The Top 100 Most Influential People of the Past 1,000 Years:
oh...and Tesla is pretty cool...
At first glance I can identify 37 people on this list whose chief contribution to humanity was made in the 20th century. I'm sure there are a few more with whom I am not previously familiar (oh, the shame!).
In view of the fact that the 20th century was its last, I would suggest that this list is not, in fact, comprehensive when it comes to the lives of people throughout the millenium. Rather it is a compilation of people whose past endeavours have a visible impact on how we live our lives today, and how they will be lived in th future.
In addition to that, this list seems to be peculiarly Euro-centric - it is true that Genghis Khan shaped the ethnic and national identity of much of modern day Eastern Europe, but what of Tamerlane, who changed the face of middle Asia for ever? This is just and example - I'm sure a case could be made for why Tamerlane wasn't as important as all that, so feel free to insert the name of your own favourite non-western personage there (the Moguls in India spring to mind).
Of all the indubitabely formidable people in the list above, the one that strikes me as paramount to the advancement of mankind as a whole is Guttenberg - he made the proliferation of the ideas of those who came after him possible. Then again, I'm a bad Eastern schoalr - perhaps the Chinese have known the secret of the press for centuries before Guttenberg came along...
The Beatles was not one of the most influencial persons of the last thousand years. They were not even four of the most influencial persons of the last thousand years.Nor was Elvis.This is Everything. We deserve better. Here's some I want to get rid of... This is not the whole list. I haven't added anyone to this list unless I knew something about them. Steven Spielburg James Joyce Ronald Reagan Charles Darwin (Alfred Russel Wallace also came up with natural selection, as did Patrick Matthew) William Shakespeare Leonardo Da Vinci Thomas Jefferson Michelangelo St. Thomas Aquinas Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Johan Sebastian Bach Princess Diana took me completely by suprise. Did she do something that I don't know about? And here are a few people to add. Alfred Nobel John Harrison (The chronometer, cased ball bearings, and the bi-metalic strip.) Leonardo Fibonacci (Introduced Indo-Arabic numerals to Europe) Hernando Cortes And, of course, Nikola Tesla.
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