Current Events > Isaac Newton only the 6th greatest Briton ever according to the BBC

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_Greatest_Britons

They've kept their credibility throughout the years?

---

1 Sir Winston Churchill

Well that invalidates the list right there

---

It's so fucked up that a genocidal white supremacist is considered the greatest Briton tbh

---

scar the 1 posted...

It's so fucked up that a genocidal white supremacist is considered the greatest Briton tbh

Seems like a very British choice tbh
---

The fact that two Irish citizens were included is another sick joke about the fucked upness of UK brains

---

I can maybe understand him not being first when compared to Shakespeare and Darwin, but Churchill? Princess Diana (nothing personal against her, but we're talking about Newton here)?

smh

---

The only reason Winston Churchill wasn't the biggest monster in Europe is because Hitler Existed . And John Lennon, is was not in the top 3 of the Beatles.

---

Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair are also on the list lol

---

This is what happens when you allow a viewer vote

---

Isaac Newton could be 6th all time human, muchless Briton


---

scar the 1 posted...

It's so fucked up that a genocidal white supremacist is considered the greatest Briton tbh

The average schoolchild knows Winston Churchill only as a war time leader who successfully ensured Britain's survival during WWII

Not a justification, merely an explanation
---

jummy neutron

teep_ posted...

The average schoolchild knows Winston Churchill only as a war time leader who successfully ensured Britain's survival during WWII

Not a justification, merely an explanation

Yeah that's what's fucked up. I understand that people don't see him as a war criminal. The point is that it's insane for a country to have so completely brainwashed their population

---

If Princess Diana was still alive, she wouldn't even be on the list, let alone number 3.

---

I've never even heard of the #2 person before

---

FL81 posted...

I've never even heard of the #2 person before

Looks like he was basically memed into the position.

"Isambard Kingdom Brunel occupied the top spot in the polls for some time thanks largely to "students from Brunel University who have been campaigning vigorously for the engineer for weeks.""

---

YellowSUV posted...

If Princess Diana was still alive, she wouldn't even be on the list, let alone number 3.

Huge fucking joke that they put her ahead of Shakespeare, Darwin, & Newton.

John Lennon in the top 10?

---

scar the 1 posted...

Yeah that's what's fucked up. I understand that people don't see him as a war criminal. The point is that it's insane for a country to have so completely brainwashed their population

and yet basically every country manages to do it all the time. beginning to think it is easy to brainwash people.

I was happier before I looked at this list.

---

Smashingpmkns posted...

Seems like a very British choice tbh

*like* (Never knew about https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3005838/churchills-real-darkest-hour-new-evidence-confirms-british but I tune out talk about Churchhill also https://www.rs21.org.uk/2020/05/08/winston-churchill-the-man-the-myth-the-murderer-2/).

---

fuming posted...

and yet basically every country manages to do it all the time. beginning to think it is easy to brainwash people.

It sure is

---

Did dis poll git shanghaid boy foachan oa summat?

Cromwell is in the top 10 too and he was a fucking monster.

pfh1001 posted...

Cromwell is in the top 10 too and he was a fucking monster.

That one is really confusing for a long list of reasons. The genocidal activity in Ireland and other atrocities obviously standout, but he also was basically a traitor and the monarchy was restored later, he also ruled as a tyrant much like the monarchs before him. So assuming people in the poll are nationalist and don't care about what happened in Ireland they should still hate him. Really confusing.

---

Newton (for what hea most well known for at least) aint all that special imo. If not him somebody else would have came to the same conclusion as him. I mean the idea that some kinda force is what draws objects to the ground and keeps us on the ground seems so common sense. Just nobody before him decided to really think too deeply about it I guess.

---

The chimney sweep from Mary Poppins isn't even on there.

Bitch list.

---

mooreandrew58 posted...

Newton (for what hea most well known for at least) aint all that special imo. If not him somebody else would have came to the same conclusion as him. I mean the idea that some kinda force is what draws objects to the ground and keeps us on the ground seems so common sense. Just nobody before him decided to really think too deeply about it I guess.

Kinda both agree and disagree with this. Yes people would probably figure it out. Heck, Leibniz defined the derivative (with better notation) contemporaneously, and the development of calculus is an important step to Newton's laws of motion and gravity. On the other hand, Newton's laws and predictions were incredibly groundbreaking

---

Mr. Bean should have been #1

---

hey, where the heck is Idris Elba on this list???

