# Lifestyles & Discussion > Science & Technology >  Who is Your Favorite Scientist?

## James Madison

Well...

My vote is for Isaac Newton. He pioneered the fields of optics, mathematics, kinematics,....everything! He was also an accomplished theologian and dabbled in alchemy, politics, and philosophy. Overall, I'd say he led a pretty full life.

----------


## TaftFan

Newton was one of the most well rounded men in history. Ben Franklin was another.

----------


## robert68

Isaac Newton too.

----------


## amy31416

Had to vote for Mendel. I don't know why, but I'm kinda fascinated with monks.

----------


## luctor-et-emergo

Not really based on anything really.. 
But I like Roger Bacon. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bacon

----------


## Cap

I vote for RPF member KEEF.

----------


## CaptUSA

Isaac Newton... Francis Bacon...  These are two of the most ingenius men to have ever lived.  But I still voted for Nikola Tesla.

When thinking about the impact that each of these individuals had on humanity, I don't think there has ever been anyone (except maybe Jesus Christ) who has altered the course of history more.  When asked how it feels to be the smartest man alive, Einstein answered, "I don't know, you'll have to ask Nikola Tesla."  



> “Suffice it to say that, were we to seize and to eliminate from our industrial world the results of Mr. Tesla's work, the wheels of industry would cease to turn, our electric cars and trains would stop, our towns would be dark, our mills would be dead and idle. Yea, so far reaching is this work, that it has become the warp and woof of industry... His name marks an epoch in the advance of electrical science. From that work has sprung a revolution in the electrical art.” - B.A. Behrend

----------


## Quark

Richard Feynman

----------


## fisharmor

> Not really based on anything really.. 
> But I like Roger Bacon. 
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bacon


I would also have chosen Roger Bacon.
There was also an  industrial revolution in Europe in the 12th century.  If not for the  plague and the Muslim invasions bringing a halt to progress, humanity  would likely be 200 years more advanced than we are now.

----------


## PierzStyx

Tesla's entry should read, "Real Life Mad Scientist." The man was the real deal.

But my _favorite_ scientist would have to be Nasir al-Din al-Tusi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasir_al-Din_al-Tusi He was a polymath, an architect, astronomer, biologist, chemist, mathematician, philosopher, physician, physicist, scientist, theologian, and religious leader. The man discovered the nature of the galaxy and the heliocentric organization of the solar system hundreds of years before Copernicus was born. The book, "Islamic Science and The Making of The European Renaissance" (http://www.amazon.com/Islamic-Scienc.../dp/0262516152) in addition to highlighting the advanced nature of Islamic science before the Renaissance gives very compelling evidence that al-Tusi's work may even have been what influenced and inspired Copernicus in his work.

----------


## amy31416

> Richard Feynman





> Tesla's entry should read, "Real Life Mad Scientist." The man was the real deal.


If it were multiple choice, these fellows would have my vote as well.

----------


## pcosmar

Other

Jesus Christ- Transmutation, Resurrection

----------


## jllundqu

Tesla was a badass...  Edison and the government had it in for him.  Not only did he 'light the world' he was on the government $#@!-list... have to give extra points for that.

----------


## jllundqu

Although he did get a lot of funding from  JP Morgan and Co.

----------


## sratiug

Otto Warburg for discovering the cause of cancer.

----------


## brandon

No Heisenberg???  lol I don't really have a favorite though.

----------


## Dr.3D

Nikola Tesla invented the radio, but of course those in power won't let that be said.  He deserves much more credit than he has been given.  Because of politics, Tesla was delegated a back seat in history.

----------


## BuddyRey

Your poll is broken...it won't let me vote for "Kludge is a douchebag."

----------


## Origanalist

> Other
> 
> Jesus Christ- Transmutation, Resurrection


Science!

----------


## Origanalist

> Your poll is broken...it won't let me vote for "Kludge is a douchebag."


That would be under "other".

----------


## heavenlyboy34

Is this limited to the "hard" sciences, or are the "soft" sciences (like the social sciences) included?

----------


## Acala

> Richard Feynman


I would agree.  Not because he was the most important, or even the brightest (although he was really bright) but because he was not only a really brilliant scientist, but also a really good teacher AND a really interesting, open-minded, and fun human being.  Or so say the books.

----------


## CaptUSA

> Although he did get a lot of funding from  JP Morgan and Co.


Be careful about that...  Tesla really forced JP Morgan's hand in getting funding.  He was really one of the only people to ever beat JP and survive.  Although, JP did get his revenge in a most despicable way.  I didn't want the impression left that Tesla and Morgan were cohorts in some way.  They were adversaries.

----------


## Carlybee

Dr. Frankenstein

Seriously though...Leonardo da Vinci

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science...nardo_da_Vinci

----------


## James Madison

> Is this limited to the "hard" sciences, or are the "soft" sciences (like the social sciences) included?


Biology
Chemistry
Physics
Mathematics
Psychology...on a good day

----------


## Occam's Banana

I voted for Other. Fortunately, this poll wisely asks for our "favorite" scientist - rather than who we think is the "greatest" scientist. The former is answerable - the latter is not.

Tesla was brilliant, one of the greatest creative geniuses of all time. But I think of him as much more of an engineer than a scientist ...

My pick would be between Roger Bacon and Richard Feynman. Both of them are fascinating and eccentric characters. I am glad that neither of them is explicitly listed in the poll, so I don't have to choose one over the other. (Roger Bacon, by the way, was the "muse" of William of Baskerville, the main character in Umberto Eco's novel _The Name of the Rose_.)

