• Question: Who do you think is a better scientist, leonardo da vinci or galileo

    Asked by desmond to Alison, Artem, Caroline, John, Gunther on 11 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Artem Evdokimov

      Artem Evdokimov answered on 11 Jun 2012:

      To me, hands down Leonardo wins. But this is a hard question because they represent two different kinds of scientists 🙂 Both were awesome, to be sure.

    • Photo: Matt Gunther

      Matt Gunther answered on 11 Jun 2012:

      Being from an astronomy background I would have to say Galileo. The scientific, political, social and religious implications of his work can never be understated. This is a man, who in a society which adopted the deeply religious view of the Earth being the centre of the Solar System, claimed the Sun was in fact it’s centre.

      Albert Einstein called Galileo “the father of modern science”. In fact, Galileo’s legacy can still be found in every photography shop and astronomy lab in the world: The “refracting” telescope. With this piece of kit Galileo fundamentally changed modern science. Not bad for something which was made up of a tube, two lenses and Galileo’s naked eye!

    • Photo: John Short

      John Short answered on 12 Jun 2012:

      I would say Galileo as he was persecuted for his Science. He was forced to recant his findings after being interrogated and because of the threat of torture because of the Catholic Church at the time. His legacy is undoubtably greater because of the foundation of his theories, experiments and fundamental findings in astronomy and physics impacted on future scientists and on society. Leonardo was a genius, but his scientific work had less impact on science and society when compared to Galileo.

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