Weit, weit entfernt von der mechanischen Welt eines Newton oder eines Laplace, in der winzige starre Bausteine in einem unveränderlichen geometrischen Raum bis in alle Ewigkeit präzise ihre Bahn zogen.
Kann jeder Name oder nur berühmte mit eines benutzt werden? Warum nimmt man nicht von?
First of all you can say
Weit, weit entfernt von der mechanischen Welt von Newton oder Laplace
There is a subtle difference to
Weit, weit entfernt von der mechanischen Welt eines Newton oder eines Laplace
Both constructions share that they express possession. In the first example, it is the world of Newton or Laplace. This is definite.
In the second example, this becomes more indefinite. It is the world of "a Newton" or "a Laplace", to just refer to two famous physicists who gave tremendous contributions to classical physics. However, because the indefinite pronoun is used (in the genitive case, to express possession), similiar people are also included. You could rephrase it like
Weit, weit entfernt von der mechanischen Welt von Leuten wie Newton oder Laplace
This, of course, works with any name, as grammar doesn't know anything about the fame of people. However, if I were to write
Weit, weit entfernt von der mechanischen Welt eines user53
this is - again - grammatically fine, but if it still makes sense to write it in a book about presumably quantum physics ... well, you have to ask yourself about that.
