# Greatest Scientists Ever: Elimination Game

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-scientists-ever-elimination-game/800825>\
**Category:** Thread Games\
**Created:** [November 5, 2017, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-scientists-ever-elimination-game/800825 "2017-11-05T21:08:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-scientists-ever-elimination-game/800825/41 "2017-11-07T05:35:32Z")

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I agree with Little Nemo. How can you compare Darwin to Galileo? But on the other hand, it’s just an internet game.

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**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-scientists-ever-elimination-game/800825/42 "2017-11-07T05:52:32Z")

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> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Why 36 finalists specifically? Is there some reason that number is particularly easy to handle?

No reason; 36 is a pretty, round number. Anyway, the voting protocol may not change much between “phase II” and “phase III.”

But the 36 Finalists will end up with numbers, #36 - #1, while the others will just be shown as “eliminated before final 36.”

> [@Larry Borgia](#):
>
> I agree with Little Nemo. How can you compare Darwin to Galileo?

If participants prefer, we can subdivide into categories (biology, physics, anthropology, ?), and first vote _within_ categories.

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**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-scientists-ever-elimination-game/800825/43 "2017-11-07T06:03:27Z")

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Hedy Lamarr (not Hedley), whose spread spectrum wireless technology is largely responsible for why we have cell phones in modern day. (And you know, was useful in preventing the Nazis from intercepting allied messages during WWII as well as aiding the U.S during the Cuban Missile Crisis.)

Oh, and she was a talented actress who was easy on the eyes as well.

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**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-scientists-ever-elimination-game/800825/44 "2017-11-07T13:28:23Z")

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Clair Patterson. He campaigned against leaded gasoline, after discovering how harmful its effects were.

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**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-scientists-ever-elimination-game/800825/45 "2017-11-07T15:48:46Z")

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Looking over the list of nominations I see some unlikely omissions — just oversights probably. And I think we should have another 1 or 2 scientists from the Islamic Golden Age.

Here are ten scientists still missing I’d want to add. As a game within a game, whoever guesses any of the scientists I have in mind from these meager clues gets an extra vote in the first Elimination Round!

- Two important geologists
- Two important quantum physicists
- Two physical scientists, one Russian, one Austrian
- Four very influential thinkers associated with medicine or the study of humans

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-scientists-ever-elimination-game/800825/46 "2017-11-07T16:25:50Z")

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If we’re doing anthropology then surely **Margaret Mead** needs to be on the list.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-scientists-ever-elimination-game/800825/47 "2017-11-07T16:43:54Z")

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The ‘Father of Information Theory’, **Claude Shannon** , has not yet been nominated. I will do so here. He will fail the “recognizable by last name” test, but IMHO he deserves a nomination.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-scientists-ever-elimination-game/800825/48 "2017-11-07T16:44:54Z")

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Fine choice but not one of the anthropologists I was thinking of. All ten free votes are still available.

ETA: Claude Shannon is also a fine choice, though obviously not one of the categories for free vote.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-scientists-ever-elimination-game/800825/49 "2017-11-07T16:48:25Z")

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> [@septimus](#):
>
> - Two physical scientists, one Russian …

Andrei Sakharov – nuclear physicist who conceived the nuclear fusion reactor (or tokamak)?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-scientists-ever-elimination-game/800825/50 "2017-11-07T16:50:31Z")

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Dmitri Mendeleev – chemistry, periodic table  
Max Planck – quantum physics

Are either or both of these good for a bonus vote?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-scientists-ever-elimination-game/800825/51 "2017-11-07T16:51:23Z")

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> [@septimus](#):
>
> - Four very influential thinkers associated with medicine or the study of humans

Saying “thinkers” makes me think he is not one you’re thinking of, but:

**Sir Alexander Fleming** , discoverer of antibiotics?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-scientists-ever-elimination-game/800825/52 "2017-11-07T16:52:41Z")

