Einstein proved Newton wrong and has yet to be proved wrong himself. But now Einstein has been trumped by the grumpy alchemist with an interest in the occult. At least, according to a poll by London鈥檚 Royal Society on which of the two giants was the more influential scientist.
Einstein turned conventional physics on its head with his theories of the photoelectric effect, special relativity and general relativity. He showed that Newton had been wrong about gravity, and indeed about space and time. 鈥淭his led to a whole new field of science called cosmology and to ideas such as the big bang, black holes, parallel universes and so on,鈥� says Jim Al-Khalili of the University of Surrey, who voted for Einstein.
But he was one of only 13.8 per cent of Royal Society fellows to back Einstein, while the rest supported Newton. The public also plumped for Newton, giving him 61.8 per cent of the total vote.
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Newton, of course, gave us the laws for mechanics and optics, wrote the influential Principia Mathematica and showed how gravity could influence all objects in all parts of the universe. 鈥淭his amazing insight ruled out the belief that laws related to Earth-bound objects were in some sense inferior to those which governed the heavens,鈥� says John Enderby, vice-president of the Royal Society. While Principia laid the foundations of modern science, Newton himself spent much of his time trying to discover hidden messages in the Bible and attempting to turn lead into gold.
