DaveC426913 said:
Considering the distaste arising the from the idea of "who is better", I'll change my answer to address the question of : "who made the greatest contribution to science?"
Newton and Einstein are primarily remembered for their work in theoretical physics (although they were both grade A experimentalists as well). The contributions of theoretical physics to the kind of science that uses the scientific method will always be difficult to analyze. It is arguable that classic theoretical physics and all of relativity are convenient but non-essential for the production of technology, while it is only within the 20th century with quantum physics and advanced optics that we now have several critical pieces of technology depending on theoretical physics.
Newton:
1. Created the first quantitative theory of gravity as a universal force, from the key insight gained by watching the moon "fall" over the horizon coupled with Galileo's study of falling objects near the Earth's surface.
2. Discovered a way to use principles of motion to create equations so that the solution corresponding to his gravity law would imply Kepler's 3 laws of planetary motion (elliptical orbit, etc).
3. Created one of the most important branches of mathematics (calculus + differential equations) to solve the equations of motion.
Trivia: accurately predicted the speed of sound in air, and with decent accuracy predicted the size of the oblate bulge around the equator of the earth.
Einstein:
1. Created the first geometric theory of gravity, from the key insight that "a free falling object does not fell it's own weight" (or any other force, and so the rest-frame of a free falling observer will have flat curvature) coupled with Lorentz's study of transformations between inertial frames.
2. Discovered a way to apply Reimannian Geometry to the problem of motion and gravity in arbitrary coordinate systems. In a 4d spacetime the final product involves a system of 64 second-order partial differential equations in 64 unknowns, with each equation involving
thousands of nonlinear terms. This is what most theoreticians give Einstein the most credit for; it took him 8 years of steady progress but he was completely successful in the end.
3. Completely borrowed the machinery of Reimannian Geometry after it had been polished for two generations by mathematicians.
Trivia: predicted the visibility of an astronomical object that shouldn't have been visible during an eclipse, due to gravitational lensing.
Einstein's relativity is admired for it's theoretical elegance, but it has not been subjected to strong tests at the limits of the theory. Most of the empirical results confirm only the first few terms of a perturbation series, with the level of measurement accuracy we have. Note that these series can be gotten by equations that are much simpler than Einstein's full theory. In contrast, Newton's theories of motion and gravity have already been confirmed beyond all doubt across all scales that matter most to human bodies.
Even if we say that their theoretical contributions are nearly equal, Newton's Calculus was probably the greatest contribution made to science by any single century, let alone by one single man.
Those discussions have no point and are insulting to the memory of those great scientists.
How ironic, since the ultimate point of this discussion is to remember the scientists!
Don't let yourself be subverted by weakness! Progress results from criticism and bold action. We cannot sit around and worry about "insulting" these great figures, since they are strong willed and would not have cared in life, let alone in death.
Moreover, I suspect that a great deal of these "Don't fight. Don't
Judge" posts are really just a cover up that should be translated "I don't know or care much for the history of my subjects, but rather I consider myself a commodity in the labor market who is only interested in maintaining and increasing my value as such with pragmatic knowledge."
Concerning which is actually the better man, should you read into some history books on the life and personality of Newton, however, I think you will easily be convinced that Einstein was, in general the better 'man'.
Newton was described as a very unpleasant character, very sensitive and reactive to perceived attacks and so forth. For his genius, however, I for one would much prefer his company and consider him the better 'man'.
