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Greatest Genius of all Time
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you unzipped me! it's all coming back! i don't like it!Registered User regular
you unzipped me! it's all coming back! i don't like it!Registered User regular
In light of the Greatest Album of All time thread, a thread which, there is no possible nor plausible answer, yet opens up some decent discussion, I think we should talk about geniuses.* Genius is something that is debated and discussed and the subject of discourse every day. What is genius? Is it something innate, that we all have? Benjamin Franklin seemed to think that genius was a precious gem within us, that was mined by the hardest working and best educated. However, I find it hard to believe a lot of the times that genius isn't a gift, too.
Here are some of my suggestions for greatest Genius of all Time:
Wagner: Simply the most complete artist of all time. He revolutionized music, and still has some of the most touching, grand, emotional music of all time. The ending of Tristan? come on. He also had one of the most long reaching visions ever. He worked on Der Ring for 30 years. His genius does not limit itself at music, however, He was a dramatist par excellence. He would publish his libretti first, to great acclaim. He also invented instruments to fit his needs, and designed a theater that created modern acoustics and, as a result, modern conducting.
Beethoven: His 9th symphony is the greatest achievement of mankind. Der Gro?e Fugue aint to bad either :P
Michaelangelo: Reinessance man. You know his credentials. Pieta, David, Sistine Chapel frescoes, St. Peter's Basilica. Da Vinci might have had a wider range of talents, but he can't touch Michaelangelo in terms of pure artistry.
Dante: The Comedy is the finest language construction man has known. Everything fits together so perfectly. His sonnets are some of the best ever writter.
Brunelleschi: The dome to end all domes.
Descartes: As a few of you know, I've been reading him, with great frustration, as of late. Not only did he start modern mathematics, but laid the foundations for optics and calculus
speaking of Calculus
Newton: Don't think I need to go into much discussion here.
Einstein: Here either.
I missed a ton. I know. Picasso, all the guys who started quantum physics, Renzo Piano [:P]
So, you know,
DISCUSS!
*I thank you in advance, but please don't nominate me. Thank you, though.
Here are some of my suggestions for greatest Genius of all Time:
Wagner: Simply the most complete artist of all time. He revolutionized music, and still has some of the most touching, grand, emotional music of all time. The ending of Tristan? come on. He also had one of the most long reaching visions ever. He worked on Der Ring for 30 years. His genius does not limit itself at music, however, He was a dramatist par excellence. He would publish his libretti first, to great acclaim. He also invented instruments to fit his needs, and designed a theater that created modern acoustics and, as a result, modern conducting.
Beethoven: His 9th symphony is the greatest achievement of mankind. Der Gro?e Fugue aint to bad either :P
Michaelangelo: Reinessance man. You know his credentials. Pieta, David, Sistine Chapel frescoes, St. Peter's Basilica. Da Vinci might have had a wider range of talents, but he can't touch Michaelangelo in terms of pure artistry.
Dante: The Comedy is the finest language construction man has known. Everything fits together so perfectly. His sonnets are some of the best ever writter.
Brunelleschi: The dome to end all domes.
Descartes: As a few of you know, I've been reading him, with great frustration, as of late. Not only did he start modern mathematics, but laid the foundations for optics and calculus
speaking of Calculus
Newton: Don't think I need to go into much discussion here.
Einstein: Here either.
I missed a ton. I know. Picasso, all the guys who started quantum physics, Renzo Piano [:P]
So, you know,
DISCUSS!
*I thank you in advance, but please don't nominate me. Thank you, though.
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I guess we should have a token not to Stephen Hawking, as well.
I'll be fine, just give me a minute, a man's got a limit, I can't get a life if my heart's not in it.
hadn't thought of this one
As for the discussion of if it is from hard work or a "gift." I would vote more for gift. Though, being a genius is different than being a success, which I believe to be a large part of hard work and luck.
Given his contributions to art and his awesomeness as an inventor, I have to give the man mad props. Also, he was the inspiration for one of the finest pieces of literature in modern times.
I think he ranks chief amongst them all personaly. Someone asked him to explain the orbit of the planets, and 2 months later he comes back having invented differential calculus to explain the whole thing. Some of his theories were precursors into quantam physics, which is still a virgin frontier to us.
I guess here we have to look at legacy over the works themselves. I would say that Da Vinci is a greater genius, as modern society has Da Vinci to thank more than Michaelangelo. However, I think that Genius cannot be measured by success. I find Michaelangelo's work to be more genius (like, 9.9 vs. 9.8. [I know this is ridiculous]) and show a better understanding of humanity and human response.
But for being able to do all of this in a time which was actively and systemically hostile to the theories he came up with. And for being good enough at it all to the point that by the end of his life the times had actually changed because of him.
To be fair, Agrippa and Maecaenas helped a lot.
Not gonna lie...
...had to wiki that one.
You have my fanscript?
There is definitely an argument to be made that, had Einstein not prsented his theory, someone else would have very soon. The contradictions in the theories of the time were pretty glaring.
I was expecting an "actually it's genii" post by now. Disappointing.
?
Anyway, since Beethoven was mentioned, I'm going with Alexander Scriabin. Over the course of his composition career, he moved from Chopin-inspired romanticism to Wagnerian chromaticism to "only very vaguely tonal." And at every stage of this career, he wrote amazing works. Stylistically, I've heard nothing quite like it; he liberally mixed the sublime and grotesque. His work could shift between a sort of demonic feeling and a sense of religious ecstasy. Very, very fascinating music.
Also, totally awesome.
My understanding was that the special theory of relativity was about ready to be discovered by the next really smart person who came along, but that the general one really was something else and you'd have had to be some kind of Einstein (see what I did?!) to come up with it yourself. (I may have got them the wrong way round.) And of course he did the other stuff on Brownian Motion and the thing with metal and electrons whose name temporarily escapes me. The photoelectric effect, Wikipedia tells me. And this all in one year. While working as a patent examiner.
Puzzle League: 073119-160185
Tolkein, for example. His books were pretty decent, but more importantly he (as far as I know) pretty much single-handedly created the modern fantasy genre of literature, which then went on into games and movies and so on.
You....you do know that Tolkein blatantly ripped off Wagner, and just combined the myths he studied, right?
Edit: Though I did expect as I was typing it that someone would come in with a "man, Tolkein was the least original writer who ever lived". Being that this is the internet.
The general theory is basically the special theory + gravity. Many would say that the General Theory isn't much more of a step than that between the prevailing theories and Special Relativity. The important step was relating acceleration due to gravity to general acceleration (the weight gain you experience when an elevator starts moving upwards).
He may well have made that leap faster than others would have. He was wrong as fuck on quantum mechanics though.
Both could solve, or create a system to solve, any question they came up against.
and as for as music, Bach.
Some time ago I read about an ancient Roman architect and polymath who was one of history's first recorded 'Renaissance men.' I can't remember his name, and it's been bugging me for months. It wasn't somebody you would have learned about in high school history.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Tesla is the king of taking a concept, and simultaneously developing it in both practical and batshit-insane directions
...What?
Charles Babbage broke the backs of many a cow?
EDIT: Oh, and I'll nominate Wernher von Braun. Not just for what he thought up but how he danced around red tape and budgets.
Yes, this is pretty much all true.
And the point isn't to save the cow, it's to save the train. You want the obstacle (or whatever pieces are left of it) to bounce off the train without pushing the train to either side. Therefore, you need something tapered and curved so cow parts can just roll off.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.