# Greatest 20th Century Scientist



## skycloud86 (Jul 15, 2009)

Who, in your opinion, was the greatest scientist of the 20th century, and why? You can nominate anyone who was active during the 20th century, so they don't have to have born in the 20th century.


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## Just_Some_Guy (Oct 8, 2009)

I'll vote for David Bohm, mostly because I've been reading a lot of him lately. I think the future will show how far ahead of his time he was as far as his understanding of consciousness goes.


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## noz (Dec 7, 2009)

Hard to say, polymaths seem extinct....

Tesla, probably


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## Bote (Jun 16, 2010)

Tesla - apart from being the one to discover alternate current and electromagnetic induction he was a pioneer in robotics and the first to create a teledirigated robot (way back in 19th century).


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## marked174 (Feb 24, 2010)

Yeah, Tesla was kind of a wizard. hands down.


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## kexx (Nov 24, 2010)

Sorry to agree with everyone else. I'm a big fan of Tesla. I find he is very under-rated in commonly known scientists though.


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## Red Panda (Aug 18, 2010)

I don't understand why we should consider one to be the greatest. So many new discoveries were made in 20th century and all of them contribute to the world as we know it now, it's unfair to choose one, especially when many of them worked together to make their discoveries. Besides, that's how science works, everyone steps on the previous discovery to take it one step further.


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## skycloud86 (Jul 15, 2009)

Krou said:


> I don't understand why we should consider one to be the greatest. So many new discoveries were made in 20th century and all of them contribute to the world as we know it now, it's unfair to choose one, especially when many of them worked together to make their discoveries. Besides, that's how science works, everyone steps on the previous discovery to take it one step further.


That's a very good point, but I believe that people are people and different people may have an idea of who they consider to be the greatest scientist of a certain century.


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## Diphenhydramine (Apr 9, 2010)

Karl Popper NTJ represent


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## kexx (Nov 24, 2010)

skycloud86 said:


> That's a very good point, but I believe that people are people and different people may have an idea of who they consider to be the greatest scientist of a certain century.


Yeah I consider all expansions in the field of science to be great, but it's true that I find some things more interesting than others. This is just a matter of preference. I also find the biography of certain scientists more interesting than others. That doesn't mean that those discoveries or scientists should over-shadow others though.


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## eciffus (Dec 7, 2010)

There is no "greatest" only great scientist who are all good and contributed in someway or the other.


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## topgun31 (Nov 23, 2010)

Einstein

In second comes Tesla


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## eciffus (Dec 7, 2010)

Well you guise should atleast say why you think they are the greatest, not who is most famous. :/


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## TheSeer91 (Nov 2, 2010)

tesla
bohr
einstein 
feyman


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## Digger Blue (Dec 1, 2010)

*The Greatest Scientist Ever (for the field of Electronics)*



skycloud86 said:


> Who, in your opinion, was the greatest scientist of the 20th century, and why? You can nominate anyone who was active during the 20th century, so they don't have to have born in the 20th century.


Phillip Hagar Smith invented the Smith Chart while he was working at RCA. 

From the point of view of a person who has used the chart as well as equipment that uses the chart as an Input/Output interface, I lay claim that this one invention has contributed an incredible amount to the world of electrical engineering. The chart is powerful, elegant, functional and versatile. 

Not only can one solve incredibly complex problems of Electromagnetic Field Theory (think Alternating current through Light) by graphical analysis with this chart, but the chart is now an optional display for sophisticated electrical engineering equipment such that the a real world circuit can have the addition of a probe linked to a computer, and the computer will provide Smith Chart output of what is going on inside the circuit. It is incredible! 

You electronics folks out there can give me a single piece of gold for this, and it'd be appreciated!

Digger Blue!


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## Cwestiwn (Dec 20, 2010)

I would have to go with either Einstein or Planck, the two scientists that realy worked out the basics of modern physics everything thats being done in physics today really builds of their work. 
Of course I'm a total physics geek so I'm not really considering other branches of science.

