# who is the most honored living scientist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 26, 2005, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-honored-living-scientist/286785 "2005-01-26T17:22:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Random\_Design](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58f4c7/32.png) [@Random\_Design](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random_Design)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-honored-living-scientist/286785/1 "2005-01-26T17:22:46Z")
most respect, discoveries and stuff. is there anyone in our time that will really stand out to future generations the way scientists did a centurty ago? ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-honored-living-scientist/286785/2 "2005-01-26T18:25:57Z")
Francis Crick and James Watson are still alive, I think. It’s hard to beat the discovery of DNA. ---
**Author:** ![SpartanDC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@SpartanDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpartanDC)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-honored-living-scientist/286785/3 "2005-01-26T18:32:49Z")
> [@Malodorous](#): > > Francis Crick and James Watson are still alive, I think. It’s hard to beat the discovery of DNA. Crick died in July 2004, but I’m pretty sure Watson is still alive. Stephen Hawking is perhaps the only other scientist who is well-known outside of scientific circles, but some of that is due to the fact that he’s overcome an extraordinary disability. And even though “A Brief History of Time” is pretty accessible, his discoveries and theories aren’t as easy to relate to and understand as something like DNA, which you learn about in 8th grade biology class. ---
**Author:** ![Splanky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@Splanky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Splanky)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-honored-living-scientist/286785/4 "2005-01-26T20:06:36Z")
Check out the [Nobel Prize](http://nobelprize.org/) winners- Chemistry, Physics and Medicine/Physiology would apply here. Many are still alive. Also I’d put Edward Witten in contention. He’s probably the most renowned String Theorist and Physicist in the world. His work is too theoretical to win a Nobel (for now), though he’s won a Fields Metal (the greatest mathematical award given). ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-honored-living-scientist/286785/5 "2005-01-26T20:51:54Z")
Pons and Fleischman? :😃 & R:: ---
**Author:** ![Roches](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc8723/32.png) [@Roches](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roches)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-honored-living-scientist/286785/6 "2005-01-26T21:05:23Z")
If you simply mean which living scientist has the most public recognition, it’s definitely Stephen Hawking. Most people probably haven’t read any of his publications, not even the books for laypeople, but he is very well-known, and would probably win a popular poll for the ‘smartest person alive’. It’s possible that this recognition is partially due to his disability, but he does have some discoveries of merit. The only other scientist who I can recall appearing on _The Simpsons_ was Stephen Jay Gould, who died in 2002. (Television appearances don’t matter a whole lot as far as scientific discoveries are concerned, but a person’s appearance on _The Simpsons_ means they’re widely recognizable.) After that, I think James Watson is probably the best-known still-living Nobel laureate (for the scientific prizes). Many others are still alive, and I do know about some of their discoveries, but few of them would be well-known to non-scientists. There are many scientific awards besides the Nobel Prizes, but few non-scientists would know about them (except perhaps the Fields Medal, if they saw _Good Will Hunting_). I can think of only a couple other living Nobel laureates who would be well-known to non-scientists. Perhaps Kary Mullis is one, since he’s written some books for laypeople; he’s a rather unusual person, and has some strange theories, but so does Watson, and so did Linus Pauling and Carl Sagan (non-living scientists who were well known when they were alive). If Mullis isn’t very well-known by name, his discovery certainly is: the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which allows the production of large numbers of copies from a tiny sample of DNA. Without PCR, DNA fingerprinting (and hence a large number of movies and TV shows, such as _CSI_) would be impossible. ([Here](http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/VL/GG/polymerase.html) is a page about PCR. If you’ve ever watched an actor do DNA fingerprinting, you’ve seen PCR. They take a small vial of liquid with DNA in it and place it into a plain-looking machine called a thermal cycler, then close the lid. This normally occurs right before the scene where they put drops of blue liquid onto a gel. The blue color, BTW, is a dye that’s added to the sample so you can see where you’ve put it and watch its progress as it moves across the gel.) There are few discoveries left that are so basic as to be world-changing, and few discoveries left that are simple enough to be made by a single person. (Even when a single person receives the primary credit, much of the actual research is done by graduate students and postdocs.) ---
**Author:** ![SpartanDC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@SpartanDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpartanDC)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-honored-living-scientist/286785/7 "2005-01-26T21:29:03Z")
> [@Roches](#): > > (Television appearances don’t matter a whole lot as far as scientific discoveries are concerned, but a person’s appearance on _The Simpsons_ means they’re widely recognizable.) With the notable exception of Thomas Pynchon. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-honored-living-scientist/286785/8 "2005-01-26T21:34:37Z")
As long as we’re continuing to talk about best-known, I think Brian Greene has gained pretty good visibility with the book tours, the PBS special, etc. Richard Feynman is also a figure in popular culture. Francis Collins, as head of the Human Genome project, is pretty well-known. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-honored-living-scientist/286785/9 "2005-01-26T22:12:52Z")
