Greatest genius in history

[Drake Tungsten]

The greatest genius in history is obviously Marilyn vos Savant.

[FrostyBoy]

Well, hands down Da Vinci is greatest genius the world has ever had. Do I really need to lay down the reasons?

I then place Einstein 2nd, his theory on relativity is still difficult to comprehend today.
And how can you surpass the importance of e=mc2?

3rdly, I choose Mozart, he acheived nothing in science (as far as I know), but it still takes a different kind of mind to create the musical pieces that he did.

[CrONoS]

1- Leonard Da Vinci
2- Nikolai Tesla (why nobody name him...).
3- A different kind of genius(since the two guy I named are mainly engineers and scientific) but I got to say: Aristotle and Plato. Mainly Aristotle, since by our reading of him we've got the renaissance.
4- The three main figure in classical music: Bach\Mozart\Beethoven.
5- And the archetype of genius: A. Einstein. He say that he discovered relativy with his imagination(like Tesla, he make many things without putting it on paper, but he said, that he was seeing all the detail in his head )

[FrostyBoy]

all details come from the head in reality

Tesla, while he invented something incredibly useful, cannot be considered a genius. Other people have invented things equally as good as Tesla but were not geniuses.


btw, where did this notion that Al Gore invented the internet? WWW was invented at CERN, Switzerland.

[jdd2007]

Sid Meier

(It had to be said)

[Asher]

Originally posted by Sn00py
all details come from the head in reality

Tesla, while he invented something incredibly useful, cannot be considered a genius. Other people have invented things equally as good as Tesla but were not geniuses.


btw, where did this notion that Al Gore invented the internet? WWW was invented at CERN, Switzerland.

The internet is not the WWW.

The internet traces its origins back to ARPANET in the US in 1969.

The frst TCP/IP based network was NSFNet in 1984, also in the US.

[Odin]

Originally posted by Asher

You guys forget the other areas where aristotle was wrong and misdirected scientific research, such as with chemistry. The nature of Philosophy seems to forget his many failures and focus on his successes, even if they are questionable (like his work with logic).

Artistotle thought the sun revolved around the earth, for example. Not to mention heavens were immutable and the stars/planets ethereal... There is a huge difference between being the greatest genius ever, and being so prolific and random in your works (being wrong the majority of the time) to sometimes get things right.

Aristotle was hampered by lack of data, as well as the lack of the right technology to get that data; plus a cultural bias that favored logic over experimentation. Most of his mistakes in astronomy and physics were a result of the ancient Greeks not having a proper understanding of gravity and inertia, as well as not having a telescope. He also made the mistake of applying biological concepts to nonbiological things, an honest goof if you know anything about how the ancient Greeks viewed the natual world. Just because his ideas were disporven doesn't make him an any worse thinker, it just means technology lets us make more accurate hypotheses. His views on politics and ethics are still timeless though, human nature never changes.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Odin
Aristotle was hampered by lack of data

Isn't that true of philosophers in general? It's scientists the deal with data.

A true genius understands his limitations, Artistotle shat out works like no tomorrow, go figure the vast majority of them are stinkers.

His views on politics and ethics are still timeless
though, human nature never changes.

His views on politics and ethics don't make him the greatest genius ever, sorry.

[CrONoS]

@Odin
"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness." - J. K. Galbraith

[Odin]

Originally posted by cronos_qc
@Odin
"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness." - J. K. Galbraith

I use that sig to remind the right-wingers who's on the moral high ground.

[Odin]

Originally posted by Asher

Isn't that true of philosophers in general? It's scientists the deal with data.

There wasn't a distintion between science and philosphy back then.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Odin
There wasn't a distintion between science and philosphy back then.

I know, but he clearly wasn't a scientist considering he pulled so many of his conclusions out of his ass. That part is pure philosopher.

It's also why he's far from the greatest genius in history.

[Kuciwalker]

Gene Ray

[Immortal Wombat]

Originally posted by mitch
And then there's the da Vinci the artist. Its really hard to put anyone above this guy.

In the opening post you asked for the person who made the most significant impact. You realise that da Vinci's notebooks were ignored for years, and played no part in technological development?

Rgardless of whether Aristotle's intellect was the greatest or not, he certainly had the most impact in Europe. Not many people get to set the curriculum for a continent for 600 years.

[mitch]

Originally posted by Immortal Wombat

In the opening post you asked for the person who made the most significant impact. You realise that da Vinci's notebooks were ignored for years, and played no part in technological development?

Rgardless of whether Aristotle's intellect was the greatest or not, he certainly had the most impact in Europe. Not many people get to set the curriculum for a continent for 600 years.

I don't think I made it clear enough. I didn't mean to ask who had the biggest impact on human advancement, but who was so smart that they did achieve significant advances. The point of this was to filter out people like Marilyn vos Savont and 'rain man' type people who could be extremely smart, but really have nothing significant to show for it. Basically I want to know who everyone thinks is the greatest genius in history and has something to show for it. There are lots and lots of more choices when looking at who made the most significant impact on history.