---

YellowSUV posted...

FL81 posted...

I've never even heard of the #2 person before

Looks like he was basically memed into the position.

"Isambard Kingdom Brunel occupied the top spot in the polls for some time thanks largely to "students from Brunel University who have been campaigning vigorously for the engineer for weeks.""

He's more or less responsible for the UK railway system. He's not the only engineer who worked on it, but he's the "biggest". Worth a spot, imo
---

scar the 1 posted...

mooreandrew58 posted...

Newton (for what hea most well known for at least) aint all that special imo. If not him somebody else would have came to the same conclusion as him. I mean the idea that some kinda force is what draws objects to the ground and keeps us on the ground seems so common sense. Just nobody before him decided to really think too deeply about it I guess.

Kinda both agree and disagree with this. Yes people would probably figure it out. Heck, Leibniz defined the derivative (with better notation) contemporaneously, and the development of calculus is an important step to Newton's laws of motion and gravity. On the other hand, Newton's laws and predictions were incredibly groundbreaking

Not just in mechanics. Newton did important work in optics and pretty much laid the foundation of my field, rheology

E: and Newton's law of cooling. I do believe he was a polymath (though tbf, that was easier to be back then)
---

Number 51 is entirely mythical figure King Arthur.

83 is famously Irish U2 singer Bono.

---

What a joke of a fucking list.

---

mooreandrew58 posted...

Newton (for what hea most well known for at least) aint all that special imo. If not him somebody else would have came to the same conclusion as him. I mean the idea that some kinda force is what draws objects to the ground and keeps us on the ground seems so common sense. Just nobody before him decided to really think too deeply about it I guess.

Bro, ask any physicist today and they'll tell you it's insane what newton was able to calculate given the instruments and experiments available at the time.

There's a wide level of agreement that he may have been one of the smartest people ever to live in any timeframe, even though much of what he discovered turned out to be incorrect.

---

6th?

There's barely any competition, lol. I could see Eddington being up there but none of these people comes close to Newton.

Diana top 5 seems like a very emotional choice and nothing to do with logic.

---

DeadBankerDream posted...

Number 51 is entirely mythical figure King Arthur.

Too low tbh

---

Yeah Newton did a lot of things. Sometimes it feels like he just invented calculus and then tried to apply it to as many fields of physics as he could

---

Ilishe posted...

6th?

There's barely any competition, lol. I could see Eddington being up there but none of these people comes close to Newton.

Diana top 5 seems like a very emotional choice and nothing to do with logic.

It was a pole vote, so put about as much stock in it as you do for the gamefaqs character battles

---

pinky0926 posted...

It was a pole vote, so put about as much stock in it as you do for the gamefaqs character battles

I just had a flashback to the gigantic shitstorm that happened when Draven won

---

g0ldie posted...

hey, where the heck is Idris Elba on this list???

It's from 2002, back when Idris Elba was still a fairly minor actor.

pinky0926 posted...

Bro, ask any physicist today and they'll tell you it's insane what newton was able to calculate given the instruments and experiments available at the time.

There's a wide level of agreement that he may have been one of the smartest people ever to live in any timeframe, even though much of what he discovered turned out to be incorrect.

Ok I'll take your word. Gravity just seems so common sense of a concept these days.

---

mooreandrew58 posted...

Gravity just seems so common sense of a concept these days.

And why is that?

Hint: It's Newton

---

Cromwell and Churchill being on that list is very sus.

But arguing against Churchill even now is a massive struggle. Does surprise me Cromwell got on it as he's very much taught as a brutal monster.

---

This list is from 2002, so perhaps anti-Irish sentiment was such at the time that they felt like voting for him. Nationalism causes people to do and say really awful things.

---

JE19426 posted...

It's from 2002, back when Idris Elba was still a fairly minor actor.

Then this list is very outdated. Guarantee the list would be different in 2021.

---

I like how Rowling is ahead of Tolkein way back in 2002. I guess she was pretty relevant at the time.

And McCartney so far behind Lennon surprises me.

---

DeadBankerDream posted...

And why is that?

Hint: It's Newton

Yes absolutely no body would have deduced something kept our feet planted on the ground if newton never existed.

---

mooreandrew58 posted...

Yes absolutely no body would have deduced something kept our feet planted on the ground if newton never existed.

Yeah totally bro, thats all Newton had to say about it, you got it

---