Aristotle should be in there somewhere, as should Newton.
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Stephen Hawking is a mediocre scientist
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Aristotle should be in there somewhere, as should Newton.
Why not Faraday?
A Fish Aficionado
I am going to make it through this year if it kills me
Just for grant money
Schadenfreude
Member
At least his rap game is on point: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn7-fVtT16k
lol at this list
1. Newton
2. Tesla
3. Einstein
4. Galileo
5. Faraday
6. Darwin
7. Pasteur
8. DaVinci
9. Aristotle
10. Curie.
Hawking as a scientist is incredibly respected, and probably most likely 'top10' as well, just look at his scientific output... http://scholar.google.be/scholar?hl=nl&q=stephen+hawking&btnG=&lr=
Ok, perhaps these days he's more of a science popularizer, but that shouldn't discredit him because he has done a tremendous amount of work in physics which most physicists can only dream about doing...
Ok, perhaps these days he's more of a science popularizer, but that shouldn't discredit him because he has done a tremendous amount of work in physics which most physicists can only dream about doing...
PhantomHound
Banned
Aren't these guys like talking heads? Have they actually developed or discovered something groundbreaking to mankind?
Was about to say just this....the whole point of science is to come up with hypothesis that begged to be tested and disproven. That's the whole point of scientific method.
Hari Seldon
Member
Hawking could have been a great scientist, but his disease definitely held him way back. He can't play around with equations and his speed of communication is dogshit slow.
Yup. Awesome talking heads but that's what they are in a nutshell.
Nothing like a dumb, reductive post to combat dumb, reductive posting.
No, Stephen Hawking has no specialized knowledge of AI or what AI is likely to do if ever created. Like Bill Joy, his opinion on the subject is only as informed as an interested outside observer on the subject.
On the other hand, neither that, nor changes in theory since he did his original work, make him a mediocre scientist.
Stephen Hawking was the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at University of Cambridge for thirty years. He's shared this incredibly prestigious post with people like Isaac Newton, Charles Babbage, and Paul Dirac.
He is not a god, and he is not infallible, particularly outside of his discipline, but the OP says more about the OP than it does about Hawking's quality as a scientist.
No, Stephen Hawking has no specialized knowledge of AI or what AI is likely to do if ever created. Like Bill Joy, his opinion on the subject is only as informed as an interested outside observer on the subject.
On the other hand, neither that, nor changes in theory since he did his original work, make him a mediocre scientist.
Stephen Hawking was the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at University of Cambridge for thirty years. He's shared this incredibly prestigious post with people like Isaac Newton, Charles Babbage, and Paul Dirac.
He is not a god, and he is not infallible, particularly outside of his discipline, but the OP says more about the OP than it does about Hawking's quality as a scientist.
PhantomHound
Banned
I'm sure they're great guys, very educational, and smart... but top 10. Man.
terrisus
Member
Hari Seldon
Member
Replace Tesla with Gauss and that is not too terrible.
Only Einstein and Archimedes are a lock on that list.
Also disappointed Newton isn't on your list. Nor Maxwell, Planck, Schrodinger, etc etc.
EDIT: Oh shit, I forgot Faraday.
Dammit, the point is just that there's way more awesome scientists than those guys that were popularized.
MadSkillzBahamut
Member
I feel like Mendeleev should be in there somewhere.
Scientist is too broad a term. Discovering penicillin or DDT is probably more influential to the human condition than relativity or the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, at least at this stage of the history, but I doubt most people would put Fleming and Muller ahead of Planck, Einstein, or Heisenberg.
Got to limit it to apples to apples comparisons. Chemists compared to chemist. Theoretical astrophysicist compared to theoretical astrophysicist. I will say Newton is my personal god just for his mathematics contributions.
Edit. Quantum mechanics field getting no love here. Planck has to be in the top 5 right.
Got to limit it to apples to apples comparisons. Chemists compared to chemist. Theoretical astrophysicist compared to theoretical astrophysicist. I will say Newton is my personal god just for his mathematics contributions.
Edit. Quantum mechanics field getting no love here. Planck has to be in the top 5 right.
Hawking would never have gotten as much attention if he was a normal functioning human being. That doesn't make him a mediocre scientist. Einstein was a rock star in his age, but it was probably more because of his witty one-liners than his groundbreaking science.
There are plenty of brilliant scientists (dead and alive) that are practically unknown outside of academic circles. Several are in Hawking or even Einstein's league, but they never entered popular culture because they weren't very interesting public figures.
If you ask some random person "what can you tell me about Isaac Newton", I'm pretty sure only physicists and engineers will tell you about Newton's laws. The rest will start rambling about apples.
Speaking of Sir Isaac, he spent a lot of time studying alchemy. Such a hack. Also, why didn't he use mathematical notation? His long-winded texts are so very confusing
There are plenty of brilliant scientists (dead and alive) that are practically unknown outside of academic circles. Several are in Hawking or even Einstein's league, but they never entered popular culture because they weren't very interesting public figures.
If you ask some random person "what can you tell me about Isaac Newton", I'm pretty sure only physicists and engineers will tell you about Newton's laws. The rest will start rambling about apples.
Speaking of Sir Isaac, he spent a lot of time studying alchemy. Such a hack. Also, why didn't he use mathematical notation? His long-winded texts are so very confusing
All hail Euler!
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Its a anon NeoGAFfer claiming Stephen Hawking is dumb and doesn't know what he's talking about. I mean, he's a little more qualified than you are, unless you are actually a astrophysicist - there is no real way to verify or backup whatever his legitimately qualified critics say because nobody on GAF has a fucking clue what either party is talking about.
terrisus
Member
Psh, would you trust a scientist who didn't even know if he took care of his cat correctly?
He's no Pavlov, that's for sure.
terrisus
Member
"Random people" lack knowledge - news at 11!
Bedameister
Member
Ah man there are so many. My lists pretty random and I'm sure I forgot someone
- Noyori
- Boltzmann
- Einstein
- Schrock
- Sharpless
- Corey
- Schrödinger
- Heisenberg
- Curie
- Bohr
haha
terrisus
Member
Well, I mean, of course we're throwing shade on them - we're standing on top of them!
NO Galileo and Newton make me sad.
PhantomHound
Banned
Why not? We throw our opinion every where else... Are geniuses off limits? People mock Kanye West everyday and he's a genius.
Hasn't really led to anything practical yet. it's still mostly being formalized in theory.
Whereas the work of Einstein, maxwell, bohr led to shit like the Manhattan project, space programs, modern electronics.
Lack of chemists and over representation of physicists in these lists.
No. He has a gift of sorts, but he's no genius.
They do. We call it a Hawking disproving.
That is why my first paragraph talked about penicillin and DDT. Both of those have saved 100s of millions of lives. Got to define how we measure greatness.
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The Everyman
without making an assertion one way or the other on stephen hawking's level of genius. i just want to say that even being a mediocre scientist is deserving of the utmost respect. not many of us can argue that we're pushing the species forward in a meaningful way in our day to day.
additionally, the guy has had to battle some physical limitations.
additionally, the guy has had to battle some physical limitations.
terrisus
Member
Krappadizzle
Member
Yeah, anyone who has a top 10 scientists list and doesn't include Newton just does not really follow science. Newton invented new math to track stars as the math of the time wasn't sufficient enough. We owe a lot to Newton.
Eh. One could argue that you being alive pushes the species forward in a meaningful way.
+ Franklin
That's what I was thinking. The more holes the better.
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