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I'm certainly no physicist, I don't know much on the subject, but does Stephen Hawking not count? As a layman I'd group him with Einstein and Newton as the greatest scientists I know of.

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The average level is so much higher, or, really much more well known now than in the early 19xx’s. People will be hard pressed to duplicate his 1905 output, but somebody like Feynman has the social impact of Einstein. Bardeen won two Nobel prizes in physics (transistor and superconducting), and that’s not too shabby. Sagan didn’t operate at this level but he had the impact on society of “a scientist” so he also must be considered.

Before ww ii, knowing college graduates was somewhat rare. Now, one can know 100’s of phd’s by just being active in a field. Things that are less rare are less significant.

i just found out my manager has a phd in physics. my friend does too actually. neither are using those degrees

I think a lot of the early quants were physics/physical modeling types that changed from dynamics studies of chemical or physical processes to financial ones. Way more $$ in the latter.

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