"So, did you ever have any plans to build that helicopter thing you drew?"

"Chi sei? Dove sono? Come sono arrivato qui?"

"Sorry, what?"

Are they time traveling to see me, or am I time traveling to see them?

Because if it's the latter, Hawking on June 28, 2009.

Can I pick 2 and have them talk to each other instead? Would love to watch Hawking get Newton up to speed on some stuff.

None. I give my spot to someone who wouldn't waste it.

I can't speak on their level, and I'm okay with that. I've worked around some absolutely amazing geniuses in my career and I'm happy to be the worker bees in the arrangement. I'm no slouch, and I've done my own share of really cool stuff, but I wouldn't waste such an opportunity on me.

Give it to the Steve Baumels, the Tomas Bartas and the Jeff Linds of the world, the unsung bright spots in our tech march forward.

I'll save everyone a spot at lunch and try to get in on the group photo.

Einstein.

He was a generally great guy and had very progressive social views, so it would be fun to talk to him about the current state of the world.

Also a lot of his theories around relativity and theories of quantum physics have been proven recently. It would be amazing to see his mind be blown when he realises both sides were right and what that means for how a theory of everything needs to look like.

To make it fair you should get extra time with hawking

Consent?

As if any of these people want to talk to ME for 3 hours?

With Marie Curie but perhaps via zoom.

Edison. For 3 hours, in a padded room, where no-one can hear his screams.

Tesla. I feel there's so much we don't know, let alone understand, about his ideas. Have we overly sane/crazy washed him?

Leonardo to blow his mind and maybe make a time paradox

Tesla to explain to him that he really needs to take some financial advice because it's not about him, it's about people using his techniques.

Edison to punch in the face repeatedly for an hour

Alan Turing, the father of modern computer science. I'd also probably s his d because he's technically a dilf. 🫦

The answer is Feynman

Feynman, mainly because he was an amazing professor and knows how to talk to people.

Einstein and Newton disliked people, so they would be terrible conversationslists outside their areas of expertise. I think that was true of Leonardo as well. Edison is also out because he was a dick.

Probably Einstein, because he seems like an interesting dude beyond his physics. He liked philosophy, for example, and is one of the examples that I invoke when I argue that university level science education should involve more philosophy — Einstein wasn't an anomaly in this respect, but a good symbol for discussing how the practice of scientists doing philosophy seems to have waned over the 20th century.

He was also pro-socialism, and had sensible takes about how science isn't a universal solution to stuff, but a specialised tool that is good for some problems but not for others.

Related: those who enjoy long video essays may enjoy this one from an awesome ex-astrophysicist: Einstein Was a Socialist; Should We Care? (1h16m)

Edison but instead of talking to him, I Rick Roll him for three hours.

Feynman, over a beer, at a strip club.

I'd go for Leonardo. The others - while I understand things at a basic level - I'd likely not be able to understand most of their fields.

Maybe Tesla but I'm not sure if the conversation would end up centered around some of the neat science stuff I could grasp or pigeons with laser-eyes ...

I'd ask nikola tesla three times what he thinks about Tesla using his name for an inferior car that shouldn't even be a thing.

I would need like a decade of prep to have any meaningful discussion with any of them 😅

I'll take Richard Feynman for nine hours please.

Feynman didn't even write his books

Hawking was probably way more familiar with the works, achievements and maybe even personal anecdotes of everyone in this post than I could ever hope to be. Thus, sitting down with him feels like the best deal.

Probably Edison but only to tell him how much of a fuckhead he will be remembered as.

Marie Curie three times and Imma sit real close to her so I can check out early and miss a whole lot of what's currently going on.

How, they're all dead.

Really? Only one woman? Marie Curie is my choice

Tesla or Curie I think

God, I literally cannot choose. That list is probably my perfect list of scientific figures in history. Aside from Edison, he can burn in hell.

The only ones I might add would be Goodenough and Gauss.

Davinci for sure because of the breadth of genius and imagination seems more approachable to a casual conversation, plus history has less on him.

Other's have so much depth in their fields that I wouldn't be able to converse intelligently on anything they are famous for. Having a chat with Feynman would be my second choice because his talks to laymen audiences are quite good.

A pint or five with either would be fun.

Bohr, for sure.
I've read Feynman's biography, which, for the record, I would not recommend to everyone.
But he's witnessed Einstein and all of these early physics luminaries, and by his memorable account, everybody was in awe of Bohr, and Bohr only.
So I'd like to hear what the ruckus was about.

Feynman. Dude must have some crazy stories. Seriously, who cares about science?

Tesla. From what I have heard, he was eccentric ( paranoid possibly? ) so it'd be fun to see if I could get him to think I'm some sort of government agent looking to stop him from doing what he does.

I'd let DaVinci hit my vape

Feynman, he was a blast to listen to

Me: So why did you kill the elephant

Edison: AC bad