----------


## green73

What loser picked Mendel?

----------


## donnay

> Other
> 
> Jesus Christ- Transmutation, Resurrection



Absolutely!

----------


## Dr.3D

> What loser picked Mendel?


Name ends with ∏.

----------


## fisharmor

> Is this limited to the "hard" sciences, or  are the "soft" sciences (like the social sciences) included?


Alfred Kinsey?

Or maybe Tim Leary?

----------


## I<3Liberty

It's a difficult choice... I was stuck between a few, but I voted for Mendel because he founded genetics (one of my favorite sciences.) 




> What loser picked Mendel?


Amy and moi. Put the haterade down, Green73. Mendel was da maaan!

----------


## green73

> Name ends with ∏.





> It's a difficult choice... I was stuck between a few, but I voted for Mendel because he founded genetics (one of my favorite sciences.) 
> 
> 
> Amy and moi. Put the haterade down, Green73. Mendel was da maaan!



In that case, excellent choice. Can I change mine?

----------


## green73

Oh the Greeks. They came so close to spawning the industrial revolution 1500 years before the fact. Where would we be now if they'd just taken that next short step?

----------


## otherone

> If not for the  plague and the Muslim invasions bringing a halt to progress, humanity  would likely be 200 years more advanced than we are now.


Never pooh-pooh the Plague, my good man.  It lead to the Peasant's Revolt, the concept of the Rights of the commoner, and the destruction of the feudal system.
As for me, I voted "other", because Hugo J. Farnsworth wasn't on the list (or Professor Frink, for that matter....he makes you laugh, he makes you think).

----------


## James Madison

> Other
> 
> Jesus Christ- Transmutation, Resurrection





> Absolutely!


Religion subforum is that way ----------------->

----------


## I<3Liberty

> In that case, excellent choice. Can I change mine?


I have no idea what Dr. 3D is saying in that quote. 

Anywho... sure, Green73. In fact, I'm going to change mine...



Bill Nye the Science Guy is the best scientist to ever walk this planet. Hands down. Madison better add him to this poll.

----------


## Dr.3D

> I have no idea what Dr. 3D is saying in that quote.


You don't know Amy∏?

----------


## I<3Liberty

> You don't know Amy∏?


Ohhh, I see. I knew her as amy31416 not Amy∏.

----------


## Dr.3D

> Ohhh, I see. I knew her as amy31416 not Amy∏.


3.1416 about = to ∏

----------


## tod evans

Timothy Leary

----------


## bolil

Feanor.

----------


## green73

> Timothy Leary


Take a listen some time. 

http://www.corbettreport.com/intervi...-drug-culture/

----------


## Nirvikalpa

Rosalind Franklin.

----------


## pcgame

Linus Pauling

----------


## BamaAla

In honor of the Newton love, I vote Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.

----------


## Natural Citizen

None of these for me. Don't even know if it makes sense to have a favorite "scientist". Now the sciences themselves? That's different. Just depends upon who is using the sciences to the right thing...which is often a matter of opinion or world view.

If I had to answer a question regarding which one con forms to my world view, I'd say Carl Sagan hands down. Which reminds me. I've been meaning to change my sig again.

Carl had swag too...

----------


## amy31416

> It's a difficult choice... I was stuck between a few, but I voted for Mendel because he founded genetics (one of my favorite sciences.) 
> 
> 
> 
> Amy and moi. Put the haterade down, Green73. Mendel was da maaan!


I voted for Mendel because he was the first scientist I'd ever learned about personally in school--and the teacher obviously had a lot of affection and respect for his work, she painted an amazing picture. And genetics was one of the first branches of science that captivated me.

So pffffffft on Green!

----------


## eduardo89

I vote for AmyPi.

----------


## amy31416

> I vote for AmyPi.


Only because none of those dead douchebags can +rep you.

----------


## eduardo89

> Only because none of those dead douchebags can +rep you.

----------


## amy31416

> 


My god, is that you? Far more sexay than the pics HB has posted of you.

----------


## eduardo89

> My god, is that you? Far more sexay than the pics HB has posted of you.


The only resemblance is the poshness.

----------


## KEEF

Rosalind Franklin... she was the real discoverer of the structure of DNA.  She was studying how the molecule was structured at varying relative humidities.  She was the first person to take an X-ray picture of DNA.  Watson and Crick stole her picture literally off of her desk at Cambridge, then published 'their' findings and got the Nobel Prize for physiology/medicine, Franklin had died. 

She got $#@!ed over in history.

Another good one was Erasmus Darwin (Charles Darwin's grandfather).  He was the one that actually came up with the theory of evolution.  Charles Darwin went and stole that idea and elaborated further on it with his trip on the Beagle by explaining natural selection and survival of the fittest.  In fact the phrase "survival of the fittest" was a phrase that Charles Darwin stole from the British philosopher Herbert Spencer.

Again, both Erasmus and Herbert got $#@!ed over in history.


Now if the question of who is the best narrator of science, that would have to be either Freddie Jones or David Attenborough.  Their narratives done for movies like "The Private Life of Plants" and "Sexual Encounters of the Floral Kind" are priceless.

----------


## PSYOP

Nikola Tesla

----------


## James Madison

Surprised the Father of Medicine isn't getting any love.

----------