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> [@septimus](#):
>
> As Moderator I reserve the right to make up to 13 nominations of my own and **will make four of them now.** If we’re going to allow inventors, or pure mathematicians, or theologians, or polymaths, then I nominate
> 
> Gutenberg, Johannes - invention  
> Poincare, Henri - math  
> Bruno, Giordano - philosophy  
> Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von - natural philosopher
> 
> These are NOT intended to encourage further submissions of these ilks — arguably not even “scientists” — but rather to put a stop to it.
> 
> The list of nominees is so large that some will want me to subdivide them. I’m undecided as to whether that’s a good idea, but I’ve spoiled an arbitrary arrangement of the 96 current nominees into nine categories: 20 Physics, 17 Astronomy, 12 Math and Comp. Sci., 10 Chemistry, 10 Biology, 9 Philosophy and Geology, 7 Anthro & Health, 6 Economics, 5 Invention.
> 
> Anthropology and Human Health  
> Borlaug, Norman - agronomics  
> Goodall, Jane - primatology  
> Hilleman, Maurice - biology, vaccination; saved more lives  
> Jenner, Edward - vaccination  
> Leakey, Louis - anthropology  
> Lister, Joseph - antiseptics  
> Salk, Jonas - medicine, vaccination
> 
> Biology  
> Crick, Francis - Dna  
> Darwin, Charles - biology  
> Galen, of Pergamon - biology, medicine  
> Leeuwenhoek, Antonie van - microbiology, microscopy  
> Linnaeus, Carolus - botany, taxonomy  
> McClintock, Barbara - genetics  
> Mendel, Gregor - genetics  
> Mullis, Kary - biology  
> Vesalius, Andreas - founder of anatomical sciences  
> Watson, James - Dna
> 
> Chemistry  
> Berzelius, Jacob - chemistry  
> Boyle, Robert - chemistry, physics  
> Dalton, John - chemistry  
> Davy, Sir Humphrey - chemistry  
> Franklin, Rosalind - chemistry, X-ray crystallography  
> Haber, Fritz - chemistry; invention (fertilizer, gas warfare)  
> Lavoisier, Antoine - chemistry  
> Liebig, Justus von - organic chemistry; a great practical scientist.  
> Pasteur, Louis - chemistry, biology  
> Pauling, Linus - chemistry
> 
> Astronomy  
> Al-Khwarizmi, Muhammad ibn Musa - math, astronomy  
> Brahmagupta - math, astronomy  
> Cannon, Annie Jump - astronomy  
> Copernicus, Nicolas - astronomy  
> Eratosthenes - math, astronomy  
> Galileo - physics, astronomy, etc.  
> Gauss, Karl - math, astronomy  
> Halley, Edmond - astronomy, etc.  
> Hubble, Edwin - astronomy  
> Kepler, Johannes - astronomy, math  
> Leavitt, Henrietta Swan - astronomy  
> Michelson, Albert - astronomy; speed of light  
> Morley, Edward - astronomy, chemistry, optics, and physics.  
> Ptolemy - astronomy  
> Rubin, Vera - astronomy  
> Sagan, Carl - astronomy  
> Zhang Heng - astronomy, mechanics
> 
> Mathematics and Computer science  
> Archimedes - math, physics  
> Euclid - math  
> Euler, Leonhard - math  
> Fermat, Pierre de - math, optics  
> Hopper, Grace - computer science  
> Leibnitz, Gottfried - math, physics, etc.  
> Lovelace, Ada Byron Countess of - computer science  
> Neumann, John von - computer science, etc.  
> Noether, Emmy - math  
> Poincare, Henri - math  
> Russell, Bertrand - math  
> Turing, Alan - computer science, etc.
> 
> Economic Science  
> Arrow, Kenneth - economics  
> Friedman, Milton - economics  
> Keynes, John Maynard - economics  
> Ricardo, David - economics  
> Samuelson, Paul - economics  
> Smith, Adam - economics
> 
> Invention  
> Edison, Thomas Alva - invention  
> Gutenberg, Johannes - invention  
> Leonardo da Vinci - anatomy, invention, etc.  
> Marconi, Guglielmo - radio transmission  
> Tesla, Nicolai - physics, invention
> 
> Philosophy and Geology  
> Aristotle - philosophy, geology, biology, etc.  
> Bacon, Francis - philosophy  
> Bruno, Giordano - philosophy  
> Ge Hong - philosophy, alchemy  
> Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von - natural philosopher  
> Nisibis, St. Jacob of - theology, founded early school  
> Ockham, William of - philosophy  
> Pythagoras - math  
> Smith, William - geology
> 
> Physics  
> Bardeen, John - physics, invention  
> Bohr, Niels - atomic physics  
> Curie, Marie - radioactivity  
> Dirac, Paul - physics  
> Einstein, Albert - physics  
> Faraday, Michael - electromagnetism, etc.  
> Fermi, Enrico - atomic physics  
