Don't you know because of his life, all that scientific work is now wrong, invalidated and useless.
Who is your favourite scientist of all time?
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Soldato
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We're not talking about his work being useless. We're talking about him deserving to be somebody's "favourite" or not.
I'm not convinced. Science and philosophy often go hand in hand. [I was going to write a paragraph here but i clicked post by mistake
].As for being "one of the, if not the best", well, it's a pretty vague statement to be 'undisputed'. I'm sorry but Korolyev has it in my books.
fixed, seeing as you missed a very important word out.
So yes it can certainly be based on his work and his work alone.
People will have different opinions, some will base it on pure science and achievements within a certain field.
I went with someplace who brings it to a wider audience in an easy to understand way and also c amputees your imgination.
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Man of Honour
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You win and for that reason I now choose The Angel Of Death Josef Mengele.
The experiments he carried out in Birkenau were nothing short of spectacular for the medical profession and especially identical twins.
Anyone has the right to decide for themselves who is their favourite scientist and base that decision on the criteria they choose. That the person probably chose his favourite scientist based on that persons scientific accomplishments and not his alleged private life is just as valid as you deciding that Sergei Koroylev is, especially as Korolyev was not exactly a paragon of human virtue either.
I'm not convinced. Science and philosophy often go hand in hand. [I was going to write a paragraph here but i clicked post by mistake
You have no idea what Von Braun's philosophy was....by his own admission he acknowledged the things he was seemingly a party to, siting that he felt he had no alternative choice (It is hellish. My spontaneous reaction was to talk to one of the SS guards, only to be told with unmistakable harshness that I should mind my own business, or find myself in the same striped fatigues!... I realized that any attempt of reasoning on humane grounds would be utterly futile.) and so he could be considered a victim of his circumstances, unfortunately as you will find out when you become an adult, we sometimes have to make choices that are both distasteful and go against what we ultimately believe in.
Still he was a great scientist (and unlike Joseph Mengele, didn't experiment on people or intentionally kill people in the name of his experiments) and is acknowledged by his peers as probably the greatest rocket scientist in the world.
That is your opinion, although Korolyev was a hardly the paragon of virtue in his private life that you think he should have been to be considered the best...
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Soldato
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Regarding Werner Von Braun - there does seem to be too much focus in this thread on "great" scientits...whatever that means.
Look surely the point of this thread should be to highlight those scientists that have contributed to furthering the human race in a practical sense?
Werver Von Braun, regardless of the mans ethics, was a rocket scientist - how has rocket science helped humanity?
Going to the moon and weaponry are, largely, useless endeavours surely? and if you dont believe that then surely we can agree that, at least by comparison to the giants in this thread, WVB was not comparible?
Look surely the point of this thread should be to highlight those scientists that have contributed to furthering the human race in a practical sense?
Werver Von Braun, regardless of the mans ethics, was a rocket scientist - how has rocket science helped humanity?
Going to the moon and weaponry are, largely, useless endeavours surely? and if you dont believe that then surely we can agree that, at least by comparison to the giants in this thread, WVB was not comparible?
The point is YOUR favourite scientists. There is no exact criteria, there's no guidelines. It's what ever the individual thinks.
No one would have believed that
in the last years of the 19th century
that human affairs where being watched
from the timeless worlds of space
No one could have dreamed we were being scrutinized
as someone with a microscope studies creatures
that swarm and multiply in a drop of water
Few man even considered the possibility of life on other planets
and yet across the gulf of space
minds immeasurably superior to ours
regarded this Earth with envious eyes
and slowly and surely
they drew there plans against us.
Man of Honour
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But he did know that his work was killing the slave labor workforce.
He worked against the clock to get his weapon of mass destruction working and he knew 1000s were dying to do it.
I have no problem that he did that because he was a twisted German and working for German interests.
I have a problem with him not being hanged by the Americans but instead being made an American citizen with around 140 of his co-workers.
Apparently when they landed on the moon there were still around 114 Germans in the team all saved by America.
Actually the thread is about your 'Favourite Scientist' it made no criteria of what they should mean, certainly not that it had anything to do with the furthering of the Human race....whatever that means.
Rocket Science applications have far more impact on the human race than you suggest anyway.....how do you think all those satellites that run the GPS, TV, Communications, Science Applications and so on actually get up there.....it definitely isn't by wishing them into orbit.
Soldato
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Fair enough, however anyone who makes such a choice should be well informed of his past, hence why i made the comment in the first place.
Do you? Or do you tell yourself that to avoid facing up to the fact that you took the easy way out?
Please don't take that the wrong way.
Again with the vague and ambiguous statements
You could probably say that about anybody who's worked on a military programme. But beyond that, what, he had an affair?
as well as everything it's spawned
Someone's top 10 that people might use everyday
http://curiosity.discovery.com/topic/physics-concepts-and-definitions/ten-nasa-inventions1.htm
As well as thousands of others. As well as understanding of physics, the universe and life.
The future possibilities of colonising other worlds and mining resources.
Soldato
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If I were you I would be more concerned with people like Shirō Ishii, who were saved by the Americans and used by their weapons programs.
Von Braun simply is not in the same ballpark as Mengele or Ishii or even his immediate superiors and objectively it is impossible to know how he felt or how he could have done anything differently than he did under the circumstances he found himself in. It is easy to judge without knowing the situation. Not everyone can or would sacrifice themselves on a principle, especially when doing so would have accomplished nothing besides his own death.
Mengele and Ishii were complicit and the cause of the atrocities attributed to them, Von Braun was not.
I've been standing up for him!
I just spell it differently
Ahh, now I see
He had a brilliant mind.
Soldato
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I accept that but I, at least, am trying to force practical justification.
I have clearly stated what I think that means also. Practical applications for humanity today.
imo many theoretical physicits for example should not be included.
I considered satellites...but imho it's going way too far to attribute all that to one man don't you think? and specifically regarding WVB (which was central to my point afterall) this has tenuous links.
Soldato
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The point is YOUR favourite scientists. There is no exact criteria, there's no guidelines. It's what ever the individual thinks.
You're right of course - I simply believe that we should be looking at more practical reasoning but it appears I am in the minority.
Soldato
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The point was regarding WVB specifically and HIS intentions not the dozens of people that took his work and improved on it it then had their work improved upon.
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Lots of Eulers work couldn't be considered practical at the time, but is used everywhere now. The following list is pretty impressive:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_things_named_after_Leonhard_Euler
He was still able to do some of historys best mathematics when suffering from almost complete loss of sight.
Completely and utterly my favourite academic mind of all time.