Do you think Newton is a bit overrated?

[chaoseverlasting]

I can't speak for others, but for myself, I would say that I tend to overrate Newton. I give him a 9.7 or 9.8 on most days, but I might go to 9.9 on days when I am feeling especially generous. However, objectively, I know that 9.6 is as high as you can really go for someone like him.

How do you objectively come up with these ratings?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Photoelectric effect, building on Planck.

Theory of relativity, stolen from Poincare.

Poincare and Planck both built on Newton who built on Galileo who built on Aristotle. The scientific revolution wasn't such of a much. The scholastics were right after all, you could read Aristotle and do as well.

 

[Gokul43201]

Planck was among the first people to say Einstein was just plain wrong when he (Einstein) came up with the energy quantization explanation for the Photoelectric Effect. The two of them disagreed fundamentally (until Planck had to later change his position) on the utility of the quantum description of the excitations of a field. In a similar vein, Poincare' and Einstein differed fundamentally on the value of having an ether to measure real time and distance in.

Nevertheless, that's not the point I wanted to make with my probing. I was hoping to point out the sheer absurdity of passing judgment on the life contributions of other people without a strong understanding of most of their significant contributions.

If you pooh-pooh Einstein, I assume you are well-versed in special and general relativity, GR based cosmology, thermodynamics and statistical mechanics (especially things like diffusion and Bose-Einstein statistics), quantum mechanics, solid state physics and "little" things like the laser equations.

You talk about Gauss, I assume you've at least completed Disquisitiones.

To put down Edison, I expect one to have read the details of at least the most significant of his 1000-odd patents.

And so on...

If not, you are at best expressing someone else's opinion, without acknowledging it.

 

[humanino]

I was hoping to point out the sheer absurdity of passing judgment on the life contributions of other people without a strong understanding of most of their significant contributions.

+1

Some PF members too often overrate themselves.

 

[ThomasT]

I can't speak for others, but for myself, I would say that I tend to overrate Newton. I give him a 9.7 or 9.8 on most days, but I might go to 9.9 on days when I am feeling especially generous. However, objectively, I know that 9.6 is as high as you can really go for someone like him.

Well, yeah, on that scale.

 

[DrGreg]

I can't speak for others, but for myself, I would say that I tend to overrate Newton. I give him a 9.7 or 9.8 on most days,

Surely Newton deserves to be rated 9.80665?

 

[Chi Meson]

Surely Newton deserves to be rated 9.80665?

Well yeah, but then there's that time Newton said Led Zeppelin was just a rip off of Blue Cheer and MC5 that was pretty stupid lol[/sarcasm]

 

[qspeechc]

Edison had a factory full of inventors working for him and he put all their patents for their inventions under his name, so he gets the credit. Edison probably invented far fewer things than the number attributed to him.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Edison had a factory full of inventors working for him and he put all their patents for their inventions under his name, so he gets the credit. Edison probably invented far fewer things than the number attributed to him.

Edison invented the research laboratory.

 

[Hepth]

Edison invented the research laboratory.

Lol'd...

 

[Danger]

I can't say as I care for his figs, but otherwise he's okay.

Dammit, Flex! Between you and Lisa, I don't know why I even bother posting any more. You both keep beating me to the punchline.

 

[jackson6612]

What about Dirac? Michael Faraday?

 

[Danger]

What about Dirac? Michael Faraday?

Was Faraday stuck between Dirac and a hard place?

 

[humanino]

What about Dirac? Michael Faraday?

Seriously, making a list is futile. History is interesting, but why judge ? How do you compare Maxwell and Archimedes ? How would you rate those who disappeared too soon like Majorana ? How about those who devoted their time to teaching and never ceased to turn ever more students into first class physicists, like Wheeler ?

What is fascinating about physics is that it is a universal endeavor which we all write together, turning grains of sand into mountain ridges. Some are lucky enough that they roll a big rock to the right place, but that might be only be because many others cleared the way.

 

[Vanadium 50]

How would you rate those who disappeared too soon like Majorana

Literally, in his case.

 

[lisab]

Was Faraday stuck between Dirac and a hard place?

 

[Gokul43201]

And he says he's surprised to be nominated for the humor award!

 

[Mu naught]

The famous quote by Newton:

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants"

was a dig at his enemy Robert Hooke. Hooke was known to be a very short man, what Newton was saying was he owned Hooke nothing.

 

[jackson6612]

The famous quote by Newton:

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants"

was a dig at his enemy Robert Hooke. Hooke was known to be a very short man, what Newton was saying was he owned Hooke nothing.

I believe you meant 'owed' instead?

Best wishes
Jack

 

[mathwonk]

not compared to me.

 

[Danger]

not compared to me.

 

[dkotschessaa]

This thread is overrated. :)