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by **Big Niall** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 1:14 am

who is the greatest person ever?

for me, there has only being three british folk warranting attention - John Locke (the most underestimated person ever), Newton (no doubt about his greatness but probably only equal to libnitz) so I would go for darwin.

I'm not some tea drinking, cricket playing, bowler hat wearing briit but britiain has punched so far above its weight. I considered the indian guy that figured that 10 digits could be the foundation of maths or that some chinese dude coulld figure paper.

people always think of recent guys so i am aware that darwin/newton are recent - galileo should be an option.

I couldnt' believe a bbc programme had diana up there - pathetic, was jade goody, beckham, jordan etc busy?

by **Effes** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 1:25 am

Big Niall wrote:I'm not some tea drinking, cricket playing, bowler hat wearing briit but britiain has punched so far above its weight. ?

Know what you mean mate.
I read an autobiography of a Chinese lady - when she was young her grandfather always used to listen to BBC WorldService - when she asked her grandmother why, she said "Because the British have magical chi, you must visit there some day".

It depeneds what you mean by "greatest".

For me, Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the greatest ever.

Read a few of his biographies.

He invented the hovercarft!

Also, he studied dead bodies and linked bad diet to heart disease 300 years before it was ever acknowledged.
He was also employed by regional Italian armies - and invented ingenious Army weapons for them.
Later he also invented ingenious sewer and drainage systems for large Italian cities.

He invented a design for a single span bridge acorss the Bosphorous (in 1502 AD) but it was dismissed as impossible by the Sulatan of that time.
His vision was resurrected in 2001 when a smaller bridge based on his design was constructed in Norway on May 17, 2006.

Oh, nearly forgot, he also painted The Mona Lisa.... and The Last Supper.
Also, was a leading sculpture of his time.

For me, this rivals Newton. Hard to say whether this ranks him as "greater" than Newton, but still, the diversity of his ingenuity certainly makes him one of the greatest.

For me, he was a greater inventor than Archimedes.

A quote on Wiki - "By the 19th century, the scope of Leonardo's notebooks was known, as well as his paintings. Hippolyte Taine wrote in 1866:
"There may not be in the world an example of another genius so universal, so incapable of fulfilment, so full of yearning for the infinite, so naturally refined,
so far ahead of his own century and the following centuries."

by **Big Niall** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 1:41 am

I'm not trying to be funny but I think most britains would go for churchill, nelson, wellington,queen elizabeth 1, who were all military.

however, somebody like john locke (not that famous) bascially said your importance is not your birth, you should be free to achieve what you do, we are all free.

sounds simplistic today, but Jefferson was highly inspired as were the various french writers like voltaire.

by **Effes** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 2:37 am

Mate - Im not sure you can bracket the great thinkers with the great "doers".

If you want to, start with Aristotle and Shakespeare.

by **Kharhaz** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 2:45 am

I cant think of any one person who deserves that respect as the greatest person ever, but I will throw in my two pennys worth and say all those folks who fought for our freedom during World War 2. I would willingly bow down and worship the ground them fellas walked on as they risked everything to enable what we have today. So my Greatest Persons ever would be our own troops and allies. You'll never walk alone.

by **account deleted by request** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 3:05 am

I suppose if I had to name someone I would probably go for Fleming or Pasteur. They have both had a great impact on most peoples lives and improved life for almost everyone.

by **112-1077774096** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 3:11 am

jesus christ

or do you want someone that isn't fictional?

by **Effes** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 3:11 am

Yea, but s@int - wasnt Pasteur's impct because of one jammy invention?

by **112-1077774096** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 3:16 am

i think when we look back we look at people who discovered things as opposed to invented thinks, gravity was always there and at some point someone would have explained it (I know newton did more than this, just using it as an example). the more modern day inventors deserve to be mentioned such as frank whittle and for discovery stephen hawking, but i suppose the more modern inventors and discoverers had more information at their finger tips.

its not an easy question but you are right about britain punching above its weight

by **112-1077774096** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 3:17 am

Effes wrote:Yea, but s@int - wasnt Pasteur's impct because of one jammy invention?

it was a discovery mate, not an invention

by **Effes** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 3:21 am

peewee wrote:
Effes wrote:Yea, but s@int - wasnt Pasteur's impct because of one jammy invention?

it was a discovery mate, not an invention

You are correct peewee. Ive been up since 6am, and just seeing off me 2nd bottle of Rioja.

by **112-1077774096** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 3:27 am

Effes wrote:
peewee wrote:
Effes wrote:Yea, but s@int - wasnt Pasteur's impct because of one jammy invention?

it was a discovery mate, not an invention

You are correct peewee. Ive been up since 6am, and just seeing off me 2nd bottle of Rioja.

by **Effes** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 3:33 am

peewee wrote:i think when we look back we look at people who discovered things as opposed to invented thinks, gravity was always there and at some point someone would have explained it (I know newton did more than this, just using it as an example). the more modern day inventors deserve to be mentioned such as frank whittle and for discovery stephen hawking, but i suppose the more modern inventors and discoverers had more information at their finger tips.

I quoted this becuase I read that book by Bill Bryson, The History of Nearly Everything.
Ho can he be cleverer than Einstein?

Einstein came up with 2 theories.

Bill Bryson said - his first theory probably would have been "discovered" within 5 years.

His 2nd theory - Relativity according to "Cosmological Consequences" - Bill Bryson said, they would not have thought of that theory for over a century, and probably not even by today.

There was a top Egghead in Cambridge at the time who was asked,
"Apparantly there are only 3 people on the planet who even understand Einstein's theory", to which the Prefoessor
pondered, and after a few minutes uttered,
"Im just trying to think who the 3rd person is".

For me, that's magic.

But still not greater than Da Vinci.

by **account deleted by request** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 3:47 am

Effes wrote:
peewee wrote:i think when we look back we look at people who discovered things as opposed to invented thinks, gravity was always there and at some point someone would have explained it (I know newton did more than this, just using it as an example). the more modern day inventors deserve to be mentioned such as frank whittle and for discovery stephen hawking, but i suppose the more modern inventors and discoverers had more information at their finger tips.

I quoted this becuase I read that book by Bill Bryson, The History of Nearly Everything.
Ho can he be cleverer than Einstein?

Einstein came up with 2 theories.

Bill Bryson said - his first theory probably would have been "discovered" within 5 years.

His 2nd theory - Relativity according to "Cosmological Consequences" - Bill Bryson said, they would not have thought of that theory for over a century, and probably not even by today.

There was a top Egghead in Cambridge at the time who was asked,
"Apparantly there are only 3 people on the planet who even understand Einstein's theory", to which the Prefoessor
pondered, and after a few minutes uttered,
"Im just trying to think who the 3rd person is".

For me, that's magic.

But still not greater than Da Vinci.

The thing is though what has Da Vinci ever done for you? He invented a lot of things but most of them never saw fruition until someone else thought of them again years later. (rather than using his inventions as a guide)

Fleming and Pasteur are still having a huge effect on people all around the globe, and their initial discoveries will be even further developed as time goes on, whereas Leonardo's inventions have all passed (mainly unused)into history now.

by **Effes** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 3:53 am

Well s@int, that's where "greatness" gets tainted.

Are you telling me (after the things Ive said about Da Vinci) that he was not "great"?

For example, he said to everyone, that bad diet lead to heart disease.
So, because no one listened, he was not great?

300 years later, it was proved?!!

Also, in theory, he designed the hovercraft.
The feckin hovercarft FFS? That is unreal for someone born in th 1400's.

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