100 most influential persons in history.
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Category: Scholarly Pursuits
Forum Name: Intellectual discussions
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URL: http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=14912
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Topic: 100 most influential persons in history.
Posted By: Vivek Sharma
Subject: 100 most influential persons in history.
Date Posted: 22-Sep-2006 at 08:11
I came across this list compiled by some american author Michael Hart listing the top 100 persons who have influenced the world.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad - Muhammad
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton - Isaac Newton
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ - Jesus Christ
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddha - Buddha
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius - Confucius
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Paul - St. Paul
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ts%27ai_Lun - Ts'ai Lun
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Gutenberg - Johann Gutenberg
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus - Christopher Columbus
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein - Albert Einstein
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Pasteur - Louis Pasteur
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei - Galileo Galilei
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle - Aristotle
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclid - Euclid
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses - Moses
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Darwin - Charles Darwin
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shih_Huang_Ti - Shih Huang Ti
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_Caesar - Augustus Caesar
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus - Nicolaus Copernicus
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Laurent_Lavoisier - Antoine Laurent Lavoisier
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great - Constantine the Great
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Watt - James Watt
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Faraday - Michael Faraday
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Clerk_Maxwell - James Clerk Maxwell
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther - Martin Luther
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington - George Washington
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx - Karl Marx
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orville_and_Wilbur_Wright - Orville and Wilbur Wright
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan - Genghis Khan
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith - Adam Smith
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_de_Vere - Edward de Vere or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare - William Shakespeare
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dalton - John Dalton
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great - Alexander the Great
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Bonaparte - Napoleon Bonaparte
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison - Thomas Edison
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antony_van_Leeuwenhoek - Antony van Leeuwenhoek
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_T.G._Morton - William T.G. Morton
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guglielmo_Marconi - Guglielmo Marconi
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler - Adolf Hitler
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato - Plato
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Cromwell - Oliver Cromwell
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Graham_Bell - Alexander Graham Bell
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Fleming - Alexander Fleming
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Locke - John Locke
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven - Ludwig van Beethoven
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Heisenberg - Werner Heisenberg
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Daguerre - Louis Daguerre
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Bolivar - Simon Bolivar
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rene_Descartes - Rene Descartes
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelangelo - Michelangelo
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Urban_II - Pope Urban II
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umar_ibn_al-Khattab - Umar ibn al-Khattab
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asoka - Asoka
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Augustine - St. Augustine
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Harvey - William Harvey
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Rutherford - Ernest Rutherford
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Calvin - John Calvin
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_Mendel - Gregor Mendel
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Planck - Max Planck
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Lister - Joseph Lister
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolaus_August_Otto - Nikolaus August Otto
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Pizarro - Francisco Pizarro
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernando_Cortes - Hernando Cortes
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson - Thomas Jefferson
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Isabella_I - Queen Isabella I
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin - Joseph Stalin
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar - Julius Caesar
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_the_Conqueror - William the Conqueror
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud - Sigmund Freud
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Jenner - Edward Jenner
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Conrad_Roentgen - Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Sebastian_Bach - Johann Sebastian Bach
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_Tzu - Lao Tzu
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaire - Voltaire
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Kepler - Johannes Kepler
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_Fermi - Enrico Fermi
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonhard_Euler - Leonhard Euler
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau - Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Machiavelli - Nicoli Machiavelli
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Malthus - Thomas Malthus
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy - John F. Kennedy
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Pincus - Gregory Pincus
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mani_%28prophet%29 - Mani
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenin - Lenin
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sui_Wen_Ti - Sui Wen Ti
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasco_da_Gama - Vasco da Gama
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_the_Great - Cyrus the Great
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_the_Great - Peter the Great
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Zedong - Mao Zedong
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon - Francis Bacon
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford - Henry Ford
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mencius - Mencius
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroaster - Zoroaster
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth_I - Queen Elizabeth I
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Gorbachev - Mikhail Gorbachev
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menes - Menes
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne - Charlemagne
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer - Homer
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justinian_I - Justinian I
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahavira - Mahavira
I find it difficult to agree to the rankings. Wonder what do the members have to say on this. What would be the changes you would like to make ?
