Would there be a smartphone today without Einstein's discoveries?

[mpresic3]

I agree mostly with what Merlin1389 writes.

I could be wrong but it has been stated Ito various degrees) that GPS uses general relativity etc.
I know GPS does a relativistic correction. I am not so sure as was stated that GPS RELIES on general relativity. I know GPS might not be as accurate without the relativistic correction. Maybe more satellites would be needed in the constellation, or maybe the ephemeris would need to be updated more often, but I'm not entirely sure the system could not work without GR. In any case the point is moot.
First Einstein contributed more to physics than SR and GR. His Photoelectric Effect work with Quantum Mechanics and his Brownian motion papers were also influential as well as many other papers. Without any of this could cell phone technology exist or advance? Well clearly if Einstein did not live, much of physics would have different names attached to it, but it would have been discovered.

 

[sophiecentaur]

This thread is taking on the nature of the Pro and Anti Tesla threads, for which there is a lot more excuse.

 

[Klystron]

As a child after repairing a vacuum tube television with my father, I asked who invented television. My father replied that it was a group effort, that no one person invented TV. When pressed for an inventor, he explained how theoreticians, applied scientists and engineers, among others, contribute to projects and innovations.

We deconstructed the television into primary components such as CRT display, RF receiver, IF amplifier, tuner, power supply, antenna, etc. and eventually I studied books on each electronic component; theory and application. Children need heroes -- Einstein was certainly one of mine -- but adults understand complex devices and ideas derive from multiple contributors.

 

[Sooty]

Yes, but the question was not about Einstein, but rather about his discoveries. If those discoveries were never made by anyone, the situation would be very different. We should also not forget that Einstein was a major player in quantum theory, which has a role in making the electronics so small. We might have smartphones that do as much, but we might have to carry them in a 50 lb. backpack.

'A 50 lb. backpack'? Ah no... probably wouldn't have to be much bigger than a brick... :D

 

[cwill53]

This is all a matter of opinion, but I’ll say that at any point during the late 19th and entire 20th century, there was no shortage of brilliant minds working on the things that certain scientists get famous for.
The notion of a necessity for a “legendary scientist” kind of forgets the conditions in which such a person was able to do the things they did. They didn’t do it alone. It’s all a collective effort.

 

[sophiecentaur]

This is all a matter of opinion, but I’ll say that at any point during the late 19th and entire 20th century, there was no shortage of brilliant minds working on the things that certain scientists get famous for.
The notion of a necessity for a “legendary scientist” kind of forgets the conditions in which such a person was able to do the things they did. They didn’t do it alone. It’s all a collective effort.

This discussion is of questionable value except as a way to 'count our blessings'.
Forward steps in Science usually come as a result of advances in technology or with a history of other work. There has always been a 'cloud' in which people have worked so, apart from isolated bits of individual inspiration and the results of chance, we would be 'here' anyway. Possibly it could have been a bit sooner or a bit later and it's always subject to politics and even religion, in some cases. Science seldom goes backwards with respect to the general positive drift.

There can be big gaps in the time lines of some work, for instance Fermat's last theorem (In fact more of a 'conjecture', than a theorem) which waited from 1637 till Andrew Wiles actually proved it in 1994 but there was still a positive slope there.