Great Minds of the Second Millenium?

A painter, a physicist and a composer?

I'd have to go with activists/writers for all three I think. They were the minds that stirred up change and to whom we all owe our freedoms.

At the moment I can only think of Voltaire.

Hello Stranger,

Art thou well? Fred

Fredrik

Cardinal Jules Mazarin, Einstien and Bertrand Russel. Russel was a total pain but he did have a phenominal brain.

Regards

Mick

What does greatest mean ?

Cavendish was a super physicist who did not publish but was found -- after his death -- to have made major discoveries.

Lots of unknown geniuses ??

In terms of influence it would be Hitler and Stalin ...

So, in terms of people who helped shape this millenium [hopefully in a positive way] ...

Newton
Maxwell/Faraday
Planck/Schrondinger/Heisenburg etc ...
Einstein

Sorry,

Misread the question 'who made the most difference' versus 'who was brightest' ...

I would agree with Newton and Bach but not interested in Michaelangelo [bit I love music not painting] ...

James H.

What about Beethoven ...

ends==

I forgot Darwin and Godel and Turing ....

Matt Groening's got to be close to the top. The greatest philosopher of the second half of the 20th century. And he's got a sense of humour.

darwin, da vinci, galileo

William Tyndale (1494?-1536),
Sir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee, KBE, FRS,
Bill Gates.

No Goethe? No Aquinas? No John Stuart Mill? Hmm.

quote:

Originally posted by jayd:
No Goethe? No Aquinas? No John Stuart Mill? Hmm.

Dear jayd,

These would be your nominees? Really I was hoping people would propose there own choices of greatest minds, rather than demure at their being left out till now!

All the best from Fredrik

PS: What are Aquinas' dates? I think he falls outside the remit, but I may be wrong, of course!

quote:

Originally posted by Fredrik_Fiske:

quote:

Originally posted by jayd:
No Goethe? No Aquinas? No John Stuart Mill? Hmm.

Dear jayd,

These would be your nominees? Really I was hoping people would propose there own choices of greatest minds, rather than demure at their being left out till now!

All the best from Fredrik

PS: What are Aquinas' dates? I think he falls outside the remit, but I may be wrong, of course!

Far from obejcting, I merely express that I find it curious that a thread such as this could get ten posts in without a mention of a single one of those three (and on a related note, multiple mentions of Darwin and not a single one of Alfred Russel Wallace).

Would they be my choices? I suspect at least one of them would be among my top three; perhaps more than one. (I believe Aquinas still has another ~200 years or so to make this list.)

Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Albert Einstein?

Does the Bauhaus movement count as an influential mind?

Probably not. Walter Gropius certainly would though.

Jim

Not many women then?

Marie Curie

Rosalind Franklin

Emanuelle Beart (don't know about the brain, but the container is gorgeous)

• Snorri Sturluson (author of Heimskringla)
  
• Wat Tyler (led more than 100,000 people in a fight for civil rights)
  
• William Langland (author of Piers Plowman)
  

If I can have 4 then add Florence Nightingale.

quote:

Originally posted by Roy T:
Not many women then?

Lack of opportunity, certainly not lack of potential. Here's hoping the next millenium is better.

Did you mean o limit consideration to dead, white, Europeans?

Regards.

Phil

Dear Barry,

I did not, considering that 'mind' implies 'human,' so it was meant, for me, to include all human-kind...

Fredrik

Einstein, Newton, Beethoven, Shakespeare, Darwin. Shall I mention Churchill and Sir Arthur Harris?

EW

Einstein, Newton, Goethe.

Bach, Lenin, Feynman, Godel, Wittgenstein, and Kant and Russell thereafter

Modesty prohibits me nominating myself, but if anyone else cares do so I will accept

K

Kevin,

Not sure about Goethe and Lenin...

EW