> Feynman, Richard - physics  
> Franklin, Benjamin - physics, etc.  
> Gell-Mann, Murray - physics  
> Hawking, Stephen - cosmology  
> Heisenberg, Werner - quantum theory  
> Huygens, Christiaan - optics, physics  
> Maxwell, James Clerk - physics  
> Meitner, Lise - atomic physics  
> Newton, Sir Isaac - math, physics  
> Oppenheimer, Robert - atomic physics  
> Rutherford, Ernest - nuclear physics, atomic theory, radioactivity.  
> Thorne, Kip - physics  
> Wigner, Eugene - physics, symmetry
> 
> Here’s the same list with all 96 names in a single alphabetized batch.
> 
> Al-Khwarizmi, Muhammad ibn Musa - math, astronomy  
> Archimedes - math, physics  
> Aristotle - philosophy, geology, biology, etc.  
> Arrow, Kenneth - economics  
> Bacon, Francis - philosophy  
> Bardeen, John - physics, invention  
> Berzelius, Jacob - chemistry  
> Bohr, Niels - atomic physics  
> Borlaug, Norman - agronomics  
> Boyle, Robert - chemistry, physics  
> Brahmagupta - math, astronomy  
> Bruno, Giordano - philosophy  
> Cannon, Annie Jump - astronomy  
> Copernicus, Nicolas - astronomy  
> Crick, Francis - Dna  
> Curie, Marie - radioactivity  
> Dalton, John - chemistry  
> Darwin, Charles - biology  
> Davy, Sir Humphrey - chemistry  
> Dirac, Paul - physics  
> Edison, Thomas Alva - invention  
> Einstein, Albert - physics  
> Eratosthenes - math, astronomy  
> Euclid - math  
> Euler, Leonhard - math  
> Faraday, Michael - electromagnetism, etc.  
> Fermat, Pierre de - math, optics  
> Fermi, Enrico - atomic physics  
> Feynman, Richard - physics  
> Franklin, Benjamin - physics, etc.  
> Franklin, Rosalind - chemistry, X-ray crystallography  
> Friedman, Milton - economics  
> Galen, of Pergamon - biology, medicine  
> Galileo - physics, astronomy, etc.  
> Gauss, Karl - math, astronomy  
> Ge Hong - philosophy, alchemy  
> Gell-Mann, Murray - physics  
> Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von - natural philosopher  
> Goodall, Jane - primatology  
> Gutenberg, Johannes - invention  
> Haber, Fritz - chemistry; invention (fertilizer, gas warfare)  
> Halley, Edmond - astronomy, etc.  
> Hawking, Stephen - cosmology  
> Heisenberg, Werner - quantum theory  
> Hilleman, Maurice - biology, vaccination; saved more lives  
> Hopper, Grace - computer science  
> Hubble, Edwin - astronomy  
> Huygens, Christiaan - optics, physics  
> Jenner, Edward - vaccination  
> Kepler, Johannes - astronomy, math  
> Keynes, John Maynard - economics  
> Lavoisier, Antoine - chemistry  
> Leakey, Louis - anthropology  
> Leavitt, Henrietta Swan - astronomy  
> Leeuwenhoek, Antonie van - microbiology, microscopy  
> Leibnitz, Gottfried - math, physics, etc.  
> Leonardo da Vinci - anatomy, invention, etc.  
> Liebig, Justus von - organic chemistry; a great practical scientist.  
> Linnaeus, Carolus - botany, taxonomy  
> Lister, Joseph - antiseptics  
> Lovelace, Ada Byron Countess of - computer science  
> Marconi, Guglielmo - radio transmission  
> Maxwell, James Clerk - physics  
> McClintock, Barbara - genetics  
> Meitner, Lise - atomic physics  
> Mendel, Gregor - genetics  
> Michelson, Albert - astronomy; speed of light  
> Morley, Edward - astronomy, chemistry, optics, and physics.  
> Mullis, Kary - biology  
> Neumann, John von - computer science, etc.  
> Newton, Sir Isaac - math, physics  
> Nisibis, St. Jacob of - theology, founded early school  
> Noether, Emmy - math  
> Ockham, William of - philosophy  
> Oppenheimer, Robert - atomic physics  
> Pasteur, Louis - chemistry, biology  
> Pauling, Linus - chemistry  
> Poincare, Henri - math  
> Ptolemy - astronomy  
> Pythagoras - math  
> Ricardo, David - economics  
> Rubin, Vera - astronomy  
> Russell, Bertrand - math  
> Rutherford, Ernest - nuclear physics, atomic theory, radioactivity.  
> Sagan, Carl - astronomy  
> Salk, Jonas - medicine, vaccination  
> Samuelson, Paul - economics  
> Smith, Adam - economics  
> Smith, William - geology  
> Tesla, Nicolai - physics, invention  
> Thorne, Kip - physics  
> Turing, Alan - computer science, etc.  
> Vesalius, Andreas - founder of anatomical sciences  
> Watson, James - Dna  
> Wigner, Eugene - physics, symmetry  
> Zhang Heng - astronomy, mechanics
> 
> Please inform me if I have inadvertantly omitted your nomination.

