tdayof:
Albert. Even Nikola Tesla was greater than Thomas Edison. Edison tried to discredit Tesla and his inventions , which a true genius would have never done.

It would be not prudent to compare them, but still I'd go with Albert Einstein.
The reason is clear; Einstein's famous 'thought experiment' was something that was never thought of previously (however there are claims that the conclusions drawn by Einstein were already contrived up by someone before, but let's just leave it), and still remains fundamentally correct.

Edison certainly has several patents to his name, more than a thousand, but then one should know the fact that it was not only Edison behind what these patents are. His whole team was behind the curtain, and their credits were credited to Edison. It also is easy to grasp that the inventions he did, like gramophone, voting machines, etc. (mind well light bulb wasn't invented by him, he just perfected it) could be made by other individuals sooner or later, he was just the 'first one'.

On the other hand, the ideas posed by Einstein are revolutionary, out of the box, yet true. Not only did he dare to establish his weird idea, but also proved them, mathematically, stating that he didn't hypothesize things. Until now, nobody and nothing has disproved Einstein's theory of relativity. It has stood shiningly through all the tests scientists have posed.

Edison also was not a better person by nature. He literally harassed Nikola Tesla, an other better genius counterpart of him, because Tesla just said that Edison's direct current system was inefficient; which led to the famous 'war of currents' between them, which was of course won by Tesla.

[b]For those who'll argue that there is no impact of Einstein's ideas on the common man compared to Edison's, here's something to read:
-Einstein's theories of relativity (both, general and special) play an important role in GPS navigation system most of us internet users rely upon.
-Einstein's paper about the photoelectric effect revolutionised the solar panels, which are likely to be one of the primary technology which is needed to be perfected for the future absence of the conventional energy sources. He got the Nobel prize for this.
-Due to his ideas, we've been able to understand the universe in a better way, and hence the astrophysics is flourishing.
-Electromagnets (which inarguably play a substantial role in every person's life) are better understood by Special theory of relativity. (Google 'relativistic electromagnetism')
For physicists, his ideas still serve as the supporting blocks to develop new theories.
-His prediction that gravity 'bends' the space-time and hence light, ruptured Sir Newton's theory about Gravity; now we know Gravity better.
-His concept of bending of space-time helped physicists understand the presence of dark matter.
-His one of the spookiest theory about Quantum Entanglement was later proved to be correct, which might (repeat, might) provide an insight on the development of technology for teleportation.
Yes, he has made certain mistakes, but they still fail Edison to elevate intellectually compared to Einstein, in my opinion.
The bottom line:
Mother earth could have given birth to an other Edison, but Einstein is unique. [/b]
Also I have the graceful Time magazine to back me up:
[img]http://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-2fae49e7b370ca8924bec4c366a75702-c?convert_to_webp=true[/img]

Comparison is out of it. If you really enjoy physics, you will know the difference. It's not just about reading about their achievement.

hUmaneOne:
OP you're just unnecessarily silly..

Must one be greater than the other? Must it be a competition? What is your point sef?

Those f0olish folks talking about Edison's bulb not being in use, you don't know technology is always modified?

CzarChris:
why on God's earth must you insult anybody? That other people have a different view from you, is enough reason to throw courtesy in the air and act like a wild beast?


Well, no competition there Einstein is in a world of his own. Agreed edison, was a hardworking entrepreneur, but one cannot call him an inventor. It was edison who spoke in a conference "that in the industry, everybody steals and that he can never be caught because he knows how to steal". It was edison under the sponsorship of JP Morgan, tried to discredit tesla's work on AC against his own DC. Well, we all know how that worked out.

As far as geniuses go it's only Leonardo da Vinci that can be compared to that of Einstein. Einstein work on relativity, photoelectricity, brownian motion, avogadro's number/size of molecules, bose - einstein condensate. The list is enormous, most inventions we have today from nuclear plants to solar energy are all as a result of einstein's works. It's on record that Albert Einstein destroyed most of his calculations(including that for time travel) after the dropping of "little boy" on hiroshima, because of the destructive nature of humans.

For me, Albert Einstein is the greatest.

KazukiIto:
The greatest is Hideo Kojima

leofab:
.. Op, what an Insult to the father of quantum physics...

tdayof:
Mr man not everyone is dumb. You do not know quantum physics doesn't mean I don't. I am an aerospace engineering student and except you don't wanna graduate you can be enemy with mathematics and physics.

Wingback:



What college do you attend?

Wingback:



And how exactly has the father of quantum physics affected you positively in your day to day activities?

tdayof:
Albert. Even Nikola Tesla was greater than Thomas Edison. Edison tried to discredit Tesla and his inventions , which a true genius would have never done.

It would be not prudent to compare them, but still I'd go with Albert Einstein.
The reason is clear; Einstein's famous 'thought experiment' was something that was never thought of previously (however there are claims that the conclusions drawn by Einstein were already contrived up by someone before, but let's just leave it), and still remains fundamentally correct.

