Einstein vs. the brains of today...

[heisenburrr]

Albert Einstein has been voted the greatest physicist of all time in an end of the millennium poll, pushing Sir Isaac Newton into second place.

The survey was conducted among 100 of today's leading physicists.

"Einstein's special and general theories of relativity completely overturned previous conceptions of a universal, immutable space and time, and replaced them with a startling new framework in which space and time are fluid and malleable," said physicist Brian Greene from Columbia University, US, who participated in the poll for Physics World magazine.

The three most important discoveries in physics are quantum mechanics, Einstein's theory of general relativity and Newton's mechanics and gravitation.

Quantum computation pioneer David Deutsch of Oxford University said: "In each of these three cases, the discovery in question not only revolutionised the branch of physics that it nominally addressed, but also provided a framework so deep and universal that all subsequent theories in physics have been formulated within it."

His own peers agree that the man was something else

 

[godkiller]

By points)

1) That doesn't make sense. Wouldn't it be somewhat proportional?

I don't understand your logic. Human population growth is not proportional in any meaningful sense. Rather it is linear: it goes up, down or stays the same. There are more people alive today than ever before in human history because of recent medical and technological advances.

2) Like I said earlier, doors always open with every new discovery. Einstein corrected Newtonian physics problems, but his discoveries led to quantum mechanics/physics and there are a shyt load of unanswered questions still there.

Fair enough but how does this statement necessarily conflict with my saying that earlier discoveries are more low-hanging fruit than others?

3) Being educated is great, but like I was saying, that's only one component. You have to know how to "dream" in someways. You have to integrate philosophy with the science and try to derive something from that. Not everyone can do that.

This is true but I think education increases one's ability to think scientifically and produce significant scientific material. There is a strong correlation between education and academic research volume between countries. This means that more educated countries produce more academic papers. I believe that the existence of more educated smart people today than ever before in history means Einstein wouldn't be considered as brilliant today as he was back then.[/quote]

 

[godkiller]

His own peers agree that the man was something else

If you read deeper into the article you'll notice that the physicist collective is venerating Einstein on the significance of his discovery, not the level of his ability. I am not debating the notion Einstein made an incredible discovery and is to be regarded as a HOF'er. I am just saying that perhaps he would not be such a HOF'er compared to the guys working today. I mean, there are HOF'ers in the NFL who are better HOF'ers that other HOF'ers. Levels within levels of GOATness.

 

[heisenburrr]

If you read deeper into the article you'll notice that the physicist collective is venerating Einstein on the significance of his discovery, not the level of his ability. I am not debating the notion Einstein made an incredible discovery and is to be regarded as a HOF'er. I am just saying that perhaps he would not be such a HOF'er compared to the guys working today. I mean, there are HOF'ers in the NFL who are better HOF'ers that other HOF'ers. Levels within levels of GOATness.

what qualifications do you have that allow you to offer this judgement

that's just your opinion.

in my opinion, developing a theory that serves as a basis for modern physics as we know it is a testament to his unique abilities

 

[PhonZhi]

sounds to me like the same thing we say about athletes of yesteryear. That they wouldnt be as great if they were playing today

 

[heisenburrr]

"I would have ranked him a bit higher," said Rochus Vogt, a Caltech physics professor, former provost, and former division chair in Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy. "He was certainly the greatest physicist of my age.

"He was not only a top-notch physicist, but he was an artist, a Renaissance type of person," Vogt said. "He had certain insights and perceptions in physics that I have no word to describe other than 'artistic.'"

This was said about Richard Feynman

The last part is what separates Einstein and a few others from their peers

 

[heisenburrr]

I mean, I would argue that Leonardo Da Vinci is smarter and more intelligent than any of today's geniuses. Discrediting cognitive abilities of a person just because they're from a different era makes no sense.

 

[Insensitive]

I believe older discoveries were less remarkable because 1) fewer people were alive back then and thus fewer brilliant people existed to compete and 2) many of the discoveries were more low hanging fruit than perhaps future discoveries might be. Darwin's discovery, for example, was also made by another guy around the same time. So even then there were brilliant people coming up with the same theories. In today's world there are many more educated people. That said, it could be that Einstein would be just as brilliant today.

This is nonsense.
I think that any discovery made before our time meant you HAD to be brilliant.
People like Newton and Einstein don't just build on stuff
in fact some of them had to CREATE, that's where a lot of you
guys fail in trying to understand their knowledge.

THIS is why the Einsteins and the Newtons are held in such
high regard, not because they were exceptional in all of that learned
knowledge but because of how much they INTRODUCED.

This is why despite their monumental mental capabilities these
PHD's aren't making huge breakthroughs and discoveries (single handed at least),
only special individuals come along every once and a while that come up
with things that not a single person on the planet before them could come
up with or wasn't influenced by it after they departed.


I think the thing that makes these contributions not seem like a "Big deal" is
because we're getting the distilled version of these things that were once theory
and they're only now deemed as "Facts".
I mean Geometry reigned supreme for CENTURIES, but only a few made major contributions (again special individuals....)
that we still use to this day and most of it is the simple version of what took a complex proof
to prove.
The same goes for Algebra, Trigonometry, Calculus etc.

sounds to me like the same thing we say about athletes of yesteryear. That they wouldnt be as great if they were playing today

Barring some sort of advantage (better equipment, doping etc.)
Most of the best from any time in recent human history would
easily excel today.
Why ?
Because they're still humans, we haven't changed much in thousands
of years.

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

Tesla and Da Vinci are Top 2 in no order.

 

[BlvdBrawler]

Tesla and Da Vinci are Top 2 in no order.

Newton?

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

Newton?

A contender, but who would you put him over out of Tesla and Da Vinci? If I had to order the Top 4..Id say Da Vinci-Tesla-Einstein-Newton

 

[BlvdBrawler]

A contender, but who would you put him over out of Tesla and Da Vinci? If I had to order the Top 4..Id say Da Vinci-Tesla-Einstein-Newton

I'd put him over Tesla. Da Vinci was on some other shyt.

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

To stay completely on subject, Einstein was a rare breed. Even physically...his brain was studied postmortem and found to be irregular. If anything, he would still be a prominent figure, if not the undisputed leader in physics today. Giving him more technology and information to work with would be

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

I'd put him over Tesla. Da Vinci was on some other shyt.

Da Vinci is hard to argue against as the GOAT. Sometimes it makes me wonder if he actually did all the shyt himself

Don't sleep on Tesla though...bodied Edison..wireless energy transmission in the 1800's...tesla coil...early pioneer of x-rays...arguably the main force in the invention of the radio..he also had a very interesting analysis of Einstein's work..doesn't seem to be talked about much..and, for some reason, the FBI immediately seized all of his possessions upon his death
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nikola_Tesla_patents
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nikola_Tesla_patents

 

[ELITE]

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