---
title: "List of scientific debates"
chunk: 1/1
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scientific_debates"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:18:01.745378+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

This is a list of notable scientific debates in the history of science and mathematics.


== Biology ==
Nature versus nurture, long-standing debate in biology on human behavior
1764–1778 Voltaire vs Needham, between Voltaire and John Needham and others on the validity of preformationism.
1830 Cuvier–Geoffroy debate between Georges Cuvier and Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire on animal structure.
1860 Oxford evolution debate between several scientists on Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species.
1860–1862 Great Hippocampus Question, between Thomas Henry Huxley and Richard Owen on the importance of hippocampus minor.


== Chemistry and nanoscience ==
2001–2003 Drexler–Smalley debate on molecular nanotechnology by K. Eric Drexler and Richard Smalley on the feasibility of molecular assemblers.


== Mathematics ==
1654–1665 problem of points, correspondence between Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat on games and the fair share of a prize pot.
1655–1679 Hobbes–Wallis controversy, between Thomas Hobbes and John Wallis on geometry and other topics.
1745 Leibniz–Bernoulli correspondence, between Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Johann Bernoulli on the logarithm of negative numbers.
1902–1924 Nekrasov–Markov conflict, between Pavel Nekrasov and Andrey Markov on the relation between the law of large numbers and free will.
1903–1912 Poincaré vs. Russell, between Henri Poincaré and Bertrand Russell on logicism and mathematical paradoxes.
1907–1928 Brouwer–Hilbert foundational debate or Grundlagenstreit, between L. E. J. Brouwer and David Hilbert on foundations of mathematics.


== Physics and astronomy ==
1715–1716 Leibniz–Clarke correspondence, between Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Samuel Clarke on space being absolute.
1857–1901 Kelvin–Stokes aether drag debate, on whether the luminiferous aether was unstable when considered a perfect fluid. Debate between Lord Kelvin and George Stokes.
1895 Lübeck Debate between Ludwig Boltzmann and Wilhelm Ostwald on the existence of atoms.
1920 Great Debate (astronomy) between Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis on the scale of spiral nebulae and the Universe.
1920 Bad Nauheim Debate, between Philipp Lenard and Albert Einstein on the validity of general relativity. See also Criticism of the theory of relativity.
1922 Einstein–Bergson debate between Albert Einstein and philosopher Henri Bergson, on the implications of theory of relativity and the nature of time.
1927–1935 Bohr–Einstein debates between Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr on interpretations of quantum mechanics.
1936–1944 Chandrasekhar–Eddington dispute, between Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar and Arthur Eddington on the limits of star masses.
1949–1964 Big Bang vs. steady-state, dispute between Fred Hoyle supporter of the steady-state model of the universe and George Gamow supporter of the Big Bang.


== Philosophy of science ==
1965 Kuhn–Popper debate between philosophers Thomas Kuhn and Karl Popper on scientific research methodology.
1990s Science wars, series of debates on the role of natural sciences over social sciences


== Science education ==
1989 Math wars, series of debates on the mathematics education curriculum in the United States


== Theology and science ==
2014 Bill Nye–Ken Ham debate by Bill Nye and Ken Ham on science and creationism and evolution.


== See also ==
List of scientific priority disputes


== References ==