Why Einstein is said to be the greatest scientist?
1 Answer
Albert Einstein was a visionary and made a major contribution to our understanding of the universe but he was standing on the shoulders of giants.
Explanation:
Many scientific discoveries were the culmination of the work of a number of people. It has also been the case that two people came up with the same theory independently. They were often searching different solutions using different mathematics.
A good example of this is that Gottfreid Leibnitz and Isaac Newton both discovered calculus about the same time independently. Newton alone is accredited with the discovery of calculus.
James Clark Maxwell discovered his equations of electromagnetism. They started a series of events which led to relativity. Albert Einstein said "The special theory of relativity owes its origins to Maxwell's equations of the electromagnetic field."
In fact Hendrik Lorentz and Henri Poincaré discovered what is now known as Special Relativity to solve a problem created by Maxwell's equations. Einstein reproduced the Lorentz equations from a different perspective.
David Hilbert independently discovered what are now known as Einstein's field equations of General Relativity and actually published before Einstein.
So, undoubtedly Einstein was a great scientist. It is however unfair to call him the greatest scientist as it would be be unfair to all of the other great scientists.
Everybody has heard of Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. How many people have heard of Leonhard Euler, James Clark Maxwell, Henri Poincaré, Max Planck, Richard Feynman and other equally great scientists?