------------- PATTON NAGAR, Brains win over Brawn
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Replies:
Posted By: EGETÜRK
Date Posted: 22-Sep-2006 at 11:16
mao zedong:ı am Atatürk of the China...
------------- The lands of the of the West may be armored with walls of steel,
But I have borders guarded by the mighty chest of a believer...
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Posted By: Aelfgifu
Date Posted: 22-Sep-2006 at 11:29
Interesting top 3: the greatest powrs of Islam, Atheism and Christianity. I would put JC over Muhammed, (please hear me out, dont start freaking! ) because he came first. Is it not said in Islam that the Christians started out the right way but got the message of God wrong, whereas Muhammed got it right? If that is the case, Islam was inspired by Christianty and therefore JC was more influential, because he influcenced both Christians and Muslims...
But please do tell me when you think I'm bonkers (might as well say it, someone will anyway...)
-edit- i'd like to add that I'm an atheist, so I do not base my theory on personal preference.
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Women hold their councils of war in kitchens: the knives are there, and the cups of coffee, and the towels to dry the tears.
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Posted By: malizai_
Date Posted: 22-Sep-2006 at 11:35
Then Moses should be at the top of the list. There are hundreds of such lists anyway, big deal.
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Posted By: Desimir
Date Posted: 22-Sep-2006 at 11:58
1.Jesus Christ
2.Muhammad
3.Constantine the Great
I placed JC first beacuse thanks to christianity,now islam exist.I put Constantine on third place because he made christianity an equal religion in Roman Empire and this open the way to its influence in europe.
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Posted By: Decebal
Date Posted: 22-Sep-2006 at 12:54
We've had this exact same topic, with the exact same list a year or so ago, and the discussion rambled on for 10 pages. Let's get serious here: this type of list is extremely subjective. How do you compare Netwon with Muhammad or Jesus or Columbus? It's not even apples and oranges, it's more like pianos and lollipops. There simply are not any objective criteria as to what makes a person more important than another. This is a list made by a Westerner who seems to value science quite a bit and it would be very different if it was made by say an African who is interested first and foremost in art or a Chinese who is interested in religion.
The reaction of that Turk forumer says it all: for him Ataturk was probably the most important person in history; for someone like myself, Ataturk would not crack the top 100. But it's simply a matter of values, background and criteria used.
Frankly, I think that the whole exercise is rather pointless, and the initial author of the list probably made it so that he could exploit our society's obsession with rankings, and sell his book.
------------- What is history but a fable agreed upon?
Napoleon Bonaparte
Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.- Mohandas Gandhi
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Posted By: malizai_
Date Posted: 22-Sep-2006 at 13:10
Originally posted by Decebal
We've had this exact same topic, with the exact same list a year or so ago, and the discussion rambled on for 10 pages. Let's get serious here: this type of list is extremely subjective. How do you compare Netwon with Muhammad or Jesus or Columbus? It's not even apples and oranges, it's more like pianos and lollipops. There simply are not any objective criteria as to what makes a person more important than another. This is a list made by a Westerner who seems to value science quite a bit and it would be very different if it was made by say an African who is interested first and foremost in art or a Chinese who is interested in religion.
The reaction of that Turk forumer says it all: for him Ataturk was probably the most important person in history; for someone like myself, Ataturk would not crack the top 100. But it's simply a matter of values, background and criteria used.
Frankly, I think that the whole exercise is rather pointless, and the initial author of the list probably made it so that he could exploit our society's obsession with rankings, and sell his book. | excellent post. I wouldnt be surprised though if someone still has a go at rearranging the list.
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Posted By: flyingzone
Date Posted: 22-Sep-2006 at 15:12
What the f**k does it mean when one claims Johann Sebastian Bach is one rank "higher" than Lao Tzu, or Plato is 10 ranks higher than Michelangelo????
These ranks are absolutely idiotic. People should stop ranking (based entirely on subjective and undefiniable standards) or getting obsessed with ranking and start doing some real thinking.
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Posted By: Emperor Barbarossa
Date Posted: 22-Sep-2006 at 19:57
Whoa, this list is insane. Shakespeare over Fleming? Is Michael Hart insane? Who is more influentual, a playwright or a guy who makes an antibiotic that saves thousands of lives. How is Beethoven more influential than the guy who started the crusades? My gosh, this list is horrible!
