Who's the greater genius - Shakespeare or Einstein?

TSMGUY · 26-07-2016 08:35AM #1

The greatest writer of all time or the greatest physicist? Who impacted society more?

vicwatson · 26-07-2016 08:36AM

Einstein, close thread

TSMGUY · 26-07-2016 08:37AM

vicwatson wrote: »

Einstein, close thread

definitive 1st comment, care to expand on that? I agree but there's definitely a case for Shakespeare.

irish bloke · 26-07-2016 08:39AM

leonardo da vinci

The Specialist · 26-07-2016 08:39AM

TSMGUY wrote: »

The greatest writer of all time or the greatest physicist? Who impacted society more?

Einstein, no question about it. They are not even in the same league when it comes to the scale of their contributions.

TSMGUY · 26-07-2016 08:40AM

The Specialist wrote: »

Einstein, no question about it. They are not even in the same league when it comes to the scale of their contributions.

So a great writer can never compare to a great scientist?

Samaris · 26-07-2016 08:48AM

The two things aren't entirely related.

In terms of direct impact on day to day lives, Shakespeare. He's part of our culture. But was he really even "the greatest writer who ever lived", or was he a good playwright who, through a combination of luck (that his works happened to survive, compared to many other contemporary or earlier writers) and popularity stayed with us to the present day?

Einstein had the more original and inventive mind, but his works are more esoteric and far fewer people can understand them compared to Shakespeare. So less impact on popular culture. I don't understand his stuff either, by the way! I'm going on all the people who apparently do understand it and seem to think it was pretty incredible :P

I guess the point is that it's all relative. (sorry).

Jawgap · 26-07-2016 08:49AM

TSMGUY wrote: »

So a great writer can never compare to a great scientist?

"It's all relative"

Albert Einstein, 1905

Jawgap · 26-07-2016 08:50AM

Samaris wrote: »

......

I guess the point is that it's all relative. (sorry).

"b@stard!!! Beat me to the punchline"

William Shakespeare 1604

Timberrrrrrrr · 26-07-2016 08:51AM

TSMGUY wrote: »

So a great writer can never compare to a great scientist?

Shakespear wrote stories Einstein invented things that changed the world

TSMGUY · 26-07-2016 08:52AM

Samaris wrote: »

The two things aren't entirely related.

In terms of direct impact on day to day lives, Shakespeare. He's part of our culture. But was he really even "the greatest writer who ever lived", or was he a good playwright who, through a combination of luck (that his works happened to survive, compared to many other contemporary or earlier writers) and popularity stayed with us to the present day?

Einstein had the more original and inventive mind, but his works are more esoteric and far fewer people can understand them compared to Shakespeare. So less impact on popular culture. I don't understand his stuff either, by the way! I'm going on all the people who apparently do understand it and seem to think it was pretty incredible :P

I guess the point is that it's all relative. (sorry).

Don't apologize, it's a bad pun (Shakespeare was the king of corny wordplay) about relativity. Perfectly fitting....

Dave0301 · 26-07-2016 08:53AM

TSMGUY wrote: »

So a great writer can never compare to a great scientist?

You're comparing apples and oranges.

For what it is worth though, it is Einstein.

The man was hundreds of years ahead of his colleagues and his work on Special and General Relativity advanced our understanding of the universe, not to mention allow us to have GPS.

TSMGUY · 26-07-2016 08:53AM

Timberrrrrrrr wrote: »

Shakespear wrote stories Einstein invented things that changed the world

"Wrote stories", jeeez that's dismissive. Like saying "Einstein crunched numbers":( More to it than......

But I agree, broadly speaking.

johnnyskeleton · 26-07-2016 08:54AM

Jawgap wrote: »

"It's all relative"

Albert Einstein, 1905

Theres nothing either good nor bad, but thinking makes it so.

jimmy blevins · 26-07-2016 08:54AM

Shakespeare is still at the top of his field, while some of Einstein's theories have been subsequently discredited.
Particularly in quantum mechanics where Niels Bohr kicked his arse.

TSMGUY · 26-07-2016 08:55AM

Dave0301 wrote: »

You're comparing apples and oranges.

For what it is worth though, it is Einstein.

The man was hundreds of years ahead of his colleagues and his work on Special and General Relativity advanced our understanding of the universe, not to mention allow us to have GPS.

God, I hate that phrase! The whole point of a comparison is to point out the similarities between different things. I'd hardly compare apples and apples. That'd just be the very boring "Newton v Einstein" thread....

