James Clerk Maxwell is considered by many physicists to be the 19th century scientist who had the greatest influence on 20th century physics. His contributions to physics are considered by many to be of the same magnitude as those of Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. In the millennium poll (a survey of the 100 most prominent physicists) Maxwell was voted the third greatest physicist of all time, behind only Newton and Einstein, On the centennial of Maxwell's birthday, Einstein himself described Maxwell's work as the "most profound and the most fruitful that physics has experienced since the time of Newton."