I hate to drag Nietzsche into the conversation, but he did say that the last Christian died on the cross. Sakyamuni (the worldly incarnation of Buddha, circa 500 BC) was definitely influential, as were Master Lao (circa 600 BC) and Master Kung (Confucius, 551 - 479 BC). Plato (428 - 348 BC) was influential then and now. Copernicus helped us get rid of Ptolemy's central earth theory. James Watt is credited with invention of the steam engine, and Otto Hahn with the first nuclear fission experiment (receiving the 1944 Nobel Prize for chemistry). Of course Einstein came up with photons, photoelectric effect, mass-energy equivalence, relativity and tensor analysis. Women, unfortunately, just haven't been that influential over the centuries, though no one denies their importance. (For example, my mother was a woman.) The various bloodstained generals of history were mostly patriarchs who had thousands of draftees to do their dirty work, and don't deserve mention as great men. The criminal Christopher Columbus, whose activities led to the extermination of the Arawaks and other natives, also deserves no honorable mention.
I think everyone here is wrong... I don't think ANYBODY has ANY idea who possibly could be, in fact I believe I'd go insane trying to figure it out.
Muhammad was a killer and a rapist. See for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Khaybar#Aftermath in which Muhammad beheaded an enemy and took his enemy's wife as his own. That ain't exactly 'don't kill, don't steal'.
James Watt is credited with making improvements to the steam engine making it more powerful and therefore useable but not with inventing it. The idea of using steam power had been around for a lot longer that that. First recorded steam engine being the aeolipile described by Hero of Alexandria. In the following centuries, the few engines known about were essentially experimental devices used by inventors to demonstrate the properties of steam, such as the rudimentary steam turbine devices described by Taqi al-Din in 1551 and Giovanni Branca in 1629. The first practical steam-powered 'engine' was a water pump, developed in 1698 by Thomas Savery. It proved only to have a limited lift height and was prone to boiler explosions, but it still received some use for mines and pumping stations. The first commercially successful engine did not appear until 1712. The next major step occurred when James Watt developed an improved version of Newcomen's engine. Watt's engine used 75% less coal than Newcomen's, and was hence much cheaper to run. Watt proceeded to develop his engine further, modifying it to provide a rotary motion suitable for driving factory machinery. This enabled factories to be sited away from rivers, and further accelerated the pace of the Industrial Revolution. I agree however that the Industrial Revolution plays a major role in influencing the lives of people today, but not sure you can put that down to one person. In fact I think it could be difficult to indentify any single person as having the greatest influence, I think it will be different for peoples around the world. The great religious leaders have had their influence and that is still felt, but so have the great military and scientific leaders. I think the likes of Jesus, Mohammed, Genghis Khan, Hiltler, Newton and Da Vinci, sit there with their peers and the individuals perspective will decide the importance placed on each. I think it also wrong to discount lesser persons as influential on the individual. my career path was not determined by Plato or any of the other so called greats but by my Grandfather and so he has had a massive influence on my life. Sorry this went on a bit but I just seemed to get flowing. Well that's my tuppence worth.:cheers2:
****************** Nietzsche- was right on with that one. Huh!? :cheers2: Yeah , big time religious or spiritual leaders are often so influential with the masses , because the masses are searching to fill an emptiness inside themselves. An emptiness that can cause them to blindly follow anyone with promises of eternal bliss As far as thousands of draftees doing the dirty work of evil and even great men- - I unfortunately can verify that firsthand bestregards, Jack :hat:
I really hope your not 58 please do explain how jesus influenced anything before he was on this earth. or if he was even on this earth
Thanks for the information on James Watt. I had to do a little research to find Otto Hahn with regard to fission. When mentioning him I failed to mention Maxwell, Planck, Bohr, Schroedinger, Fermi, Szilard, Oppenheimer and Teller, none of whom are as famous as Einstein in modern physics. Also no one has mentioned Watson and Crick, who discovered DNA. It's a matter of taste, just like comparing one gorgeous female to another. Credit for current technological advances must go to corporations who organize and pay tens of thousands of scientists. But who invented napalm?
Louis F. Fieser (April 7, 1899 – July 25, 1977)? Liked the story about the Mexican Free Tail Bats :cheers2:
i would have to put him at maybe #5, since some of his theories were proven to be wrong though einsteins theory of relativity.
i think donnie darko was right, Joseph Lister was the most important person in history for inventing antiseptics. im pretty sure that if he hadnt, our life span would still be like 30 years old..
Our lifespan is expanding because the electromagnetic grid around our planet is opening up. Its sorta hard to explain.
Because many religious leaders were extremely influential. Jesus was a pretty influential dude. How many wars were fought because of religion? Too many to count!
although several of einsteins theorys have also been proved incorrect by stephen hawking. it is hard to pick the most influential person in history though. depends whether you mean influential at that time or still influential? i would probably go for hawking, stalin, hitler, genghis khan, henry VIII, Oliver Cromwell, and whoever first discovered medicinal properties in plants etc (ancient egyptians, ancient greece, traditional chinese). there is so many.