Age. Add to that the General Theory of relativity which shows that gravity bends space (amazing) and to top it off, the connection he made between matter and Energy with the equation E=mc^2 is just awesome. I am pretty sure we will not see another physicist like Einstein for another 500 years or so.

Answer 2

I've always liked Galileo.

I read an excerpt from his journals where he is using one of the first telescopes to look at the moon. The 'science/religious tautology' of the day had definite ideas about the cosmos. He is looking through the lens and trying to decipher what his eyes are showing him... in the journal he talks about watching the shadows move and grow... from there, he leapt outside the box - and decided that he must be watching the shadows from mountains change as the moon revolved. This went against his own expectations (as recorded earlier in the journal). I thought it was astounding to get this little glimpse into the mind of a genius at work, a man who could forget everything he knew, and look fresh.

He immediately realized the "blasphemies" contained in his observations. But decided he must try to find a way to 'get the truth out there..."

Perhaps this does not qualify him as the best Physicist, but I feel it makes him a talented, insightful, creative, dedicated, scientist

Answer 3

All of them would have been working at McDonald's in this day and age, since "theoretical physicist" is not such a regular job. Their minds would be dulled by the repetitive do-you-want-fries-with-that grind.

I'd love to order a Big Mac from Archimedes.

Keep in mind Einstein was inpsired by Lorentz and the Michelson Morley experiment. This led him to relativity - he didn't just conceive it out of thin air. Lorentz suggested length contraction was pretty well laughed out of Europe. mc^2 is puported to have been discovered by other means before Einstein, though he explained it much better...

Answer 4

Einstein.

although Newton's greatest achievement was identifying the force of gravity, the leap of imagination by Einstein in describing gravity NOT as force BUT a curvature of space (and time ) is immense. the level of abstraction required by this feat i feel definetly overshadows newtonian ideas ( in addition to proving them incorrect ).

to put it another way, there are very few people like Einstein who would ever came up with his concepts whereas the ideas of newton would have eventually been found by another physicist.

Answer 5

I;m going to have to go with Newton as well. While I understand his theories with much less effort than Einsteins, I consider the way things were when he came up with them, and am amazed that he was able to deduce so much.

Answer 6

i'm no longer conscious of any analyze on the IQ of physicists and mathematicians. i will say physicists, because i'm a physicist. yet that ought to easily be me being cocky and mendacity! commonly, physicists are extra effective equipped to apply maths to resolve actual international actual issues. Mathematicians are extra effective equipped to do the precis maths that explains the way you decide on actual international issues. Engineers are physicists that're even extra effective waiting to resolve actual international issues and performance plenty extra hardship-free experience.

Answer 7

1) Einstein
2) Newton (a strong 2nd place)
3) Maxwell

I'd probably place guys like Feynman, Fermi, and Planck ahead of Archimedes; and the rest lower.

Everybody says its Einstein, but in this case they are correct.
The special theory of relativity was a mind-blower, and the general thy of rel. even more so.
But then you have his theory of the photo-electric effect & other great advancements to quantum mechanics.
And then you also have the fact that he invented the absorption refrigerator (still in use today). Yes, he was young patent examiner, but he really invented some great things too.

Answer 8

Newton

Answer 9

Newton, he started the physics frenzie. Without him there would be no Einstein!

Answer 10

Einstien