# American Scientist **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 4, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-scientist/531341 "2010-03-04T22:38:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-scientist/531341/1 "2010-03-04T22:38:21Z")
Without looking it up, how many American scientists can you name? Please reply before reading the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-scientist/531341/2 "2010-03-04T22:42:10Z")
George Washington Carver ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-scientist/531341/3 "2010-03-04T23:57:46Z")
Do they have to be living? If we can count both living and dead: Benjamin Franklin Thomas Edison Albert Einstein (I _think_ he became a citizen; he lived here in his later years, at least) Carl Sagan Neil deGrasse Tyson Craig Venter (sp?) [Hosts of “This Week in Virology” podcast] Vincent Racaniello Allen Dove Dickson Despommier [/hosts] Robert Oppenheimer Brian Greene (pretty sure he’s American, but I’m not cheating by checking just yet) Leonard Susskind John Wheeler Kip Thorne Claude Shannon Jared Diamond Richard Feynman Stephen Kleene Donald Knuth Phil Plait (of course!) Margaret Mead Linus Pauling Buckminster Fuller Percy Julian James Watson I’m starting to run out of names I’m pretty sure are American, so I’ll stop there. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-scientist/531341/4 "2010-03-05T00:19:25Z")
Feynman Einstein (I consider him American) deGrasse Tyson Edison ETA: Carl Sagan ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-scientist/531341/5 "2010-03-05T00:26:02Z")
ETA: Oppenheimer Phil Plait. I’m sure I can come up with more people given a bit more time. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-scientist/531341/6 "2010-03-05T02:56:48Z")
Well, let’s see…there’s me, for one… ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-scientist/531341/7 "2010-03-05T03:23:55Z")
Far too many to list or even bother counting - I know a small army of obscure biologists. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-scientist/531341/8 "2010-03-05T03:25:12Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Well, let’s see…there’s me, for one… Me, for two, although I’ve gone over the wall. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-scientist/531341/9 "2010-03-05T04:29:08Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Far too many to list or even bother counting - I know a small army of obscure biologists. Same here. And I’ve met or attended lectures by plenty of not-so-obscure scientists: Jared Diamond, Paul Ehrlich, Stephen Jay Gould, E.O. Wilson, Carl Sagan. ---
**Author:** ![code\_grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@code\_grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/code_grey)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-scientist/531341/10 "2010-03-05T05:47:29Z")
Millikan (electron charge), Micheslon / Morley (eponymous experiment on speed of light) And where would all of us be without Edward Teller (Teller-Ulam design) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-scientist/531341/11 "2010-03-05T09:18:23Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Far too many to list or even bother counting - I know a small army of obscure biologists. I didn’t even know obscure biology was a field that could support a small army of scientists. ---
**Author:** ![footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9f8e36/32.png) [@footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/footballisplayedwithyourfeet)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-scientist/531341/12 "2010-03-05T09:46:42Z")
I could probably list a whole bunch of economists and political scientists, most of which you would never have heard of. Also, I’m too lazy to make sure who is American and who is English, Australian, Canadian, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-scientist/531341/13 "2010-03-05T13:00:45Z")
As an American scientist, nearly everyone I know is an American scientist. ---
**Author:** ![Architectonic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/74df32/32.png) [@Architectonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Architectonic)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-scientist/531341/14 "2010-03-07T04:21:31Z")
> [@lee](#): > > Without looking it up, how many American scientists can you name? I’m not American, but.. I don’t memorise anything that I can’t look up in a book, or won’t be in an exam. ---
**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-scientist/531341/15 "2010-03-07T07:01:51Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Well, let’s see…there’s me, for one… I suspect those of us who actually work in labs may have to recuse ourselves (or restrict ourselves to scientists outside of our fields). I know I could, quite literally, fill a phone book with the people in my institution alone. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-scientist/531341/16 "2010-03-07T07:25:47Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Far too many to list or even bother counting - I know a small army of obscure biologists. Likewise, except that for me it would mostly be psychologists. Is there a point to the question? ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-scientist/531341/17 "2010-03-07T17:15:37Z")
> [@Tanbarkie](#): > > I suspect those of us who actually work in labs may have to recuse ourselves (or restrict ourselves to scientists outside of our fields). I know I could, quite literally, fill a phone book with the people in my institution alone. Yeah, same here – I’m guessing the OP is interested in how many widely known scientists people can name (e.g. Richard Feynman, James Watson, etc.) or how many scientists the average layperson can name, famous or not. ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-scientist/531341/18 "2010-03-07T20:46:41Z")
If you’re talking “live” ones, all I’ve got are Ed Witten and David Harry Grinspoon, unless you want to count the Mythbusters. Smells like…science! I assume personal aquaintences don’t count, else I know several chemists in the local area too 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-scientist/531341/19 "2010-03-07T20:54:18Z")
Do they have to be alive? Does medicine count as science? Dead ones: Einstein, Oppenheimer (he _is_ dead, right?), Feynman, Fleming, Sagan Live ones: I’m not exactly sure where most of the scientists I know about live, except that Hawking is definately British. But I’ve heard of some, honest.