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Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time
11

Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

(OP)
I don't know whether anyone has asked this one before but I was interested to hear who would be considered the greatest scientist or engineer of all time.

I can think of many from the dim and distant past including Archimedes, Leonardo Da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Louis Pascal and the great Einstein. How would the modern day scientists rate when compared to these great people.

Which one had the greatest impact on our lives?

And if they were all alive today....with the added benefit of computers and the W.W.W., just think what they could have achieved (perhaps computers might even have hindered them...who knows?)

Any thoughts?

Friar Tuck of Sherwood

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

I'll stick to engineers and practical scientists.

First, I'd say Mr Thomas Crapper has probably saved more lives than all the doctors and scientists that have ever existed. Keeping healthy people healthy is far more effective than fixing the sick ones.

Da Vinci I find unconvincing as an engineer.

I think Maxwell probably beats Einstein as far as engineering goes.

I wasn't even aware that Pascal was an engineer or scientist, I thought he was a mathematician.

If you want an engineer's engineer then you have to be talking one of the Victorian era. I'll pick Brunel, who was wrong, so often, and yet gloriously right at other times.









Cheers

Greg Locock

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

Louis Pascal? Is that Louis Pasteur or Blaise Pascal?

Cheers

Greg Locock

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

(OP)
You spotted the deliberate mistake then!

Friar Tuck of Sherwood

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time


I think Thomas Edison should be named among these, with no hesitation.

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

I was thinking the whole day about this one.

Something we can't go without, in my opinion, is electricity. (hehehe - sorry for that one, all you mechanical guys )

Thus my vote will go to Michael Faraday (1791-1867) - pioneer of electrical engineering.

Regards
Ralph


PS: I almost voted for the guy who invented braaivleis (BBQ for the Americans) and for Charles Glass (beer)  

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

I wasn't thinking that long RalphChristie...but think I did...


Daniel Bernoulli....fluid mechanics is just a wonderful thing....and knowing how to get beer out of a tap...brilliant!!!

Although a degreed medical Doctor, Bernoulli still was a closet engineer....engineers hide in the strangest of professions....

BobPE

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

Probably one of the greatest scientific minds that ever existed was Eratosthenes of Cyrene (276 - 195 BC). Several hundred years before the birth of Christ he determined that the earth was spherical, and was able to calculate the circumference of the earth within about 20% of its actual value. See the link below:

http://astrosun2.astro.cornell.edu/academics/courses//astro201/eratosthenes.htm

                                              Maui

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

(OP)
I like Bernoulli. Wasn't there a whole family of them.

Friar Tuck of Sherwood

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

Ted Hoff

TTFN

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

friartuck:

I think Bernoulli's father was a teacher and if I am not mistaken, Euler was a protege of his.  My engineering history is for crap, so I may be way off on Euler...

BobPE

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

And Euler was the guy with something like 27 kids?

TTFN

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

Top scientist: Newton
Top Engineer: I. K. Brunel
Inventor: Edison (although much of his work owes something to plagiarism)

Good Luck
johnwm
________________________________________________________
To get the best from these forums read FAQ731-376 before posting

UK steam enthusiasts: www.essexsteam.co.uk

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

(OP)
Who wins the modern day Mr Brainy competition?

Stephen Hawking??

Friar Tuck of Sherwood

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

I'd have to vote for one of the following:

a) The Wright Brothers
b) Harry Riccardo
c) Frank Whittle
d) J. Walter Christie

I'll pick the Wright Brothers. They had no formal engineering education but proved to be naturally intelligent.

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

(OP)
There are names I have never heard of. It makes very interesting reading to find out about them. All I can say is, I wish I had just half their brains. (perhaps I have...and thats the problem...Eureka)

It occured to me that perhaps the greatest scientists are the 'old timers' simply because they were the pioneers and had little previous knowledge to go on. I can design a heating system because the fluid mechanics were unravelled (in part anyway) by bernoulli and co. Likewise Einstein must have used some of the previous works of Newton to expand upon ...and so on.

Just think what Einstein could have achieved if he had been born in the 70's and the benefit of modern day technology.

My unsung hero is Hooke who I believe was around when Newton was in his prime.


Friar Tuck of Sherwood

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

It is difficult to take into consideration the accumulated knowledge of the past(for example Newton), in order to find out what the later (for example Einstein) has really contributed.

Philosophy of science (I don't remember the name of the man) says that after a period a theory is found not to comply with experimental data and that is the time for a new theory to be generated. So Einstein didn't actually base his theory on Newton. On the other hand all of the rocket related science/technology was based on Brown and even Newton theory.