Your Face · 26-07-2016 08:56AM

Heraclitus

TSMGUY · 26-07-2016 08:58AM

jimmy blevins wrote: »

Shakespeare is still at the top of his field, while some of Einstein's theories have been subsequently discredited.
Particularly in quantum mechanics where Niels Bohr kicked his arse.

And Shakespeare's plays were "inspired" by various different predecessors. And his style of writing is becoming less prevalent. I don't think it's fair to judge a man by the state of affairs long after he's died, especially in a field as fast-moving as physics.

Jawgap · 26-07-2016 09:00AM

Timberrrrrrrr wrote: »

Shakespear wrote stories Einstein invented things that changed the world

I think, I'll happily accept being corrected, Shakespeare's plays are dramatisations of historical events or stories told and conceived by others - so in that regard there's some lack of originality. His poetry is a different class altogether though.

Saying that, many of our everyday expressions originated from his plays....including that word so beloved of boards.ie.......RANT!!!

Anyway, Francis Bacon is the real Shakespearean genius; )

Brian? · 26-07-2016 09:09AM

TSMGUY wrote: »

So a great writer can never compare to a great scientist?

No, they can't.

Your Face · 26-07-2016 09:29AM

Jawgap wrote: »

Anyway, Francis Bacon is the real Shakespearean genius; )

A lot of ideas were brought to England from France during the French Renaissance.
Shakespeare and many others owe much of their style to Michel de Montaigne.

764dak · 26-07-2016 09:36AM

Samaris wrote: »

The two things aren't entirely related.

In terms of direct impact on day to day lives, Shakespeare. He's part of our culture. But was he really even "the greatest writer who ever lived", or was he a good playwright who, through a combination of luck (that his works happened to survive, compared to many other contemporary or earlier writers) and popularity stayed with us to the present day?

Einstein had the more original and inventive mind, but his works are more esoteric and far fewer people can understand them compared to Shakespeare. So less impact on popular culture. I don't understand his stuff either, by the way! I'm going on all the people who apparently do understand it and seem to think it was pretty incredible :P

I guess the point is that it's all relative. (sorry).

Oh?
http://web.ihep.su/library/pubs/tconf05/ps/c5-1.pdf

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_einstein.htm

http://www.cracked.com/article_16072_5-famous-inventors-who-stole-their-big-idea.html

Timberrrrrrrr · 26-07-2016 09:43AM

TSMGUY wrote: »

"Wrote stories", jeeez that's dismissive. Like saying "Einstein crunched numbers":( More to it than......

But I agree, broadly speaking.

Don't get me wrong I'm not dismissing Shakespeare and there is no denying he was a literary genius but at the end of the day he did write stories wheras Einstein literally changed the way we look at the world and indeed the universe.

Speedwell · 26-07-2016 09:43AM

Beethoven.

Permabear · 26-07-2016 09:44AM

This post has been deleted.

Timberrrrrrrr · 26-07-2016 09:45AM

Jawgap wrote: »

I think, I'll happily accept being corrected, Shakespeare's plays are dramatisations of historical events or stories told and conceived by others - so in that regard there's some lack of originality. His poetry is a different class altogether though.

Saying that, many of our everyday expressions originated from his plays....including that word so beloved of boards.ie.......RANT!!!

Anyway, Francis Bacon is the real Shakespearean genius; )

Hmmmmmmmm

Bacon

https://media4.giphy.com/media/AVilYmB74xhK/200w_d.gif

BalcombeSt4 · 26-07-2016 09:45AM

Einstein, he invented the Satellite television.

Gwynplaine · 26-07-2016 09:46AM

Stupid thread. The two are unrelated. It's like asking, who's better, Michael Jordan or Michael Jackson?

Timberrrrrrrr · 26-07-2016 09:47AM

Gwynplaine wrote: »

Stupid thread. The two are unrelated. It's like asking, who's better, Michael Jordan or Michael Jackson?

MJ of course!

barneystinson · 26-07-2016 09:49AM

Tim Shearer wrote: »

I would go with Carl Friedrich Gauss ahead of them all, the greatest mathematcian of all time.

Not the ****ing question though is it!! :rolleyes:

Jawgap · 26-07-2016 09:50AM

Tim Shearer wrote: »

I would go with Carl Friedrich Gauss ahead of them all, the greatest mathematcian of all time.

Ah sure, Einstein, Gauss et al would all have been rightly goosed if al-Khwarizmi hadn't conceived algebra.......

"Pygmies on the shoulders of giants" as Newton would say

Who's the greater genius - Shakespeare or Einstein?

Greater Genius? 32 votes

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