Dr. Norman Bourlag has to be on up there. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Presidential Medal of Freedom holder, thirty five plus honorary degrees, National Academy of Science Public Welfare Medal (the Academy’s highest honor), National Science Foundation’s Vannevar Bush Award (their highest honor), many streets, prizes, institutes, etc. named for him in his lifetime, and even a symphony composed in his honor. I would say he’ll certainly be regarded by history as one of the 20th century’s greatest figures, and perhaps one day will achieve the greatest honor that can be given an agronomist: to have a rock band named after you, like Jethro Tull. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-honored-living-scientist/286785/10 "2005-01-26T22:49:05Z")
Bill Nye the Science Guy! ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-honored-living-scientist/286785/11 "2005-01-27T00:00:55Z")
John Nash? ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-honored-living-scientist/286785/12 "2005-01-27T00:53:28Z")
> [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](#): > > Richard Feynman is also a figure in popular culture. [Richard P. Feynman died on February 15, 1988.](http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1965/feynman-bio.html) > [@Malodorous](#): > > Francis Crick and James Watson are still alive, I think. It’s hard to beat the discovery of DNA. Nitpick: Crick and Watson didn’t discover DNA, they figured out its structure. Oswald Avery was the one who found out that DNA is what genes are made of, in 1944. DNA had been isolated in the late 1860s by Friedrich Miescher. Considering the importance of genetic research now, and likely in the future, I agree that Watson is a good candidate for living scientist most likely to be remembered for a long time in the future. However, important as it was, I don’t think it was a paradigm-shaking discovery like relativity, quantum mechanics, natural selection, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-honored-living-scientist/286785/13 "2005-01-27T03:21:44Z")
[Murray Gell-Mann](http://www.nobel-winners.com/Physics/murray_gell_mann.html) is still alive. His quark theory was pretty revolutionary. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2005, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-honored-living-scientist/286785/14 "2005-01-27T03:54:49Z")
In Biology, I think that [Ernst Mayr](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/06/2/l_062_01.html) is among the most respected by his peers (even those who may disagree with him). Mayr was one of the main architects of the modern Neo-Darwinian synthesis of evolutionar theory, and of the Biological Species Concept. Mayr recently turned 100. ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-honored-living-scientist/286785/15 "2005-01-27T06:14:42Z")
> [@Malodorous](#): > > Francis Crick and James Watson are still alive, I think. It’s hard to beat the discovery of DNA. Bah, they didn’t invent x-ray crystalography either, and at most it would have taken a couple more years for someone to figure out DNA’s structure. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-honored-living-scientist/286785/16 "2005-01-27T09:59:22Z")
> [@Roches](#): > > The only other scientist who I can recall appearing on _The Simpsons_ was Stephen Jay Gould, who died in 2002. (Television appearances don’t matter a whole lot as far as scientific discoveries are concerned, but a person’s appearance on _The Simpsons_ means they’re widely recognizable.) I think Carl Sagan (also deceased, so not a contender in this thread) might also have featured on _The Simpsons_. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-honored-living-scientist/286785/17 "2005-01-27T11:51:34Z")
I believe the honor goes–or should go-- to Professor Myron [Frink](http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/7333/pictures/Frink.jpg). Yes, we’re all familiar with his breakthroughs in teleportation, time travel and sexy robot brides; less well-known is his pioneering work in the field of nutrition. He is generally credited with the discovery of niacin, thiamin and RIBO-FLAVIN! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-honored-living-scientist/286785/18 "2005-01-27T22:52:57Z")
> [@](#): > > Without PCR, DNA fingerprinting (and hence a large number of movies and TV shows, such as CSI) would be impossible. Of course, _with_ PCR, the CSI TV show is still impossible. But while I’ll agree with you that PCR was a revolutionary discovery (and so simple and inexpensive that less than a year later a small high school could afford the equipment), I doubt that very many people remember the name of the person who developed it. If we’re going with popular perception (rather than recognition within the field), then it’s probably Hawking. But even within physics, there are others who have probably made more significant discoveries (Thorne and Gell-Mann come to mind, here). And I’m not exactly in an impartial position to say whether some scientists in other fields might be more influential than the physicists. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-honored-living-scientist/286785/19 "2005-01-27T23:44:32Z")
It’s tough to beat Hawking for Name Recognition, but James Watson has that and a Nobel, so that’s a tough act to follow. Watson’s not the most sympathetic character, though. His rather egregious remarks about Rosalind Franklin in _The Double Helix_ are likely to be his legacy as a personality, besides his considerable achievements in molecular biology. Easy to admire; tough to like. Oddly enough, it doesn’t seem like there’s anyone around to fill the shoes of an Einstein or a Feynman anymore, somebody who is both a scientific Titan and widely known and beloved (especially the former). Carl Sagan once had the lock on publicity, and was a fine scientist, but never did the kind of almost absurdly great research that Einstein and Feynman did. Now Sagan is dead, and Hawking’s role as a publicist is rather limited by his condition, alas. Neither, of course, were/are Nobel Laureates, and unless somebody observes some Hawking radiation soon, I don’t think Hawking will live to see a prize. Who will be the next “Spokesman Laureate” of Science, if you will? I’ve no idea. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-honored-living-scientist/286785/20 "2005-01-29T14:05:50Z")
> [@jovan](#): > > [Richard P. Feynman died on February 15, 1988.](http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1965/feynman-bio.html) oops. Well, it was a mere 16 years ago! I think I knew that. My husband just discovered how much he enjoyed his books, so he’s like a living figure in our house. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-honored-living-scientist/286785.md?page=2)