The question of who is the greatest physicist of the physicists who are household names– Newton, Einstein, Maxwell, etc.– has been debated thousands of times, and will undoubtedly be debated thousands of times in the future. What isn’t as often discussed is the ranking of physicists who aren’t in that rare group of household names– people whose surnames are attached to equations that GRE takers struggle to memorize, but whose given names and life stories are mostly forgotten.
Well, this post is for them: The following poll presents a list of important figures from the history of thermodynamics. Which of them is the greatest and most deserving of recognition?
(Thanks to Sean on Twitter for giving me the idea.)