Difference between Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton and Stephen Hawking

Since centuries, it has been and it is still a worthy discussion on these famous personalities. When we think about science, these personalities instantly click our minds, i.e. Einstein, Newton and Hawking. They are mainly known for their space and time concept. Well! It’s universally debated topic that from these two who is more genius and intelligent. To know who are they? And what are the differences laying between them? Let’s move to the difference between Einstein, Newton and Hawking.

Isaac Newton

Newton was born on 25 December 1642 and died at the age of 84. He never married. Newton is renowned for his work in the field of Optics, three laws of motion, mechanics, and calculus and as a Mathematician. He gave three laws of motion which are still in use without any amendment.  He was a genius guy I must say. And he also gives the concept of Gravitational Pull.

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was born on 14 March 1876 and died at the age of 76. He has three children and he is known for his work in philosophy and physics. He was inspired by Issac Newton.

Stephen Hawking

Stephen William Hawking was born on 8 January 1942 and died on 14 March 2018 at the age of 76. He was a theoretical physicist, cosmologist and author of many books and formulae. He was the director of research at the Center for Theoretical cosmology at the University of Cambridge. He was also a Lucasion Professor of Mathematics from 1979-2009.

What’s their physics says? (Concept of time and space)!

Newton, Einstein and Hawking talked mainly on the relationship of time and space but with different point of views. For Newton, time and space are absolute, they are unchangeable. Space is boundless, static, free from any complexity and completely empty.  Time is in an unstoppable flow since the birth of man. Time is constant.

Here, Einstein says time and space are bounded. For him, time and space are completely twisted into one another that make one absolute truth. According to the motions of energy and matter, time and space are being shaped.

Hawking discussed general relativity and quantum mechanics in his book ‘A Brief History of Time’. He proposed that black holes emit radiation and later evaporate. This gives the notion that black holes existed at the micro level since the big-bang. He gave the no-boundary principle which held that space and time are finite and the laws of physics determine how the universe began in a self-contained system. The real time shrinks if the size of universe shrinks, but it will never reach definable starting point.

Views on laws of motion

Since centuries, people were curious to know the motion of planets and stars. Here, Newton gave a meaningful explanation through his theory of gravity. For him, gravity is a force that is carried by a universal medium called luminous ether. His concept perfectly explains the law of motion which is entirely accepted.

Here on the other hand, Einstein was the opponent of Newton and abolished the concept given by him. By merely observing the effect of the twisting of space and time by matter he inspected two situations. Resting on the surface of a massive body and accelerating in empty space. If the rate of acceleration was adjusted properly, a person would feel the same downward pull of gravity. Einstein declared that the effects were actually the same.

Hawking, in his book ‘The Theory of Everything’, advocates that the universe was created due to the laws of physics. The big-bang was inevitable because of laws of gravity and force. The universe can and will create itself from nothing.

A through move to their scientific approach!

For Newton, Mass and energy were different things. Space and time were different things.

On the other hand, for Einstein Mass and energy were interchangeable i.e. E=mc². Space and time were interchangeable. This is totally opponent to the theory given by Newton.

Hawking, in his work Hawking Energy, says that mass is a measure of bending of ingoing and outgoing rays of light that are orthogonal to a 2-sphere surrounding the region of space whose mass is to be defined.

Notable works

Isaac Newton is known for his theories like: Newtonian Mechanics, Calculus, Principia, Optics, Binomial Series, Universal Gravitation, etc.

Albert Einstein gave his thesis on ‘A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions’. Some of his famous works are: General Relativity, Special Relativity, Photoelectric Effect, E=mc², Brownian motion, Cosmological Constant, Unified Field Theory, Ensemble Interpretation, etc.

Stephen Hawking wrote many books and solved various equations.  Some of them are: Hawking Radiation, A Brief History of Time, Penrose-Hawking Theorems, Bekenstein-Hawking Formula, Thorne-Hawking Preskill Bet, etc.

Which one is more useful in this 21st century?

Surely, it’s a worthy discussion. Well, concluding the whole discussion and comparing works of these gems, we can easily throw the comment that Einstein’s laws are small in global eyes but Newton’s laws are still in the practical use. Today, in universities, colleges, schools everywhere it’s of a great use and important. As the work which is done by Newton is optics is now widely used which include real and virtual images through which glasses are made. It’s simpler to use in practical works. However, to understand the universe, it’s not lying in the ordinary experience but in extraordinary experience. The biggest difference we can see that Newton’s gravity was force acting over a distance that is objects. But for Einstein, gravity is not a force but how gravity works. Indeed, it’s not a complete answer but a worthy one to explore and understand the whole universe. Hawking’s works and theories are very important for science because he gave ground-breaking theories like Hawking Radiation, the black hole debate, big-bang, Theory of Everything that are still to be researched.So what are your thoughts on these  great personalities?