• Question: what was in your opinion man kinds greatest scientific discovery?

    Asked by adriansmith to Andrew on 23 Nov 2011.
    • Photo: Andrew Cairns

      Andrew Cairns answered on 23 Nov 2011:

      It really depends on which historical era we are talking – for example Copernicus was a revolutionary but we wouldn’t think of the concept that the earth orbits the sun as particularly groundbreaking today.

      In the modern era I think the greatest advance in science is the development of the computer – and for that we have a lot to thank Alan Turing. Without the original concepts there would be no way that I would be able to be typing this right now, no way you could see it, no internet, no computers, no iPhones, no space flight, no anything!

      Check out this recent great documentary about one of the greatest minds of our era: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/britains-greatest-codebreaker/4od

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