• Question: In your opinion, which famous scientist has contributed most to science?

    Asked by aherriott to Amy, Drew, Julia, Kimberley, Sara on 17 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by shigamoo19, smayo.
    • Photo: Julia Griffen

      Julia Griffen answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Hey Aherriott,

      I think that there are two roles a famous scientist can play..
      1st the type of say Richard Attenborough.. he engages with the public, spreads ideas enthusiam and knowldge to the general public.

      2nd the type of John Beddington.. who interacts and advises governement, he advices what policies and what funding should be made available.

      I’m a massive fan of david attenborough.. but its worth while noting that there are many other scientists not so well know by the public that play a vital role in legistalation and policy!

      Who do you think has?

    • Photo: Kimberley Bryon

      Kimberley Bryon answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      As far as my field is concerned Sydney Brenner has contributed the most as without him no-one would have started using worms for research.

      In terms of a scientist who has contributed the most to science as a whole, probably Charles Darwin, because his theory of evolution was really radical at the time.

    • Photo: Drew Rae

      Drew Rae answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Oh, good question. If you’ll accept him as famous enough, I’ll go for Sergey Korolyov. You might not have heard of him, but the are a lot of people in Eastern Europe who have. Without him, no successful launch of Sputnik I, no space race, and no mass investment in science in the USA, UK, France and Germany.

    • Photo: Sara Imari Walker

      Sara Imari Walker answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Hi aherriott!! Ah, you would think this is a tough question. And it is! But sort-of not. I would say hands down Galileo Galilei. That man was absolutely brillant and ahead of his time. He is seriously under appreciated in modern science. Inventor, engineer, physicist, astronomer, you name it he did it! He was even extremely close to figuring out Newton’s laws but didn’t really have the proper math – Newton had to invent calculus to pull that off. Try looking up some of the things he did and start compiling a list – you will be amazed one person could accomplish so much. I would even go so far as to call him the father of modern science. Nice one!

    • Photo: Amy MacQueen

      Amy MacQueen answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Hey!

      Its a toughie…because without the work of a lot of eminent scientists we wouldn’t be where we are now! I really like Julia’s take on this question – we need people to do science…but communicating it to the public is also incredibly important so that people actually understand something of how the universe works.

      I would say that two very important guys were Sir Isaac Newton (who Sara has briefly mentioned) and his arch nemesis, Robert Hooke. There is not even a surviving portrait of Robert Hooke but he designed the compound microscope and first discovered “cells” – in fact it was he who coined the term! 🙂

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