I don't know about other countries, but in Brazil everyone heard of him for the very simple reason that the solution for "ax2+bx+c=0" is known around here as Bhaskara's formula.
So I have known good old Bhask since I was about 10 years old.
Greatest Genius in History
- Thread starter eastsidebagel
- Start date
So I have known good old Bhask since I was about 10 years old.
Mowque
Hypermodernist
Nordstream
Prince
Oh same here. He's in my pre-calculus textbook.
GoodGame
Red, White, & Blue, baby!
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- Dec 17, 2004
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Ctesibius is attributed with inventing the first force pump, but Hero expanded on it for fire-fighting.
http://www.history.rochester.edu/steam/hero/section27.html
I'd say inventing in the ancient era is a terrific handicap considering the lack of useful materials.
Mowque
Hypermodernist
Or Patent Office
That may be true, but the question was about the greatest genius, not the greatest inventor. It was harder to be a great inventor in antiquity than it is now, but it was easier to be a great philosopher (simply because less had been done).
JonathanStrange
PrinceWithA1000Enemies
I'm not denying the intelligence and originality of the individuals nominated yet neither am I especially moved by the enumerated list of problems solved or biological processes studied. It seems to me that plenty of research scientists today could present resumes that divide and subdivide their accomplishments into pages of accomplishments. Many of the engineers here at Intel have some of the most impressive looking resumes around - not having met them one would think they were veritable geniuses too. Probably contemporary scientists, authors, artists are just too numerous and their opportunities for uniqueness and originality too limited to allow them to gain comparable status as geniuses. Born too late to discover the Pythagorean theorem or the heliocentric model of the solar system, they can only bore JonathanStrange with stories of what might-have-been...
GoodGame
Red, White, & Blue, baby!
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My point is that inventing against the odds is genius.
North King
blech
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I'm actually tempted to say Voltaire, upon further thought.
LightSpectra
me autem minui
Voltaire has got to be the most overrated philosopher in history. He would 'win' debates by putting his opponents' arguments into the mouth of an imbecile in a satirical story, and then knock down his own strawman while his followers lapped him up.
Here are my suggestions of what I consider to be the greatest geniuses of all time:
1.Archimedes
2.Isaac Newton
3.Albert Einstein
4.Nikola Tesla
5.Leonardo da Vinci
6.Carl Friedrich Gauss
7.Bernhard Riemann
8.Leonhard Euler
9.Henri Poincaré
10.Évariste Galois
11.Zhang Heng
12.James Clerk Maxwell
13.Hero of Alexandria
14.al-Jazari
15.Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
16.Shinichi Mochizuki
17.Johannes Kepler
18.Aryabhata
19.Edward Witten
20.Alhazen
1.Archimedes
2.Isaac Newton
3.Albert Einstein
4.Nikola Tesla
5.Leonardo da Vinci
6.Carl Friedrich Gauss
7.Bernhard Riemann
8.Leonhard Euler
9.Henri Poincaré
10.Évariste Galois
11.Zhang Heng
12.James Clerk Maxwell
13.Hero of Alexandria
14.al-Jazari
15.Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
16.Shinichi Mochizuki
17.Johannes Kepler
18.Aryabhata
19.Edward Witten
20.Alhazen
I don't like these thread revivals: I always read the first page and get all excited that some of the old faces are back, before I think to check the date on the posts.
Wrymouth3
Emperor
A necro after 6 years!!! You realize many of our current members were in elementary school! Either way, I would either have to nominate Luckymoose.
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