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Posted By: mamikon
Date Posted: 22-Sep-2006 at 20:27
There is only one Shakespeare, while an antibiotic would have been found eventually.
But I agree about the stupidity of such rankings...
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Posted By: Emperor Barbarossa
Date Posted: 22-Sep-2006 at 21:58
Originally posted by mamikon
There is only one Shakespeare, while an antibiotic would have been found eventually.
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Still, one could argue that capitalism would have been eventually founded, but that in no way makes the man who invented it(Adam Smith) any less influential.
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Posted By: mamikon
Date Posted: 22-Sep-2006 at 22:01
I like to think of Adam Smith as observing the ongoing "change" and
giving an explanation of it, not creating the ideals for it. But thats
just me
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Posted By: Emperor Barbarossa
Date Posted: 22-Sep-2006 at 22:07
Originally posted by mamikon
I like to think of Adam Smith as observing the ongoing "change" and
giving an explanation of it, not creating the ideals for it. But thats
just me
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The example was bad, I admit, but I think the idea of the example was understood.
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Posted By: Gargoyle
Date Posted: 23-Sep-2006 at 09:41
Originally posted by flyingzone
What the f**k does it mean when one claims Johann Sebastian Bach is one rank "higher" than Lao Tzu, or Plato is 10 ranks higher than Michelangelo????
These ranks are absolutely idiotic. People should stop ranking (based entirely on subjective and undefiniable standards) or getting obsessed with ranking and start doing some real thinking. |
I totally agree with you Flyingzone!
That list really is a Gigantic load of CRAP!
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Posted By: Jay.
Date Posted: 24-Sep-2006 at 15:44
Jesus should be first.
------------- Samo Sloga Srbina Spasava
Only Unity Can Save the Serb
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Posted By: Vivek Sharma
Date Posted: 25-Sep-2006 at 03:35
And the funny part I found out was that the maker of this list later replaced Shakespere with somebody whom he thought wrote the plays Shakespere is supposed to have writtel for him !!
------------- PATTON NAGAR, Brains win over Brawn
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Posted By: Emperor Barbarossa
Date Posted: 25-Sep-2006 at 15:17
Originally posted by Jay.
Jesus should be first. |
Yes, or the things that have been written about his life throughout history.
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Posted By: Aelfgifu
Date Posted: 25-Sep-2006 at 18:03
Originally posted by Emperor Barbarossa
Whoa, this list is insane. Shakespeare over Fleming? Is Michael Hart insane? Who is more influentual, a playwright or a guy who makes an antibiotic that saves thousands of lives. How is Beethoven more influential than the guy who started the crusades? My gosh, this list is horrible! |
I never even got that far... I didn't read past three and then I got bored...
'bout a year ago, they had a 'most important Dutch person' contest (or something like that, dont remember...) It was totally hyjacked by some fun-website so that the controversial widow of a recently deceased shlager singer won. Pretty funny actually, maybe this list was made by vote-your-favorite?
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Women hold their councils of war in kitchens: the knives are there, and the cups of coffee, and the towels to dry the tears.
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Posted By: Emperor Barbarossa
Date Posted: 25-Sep-2006 at 18:25
Originally posted by Aelfgifu
Originally posted by Emperor Barbarossa
Whoa, this list is insane. Shakespeare over Fleming? Is Michael Hart insane? Who is more influentual, a playwright or a guy who makes an antibiotic that saves thousands of lives. How is Beethoven more influential than the guy who started the crusades? My gosh, this list is horrible! |
Pretty funny actually, maybe this list was made by vote-your-favorite? |
I doubt it because, if so, Jesus would be number one on the list.
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Posted By: Lmprs
Date Posted: 26-Sep-2006 at 15:34
Marx should have been in Top3.
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 26-Sep-2006 at 16:16
Originally posted by Aelfgifu
'bout a year ago, they had a 'most important Dutch
person' contest (or something like that, dont remember...) It was
totally hyjacked by some fun-website so that the controversial widow of
a recently deceased shlager singer won. Pretty funny actually, maybe
this list was made by vote-your-favorite? |
Wasn't it Pim Fortuyn who won (or William the Silent, after the votes
not counted before the end of the final episode got counted)? Or was
that a different contest?
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