donald byrd 4 EVA Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 Here are some of my favorites: Linus Pauling, Robert Trivers, Harold Varmus, Marie Curie, Edison, Newton, Irving Weissman, Michael Faraday, Nikola Tesla...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 Herman Blount. Mister Wizard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Berger Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 Darwin was a badass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Skid Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 Carl Sagan... for a whole bunch of reasons, the first of which is for writing one of my favorite books The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. Also, Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Dawkins come to mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.D. Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 (edited) Gotta have Richard Feynman in there. Strongly recommend his autobio, Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman!... Edited May 24, 2007 by T.D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Larsen Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 Feynman and Einstein, hands down. They may not have been the most noble man in the world, but they both had incredible physical insight and a very cool way of thinking about fundamental physics. Honorable mention to Poincare, who worked in chaos way before it was trendy (or even had a name) and also is considered by some to be the true father of relativity theory. Least favorite might have to be Ed Witten. He was one described as Einstein and Feynman rolled into one, but I have come to the conclusion that he is the exact opposite of them. His work and way of approaching physics have done a lot of damage to the subject, IMO. OTOH, he really is a great guy... Favorite old-school scientist = Galileo. Favorite mathematician = Hilbert. Incredible researcher, and (depending somewhat on your POV and who you believe) beat out Einstein to the theory of General Relativity. Honorable mention to Godel. Favorite biologist = Darwin - no contest. Favorite chemist = Curie, no contest. Ultimate favorite - probably Feynman, if only because he was so much more obviously ahead of his peers than Einstein, and as a physicist (even if I am currently getting a paycheck for work in economics) I have to pick one of my own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free For All Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalo Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 Antony van Leeuwenhoek, just 'cause I dig his name... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalo Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 OK, seriously, Eisenstein... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalo Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 I mean, Eistein... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalo Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 One of those 'steins, anyway... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 Velikovsky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 Favorite chemist = Curie, no contest. Pierre or Marie?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoGrubb Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 My favorite scientist is whoever invented gummy bears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.D. Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 ... Least favorite might have to be Ed Witten. He was one described as Einstein and Feynman rolled into one, but I have come to the conclusion that he is the exact opposite of them. His work and way of approaching physics have done a lot of damage to the subject, IMO. OTOH, he really is a great guy... ... Interesting. I'm not a physics expert, but recently read Smolin's The Trouble With Physics and can appreciate your POV... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Man with the Golden Arm Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 hands down Professor Irwin Corey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catesta Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 One of those 'steins, anyway... Frankenstein? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Larsen Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 (edited) Favorite chemist = Curie, no contest. Pierre or Marie?!? Intentionally ambiguous. (Although I personally consider Pierre to be more of a solid-state physicist - but in some sense that's about as close as you get to being a chemist within physics.) Edited May 24, 2007 by J Larsen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rpklich Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 Profesors Heisenberg and Longhair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
connoisseur series500 Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 I like Leo Szillard. He was the prototypical head-in-the-clouds scientist. Einstein is everyone's favorite. I've got 2-3 books on Oppenheimer, so I must like him. Do mathmeticians count? Alan Turin was a fascinating guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Larsen Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 Schroedinger and Pauli deserve mention - Pauli is most well known for his work in quantum mechanics, but he did important work in relativity as well. Liebnitz also deserves mention, as recent historical evidence tends to support the idea that Newton really stole some of his best work from him. An unsung hero of modern phyiscs is John Bell, who devised a way to experimentally demonstrate that Einstein was wrong and god really does play dice. Absolutely ingenious (and incredibly simple!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 tone scientist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 I've long had a lot of admiration for Niels Bohr. (Leo Szillard is another favorite; right on, conn!) For mathematicians: Leonard Euler (not that I really understand much mathematics, mind you.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted May 24, 2007 Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 tone scientist. Already mentioned him, you knucklehead! Mentioned him along with Don Herbert! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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