Darwin or Newton?

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Darwin or Newton?
OP - January 19, 2010, 10:58 PM

http://www.councilofexmuslims.com/index.php?topic=8384.msg208427#msg208427

So who do you think had a more of an impact on science in general, and Britain should be more proud of?
It doesn't have to be an impact on society, because obviously Darwin's ideas challenged the society's beliefs. I mean who was more important of a scientist regardless of the impact on people, but impact on scientific understanding?

I am actually neutral here, but would love to hear your opinions.

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Re: Darwin or Newton?
Reply #1 - January 19, 2010, 11:09 PM

I find it an almost impossible question to answer - I mean that seriously, I can't decide, because each in his own way was immense, and advanced humankind's understanding of science and the world so greatly.

Darwin and his work was perhaps more viscerally shocking in many ways, in terms of what his science meant and how it resonated. The shock waves of his work are still being felt today. It challenged at the very roots of Christianity and in turn every other 'revealed' religion. Did Darwin land the final blow that killed God?

Either way I am proud of them both

But on balance, my vote goes to Darwin, with the caveat that he stood on the shoulders of giants who came before him, including, in a long, pan generational line of scientists and enquiry and the space and dignity of science, Sir Isaac Newton.

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Re: Darwin or Newton?
Reply #2 - January 19, 2010, 11:36 PM

As far as science goes, without a doubt Newton. His works are foundational in the fields of engineering and physics and every technological advance we have is related to his theories and works.

But when it comes to how we view our place in the universe as a species, without a doubt Darwin forever changed our understanding of life itself.

Quote from: thinkfree on September 28, 2010, 07:58 PM
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Re: Darwin or Newton?
Reply #3 - January 20, 2010, 12:27 AM

My vote has to be Darwin!
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Re: Darwin or Newton?
Reply #4 - January 20, 2010, 01:50 AM

It is a very difficult question to answer. Though Darwin has changed what we mean by the term 'life' it is Newton i think who really changed our place in the universe. After the laws of Newton, supernatural beings would forever become illogical, the laws of physics being self-sufficient to explain all of the workings of the cosmos.
They both revolutionised their respective fields of science, but i think Newton is ahead because he revolutionised the nature of scientific inquiry itself. He gave us the modern world.

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Re: Darwin or Newton?
Reply #5 - January 20, 2010, 03:07 AM

Well said Z10. On a practical level.. the influence of Newton on the modern world is really staggering. Being an engineer myself I can't think of a subject in that field that somehow does not have Newton's fundamental theories at their cores - electricity, chemistry, mechanics all are in someway rooted in those basic laws of physics Newton formulated. The modern world is built on this man.

Quote from: thinkfree on September 28, 2010, 07:58 PM
Iblis has mad debaterin' skillz. Best not step up unless you're prepared to recieve da pain.
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Re: Darwin or Newton?
Reply #6 - January 20, 2010, 07:12 AM

Newton started a way of thinking that led to people like Darwin, Einstein, Bohr, Tesla, et al. make a continuously great impact in the natural world.

My vote goes to Newton for starting it all.

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Re: Darwin or Newton?
Reply #7 - January 20, 2010, 09:00 AM

I thought long and hard. I came to the conclusion that I will vote for your mom instead. Hands Down.

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Re: Darwin or Newton?
Reply #8 - January 20, 2010, 11:46 AM

Newton use to probe the inside of his eye socket with a metal rod and stare at the sun!

He was an alchemist and spent a great deal of time trying to turn one thing into another.

"Halley paid a visit to Newton, who later told Abraham De Moivre about the fateful meeting. According to De Moivre

In 1684 Dr Halley came to visit him at Cambridge. After they had been some time together, the Dr asked him what he thought the curve would be that would be described by the planets supposing the force of attraction towards the sun to be reciprocal to the square of their distance from it. Sir Isaac replied immediately that it would be an ellipse. The Doctor, struck with joy and amazement, asked him how he knew it. Why, saith he, I have calculated it. Whereupon Dr Halley asked him for his calculation without any farther delay. Sir Isaac looked among his papers but could not find it, but he promised him to renew it and then to send it to him." (which he did)

From Newton we have the three laws of motion and the theory of gravity. With these we can make sense of the world around us. We can much better investigate a phenomenon through an accurate understanding of cause and effect.
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Re: Darwin or Newton?
Reply #9 - January 20, 2010, 01:25 PM

I wonder what Darwin would have thought about the "Darwin awards" we have today.

I use Newtons work almost daily.

Both made great contributions to science.
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Re: Darwin or Newton?
Reply #10 - January 20, 2010, 01:38 PM

Newton's contributions to science were greater, but I'm voting for Darwin because he was a rebel who stuck his thumb in the eye of the religious establishment.

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