Edison certainly has several patents to his name, more than a thousand, but then one should know the fact that it was not only Edison behind what these patents are. His whole team was behind the curtain, and their credits were credited to Edison. It also is easy to grasp that the inventions he did, like gramophone, voting machines, etc. (mind well light bulb wasn't invented by him, he just perfected it) could be made by other individuals sooner or later, he was just the 'first one'.

On the other hand, the ideas posed by Einstein are revolutionary, out of the box, yet true. Not only did he dare to establish his weird idea, but also proved them, mathematically, stating that he didn't hypothesize things. Until now, nobody and nothing has disproved Einstein's theory of relativity. It has stood shiningly through all the tests scientists have posed.

Edison also was not a better person by nature. He literally harassed Nikola Tesla, an other better genius counterpart of him, because Tesla just said that Edison's direct current system was inefficient; which led to the famous 'war of currents' between them, which was of course won by Tesla.

[b]For those who'll argue that there is no impact of Einstein's ideas on the common man compared to Edison's, here's something to read:
-Einstein's theories of relativity (both, general and special) play an important role in GPS navigation system most of us internet users rely upon.
-Einstein's paper about the photoelectric effect revolutionised the solar panels, which are likely to be one of the primary technology which is needed to be perfected for the future absence of the conventional energy sources. He got the Nobel prize for this.
-Due to his ideas, we've been able to understand the universe in a better way, and hence the astrophysics is flourishing.
-Electromagnets (which inarguably play a substantial role in every person's life) are better understood by Special theory of relativity. (Google 'relativistic electromagnetism')
For physicists, his ideas still serve as the supporting blocks to develop new theories.
-His prediction that gravity 'bends' the space-time and hence light, ruptured Sir Newton's theory about Gravity; now we know Gravity better.
-His concept of bending of space-time helped physicists understand the presence of dark matter.
-His one of the spookiest theory about Quantum Entanglement was later proved to be correct, which might (repeat, might) provide an insight on the development of technology for teleportation.
Yes, he has made certain mistakes, but they still fail Edison to elevate intellectually compared to Einstein, in my opinion.
The bottom line:
Mother earth could have given birth to an other Edison, but Einstein is unique. [/b]
Also I have the graceful Time magazine to back me up:
[img]http://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-2fae49e7b370ca8924bec4c366a75702-c?convert_to_webp=true[/img]

Comparison is out of it. If you really enjoy physics, you will know the difference. It's not just about reading about their achievement.

MightySparrow:
Einstein wasn't an inventor but a pure scientist. However his atomic bomb which was suggested to Roosevelt ended the II world war and still holds nations today to balance threat among themselves.

Nairadays:


Read my beginning sentence and closing sentence very well sir, it'll give you a picture of where i stand.

I can never list the Atomic Bomb as a positive invention.

In such an argument, the Atomic Bomb is minus, meaning that though Einstein was a genius with numerous achievements, but the Atomic Bomb development alone discredits his entire achievements or whatever we want to call it. The Atomic Bomb alone is a threat to humanity.

So I'll go with Edison on this one.

tdayof:
Nice question you asked him. Your smart phone. Your eyeballs. Digital cameras. Definitely the little Flash cards used to store all your camera's photos and your phone's apps. But seriously, every transistor is a quantum mechanical device. As is any device, your eyeballs included, that can convert a stream of photons into an electrical signal.

jhubril:
Most people barely know Nikola Tesla and his genius seems to have gone with the wind. But a quick reminder might start from Electricity to the Strategic Defence Initiative,from Tesla Coil to electrical beams. Radio communication could have been practically impossible and unimaginable without Tesla's invention. Gulliano Macconi,another famous scientist,knew that his straight path to fame and money was to claim credit for Tesla's invention. Smaller geniuses in MIT can't resist but take a great deal from Tesla's genius.

Eistein was once asked to name the greatest scientist he knew,guess what ,Tesla's name was on his lips.

Tesla once tried to disprove Eistein scientific theorising(as Relativity first appeared)and poured out his heart by cautioning that EISTEIN was taken as an INTELLECTUAL in the wrong direction.

Tesla worked and locked horns with some of the greatest scientists . He came out with the most shining reputation for daring inventions and innovations.

Genius of the first magnitude !
Electrical Wizard of all times !

martineinstein:
thomas edison for present technology;einstein for future tech:

edision's contributions are more useful presently,while einstein's contribution will be very useful in future.



Edision remains the greatest,most relentless,most hardworking and most impactful inventor ever.

Thomas contributions/handiworks are seen in almost all appliances u use at home

Wingback:



And how exactly has the father of quantum physics affected you positively in your day to day activities?

mightyhazell:
U wan spoil dis thread with u silly tribalism abi? English sef u no sabi!

leofab:
keep quiet, assimilate the message and discard the typos.. Only if you know what I mean.. iTK

benji93:

tht was why he was not part of the project team that developed the atomic bomb.

Nairadays:


You're right, he wasn't part of the manhattan project, but his relativity theory of e=mc2 helped further it's creation.