Tesla is one of my favourite figures of all time but he was more of an engineer than a scientist.


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## perennialurker (Oct 1, 2009)

Many contemporary scientists cite Einstein (along with Newton and Darwin) as being the greatest scientist of all time.


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## EvanR (Nov 28, 2009)

Terence Tao


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## Digger Blue (Dec 1, 2010)

*Greatest Scientists of all Time*



skycloud86 said:


> Who, in your opinion, was the greatest scientist of the 20th century, and why? You can nominate anyone who was active during the 20th century, so they don't have to have born in the 20th century.


If you accept the hypothesis that most Scientists today work for Industry as a given fact, and that big business has the funding to hire the best and the brightest for their laboratories and engineering facilities, then it makes sense that the best scientists would work within the confines of industries. 

While their names may show up on patents, they are given little or no press of their accomplishments due to the desire of their management's desire to avoid having to pay them a competitive wage. Some of these very bright folk accrue 50 or 200 patents in a career. Also, you cannot judge a scientist alone by the number of patents he has accrued because some manage to accrue an exorbitant number of patents (which costs a bunch of money in legal fees) while the patents do not guarantee success. Hence a person with 5 patents can be a corporate hero, virtually unknown outside the company, but supporting products having a huge impact on the income of the corporation.


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## jockthemotie (Aug 6, 2010)

Einstein-greatest theorist.

Tesla-greatest scientist. 

Hard to say who was more ahead of their time. Tesla created immediately applicable and useful technology but could have done far more had the tech been there, while general relativity didn't really have an everyday practical use until GPS satellites, and maybe hubble imaging.


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## dude10000 (Jan 24, 2010)

Einstein wins easily.

Just because it is a cliche to point out Einstein was the greatest scientist of the last century doesn't mean it's not true. If anything, Einstein should be in the race for the greatest scientist of all time! There is simply something absurd in saying, "Einstein wasn't the greatest. It was Murray Gell-Mann!" "No, it was Alan Turing!" That's just trying to be clever or authentic, rather than honest.


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## jameswood037 (Oct 19, 2011)

BOHR, Niels Henrik David

CHADWICK, Sir James

COCKCROFT, Sir John Douglas

DIRAC, Paul Adrien Maurice

EINSTEIN, Albert

FERMI, Enrico


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## Digger Blue (Dec 1, 2010)

Very few people will understand this, but I nominate Phillip Hagar Smith (of RCA, then Bell Labs) for his invention of the Smith Chart. It is used by engineers to design electrical and optical equipment. It is very difficult to understand and to work with unless you are really good at it. Nowadays it is incorporated into software and it is used to demonstrate on a computer display the situations encountered by instrumentation. It is an incredible tool. 
Digger Blue


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## Vtile (Feb 27, 2011)

Oliver Heaviside
No. 426: Oliver Heaviside
Dead Reckonings » Heaviside's Operator Calculus
Sadly he is a bit in a grey zone for the limits of this thread as I don't know is the active part 

Heck time is running.. I throw that A.I.Virtanen have influenced your meal in great many ways if you are living in colder climate.


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## AJ2011 (Jun 2, 2011)

Physics: A. Einstein, M. Planck, N. Bohr, D. Bohm
Biology: A. Fleming, F. Banting
Computer Science: D. Hilbert, A. Turing, K. Godel

Engineering: N. Tesla, F. Whittle/H. von Ohain, O. Heaviside

If I had to pick one, it would be Einstein. There are so many others. I wonder if someone has a graph showing the impact of scientists visually based on some metric, e.g., relationship to key technologies like computers, internet, immunization, satellite networks/cells, aircraft, etc..


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## Digger Blue (Dec 1, 2010)

The sad part about this thread is that most scientists are kept under wraps by corporate secrecy. Every company wants to avoid having their scientists become well known because then they would be bought out by other companies. Probably, next to sex, market forces are the strongest forces in the universe. 
Digger Blue


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