Seriously, what is the mentality of people who use scientists as avatars?

A netizen once left me a message:

What do you think of "one cow, two loves, three wheat and four yangs"?

Is this ranking reliable?

Ox: Newton. Love: Albert Einstein.

MICROPHONE: Maxwell.

Yang: Yang Zhenning.

To that, my reply is:

Ranking scientists is all a joke, just watch it as a joke. Every scientist has a different focus on research, and it takes luck to make certain results, and there is no ranking at all.

If you think you can make a rank, you know too few scientists, and you really know too few scientists.

As a result, the netizen asked again:

Since you can't get out of the ranks, why do you use Maxwell as your avatar?

My purpose is very clear, that is, to do popular science, especially to popularize physics.

Since I want to do popular science, especially the popular science of physics, then it should be very reasonable for me to use a physicist as my avatar, right?

However, there are so many physicists, and it is really a question who to choose as the avatar.

There were eight of the original "candidates", and they were:

Da vinci. Newton.

Hamilton. Maxwell.

Planck. Einstein.

Dirac. Prigogin.

The order of the above eight people is according to their year of birth.

I still want to emphasize that I chose the eight of them just because their experience has touched me a lot, not to make rankings.

Leonardo da Vinci

Many people only know him as a painter, but in fact, da Vinci was 、...... architecture, sculpture, anatomy, mathematics, mechanicsThe field is so accomplished that some people think he is a traverser.

The person I admired the most when I was a child was Leonardo da Vinci. And I also had some talent for drawing when I was a kid, so I had an indescribable feeling for Leonardo da Vinci for a long time.

However, the reasons why I really considered using Leonardo da Vinci as my avatar are:

Many years ago, a documentary about Leonardo da Vinci said that Leonardo da Vinci would carry a small notebook with him so that he could record his inspirations in time.

The content of that documentary may not be true, but I took it seriously at the time, and I began to imitate Leonardo da Vinci and began to record my every inspiration, feeling, and vision 、...... in time

To put it mildly (not very much), my life changed so much that I wrote at the beginning of the blurb on my homepage:Keep records in a timely manner

Isaac Newton

Needless to say, Newton's accomplishments are true, but one of the reasons I really considered using Newton as an avatar is:

Many years ago, a documentary about Newton said that when Newton was a student at Cambridge University, he found that Cambridge University was a *** place. Newton disdained to fall with the rest of his students and devoted himself to his own studies.

When I was in college, I felt empathy when I thought back to the description of that documentary.

In addition, Newton was obsessed with alchemy, theology, or something that leaned towards the occult and metaphysics. It just so happens that I also like occult and metaphysical things.

That's why I'm thinking about using Newton as my avatar.

William Hamilton

In fact, the real master of classical mechanics should be Hamiltonian. It can even be said that the "grand unified theory" of physics was proposed by Hamiltonian.

Because Hamilton proposed:The principle of minimum action

All physical theories can be regarded as specific applications of the "principle of minimum action" (including general relativity and the Standard Model of particle physics).

Hamiltonian himself established Hamiltonian mechanics, unifying classical mechanics and geometric optics. De Broglie, Schrödinger and others, also under the influence of Hamiltonian mechanics, proposed wave dynamics, which was further developed into quantum mechanics.

It can be said that Hamiltonian in his time laid the foundation for quantum mechanics, which appeared more than a hundred years later. And to this day, modern physics has not departed from the system established by Hamiltonian.

I considered using Hamilton as my avatar entirely because Hamilton has achieved "connecting the past and the next", connecting almost the entire history of physics.

James Clerk Maxwell

Since this is the avatar I finally finalized, I decided to put the detailed introduction to the end and just mention one less important factor here.

Maxwell's most well-known achievement is probably Maxwell's equations, which unify electricity, magnetism, and light. It can also be said to reveal the mystery of light.

If you were to choose a physicist to represent light, there should be no objection, it would definitely be Maxwell.