I am just saying that using the previous knowledge doesn't make someone's work more or less important. It is how much of the old theory is "put" in the new theory. If it is 99% old and 1% new, well it is a small step forward.

We need a way of quantification of theory's importance.

Regards

Costas

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

Varsamidis,

The updating of old theories by new theories is covered in a book by Thomas S. Kuhn, "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions."

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

Thanks eureka,

I forgot the name of the author. I am happy I didn't forget what he wrote. I really enjoyed reading it.

Regards

Costas

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

I'll throw Maxwell out there.  His 4 equations do some pretty amazing things once you start delving into them.

Regards,

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

Varsamidis, I remember a quote attributed to Newton where he praised the contributions of scientists who has lived before him by saying,"If I have seen further [than others] it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." That's a pretty substantial endoresment of the work of his predesessors by one of the masters of science.


                                   Maui

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

Even as a Mech Engr I have a special regard for bridge engineers (in the US) like Eads, Roebling, Cooper, Lindenthal, Steinman, Ammann, Strauss, Woodruff, Ellet, Hardesty, Modjeski, Purcell, and Waddell. There are others in modern times, but the aforementioned paved the way for engineered structures that were:

just barely strong enough.

Our brothers in Britain, Australia, Germany, France, et al, can enumerate others of note.

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

Maui,

The "standing on the shoulders of giants" quote comes from a letter than Newton wrote to Hooke. The two detested each other immensely. It is now thought by many people that the quote is not in fact a compliment but an outright insult. Hooke was quite a short man.

M

--
Dr Michael F Platten

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

Why not define first of all what is meant by greatness in science and engineering ?

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

My vote would have to go to the entire team of scientists/ engineers at NASA during the 1960s.  CAD wasn't even a dream when these guys put men on the moon.

An honorable mention not yet mentioned: Ben Franklin.


RalphChristie, my father use to say "If it wasn't for electricity, we'd all be watching TV in the dark."

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

Some more candidates:

Charles Parsons, inventor of the turbine. A genius for sure, and a Geordie too;

Newton and von Liebnitz, the inventors of calculus;

Richard Trevethick, Thomas Newcomen - pioneers of the steam engine which gave birth to the industrial revolution;

Alan Turing, the greatest codebreaker ever to live;

George and Robert Stephenson, fathers of the railways (more Geordies!)

----------------------------------

If we learn from our mistakes,
I'm getting a great education!

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

A little aside: Scotty. Ever heard of Ralph Tester? He was involved in the code-breaking at Malvern and ran the so-called "Testery", where Alan Turing was active during his last years. I had the great honor of knowing Ralph - and I think that he was also great. Not a Newton, Maxwell, Gauss or Fourier - but great enough for me.

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

Fastasleep:
or by candlelight...?  



Firstly, I think it depends a lot on what is important to one to make a choice for the "best engineer/scientist of all times"
Secondly,  we don't think of discoveries/inventions long ago as something to talk about, because we are used to it. But if you see it in the light of the limited resources at that time, it was phenomenal. In my opinion every invention/discovery is something great.
And lastly, I think many times there were some unsung hero's behind the scenes who haven't got the credit they should have got.



Merry New Year and a Happy Christmas.....
sorry, it was a little fast......
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all  



Regards
Ralph

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

Hi Skogsgurra,

I had heard of the Testery in passing, but had never realised that the name was derived from the leader of that section. I'd assumed it was a place where testing took place. Ralph Tester must be one of the many unsung heroes of WW2. Thanks for the insight.

The book "Enigma: The Battle for the Code"
by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore is worth a read for those who want to understand more about the achievements at Bletchley Park. Some of the analysis of the Enigma code is heavy going even when it is written down in the book; the mental gymnastics that Alan Turing must have performed while breaking the encryption are staggering.

----------------------------------

If we learn from our mistakes,
I'm getting a great education!

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time


Does it seem bizarre that Eli Whitney and Henry Ford have been left off this list until now?

...or is it simply that "Industrialist" and "Engineer" are not synonymous terms?  I'd say that the advent of interchangeable parts and the assembly line are dramatically significant constraints in the way that many of us do our jobs.

Both men have directly affected the geopolitical landscape of the world through the way that their inventions were applied to furnish war arsenals.

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

2

Nikola Tesla !!!

The Greatest inventor of all times and the forgotten Genius!

