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How do you compare Einstein to Newton, in terms of how much each advanced physics?
by School-Cotton 3y ago
How do you compare Einstein to Newton, in terms of how much each advanced physics?
- krastanov 3y agoI would say Newton provided a similarly important discontinuous leap in our understanding of nature. I want to be careful though. As some sibling comments mention, these discoveries of these great people were indeed "in the air" of their time. They will have happened. But it would have taken many more great scientists and more time. For instance, I believe there are incredibly deep insights today derived from the mixture of quantum mechanics and information science. More deep insights are imminent and inevitable. But there is hardly one towering figure to do them all in one sweeping motion the way Einstein or Newton or Euclid did (to name a few easy examples).
- rramadass 3y agoI believe Newton was much more important than Einstein in the history of Science. Essentially he laid the starting point for "Modern" Physics/Mathematics and everybody since then has been following on from there. For me there are only three Scientists who could be called as truly "tectonic inducing" in the history of Modern Science. In order of ranking; 1) Isaac Newton. 2) James Clerk Maxwell. 3) Albert Einstein.
- Keyframe 3y agoI'd put Faraday up there as well.
- mitthrowaway2 3y agoAbsolutely. Faraday was in a league of his own and his considerable acclaim still doesn't do him justice.
- drumhead 3y agoNewton was more important I think. He basically invented physics as we know it. He didn't have the 200 years or so of work in the field that Einstein had to build on. He was effectively starting from scratch. He's the point at which the modern world starts, when humanity started to understand the world around them instead of letting themselves be subjects of superstition.
- rand0mx1 3y agoDo you forget Galileo's work regarding Motion?