It is generally agreed among most scientists that the three greatest scientists in the history are Isaac Newton, James Clerk Maxwell and Albert Einstein. If we try to find out why they are so great, one thing stands out clearly. That is the fact that they are the integrators of various scientific disciplines. They were able to work out something such as equations that explain many phenomena in a concise and unified manner with mathematical aesthetics.
Newton worked on optics and mechanics which combined most of the works by Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler and many others. He also discovered the ordinary white light is a mixture of all the colors of the rainbow. With his work on the laws of reflection and refraction of light, he designed and built the first reflecting telescope. Up to today, we still use it to observe the universe. His most famous equations are:
F = m * dv/dt; The second law of motion in mechanics
F = G (M*m)/r^2; The law of Universal Gravitation
Maxwell worked out the famous Maxwell Equations in 1864 and predicted the existence of the Electromagnetic (EM) waves. Heinrich Hertz was able to create and detect the electromagnetic waves in 1887. From then on, Marconi and a host of others worked on the applications of the EM wave in communication. Morse Code was already in extensive use in the telegraph during 1880 decade. It was a matter of time to use it in radio transmission. With the technology of encoding message on the carriers with modulation, the field of communication flourished. Armstrong's super-heterodyne radio set reached almost every corner of the world. The impact of Radio, EM Communication without wire, to the world was tremendous. With less than 50 years, the earth was transformed from a wire to wireless world. The navigation in ocean and air are the beneficiaries of the technology. The most famous Maxwell Equations are:
∇ x E = - ∂B/ ∂t; Generation of electricity from the change of magnetism
∇ x H = J + ∂D/ ∂t; Generation of magnetism from current and electricity
∇² A = 1/v² * ∂²A/∂t²; Wave equation of EM wave
v = 1/sqrt (με); Speed or velocity of EM wave
General relativity generalizes special relativity and Newton's law of universal gravitation, providing a unified description of gravity as a geometric property of space and time. Einstein's greatest achievement is the work of Unified Field that combines electricity, magnetism, light and gravitation in one field. From this frame of work, he predicted the existence of the Gravitational (GV) Wave. As of today, it is hard to imagine the GV Wave will have the similar effect and impact to the world as EM wave. Gravitational waves are generated by the bulk motion of large masses, and will have wavelengths much longer than the objects themselves. Gravitational waves are weakly interacting, making them extraordinarily difficult to detect.
Although we can detect GV wave, we have no way to generate GV wave in lab. So we can't use GV wave as a tool or vehicle to create some new applications. However, GV wave can travel unhindered through intervening matter of any density or composition. So the GV wave may open a window that provides some breakthrough in the future the way we view the universe. Time will tell certainly.
It may not be meaningful to rank which one is the greatest among the three. It may be more meaningful to rank which one is the most influential in our civilization. Michael Hart in his book 'Top 100' lists in this order: Newton is #2, Einstein is #10 and Maxwell is #29. Most scientists don't question the rank of Newton. But how can Einstein's influence on our world be way over Maxwell? The life of most people in the last 100 years have not really changed much or influenced by the theory of relativity. Judging from the impact of radio communication to our society, Maxwell's influence should be way ahead of Einstein. There is one explanation to this. In most cases, many men have contributed to the development of an important idea, as was obviously the case in the development of the theory of electricity and magnetism. The magnitude of the influence is distributed among Maxwell, Faraday, Gauss, Ampere and Henry. Though Einstein does not deserve 100% of the credit for the invention of the theory of relativity, he certainly deserves most of it. In other words, the theories of relativity are primarily the creation of a single and outstanding genius.
