What is the one thing everyone should learn about science? Spiked asked 250 scientists - here we bring you some of the most provocative responses
Seth Lloyd Professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
You do not have to be a scientist to do science; you can be a child, a computer, or an intelligent rat. As long as you can verify a result, it is part of science.
more hereAntony Hoare Senior researcher at Microsoft Corporation
I would teach the world that scientists start by trying very hard to disprove what they hope is true. When they fail, they have a good reason for believing what they hope is true, and can even convince others of its truth. A scientist always acknowledges the possibility of error, and is less likely to be mistaken than one who always claims to be right.
and specially for Marshall...Peggy Lemaux Cooperative extension specialist in plant biotechnology at the University of California at Berkeley
I would nominate the basic formula for photosynthesis: CO2 + H2O + sunlight/chlorophyll —> O2 + C6H12O6. Why is this so important? Because without this chemistry, life on earth would not be possible.
Mr. Hart's very interesting book contains biographies of all the following people, ranked in order from most influential to less influential, along with the author's reasons for so ranking them. The book is available at most bookstores and libraries.
The links will take you to a site on the Web about the person named
(not to a chapter in the book).
• Muhammad • Isaac Newton • Jesus Christ • Buddha • Confucius • St. Paul • Ts'ai Lun • Johann Gutenberg • Christopher Columbus • Albert Einstein • Louis Pasteur • Galileo Galilei • Aristotle • Euclid • Moses • Charles Darwin • Shih Huang Ti • Augustus Caesar • Nicolaus Copernicus • Antoine Laurent Lavoisier • Constantine the Great • James Watt • Michael Faraday • James Clerk Maxwell • Martin Luther • George Washington • Karl Marx • Orville and Wilbur Wright • Genghis Kahn • Adam Smith • Edward de Vere • John Dalton • Alexander the Great • Napoleon Bonaparte • Thomas Edison • Antony van Leeuwenhoek • William T.G. Morton • Guglielmo Marconi • Adolf Hitler • Plato • Oliver Cromwell • Alexander Graham Bell • Alexander Fleming • John Locke • Ludwig van Beethoven • Werner Heisenberg • Louis Daguerre • Simon Bolivar • Rene Descartes • Michelangelo • Pope Urban II • 'Umar ibn al-Khattab • Asoka • St. Augustine • William Harvey • Ernest Rutherford • John Calvin • Gregor Mendel • Max Planck • Joseph Lister • Nikolaus August Otto • Francisco Pizarro • Hernando Cortes • Thomas Jefferson • Queen Isabella I • Joseph Stalin • Julius Caesar • William the Conqueror • Sigmund Freud • Edward Jenner • Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen • Johann Sebastian Bach • Lao Tzu • Voltaire • Johannes Kepler • Enrico Fermi • Leonhard Euler • Jean-Jacques Rousseau • Nicoli Machiavelli • Thomas Malthus • John F. Kennedy • Gregory Pincus • Mani • Lenin • Sui Wen Ti • Vasco da Gama • Cyrus the Great • Peter the Great • Mao Zedong • Francis Bacon • Henry Ford • Mencius • Zoroaster • Queen Elizabeth I • Mikhail Gorbachev • Menes • Charlemagne • Homer • Justinian I • Mahavira •
Runner-ups:
• St. Thomas Aquinas • Archimedes • Charles Babbage • Cheops • Marie Curie • Benjamin Franklin • Mohandas Gandhi • Abraham Lincoln • Ferdinand Magellan • Leonardo da Vinci •
Biographies and other information about many of these people and their works may be found at Access Foundation's Encyclopedia Britannica's Great Books site.
Sun Tzu 孫子; Sūn Zǐ; (c. 6th century BC) was a Chinese General, military strategist, and author of The Art of War, an immensely influential ancient Chinese book on military strategy; also known as Sun Wu (孫武; Sūn Wǔ), and Chang Qing (長卿; Cháng Qīng).
