• Question: what in your opinion the the greatest scientific discovery ever made?

    Asked by effervescence to Alan, Deepak, Francesca, Lilly, Nick on 12 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Francesca Day

      Francesca Day answered on 12 Mar 2014:

      I think the discovery that all matter is made of atoms was very important. Without knowing this, we would hardly be able to understand anything at all!

    • Photo: Alan Fitzsimmons

      Alan Fitzsimmons answered on 12 Mar 2014:

      I agree with Francesca! If all science was lost forever, the most important idea to keep would be that all things are made of tiny particles that are always moving. From that we could reinvent most of science again – although it would take a long time:-)

    • Photo: Lilian Hunt

      Lilian Hunt answered on 12 Mar 2014:

      I have to agree with Alan and Francesca on this, although I would love to argue a case for DNA. Once we worked out that DNA caused things like physical appearance we understood how all humans, animals and plants pass on features to their offspring. From there, genetics has been able to move on leaps and bounds!

    • Photo: Nick Wright

      Nick Wright answered on 13 Mar 2014:

      I would say that the greatest scientific discovery ever made was when we discovered that the Earth went round the Sun, rather than the Sun going round the Earth. This may seem like a very simple discovery but it was an important one because it represented the beginning of science – the first time that someone put out a theory and tested it with an experiment. And thanks to that change in attitude we have all the scientific discoveries ever made!

    • Photo: Deepak Kar

      Deepak Kar answered on 14 Mar 2014:

      It is hard to pick out one, and all the answers are great! I want to go for something a bit underrated, the discovery of printing press by Gutenberg. That started the era of books!

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