Greatest [insert your nationality] Person

[Zulu Elephant]

In fact he left America in 1787 (anfter spening 13 years there) and then spent the rest of his days in Britain, France and a Luxembourg jail.

He wrote 'The Rights Of Man' in Britain and 'The Age of Reason' (Which every Christian should read) partly in Luxembourg and partly in Britain.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Zulu Elephant
Does that mean you're going to put Frenchmen in your 'Best Americans' list?

Lafayette wasn't fighting France in coming over, he was acting in France's interest.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove
Wasn't Einstein actually Swiss?

He was working in the Swiss Patent office when he published the special theory of relativity, but he was born, and for the most part educated, in Germany. IIRC he went back to Germany for an academic appointment after the Swiss years, and then left in the '30s (for obvious reasons) and came to the US, where he joined the Institute for Advance Studies in Princeton.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


The stuff they feed us as American "literature" is stuff like Thoreau, Emerson, Poe, Hawthorn... all of whom are horrible writers who produced absolutely nothing of any quality.

Havent read Emerson or Hawthorn for a long time, and was never wild about Thoreau as a WRITER, but the other days I heard Garrison Keilor recite The Raven, and believe me it was good.

But my favorite poet from that era is Whitman, and hes, like , teh w00T. Or whatever. And Melville is brilliant.

[Immortal Wombat]

Originally posted by Agathon
Plato, Aristotle and Homer are the core of the western literary, political and scientific tradition. No one else even compares.

I'd suggest in terms of influence, a certain Jesus of Nazareth might compare. Maybe even Abraham, depending on how reliable the Biblical interpretations are of him as the father of Judaism. And there's probably comparative figures from the core of eastern tradition. Confucious?

And I'd still include Da Vinci. Even though he was working from a context of classical thought, the sheer breadth of his acheivment is unparalleled.

[Monk]

Originally posted by BlackCat
Famous Danes :

Niels Bohr Atomic theory
H.C. Andersen Don't have to explain
Ole Rømer Light speed
H.C. Ørsted Electromagnetism
Søren Kierkegaard Philosphy
Tycho Brahe Astronomy
Vitus Bering Explorer (Bering strait etc)
The Maersk family Ever seen a blue flag with a white star ?
Bjørn Lomborg Had the gut to stand up against PC


And not to forget :

Lars Ulrich Drummer in Metallica
Anja Andersen Godess of handball

I approve of your list.

Other famous Danes are Karen Blixen aka Isak Dinesen, Lars von Trier, Viggo Mortensen (sort of), football kicker Morten Andersen, the impressionist painters of Skagen (The Skaw) and a couple of porn stars. Oh, and composer Carl Nielsen.

[alva]

Morten Andersen? Never heard of him.

Michael Laudrup

[Imran Siddiqui]

Americans (in no real order):

Thomas Jefferson - founder, diplomat, President
George Washington - founder, General, President
Abraham Lincoln - President during Civil War
Mark Twain - Writer
Theodore Roosevelt - President
Thomas Edison - Inventor
Edgar Allen Poe - Writer
Robbert Goddard - Rocket scientist
Dwight Eisenhower - General, President
Martin Luther King, Jr. - Reverend, Civil Rights

[Winston]

Additions to the lists given by BlackCat and Monk:

Uffe Ellemann-Jensen
Kaj Munk
N.F.S. Grundtvig
Victor Borge
Piet Hein
Carl Th. Dreyer
Mogens Wieth
Ludvig Holberg

[Gangerolf]

Originally posted by Winston

Ludvig Holberg

pffffffffffffft

that's like saying Einstein was American.

[Hot Mustard]

Tommy Douglas is first in the Greatest Canadian standings so far.

Sadly, only the oldest demographic(65+) have him first, so his lead might be small.

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Winston
Additions to the lists given by BlackCat and Monk:

Uffe Ellemann-Jensen
Kaj Munk
N.F.S. Grundtvig
Victor Borge
Piet Hein
Carl Th. Dreyer
Mogens Wieth
Ludvig Holberg

No King Cnut?

"Merie sungen ðe muneches binnen Ely,
Ða Cnut Ching reu ðer by;
Roweð, Cnihtes, noer ðe land,
And here we þes muneches sæng. "


(Merrily sang the monks of Ely when Cnut King rowed by. Row, boatmen, near the land, and hear we these monks sing.)

Carl Dreyer- fantastic film director.

More great Danes:

Diderik Buxtehude the composer, Asger Jorn (member of the Cobra art group) and of course Saxo Grammaticus (who provided the source material for Shakespeare's 'Hamlet, Prince of Denmark').


Danes:


Strange the way the Danes have a Piet Hein too- is he related to the Dutch hero by any chance?

[Winston]

Gangerolf, Remember, you were not in a position to claim anything back then, least of all Ludvig Holberg.

molly bloom, when displaying interest and knowledge about basically pathetic nations such as ours

I actually thought of including both Asger Jorn and Saxo, but decided that they probably wouldn't be very well known abroad, in this corner of the web. Of course that is probably true of some of the ones i did list as well.. Arne Jacobsen, architect and designer, could have been in there also. Lots of architects really.

Many kings from days long gone could easily be argued as fitting the label of greatness. And I would personally include our present monarch in any list of all time great personalities. But it would probably take a lot of explaining to get the point across for people unfamiliar with Danish royalty.

I know of no connection to the Dutch sea hero Piet Hein. But it is rather strange that they have exactly the same name. This was also raised btw. back when we had all the national threads with polls as to how many people had heard of famous people from various countries. I don't think we found out anything though.

[Winston]

Actually, I just Googled it, and Wikipedia has it that Piet Hein of Denmark was indeed a direct descendant of 16th century Piet Hein of The Netherlands.

Cool, learn something new every day.

[Gangerolf]

Originally posted by Winston
Gangerolf, Remember, you were not in a position to claim anything back then, least of all Ludvig Holberg.

nonsense


The Danish Piet Hein is the direct descendant of the Dutch Piet Hein, btw

edit: Yes wikipedia is good. Maybe you should read up on Holberg there too