Light can be represented as light in English, and this word also means illuminated, bright. It just so happens that my name has that meaning.

So, I'd consider using Maxwell as an avatar.

Max Planck

The father of quantum, I don't need much introduction. There's only one reason why I'd consider using Planck as my avatar:

When Planck decided to study physics, his teacher said to him: "Physics is now very perfect, it is difficult to make new results, are you sure you want to study physics?"

Planck replied: I'm not for new results, I just want to learn it.

This answer, among all the quotations of physicists, touched me the most. Most of us really can't do anything new, Planck's answer, I think, is a must-have mindset for everyone who studies physics (and other disciplines).

When I first studied physics, didn't I just want to understand it?

Albert Einstein

I don't need to introduce him too much, but Einstein's real greatness should be:The idea of symmetry

Einstein introduced the idea of symmetry into physics, and the most direct result was his own theory of relativity (special relativity, which is directly the inevitable requirement of the rotational symmetry of space-time).

The idea of symmetry, comparable to the principle of minimum action, still dominates physics today. Even the unbreakable law of conservation of energy is only a concrete application of the idea of symmetry.

In addition, Albert Einstein wrote at the beginning of "The Meaning of Relativity":

The aim of all sciences, whether natural or psychological, is to harmonize our experiences with each other and to bring them into a logical system.

Paul Dirac

Improve quantum mechanics, unify quantum mechanics and special relativity, and create quantum field theory.

Dirac's contributions were too many, and they were all too shocking. However, the reasons why I considered using Dirac as an avatar are:

Dirac Time: Due to Dirac's reticency, his colleagues dubbed the time between his words Dirac time.

It just so happened that when I was in school, I also didn't like to talk, which led many of my classmates to think that I had autism.

So, I'd consider using Dirac as my avatar.

Ilya Prigogine

Many readers may not know him, but Prigogin's greatest contribution is:Dissipative Structure Theory

In simple terms, dissipative structure theory specializes in the study of complex systems, including cellular, organistic, population, economic, social, military, weather, 、......

He can even explain the origin of life (life is a dissipative structure) and truly study the irreversibility of time.

The original physics focused on "reduction", Prigogin focused on "integration". The theory of dissipative structures can be regarded as the biggest revolution in the history of physics, allowing physics to truly permeate everything in the world.

So, I would consider using Prigogin as an avatar.

The end result, Maxwell.

Mainly because Maxwell has achieved "connecting the past and the next", connecting almost the entire history of physics. After much consideration, I would like to select people who can reach out to as many branches of physics as possible.

Although Hamiltonian also relied on the principle of minimum action to achieve "connecting the previous and the next", Maxwell's "connecting the previous and the next" is more comprehensive, mainly due to the following factors:

Maxwell proposed the "Maxwell Demon", which can be regarded as the prototype of the dissipative structure. Moreover, Maxwell's analysis of Saturn's rings and governors laid the foundation for cybernetics, which is more closely related to modern complexity science.

The "two dark clouds" of 19th-century physics led to the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, respectively. Coincidentally, the "two dark clouds", one from Maxwell's equations and the other from the energy division theorem, are the results of Maxwell.

There were three major achievements in physics in the 20th century: the theory of relativity, quantum mechanics, and gauge field theory. Coincidentally, gauge field theory is also derived from Maxwell's equations, which can really be regarded as "jack-of-all-trades".

Maxwell established the Cavendish Laboratory, which was both theoretical and experimental. The Cavendish Laboratory is also closely associated with many of the discoveries of the century.

Maxwell was a student of Hamiltonian and carried forward Hamiltonian's ideas. Hamiltonian is the master of classical mechanics, which is equivalent to Maxwell's link to classical mechanics through Hamiltonian.

Maxwell defined physics in terms of the "mechanical view of nature".

All I can say is that Maxwell spans too many fields.

I don't know who everyone would choose if they used scientists as their avatars?

The original author of this article is: Cognitive Model.

Without the authorization of the original author, no individual or institution may ** this article.