• Question: Who is your favorite scientist?

    Asked by pineapplezzz to Emma, Cathal, Ciara, Michael, Sive on 11 Nov 2013. This question was also asked by roygrealish.
    • Photo: Michael Nolan

      Michael Nolan answered on 11 Nov 2013:

      This is a rather common question 🙂

      Like comparing soccer players or musicians, there are differences between eras that make comparisons difficult, so if I may pluralise to scientists…

      1. Euclid was the first to systematically set out Mathematics and his work is still valid today and worth reading.

      2. Newton obviously for having that insight that the forces at work here on earth are the same that are at work in space

      3. Paul Dirac, who made quantum mechanics flourish and whose statement that “The underlying physical laws necessary for the mathematical theory of a large part of physics and the whole of chemistry are thus completely known, and the difficulty is only that the exact application of these laws leads to equations much too complicated to be soluble. It therefore becomes desirable that approximate practical methods of applying quantum mechanics should be developed” is one that drives our modelling work.

      4. Of a more recent flavour, Ulrike Diebold, a Chemistry Professor in Vienna has been at the forefront in studying systematically how surfaces of materials behave and can be manipulated, opening up many new ideas.

      For me systematic study and bringing diverse, previously unrelated elements together to advance a fiel is the mark of a great scientist.

      Hope this helps

      M

    • Photo: Cathal Cummins

      Cathal Cummins answered on 11 Nov 2013:

      Prof. Richard Feynman for his way at explaining the natural world in such a simple and elegant way. Einstein for his mind-bendingly wonderful explanation of gravity and light and for his simple thought experiments. Gauss for being a complete boss at so many subjects in mathematics. It’s hard to choose! Oh, and of course, that Irish genius Hamilton, who wrote down a world-famous mathematics formula on a bridge in Dublin, Ireland.

    • Photo: Sive Finlay

      Sive Finlay answered on 11 Nov 2013:

      Hi,
      I guess my answer is fairly predictable but I have two favourite scientists; Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace. I’m sure you’ve all heard about Darwin’s travels around the world and how he came up with the idea of evolution after years of carefully observations of the natural world. Wallace was another naturalist, slightly younger than Darwin, who travelled to what’s now Indonesia. He was one of the founders of biogeography; the study of how and why animals live where they do. Wallace came up with the idea of evolution by natural selection independently of Darwin but it’s usually Darwin who’s remembered more. Although, this year is the 100 year anniversary of Wallace’s death so there are lots of commemorations going on, especially at the natural history museum in London.
      Both of these men are my favourite scientists because their ideas about evolution and natural selection are still the basis of every study in Biology.
      Sive

    • Photo: Emma Cahill

      Emma Cahill answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      Hey there, my favorite is Eric Kandel. He discovered a lot of the mechanisms involved in memory. He studied giant sea slugs (giant as in about the size of a rabbit not sci-fi slugs!) to study how the nervous system and brain can process information and change our responses (by learning) over time.
      He is a very funny character with an interesting life, he was forced to leave Austria during World War 2 and since has worked in France and the US. He got the nobel prize for his discoveries on learning and memory in 2000.

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