You and I and the rest of the world owe to this man, next to God, much of the conveniences we presently enjoy. Please read his autobiograpy or pick up a book about this great man and you will know and understand why.


RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

The nameless people who designed and built the pyramids of egypt must be the greatest engineers of all time for the achievement of being the first to erect "deceptively spacious one bedroomed executive style apartments close to the beach", as estate agents would describe them in the UK.

corus

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

Or perhaps the equally nameless South Americans who built the great Inca, Mayan, and Aztec civilisations long before Egypt built their admittedly amazing pyramids.

----------------------------------

If we learn from our mistakes,
I'm getting a great education!

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

Inca pyramids weren't near the beach and as such were of a poorer quality. Location, location, location, as they say.

corus

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

What about the politican that invented the Internet?

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

It all makes me appreciate more the program hosted by James Burke on public TV called "Connections."  Marvelous stuff, making the connections and relationships between old discoveries and inventions and modern-day discoveries and inventions.  Truly we all stand on the shoulders of giants.

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

awsome show that was schetwynd.....

BobPE

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

James Burke also wrote a book to accompany the 'Connections' series, and you might still be able to find one second hand.
More recently, Bill Bryson published 'A short history of nearly everything' which describes the work of some of the forgotten heroes of science and engineering, which is both entertaining and informative.

Cheers

Tom

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

The greatest engineer of all times  - the first Austropithicus that hit two stones  together on purpose to make a cutting tool.

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

second vote for Nikola Tesla!

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

After Edison invented the light bulb, before he could sell any, he had to develop a power generation and distribution system, lamp holders, and all the associated hardware. That's what I call marketing. Pity he chose DC, I guess his mind was on other things (phonography, cinematography etc) that day.

Jeff

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

Check up on the actual history of the light bulb. Edison built on the previous success of many other inventors. The bamboo filament by the English inventor Swann is generally recognised as the first practical light bulb, which he did not patent.

Edison purchased other peoples patents to continue his development, and is without doubt a great entrepreneur. For details,
http://www.mysteriesofcanada.com/Ontario/first_electric_light_bulb.htm

Good Luck
johnwm
________________________________________________________
To get the best from these forums read FAQ731-376 before posting

UK steam enthusiasts: www.essexsteam.co.uk

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

For those not familiar with Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the following facts may influence you:

* One of his first tunnel projects in London (together with his father) resulted in  its collapse and killing many of his workers.

* He terminated his brilliant engineering exploits by launching the Great Eastern in 1858, "the grandest ship the world had ever seen".   It was so grand that it resulted in his death by over-stress (or embarrasment) in 1859 when it was found the ship was only 25% as fuel efficient as Brunel had predicted or calculated.  

For Greatness in achievement, study, experimentation, and application in pure engineering my vote has to go to Michael Faraday  - an exemplatory engineer and human being who never even finished high school but showed us all how to contribute to our society.

Art Montemayor
Spring, TX

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time


Those who know say that the englishman Paul Dirac (quantum mechanics and relativity, anti-particles, spin, etc.) was the most brilliant mind (Physics and Mathematics) in the history of humankind.

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

2
A good book that illustrates engineering and science is:  The Five Equations That Changed the World, as told by Dr. Guillen, are not only chronicles of science, but also gripping dramas of jealousy, fame, war, and discovery.

The individuals are Issac Newton (universal gravitation), Daniel Bernoulli (hydrodynamic pressure), Michael Faraday (electricity and magnetism), Rudolf Clausius (thermodynamics), and Albert Einstein (special relativity).

Best Regards,

Heckler

"Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups" John Kenneth Galbraith

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

25362, you stated, "Those who know ..."  Does that mean the rest of us do not know?  Perhaps the rest of us were brought up in a less nurturing environment and we are misguided.  

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time


CRG, please don't take exception to what I said. I should have said, those who say they know. No deliberate alienation, patronising or derogation meant. Sorry.

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

All the ones that have been mentioned here have been great but nowadays we shouldn’t forget Bill Gates.

Luis Marques

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

I know that I am showing my bias, but what about Karl Terzaghi.  He practically invented moderned soil mechanics and geottchnical engineering.  made a science where, before, much was guess work.

 

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

Well, we could go on and on about the oldies...especially since some of them lack the one formality to which they are all undoubtedly, and perhaps wrongly, compared by and that is the degreed scientist and engineers by which we know it today.

