[HN Gopher] Ask Ethan: Will physics ever see another Einstein or...
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       Ask Ethan: Will physics ever see another Einstein or Newton?
        
       Author : mellosouls
       Score  : 10 points
       Date   : 2022-06-11 18:51 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (bigthink.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (bigthink.com)
        
       | rowanG077 wrote:
       | I didn't read the article but I doubt it. Mass education has seen
       | to that.
        
       | Glant wrote:
       | I'm certainly no physicist, I don't know much on the subject, but
       | does Stephen Hawking not count? As a layman I'd group him with
       | Einstein and Newton as the greatest scientists I know of.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | jleyank wrote:
         | The average level is so much higher, or, really much more well
         | known now than in the early 19xx's. People will be hard pressed
         | to duplicate his 1905 output, but somebody like Feynman has the
         | social impact of Einstein. Bardeen won two Nobel prizes in
         | physics (transistor and superconducting), and that's not too
         | shabby. Sagan didn't operate at this level but he had the
         | impact on society of "a scientist" so he also must be
         | considered.
         | 
         | Before ww ii, knowing college graduates was somewhat rare. Now,
         | one can know 100's of phd's by just being active in a field.
         | Things that are less rare are less significant.
        
       | Qem wrote:
       | Surely we have already seen, and will see again in the future
       | people of equal or greater ability. They will just not be as
       | memorable, their accomplishments competing for limited memory and
       | attention with a growing pile of more foundational knowledge from
       | past people. First mover advantage in action.
        
       | throwaway81523 wrote:
       | Article's question seems to be whether there are likely
       | scientific discoveries to come, which will change science as much
       | as Newtonian mechanics and relativity did.
       | 
       | Yes of course. Quantum mechanics is right up there, and emergent
       | quantum gravity certainly will be if it comes to fruition.
        
       | hulitu wrote:
       | No.
        
       | ksaj wrote:
       | I suspect that if there ever is, we'll never know because
       | everything they do that the public does get to hear about will be
       | owned by the company or organization they work for. So it could
       | be NASA, or IBM, etc., and not the specific person who figures
       | out the new things.
        
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       (page generated 2022-06-11 23:02 UTC)