Bringing these to Pg 2 to make searching easier … though a few nominations made since this post are missing.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-scientists-ever-elimination-game/800825/53 "2017-11-07T16:53:42Z")

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**Septimus** , is \*\*Alfred Wegener \*\*(plate tectonics) one of your geologists?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-scientists-ever-elimination-game/800825/54 "2017-11-07T16:56:57Z")

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For another very important classical Arab scientist, I nominate **Al-Hazen** (optics)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-scientists-ever-elimination-game/800825/55 "2017-11-07T17:01:20Z")

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> [@septimus](#):
>
> Here are ten scientists still missing I’d want to add. As a game within a game, whoever guesses any of the scientists I have in mind from these meager clues gets an extra vote in the first Elimination Round!
> 
> - Two important geologists
> - Two important quantum physicists
> - Two physical scientists, one Russian, one Austrian
> - Four very influential thinkers associated with medicine or the study of humans

Another “[thinker] associated with medicine or the study of humans”: \*\*Craig Ventner \*\*(human genome mapping, applied synthetic-species creation)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-scientists-ever-elimination-game/800825/56 "2017-11-07T17:07:16Z")

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Since you specified “two important \*quantum \*physicists” … I see that **Erwin Schrödinger** ’s name is missing from the nominations list.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-scientists-ever-elimination-game/800825/57 "2017-11-07T17:09:19Z")

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Since we have a few polymaths listed … how about **Thales**?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-scientists-ever-elimination-game/800825/58 "2017-11-07T17:11:01Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> - Four very influential thinkers associated with medicine or the study of humans

You’ll get blowback on **Sigmund Freud**. \*\*Carl Jung \*\*would probably go over better.

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**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-scientists-ever-elimination-game/800825/59 "2017-11-07T17:14:53Z")

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Hippocrates

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-scientists-ever-elimination-game/800825/60 "2017-11-07T17:24:57Z")

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**James Hutton** – “The Father of Modern Geology” – could perhaps be one of **septimus** ’ geologists?

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