# Famous scientists who are overrated. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 29, 2019, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-scientists-who-are-overrated/841004 "2019-09-29T17:18:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-scientists-who-are-overrated/841004/1 "2019-09-29T17:18:56Z")
IMO… **Lee De Forest** , the “Father of Radio,” was somewhat of a fraud. He didn’t have a good understanding of the physics of vacuum tubes, and was more concerned with self-promotion than science. I have never understood the fascination with **Nikola Tesla**. The guy was a nut. And most of what he claimed to have done had already been done by someone else. Yes, **Stephen Hawking** was a great physicist. But there have been lots of great physicists. Would he have been as famous had he not been disabled? **Thomas Edison** was really just a ruthless business guy, yet most people think he was a scientist/inventor. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-scientists-who-are-overrated/841004/2 "2019-09-29T18:00:07Z")
You do make some good points. I did not expect that. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-scientists-who-are-overrated/841004/3 "2019-09-29T18:12:56Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > **Thomas Edison** was really just a ruthless business guy, yet most people think he was a scientist/inventor. Thomas Edison was a mechanical electrical genius. Whether you want to call him a “scientist” or inventor (1000 patents, many world-changing) is your call . He was also a great experimenter and although he farmed out the math, his insights into physics, much like Faraday who also lacked mathematical sophistication, justify his being called a ‘scientist’. In my opinion, a great one. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-scientists-who-are-overrated/841004/4 "2019-09-29T18:13:37Z")
I meant no offense to the OP, by the way. That didn’t sound right, did it. Sorry about that. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-scientists-who-are-overrated/841004/5 "2019-09-29T18:20:51Z")
[The Case Against Galileo](https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2019/03/20/the-historical-evidence-that-galileo-was-a-hack/) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-scientists-who-are-overrated/841004/6 "2019-09-29T18:36:51Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I have never understood the fascination with **Nikola Tesla**. The guy was a nut. And most of what he claimed to have done had already been done by someone else. Tesla was the father of AC electricity and electric induction motors. These were monumental accomplishments, he’s not overrated. He wasn’t that good at business and maybe he was a little crazy so he didn’t have much success after those initial accomplishments, but that doesn’t diminish what he did do. > [@](#): > > **Thomas Edison** was really just a ruthless business guy, yet most people think he was a scientist/inventor. He was an inventor. He believed he could make a long lasting incandescent light bulb when nobody else did. It took him a long time to find a filament that would work. He didn’t do everything himself, he had money to pay others, but he did come up with many original successful ideas himself. He was no great scientist or engineer, but very few people were back then. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-scientists-who-are-overrated/841004/7 "2019-09-29T18:41:18Z")
If I may throw in an under-rated scientist it would be [Joseph Henry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Henry). Numerous 19th and 20th century inventors, scientists, and engineers relied on his work and his personal advice. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-scientists-who-are-overrated/841004/8 "2019-09-29T18:47:35Z")
Edward Teller, though his eyebrows were impeccably bushy. > **[The many tragedies of Edward Teller](https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/the-curious-wavefunction/the-many-tragedies-of-edward-teller/)** > > Edward Teller was born on this day 106 years ago. Teller is best known to the general public for two things: his reputation as the “father of the hydrogen bomb” and as a key villain in the story of the downfall of Robert Oppenheimer. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-scientists-who-are-overrated/841004/9 "2019-09-29T18:51:06Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > IMO… > > **Lee De Forest** , the “Father of Radio,” was somewhat of a fraud. He didn’t have a good understanding of the physics of vacuum tubes, and was more concerned with self-promotion than science. > > I have never understood the fascination with **Nikola Tesla**. The guy was a nut. And most of what he claimed to have done had already been done by someone else. > > Yes, **Stephen Hawking** was a great physicist. But there have been lots of great physicists. Would he have been as famous had he not been disabled? > > **Thomas Edison** was really just a ruthless business guy, yet most people think he was a scientist/inventor. The line about Hawking made me wince. Ascribing a physicist’s fame to his disability implies that people with disabilities are only known _because_ they’re disabled, as if that were the most important thing about them. And if disability were all it took, wouldn’t the many physicists with disabilities be household names? Ask the next ten people you meet who Wanda Diaz Merced is. Odds are at least nine of them won’t know. Hawking wasn’t the only physicist whose theories led us to a better understanding of black holes, but even before he became widely known to the public, Hawking Radiation and other theories made him well-known and highly respected among fellow physicists. The reason he became a household name was not his disability but his ability to explain physics and its fascinations in a way we laypeople could understand and appreciate. \*A Brief History of Time \*has sold 10 million copies, and it’s still selling. The book’s success led to widespread media exposure. Sure, the fact he was able to accomplish all he did while physically incapacitated with ALS made people respect him even more. Sure it was inspirational. But it’s not _why_ he’s famous. I hope you’ll reconsider your view, OP. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-scientists-who-are-overrated/841004/10 "2019-09-29T19:13:04Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > The reason (Hawking) became a household name was not his disability but his ability to explain physics and its fascinations in a way we laypeople could understand and appreciate. \*A Brief History of Time \*has sold 10 million copies, and it’s still selling. The book’s success led to widespread media exposure. Being on Star Trek and The Simpsons probably helped too.🙂 Still, although he was a great scientist before most people even knew his name, I don’t think there’s much doubt that a large part of his _public_ celebrity was due to the fact that he was profoundly disabled physically yet his mind leapt ahead unfettered. