Isaac Newton would be the easy answer [for greatest scientist ever]. But I'll go with a hominin, probably two million years or so ago, who first conf… - Guy P. Harrison

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Isaac Newton would be the easy answer [for greatest scientist ever]. But I'll go with a hominin, probably two million years or so ago, who first confronted fire like a scientist. He or she observed the flames, thought about it, formulated an hypothesis, experimented perhaps, and then came up with a theory of fire. That person, so long ago, was doing science. That person approached fire, a dangerous phenomenon, and dared to control it. That was science in action. And it changed us forever. With fire in our minds and torches in our hands, we were no longer prey, no longer lost in the darkness of every night. If we one day spread our intelligence throughout the universe, it will all trace back to that hominin and that moment.