Who Is Considered the Greatest Mathematician Ever?

[quddusaliquddus]

Who do you reckon is the greatest Scientist Ever ?
Who do you reckon is the greatest Mathematician Ever?

 

[jcsd]

It's very subjetive, though I think it's worth saying that there's only one person who is a contender for both titles: Sir Isaac Newton

 

[quddusaliquddus]

Lets have all our subjectivism prevale. What about the Greeks?

 

[jcsd]

Well the best Greek mathematician without a shadow of a doubt was Euclid of Alexandria (yes I know Alexandria is in Egypt, but at the time it was ruled by the Ptolemaic dynasty)and Pythagoras of Samos and Archimedes of Syracuse deserve honourable mentions.

 

[Michael2003]

In my opinion, Newton was the best physicist. He made giant breakthroughs in many areas, and I wouldn't like to think how far behind todays standards we'd be now if he hadn't done what he did when he did. Just think about all of the areas he worked in. Very few people have the sort of genius to do things like calculus, gravity and optics (amongst others) from scratch.

 

[quddusaliquddus]

He even had time to join parliament ... though the only time he opened his mouth there was to tell someone to close the window ... it was a bit chilly that day you see?

 

[fbsthreads]

take a look at this list:

http://www.adherents.com/adh_influ.html

you'll see that Newton is more influential than jesus!

einstein is tenth.

 

[quddusaliquddus]

Lol...but they're considering factors other than contribution to scientific advancement. Somehow I don't think Muhammad could be considered as a better scientist than Newton, let alone Einstein! :D

 

[cragwolf]

I think:

the greatest scientist was James Clerk Maxwell, closely followed by Albert Einstein, and then Isaac Newton.
the greatest mathematician was Euler, followed by Gauss, then Poincaré.

But there are at least a dozen scientists and a dozen mathematicians who could easily deserve the tag, "greatest".

Also:

the greatest Greek mathematician/prescientist was Archimedes.

 

[meteor]

I think that Newton marks the starting of what we can call modern physics. Then I would concede to him the title of greatest scientist.
Leonhard Euler has been the most prolific mathematician ever (also in the personal life, he had more than 10 children!). He deserves the title of best mathematician

 

[jimmy p]

I like Rutherford for the scientist and Gauss for the mathematician

 

[tribdog]

Richard Feynman. He's just so damn cool.

 

[ShawnD]

Nikola Tesla, he's the man. The ability to efficiently transport electricity changed everything.

 

[tribdog]

I can't say Nikola without sounding like those guys in the Alps with the cough drops.

 

[quddusaliquddus]

I don't know where I read it - but hasn't every one of Archimedes's scientific theories been disproven?

 

[decibel]

dident the arabs( or middle eastern ppl lol) invent the number system?

 

[arildno]

I don't know where I read it - but hasn't every one of Archimedes's scientific theories been disproven?

No; you're mixing him up with Aristotle.
Greatest scientist that ever lived: Archimedes
Greatest mathematician that ever lived: Archimedes

 

[Imparcticle]

1.)Nikola Tesla
2.)Archimedes

 

[quddusaliquddus]

Lol. Sorry about that arildo.
I think the Indians invent the number system. I reckon the Chinese invented zero.

 

[jimmy p]

Nowadays however we use the Arabic numerical system. Sure beats them vi's and xviii's though.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I always vote for Faraday when this subject comes up. I think that what he discovered about electromagnetism represents a greater quantity of understanding for an individual person to have gained through observation than what Newton accomplished. I believe it is accurate to say that Newton was a more brilliant man than Faraday, but not a greater scientist.

 

[quddusaliquddus]

I'm amazed at the support for Tesla (no offence intended towards the Tesl-fans out there).

 

[arildno]

2. greatest scientist that ever lived: Sir Isaac Newton
2. greatest mathematician that ever lived: Leonhard Euler

 

[Njorl]

For the things he accomplished under worse circumstances than any other scientist mentioned (10 years lost due to torture among other things) I choose Roger Bacon as the best scientist.

http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Bacon.html

Njorl

 

[quddusaliquddus]

I like that. Roger Bacon - one of my favourite scientists :D

 

[Stranger]

well i guess I am the only one to go with :

1) einstein
2) Newton
3) maxwell