Most famous scientist query

[mandragora]

Who would any of you say is the most famous scientist - after Einstein - of all time. If you were to say that someone is so brilliant that they could be the next Einstein or [ ]. Who would the 'or' be?

For me the name that immediately springs to mind is Newton. But is that because I'm British? What if you're American? Or Canadian? Or any other nationality, come to that. (Yes, it is for a story). I mean, Newton is much venerated in Britain, but that could be partly because he was one hell of a self-publicist.

The other name I think of is Hawking. But, again, he's a Brit and he has the whole crippled genius thing going on, which makes him much more visible to the public's eye than your usual scientific type. I mean, to produce anything at all, let alone a best-selling book, when fighting against a recalcitrant body is amazing in and of itself and I don't know whether the calibre of his work is *that* well received by those who can actually critique it. Which most definitely doesn't include me (there's a reason I'm a lawyer and not involved in any type of work where scientific know-how is usually required).

Anyhow, all comments very welcome.

ETA And... we have a winner. That's four for four. Newton it is. Thank you all for your comments - very much appreciated.

Comments

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

Newton. Possibly Feynman. Galileo or DaVinci, also.

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

Newton, yep. Ditto Galileo and Da Vinci (as having already been mentioned). Feynman is another one I've barely heard of (because of our specialised schooling system I gave up all scientific subjects at the age of 16, hence the stunning lack of scientific knowledge).