Einstein's works. Were they unique to him?

[just_words]

It's like jigsaw puzzles, you have numerous pieces that already fit together, other patches of work here and there, the notable breakthroughs are those bits which join disparate sections together to form a larger view of the whole.

 

Maths and Physics are sciences, so through proper scientific study, finding the solution is inevitable...

[Odin's Wrath]

It could be argued that the discoveries of Einstein, Fermi, Feynman and the other 20th century greats should and could have been "discovered" centuries earlier.

 

Over 2000 years ago, the Ionians in Greece and perhaps the Babylonians as well were great scientists and mathematicians but the light they shone was cruelly extinguished by religious dogma and superstition at the time.

 

We continued living in this dark age until maybe Galileo, Kepler, Newton over 1500 years later.

 

Imagine 1500 years of progress in science and maths. What would this have done for us? I'd say somebody like Einstein might have come along in around the 13/14th century, Feynman-like work would emerge in the century after that perhaps.

Where would we be now as a species? I wonder to think.

 

 

 

 

* Yes, i did pretty much completely steal this entire speech from the great Carl Sagan!

[just_words]

It could be argued that the discoveries of Einstein, Fermi, Feynman and the other 20th century greats should and could have been "discovered" centuries earlier.

 

Over 2000 years ago, the Ionians in Greece and perhaps the Babylonians as well were great scientists and mathematicians but the light they shone was cruelly extinguished by religious dogma and superstition at the time.

 

We continued living in this dark age until maybe Galileo, Kepler, Newton over 1500 years later.

 

Imagine 1500 years or progress in science and maths. What would this have done for us? I'd say somebody like Einstein might have come along in around the 13/14th century, Feynman-like work would emerge in the century after that perhaps.

Where would we be now as a species? I wonder to think.

 

 

 

 

* Yes, i did pretty much completely steal this entire speech from the great Carl Sagan!

 

 

 

Well put though... Religion is just another word for government, and it's always in their favour to keep the people in the dark and to think the way they want them to...

[HeadingNorth]

It could be argued that the discoveries of Einstein, Fermi, Feynman and the other 20th century greats should and could have been "discovered" centuries earlier.

 

Over 2000 years ago, the Ionians in Greece and perhaps the Babylonians as well were great scientists and mathematicians but the light they shone was cruelly extinguished by religious dogma and superstition at the time.

 

That's only true of Europe; the Arab world not only kept the knowledge from Greek science alive, they improved on some of it.

[just_words]

That's only true of Europe; the Arab world not only kept the knowledge from Greek science alive, they improved on some of it.

 

Lest we forget the Chinese?

 

That recent repeat of "The History of Maths" on BBC4 was very good (again surprisingly)

 

Only the last one available now:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00f7zsk/The_Story_of_Maths_To_Infinity_and_Beyond/

[HeadingNorth]

Lest we forget the Chinese?

 

Actually I had forgotten the Chinese, but they had their own science, they didn't learn it from the Greeks.

 

The Greeks and Chinese alike had societal problems that prevented them from ever going anywhere far with science.

[Odin's Wrath]

The Greeks and Chinese alike had societal problems that prevented them from ever going anywhere far with science.

 

I can't remember the exact reasons so perhaps you can fill me in.

 

The fact the Chinese never invented glass and that they were never an invasive people severly harmed their lack of progress in Science and Maths.

 

I remember reading a very good argument for this somewhere but i have forgotten the details.

 

Any ideas?

[Mikes10]

If it wasn't for the Islamic scholars of astronomy and mathematics (around 500 – 1200 AD)

we would probably still living in mud huts.

[HeadingNorth]

I can't remember the exact reasons so perhaps you can fill me in.

 

In the case of the Greeks, it was the abhorrence of doing anything practical; science was a game for intellectuals, who would construct clever theories and try to persuade other people by argument alone. They never turned towards experimentation.

 

The Chinese had such a socially rigid setup that most of the things they did invent were never put to much use. They had gunpowder, for instance, three or four centuries before the Europeans found out about it; but they never thought of using it to blow things up. It took us about five minutes to work that one out and conquer just about all the rest of the world...

[Tony Erikson]

In the case of the Greeks, it was the abhorrence of doing anything practical; science was a game for intellectuals, who would construct clever theories and try to persuade other people by argument alone. They never turned towards experimentation.

 

The Chinese had such a socially rigid setup that most of the things they did invent were never put to much use. They had gunpowder, for instance, three or four centuries before the Europeans found out about it; but they never thought of using it to blow things up. It took us about five minutes to work that one out and conquer just about all the rest of the world...

 

Any ideas why the Chinese didn't use gunpowder as an explosion? Were they / are they a more peaceful bunch?