What if?

What if Einstein did not discover relativity? Would someone else have discovered it? What would have happened if Newton did not pursue science? What would have happened to the world?

These questions are pondered in the current issue of NewScientist.com.

While it's fun to speculate about such ideas, and for political purposes it makes sense, I don't think it's true for science. Yes, we can ponder what would have happened had the Nazi's won (an item from the same article) but in science, we make discoveries. Scientists find things that exist or are true, but have not been found by others. So, if Einstein did not discover relativity would that make Newtonian mechanics always true? Of course not. Newton's theories work well, but not for objects approaching the speed of light. Likewise, if Newton didn't work in mathematics, we'd still have calculus. Liebnitz discovered and developed calculus around the same time as Newton. If Liebnitz didn't discover calculus, someone else would have.

Sure, we can ponder these ideas all day but science is discovery so if one doesn't discover something, another person will. Of course, the timing of the discovers can change many, many things. If the U.S. didn't build a atomic weapon when we did, who would have built one? And what would that country do with an atomic weapon? Now that's something to think about.