Who is the greatest scientific mind of all time? Great meaning their contribution to humanity's sum total of knowledge?

[DrPepper12]

[NYCQuestions1976]

This is actually an easy question to answer. Leonardo Da Vinci, and it's not even remotely close. Many geniuses throughout history have made discoveries and created inventions that they were able to realize in their lifetime, or shortly thereafter, in all areas of sciences. Many advancements by many geniuses over many centuries, but all basically within their generational grasps. Da Vinci? He greatly "outkicked his coverage" by centuries. Da Vinci conceptualized and drew up prints for a helicopter, and it took mankind about 450 years to realize his invention. He also had a rudimentary understanding of plate tectonics during a time when "globular Earth/flat Earth" was still considered a legitimate argument, envisioned the first airplane, a tank, concentrated solar power, a calculator, and the double hull... all of these things around 400 to 450 years before they were realized. He also advanced the study of anatomy, civil engineering, optics, and hydrodynamics. All of these Da Vinci accomplishments detailed centuries before modern science finally caught up to him and proved him right.

[DrPepper12]

I still gotta go with newton

[NYCQuestions1976]

Thanks for Most Superb, GaG algorithm.

[Lliam]

When asked what it felt like to be the most brilliant man alive, Albert Einstein replied,
"I don't know, ask Nikola Tesla".

Tesla got shafted because his ideas would have benefited humanity and cost industrialists $billions in profits.

[dustybiker2]

Wouldn't have my beloved aircraft without Leonardo Da Vinci.

And Galileo Galilei expanded our minds through space.

[WhitneySnow]

Francesco Redi. Inventor of the scientific method. Also Aristotle, but he was wrong about a lot of stuff.

[abc3643]

Newton.

There are two real eras of science:

Before physics got its shit together and

After physics got its shit together.

Physics began to get its shit together with Newton.

This is why, in high school physics, after teaching mathematical preliminaries like vectors, they teach mechanics and that begins with Newton's 3 Laws of Motion.

Everything else builds off of that.

Everything.

[DrPepper12]

My default answer is also newton too

[abc3643]

Oh, and he invented calculus which is "mathematics got its shit together" moment because calculus takes us from making predictions about the tangible to making predictions about the intangible.

Newton had to invent calculus to work on mechanics.

[NimbleOcelot]

I'd put it into three. Before Newton and after Newton clearly is the biggest change, so Newton is the winner as far as extended contributions go.

Then you can split it again during Tesla and Einstein's era. I imagine it like Newton split the scientific timeline in two, and then Einstein and Tesla did it again, building off of Newton.

But there's definitely a reason that most people, when thinking about scientific laws, often start with Newton's Law.

[Gospeedracer]

Nikola Tesla because he invented

1. The squirrel cage induction motor

2. Carbon brushes to correct a flaw in Thomas Edison's series universal motor

3. The transformer

4. The tesla coil

5. Radio

6. Tesla turbine

7. Hydropower

8. AC Electricity which enables power to be transmitted efficiently and over great distances.

Just to name a few but he also discovered the laws of electromagnetism. he also has a unit of measurement for flux density named after him, The Tesla which is also known as Amp Turns per meter AT/m.

[Oncewildtwiceburned]

The O’G MGTOW toxic male Isaac Newton once said, "if I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

Psychopaths and deranged narcissists aside, generally the more intelligent you are/the more you learn-the more you humble you become in regards to what you do know. The more you know-the more you understand how much you don’t know. Ore often than not middlings and novices have an inflated ego and overestimate their knowledge.

There is no “one greatest mind” we can trace back all inventions to. At that point we would be arguing for the existence of God and creation.

[AviatorTom]

My vote is Isaac Newton. He was one of the first to explain the physical laws of motion, which were then expanded upon by Copernicus, Brahe and others. Einstein even started with Newton's laws of motions when developing the Theory of Relativity.

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

I disagree with how you defined "greatest" because you defined it as quantity instead of quality. I also dislike the idea of romanticizing a single scientific mind, it's good for kids maybe but for adults? I find idols detrimental to science, because science is a collective effort, not a US TV show.

Sorry Doc, maybe next time 😏

[Avicenna]

Why me, of course. Seriously, though, as great as Avicenna was, I have to vote for Newton.

[DrPepper12]

Nah, avicenna was quite the 🐐 too!

[Avicenna]

That he was...

[SeekerOfTruth007]

I give Louis Pasteur at least 3 of the top 5 discoveries of all time:

Pasteurization

Vaccine

antibiotics

This nearly doubled the average human life expectancy since his contributions were made.

[exitseven]

Maybe Nikola Tesla/\. He his work with electricity was revolutionary. He was limited by the technology of his time but he was a true genius.

[AManOnTheWeb]

René Descartes work in formalizing logic and knowledge is foundational to much of the Science that followed.

[lightofdarkness]

Farabi, Geber (Cabir bin Hayyan) and da Vinci

[jshm2]

Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi

Basically the father of mathematics.

[NathanDavis]

"E pur si muove"the sheer badassery and dedication to the craft... many would argue that it was then, that the truly modern science started

[Joshydavid25]

I honestly don't think there is one person because it's a group effort.. We got this far from an accumulation of knowledge from different peoples and what their cultures had figured out and just added it all up over the centuries..

[Anonymous]

The top three were Tesla, Einstein and Da Vinci.

[Likes2drive]

Nikola Tesla , Jules Vern , Gustav Eiffel, , Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein and Marconi

[shortster]

Probably Leonardo DaVinci

[ManOnFire]

Pharaoh Kufu.

[Agape93]

Archimedes

[blueonblack22]

Nicola Tesla

[Anonymous]

Donald Trump.

[Dongie]

Einstein

[Dongie]

Tesla was maybe more of a freak genius, but Albert had the commonality to deliver more substance.

[Twalli]

Issac Newton