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-scientists-who-are-overrated/841004/11 "2019-09-29T19:18:22Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > The line about Hawking made me wince. Ascribing a physicist’s fame to his disability implies that people with disabilities are only known _because_ they’re disabled, as if that were the most important thing about them. And if disability were all it took, wouldn’t the many physicists with disabilities be household names? Ask the next ten people you meet who Wanda Diaz Merced is. Odds are at least nine of them won’t know. > > Hawking wasn’t the only physicist whose theories led us to a better understanding of black holes, but even before he became widely known to the public, Hawking Radiation and other theories made him well-known and highly respected among fellow physicists. The reason he became a household name was not his disability but his ability to explain physics and its fascinations in a way we laypeople could understand and appreciate. \*A Brief History of Time \*has sold 10 million copies, and it’s still selling. The book’s success led to widespread media exposure. Sure, the fact he was able to accomplish all he did while physically incapacitated with ALS made people respect him even more. Sure it was inspirational. But it’s not _why_ he’s famous. > > I hope you’ll reconsider your view, OP. I think it’s reasonable to say that Hawking is over-rated among the general population based simply on his fame. Most people who recognize his name couldn’t tell you anything he accomplished as a physicist, nor could they name any living physicist. That’s no reflection on how he was recognized within the scientific community. **Crafter\_Man** , you started your list with an outright fraud, that is making the others look worse by association. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-scientists-who-are-overrated/841004/12 "2019-09-29T19:23:16Z")
There is a classic saying by Newton: “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” Probably most of us here know about Newton, but relatively few of us know about the Giants he was talking about. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-scientists-who-are-overrated/841004/13 "2019-09-29T19:32:38Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > There is a classic saying by Newton: > “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” I’ve always liked Murray Gell-Mann’s take on this: > [@Murray](#): > > [If I have seen further than others, it is because I am surrounded by dwarfs.](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Murray_Gell-Mann) They didn’t call him ‘modest Murray’ for nothing. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-scientists-who-are-overrated/841004/14 "2019-09-29T20:01:03Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Tesla was the father of AC electricity and electric induction motors. These were monumental accomplishments, he’s not overrated. He wasn’t that good at business and maybe he was a little crazy so he didn’t have much success after those initial accomplishments, but that doesn’t diminish what he did do. Galileo Ferraris might argue about that. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-scientists-who-are-overrated/841004/15 "2019-09-29T20:03:51Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I think it’s reasonable to say that Hawking is over-rated among the general population based simply on his fame. Most people who recognize his name couldn’t tell you anything he accomplished as a physicist, nor could they name any living physicist. That’s no reflection on how he was recognized within the scientific community. > > **Crafter\_Man** , you started your list with an outright fraud, that is making the others look worse by association. Oh, I see. You’re talking only about the fame of someone in the general population then? Because that does present some issues, Say “Lee de Forest” and watch the blank stares. How can someone be overrated if most of the general populace hasn’t heard of him? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-scientists-who-are-overrated/841004/16 "2019-09-29T20:10:55Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > Oh, I see. You’re talking only about the fame of someone in the general population then? Because that does present some issues, Say “Lee de Forest” and watch the blank stares. How can someone be overrated if most of the general populace hasn’t heard of him? I don’t know what the OP intended but I though he might be getting at that by mentioning fame. Someone can be overrated or underrated, or even unknown among different groups of people. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-scientists-who-are-overrated/841004/17 "2019-09-29T23:25:23Z")
Arno Penzias. He basically got lucky, in several ways. He moved right from science to administration, and screwed that up. I made a couple of presentations to him, and was a day long meeting where our center was presenting our research to him when he was head of Bell Labs. He was not very impressive. I remember when his book came out. When the PR flacks push a memoir, they usually give some clever saying or anecdote involving the person. For his the Bell Labs flacks quoted him quoting someone else. I believe I remember Hawking writing about how undeserved his Nobel Prize was. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-scientists-who-are-overrated/841004/18 "2019-09-30T00:13:37Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > There is a classic saying by Newton: > “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” > > Probably most of us here know about Newton, but relatively few of us know about the Giants he was talking about. Newton didn’t even invent the phrase. There is a whole book, called “on the shoulder of Giants” that gives its history. If De Forest didn’t invent the vacuum tube, who did? And why did De Forest get the credit? My take on Tesla is that he was a mad genius. But still did really important things. I think Hawking’s reputation was fully deserved. But he might not have become so publicly known without the ALS. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-scientists-who-are-overrated/841004/19 "2019-09-30T00:21:16Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I think it’s reasonable to say that Hawking is over-rated among the general population based simply on his fame. Most people who recognize his name couldn’t tell you anything he accomplished as a physicist, nor could they name any living physicist. That’s no reflection on how he was recognized within the scientific community. I’ll go along with this. I am not sure if I want to include Hawking on my list or not; I tend to waffle on that point. But while I could name a few physicists off the top of my head (not sure just who is alive or dead at this point) I am just not sure I know enough about the field to render a just verdict. Now Ezra T. Newman on the other hand; very underrated. And the that I survived one of his more advanced classes when I really didn’t have the horsepower to pull it off isn’t affecting my opinion at all. 😉 As for my list Winner by a wide margin is Ben Franklin with Sagan and Edison fighting it out for second place. OK – I’m in a grumpy mood – put Hawking in for the Honorable Mention. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-scientists-who-are-overrated/841004/20 "2019-09-30T00:27:29Z")
No doubt I’ll catch hell for this, but - Neil deGrasse Tyson strikes me more as a fame hound than a proper head down scientist. For a while, NdGT seemed like he was lobbying to be the official TV spokesperson for Science. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-scientists-who-are-overrated/841004.md?page=2)