[AvivaSimplex]

I said Watson and Crick because they did, after all, identify the chemical structure of genetics. That gets us to sequencing and molecular biology and had an enormous practical impact after 30-40 years. Yes, somebody else would have done it if they hadn't. And of course there's the fooforall about whether they stole Rosalind Franklin's data, which detracts from the achievement somewhat.

But still, they've both gone on to continued scientific achievement.

I chose Skinner for psychology because he had enormous impact with behaviorism and completely dominated the field for 2 decades, and the basic principles he laid out are still in use today.

FWIW, my Ph.D. advisor would agree with you about James. He gave me a copy of James' book on my first day in the lab, and now he lives 3 doors down from James' Cambridge house. Maybe that's why I didn't even consider him for this list [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

<font color="red">Note from Rduke55: I initially hit "edit" rather than "reply" and put all my replies in Aviva's post. I've since removed my comments to another post and kept all of Aviva's text but the formatting may be off (I think I got it right thought). Sorry. </font>