From a reader named Thomas Kennedy comes the following e-mail:
I am an economics teacher from Alaska. I can personally list my top 10 favorite actors, top 10 favorite living writers, top 10 favorite rock groups, and even my top 10 living economists and top 10 entrepreneurs; but how many out there can name their top 10 living scientists and top 10 living mathematicians?
I wonder what your readership would say.
I have asked my students this question and they look at me in terror. They get to Stephen Hawking and that is it. This is a group of extremely bright A.P. Econ./ A.P. Chem. geeks.
Thomas goes on to bemoan his belief that “within our society, we are more concerned with money and big living … than we are with our scientists and mathematicians.”
I understand where Thomas is coming from, but really: are we to think that kids 20 and 50 and 100 years ago really sat around making up lists of their favorite mathematicians and scientists?
People love lists for lots of reasons. Personally, I like to-do lists because they’re useful, but I hate making “favorite” lists, and in fact couldn’t tell you who my “favorite” writer or musician or ballplayer is, or even my top five. So I guess I’m not a good candidate for Thomas’s exercise.
But maybe you are.
So let’s hear your 10 favorite living scientists, as Thomas requested. Maybe we’ll get to mathematicians another day. And after that, economists. Remember: not necessarily 10 best, but 10 favorite.
If you’re up for it, tell us why you like each of your favorites; a word or three will do. It will also be interesting to see who qualifies as a “scientist” these days.
For some inspiration, you might want to read Nicky Dawidoff‘s very entertaining profile of Freeman Dyson. There are a couple of good Richard Feynman stories in it. If Feynman weren’t dead, I am guessing he would appear on about 90 percent of your lists.
and 
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Robert Sapolsky and Steven Pinker
The same can be said of the lack of a list for the top ten favorite doctors, teachers, policemen, firemen. Interesting enought, my wife would be able to comple a list of the top ten preachers/evangelists.
My favorite scientist are those that can look at many disparate ideas and unify them into a theory I can understand within the context of my life.
Freeman Dyson – for many years I have admired his self-described heresy because I believe it furthers the scientific process.
Jonah Lehrer – for his ability to write about science and make it understandable.
Jeff Hawkins – for assembling the team and explaining the work on the neo-cortex in “On Intelligence”
Albert-Laszlo Barabasi – for his work on understanding the underlying trends of networks.
michael behe, william dembski, fancis collins
Are there very many living scientists that qualify as favorites? I mean, my list would be dominated by the greats… Einstein, Leuwenhoek, Linnaeus, Feynman, Dyson would be there, Madame Curie, Alexander Graham Bell, Benjamin Franklin… but I don’t really have any LIVING favorites. I would end up listing every living scientist I could name, and I still probably wouldn’t have ten.
Now, COMPUTER scientist, yes: Donald Knuth, Alan Cooper, Raymond Chen, Jesse Liberty, Joel Spolsky, Eric Raymond, the list goes on. (Jon Postel RIP, you are missed.) Because I’m in the industry and it’s relevant to me. Likewise, lawyers; Eugene Volokh and Orin Kerr would head the list, followed by Gerry Spence, because I actually pay some attention to legal matters. But I don’t generally expect anyone else to recognise these names.
I think what this really evidences is simply the lack of involvement most modern people have with classical science as a discipline, because it simply isn’t relevant to their lives.
Tim Flannery
EO Wilson
Lee Smolin
Roger Penrose
Freeman Dyson
Murray Gell-man
Alan Guth
Kip Thorne
Stephen Hawking
James Hansen
1. Isaac Newton – Widely regarded as the greatest of all time and probably one of the smartest people ever.
2. James Clerk Maxwell – Second only to Newton in terms of overall intellect and contributions to our knowledge.
3. Nicolas Copernicus – Began the Humbling of Man that continues to this day.
4. Charles Darwin – Continued the tradition of humanity’s Great Humbling.
5. Tycho Brahe – He wore a metal nose because he lost his in a duel. ‘Nuff said.
6. Werner Heisenberg – Caused everyone to be uncertain about everything,
7. Erwin Schrodinger – Made quasi-dead cats famous and confounded college students the world over.
8. Wernher von Braun – Rockets!
9. Albert Einstein – Ushered in the atomic age, then spent the rest of his life railing against it; probably the first Rock Star Scientist.
10. Stephen Hawking – Not highly regarded by peers, but has a dry wit and makes science fun to read.
I could not agree more! This pop culture society is obsessed with idolizing actors and athletes, both of whom provide little more than occasional entertainment – that has no direct benefit to those who consume it, other than passing time and distracting them from real life. But the top researchers working on curing diseases or the next big technological advance go anonymously on their way.
In a similar respect, at this time of year, name any institute of higher learning and most people’s mind doesn’t go to the education/degree they can provide but rather how well their particular group of recruited basketball players performed last week.