[ckissick]

As for science, the old greats became great because they discovered the next big thing. Newton and Faraday gave us the foundations of standard physics and electricity. Today, there are fewer fundamental things to discover, and they are harder to deal with.

Compared to what's left to discover today, they old problems (except relativity) are fairly easy to grasp, and would have been discovered by a number of scientists. Newton et al were just the first on the scene.

There are still some "next big things" out there, such as String Theory (if it is for real), and the Unified Theory (If there's any such thing). If we could bring back Newton or Faraday, would they come up with something new and life-changing? Probably not. Einstein spent decades trying to come up with a Unified Theory, and failed.

Oh, and Jimi would be considered great today.