Hell, I like all the Greeks, Italians, English, French and others who have brought us here today.  It's amazing to think what little things intrigued them to establish the laws of nature in a closed form understandable to the masses.  Coloumb and earth pressure....in the 1700s no doubt.  Of course even more abstract achievements are mentioned such as the circumference of the earth within 20% of what we can measure today.

Speaking of today, there was a question posed regarding the role of some of these great minds if they had computers and WWW.  I wouldn't want to know....it might prove to have been a great distraction!!

That said and moving forward several centuries....

Stephen Timoshenko - What he did for engineering and structural mechanics.

George Housner - Development of the response spectra to characterize complex ground motion in a usable form for all engineers to use.  Lets face it, most code applications have to be written for use by the practicing engineers and some are just not up to reading complex codes.

Joseph Penzien and Ray Clough on contributions to Structural Dynamics.

and Ray Clough for significant contributions to Finite Element Analysis.  Of course, this method has its origin in mathematics and most likely in Britian and perhaps the USSR.  But it was engineers who put it to good use!


Regards,
Qshake

Eng-Tips Forums:Real Solutions for Real Problems Really Quick.

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time


I thought I might add this little tidbit from my final research project for an Astonomy class.

All features on Venus are named for women (in fact there is quite a complicated protocal)  with the exception of James Clerk Maxwell.  Maxwell Montes, Venus' highest peak, is named for the famed Scottish physicist.  All those women and one Scottish man!

I KNEW there was a compelling reason to want to go to Scotland besides the sheep.

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

Probably the greatest engineer of all time was the Scot Hamish McHinery who compiled one of the most comprehensive texts pertaining to machanical engineering.

The shame of it all is that the publisher misspelled his name on the very first edition. They printed his name with a "Mac"instead of "Mc" and also omitted to capitalize the "H".

After numerous editions, the erronous title still reads Machinery's Handbook

Haggis

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

I have often wondered who started that book!

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

Reminds me of the classic crytography problem of finding the translation for:

cho pho use

TTFN

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

I'm going to have to give my votes:

Scientist: J.C. Maxwell (and his famous equations)

Engineer:  Nikola TESLA (misunderstood GENIOUS whose ideas still circulate today)  (take a look at - http://www.neuronet.pitt.edu/~bogdan/tesla/)

Inventor/Improver:  Thomas Edison (sometimes idea thief)  I have respect for the man and his accomplishments, but as someone in another post stated, he wasn't always original.

And what about Henry Ford?  Not an engineer or scientist, but made full use of the assembly line to mass produce automobiles?  Love the line regarding his choice of colors (for the Model T, I believe):  "You can have any color you want, as long as it's black."

~NiM

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

My choices are:

Old Times

Vitrivius - Roman engineer, some of his works are still in use.

Og - for fire.


Industrial Age

Whitworth - For micrometer and screw.

Tesla - For inventing A/C.

Parsons - For the gas turbine.

Brunel - Father and Son for bridges and ships.


Modern Age

Dr. Stan Hooker - Great engineer, tough taskmaster and teacher.  Read his Bio: Not much of an engineer.

Harrison Storms - Moon Rockets and designer of the Saturn V stage 2.

Dick Rutan - Draws and flies outside the lines.






RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

Quote (NickelMet):

"You can have any color you want, as long as it's black."!

Tobias Hobson (c. 1544-1631) was a Cambridge stable manager who let horses. He insisted customers take the horse in the stall closest to the door (the next one up) or take none at all. Hence, a Hobson's choice is no choice at all. He was made famous by Milton. The phrase dates to 1660.



RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

Simeon North & Interchangable parts (~1812)
led to the "American System of Manufacture"
too bad we don't do so much of that anymore :-(

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

(OP)
I thought interchangeable parts came about through the rifle and having to make guns that had interchangeable components??

Perhaps that was thought of by Simeon North?? (whoever he is..sorry for my ignorance)

Friar Tuck of Sherwood

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

I believe credit does go to the colt pistol.  Cadillac was the first (at least in the US) automaker to do this, and won the Dewars trophy in or around 1910 as a result.

RE: Who was the greatest scientist/engineer of all time

For all you TREKKIES...

Inventor:   Zefram Cochrane (warp drive)
Engineer:   Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (Enterprise fixer upper)
Scientist:  Noonien Soong (cyberneticist, creator of Data)
Medical Doctor:  Dr. Leonard H. "Bones" McCoy
Interplanetary Statesman:  Ambassador Sarek
Starship Captain:  Jean Luc Picard  

<LOL> ... relax it is Wednesday!  Time for a bit of levity.

~NiM

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