Monday, February 26, 2018

Who were the greatest people of the 20th century?

Who were the greatest people of the 20th century?  I've decided to attempt a list.

Charles Babbage (1791-1871):  Ahead of his time, he conceived the first computer, an invention that would transform the world in the 20th century's second half.

Karl Marx (1818-83): Author of The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, his economic ideas would fundamentally shape the 20th-century world for better or worse, at least outside the United States. We're still figuring out his long-term analysis of the industrial revolution.

Gregor Mendel (1822-84): The founder of modern genetics, leading to today's DNA science.  As with Babbage and Marx, his greatness was posthumous.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939): Founder of modern psychology.

Henry Ford (1863-1947): The greatest engineer of his age, designing an automobile for the masses and the assembly line to produce it. (Also an anti-Semitic crackpot...)

Marie Curie (1867-1934): The chemist who discovered radioactivity, along with her husband Pierre and upset the apple cart...

The Wright Brothers (Wilbur 1867-1912, Orville 1871-1948):  The inventors of a self-propelled flying machine heavier than air, which along with the automobile would revolutionize transportation.

Mohandas K. "Mahatma" Gandhi (1869-1948):  A kook even by India's liberal standards, but with his "charismatic authority" he personified the spirit of the movement for Indian independence and created a precedent for non-violent civil rights advocates like Martin Luther King.

Winston Churchill (1874-1965):  British Prime Minister during World War II and Gandhi's foe, he was "50% genius and 50% bloody fool." He couldn't save the British Empire, but his strategic vision was central to the defeat of fascism that saved western democracy.

D.W. Griffith (1875-1948):  He wasn't the first director to produce a feature-length motion picture, but with The Birth of a Nation he brought all its elements together to create what we know today.


Albert Einstein (1879-1955):  Physicist who published the theory of relativity, eventually leading to nuclear armament.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973): The great artist of the 20th century, excelling in a wide range of styles in painting, drawing and sculpture.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945):  President of the United States from 1933 to 1945, he "saved capitalism" (Gore Vidal), bringing the nation back from the nadir of the Great Depression and leading it to world supremacy in World War II.

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971): Russian composer and a leader in 20th century music with revolutionary compositions like the ballet The Rite of Spring.

Zhou Enlai (1898-1976): Mao Zedong, a megalomaniac corrupted by power, dominated China's communist movement for its first 55 years and led it to nationwide control.  Yet it was Zhou's more pragmatic vision that ultimately triumphed through his protege Deng Xiaoping's Four Modernizations policy.

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