I've thought of compiling a list of the five most important people in history.  It's not an easy task.  I mostly consider architects and engineers as being the drivers of human development, but one can't discount political and cultural forces either.

I think I might expand on this later, but my list so far would be as follows:

1.  Plato and Aristotle.  I count them as one because they both contributed significantly to modern thought.  Even if Plato was mostly wrong.

2.  Constantine.  I can't count Jesus because I don't necessarily believe he existed.  Regardless, Constantine did embrace the philosophy of Christianity which is enormously important to the history of the world.  One could argue that we have him to thank for our modern world.

3.  St. Thomas Aquinas.  His conclusion was wrong, but appropriately so.  Look at Al'Ghazali by comparison.

4. Faraday.  He pretty much gave us the modern world of electrical convenience.  To this date we haven't completed our understanding of his equations (see the memristor), but I think he may have rivaled Einstein as a creative genius.

5.  Not Einstein (yet).  I think this spot belongs to Vannevar Bush.  He developed the modern practice of commercialized R&D.  The military/industrial complex is thanks to him.  Xerox, IBM, Raytheon; the largest and most innovative companies in the world develop the technology we use in our daily lives and it's thanks to this visionary.

Posted by: roggowj at 04:49 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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