[sanu]

sanu asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Who is the father of physics?
What do you think?

[Demolitiondaley]

sanu asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Who is the father of physics?
What do you think?

Archimedes would be a good shout.

[syhprum]

I would choose Planck or Lorenz and of course Maxwell who's name I could not recall despite being well equated with his work.

[evan_au]

I vote for Galileo.

• He used experiments, thought experiments and mathematics to understand the world.
• These are the tools of modern physics.

[CristinaFinn]

My vote is for Albert Einstein who came up with some of the most important ideas in modern physics, such as the theory of relativity and the famous equation E = mc2

[diogenesNY]

I think Aristotle wrote the first dedicated book on the subject.

--diogenesNY

[simplex]

The father of modern physics is Newton.

[evan_au]

Would the mother be Marie Curie?

[simplex]

Marie Curie is the mother of radioactivity. Its father is Henri Becquerel.

[Uren]

Ernest Rutherford - the father of nuclear physics

[PmbPhy]

sanu asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Who is the father of physics?
What do you think?

Galileo Galilei is widely referred to as the father of physics. Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein are known as the Fathers of modern Physics.

[Malamute Lover]

I don't know about the father of physics but the mother of physics was probably Merit-Ptah female court physician in Second Dynasty Egypt around 2700 BCE, She probably kept Pharaoh comfortable on the throne with her concoctions.

[OliVDB]

English language is confusing, calling doctors physicians while their job is much more related to chemistry and biology; sure, chemistry is applied physics and biology is chemistry in motion, but still, that's a stretch that I had trouble assimilating when learning that language.
But to come back to the topic, yes, it'd definitely be Aristotle or Archimedes.

[Colin2B]

But to come back to the topic, yes, it'd definitely be Aristotle or Archimedes.

Aristotle held back science for thousands of years with his ideas, but Archimedes did use the scientific method.
Eratosthenes of Cyrene successfully measured the diameter of the earth to within a surprising degree of accuracy using a scientific method.

[Bored chemist]

English language is confusing, calling doctors physicians while their job is much more related to chemistry and biology; sure, chemistry is applied physics and biology is chemistry in motion, but still, that's a stretch that I had trouble assimilating when learning that language.

The medical doctors were using the word "physiology " long before physics was a subject of study.

It's derived from Phusis - the Greek word for "nature".

Aristotle held back science for thousands of years with his ideas

To be fair, while he made mistakes, the problem was that later philosophers worshipped him and refused to accept that he as wrong.
He could hardly be blamed for "holding science back" a thousand years after he died.

[Colin2B]

To be fair, while he made mistakes, the problem was that later philosophers worshipped him and refused to accept that he as wrong.
He could hardly be blamed for "holding science back" a thousand years after he died.

You are right, it was mainly the hero worship that did it. He did, however, reject some interesting ideas such as the fledgling atom theory and heliocentric universe, also he wasn’t in favour of using maths which is why I would go with Eratosthenes or Archimedes.

[OliVDB]

Aristotle held back science for thousands of years with his ideas, but Archimedes did use the scientific method.

Well, I've re-read some of Artistotle's works, sounds like you'r eright, I hadn't read him in a while and it shows.

[alancalverd]

English language is confusing, calling doctors physicians while their job is much more related to chemistry and biology;

Oh it gets much worse.

The Professor of Physic teaches biochemistry to medical students who will be called Dr without holding a doctorate, whilst those who study surgery will call themselves Mr or Ms even if they have a PhD or MD.

I spend a lot of time doing medical physics for practitioners of physical medicine - osteopaths, chiropractors and physiotherapists - who don't practice medicine.

But my vote is for Galileo whose simple reductio ad absurdam on gravitation demolished Aristotle, rationalised most of mechanical engineering, and made the conservation of energy a fundamental formalism of physics.