# Have all of the easy things been done?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-all-of-the-easy-things-been-done/238616>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [April 6, 2004, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-all-of-the-easy-things-been-done/238616 "2004-04-06T20:15:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Standup\_Karmic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@Standup\_Karmic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Standup_Karmic)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-all-of-the-easy-things-been-done/238616/1 "2004-04-06T20:15:57Z")

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I found myself thinking about Leonardo Da Vinci today and his myriad accomplishments. He is widely regarded as a gifted and influential artist, but many are also familiar that his interests and accomplishments were not confined to the world of art alone.

In addition to being a painter and sculptor, he involved himself in civil and miliary engineering, and explored and expanded diverse subjects including anatomy, biology, mathematics, astronomy, physics. He made plans for things such as a parachute, an extendable ladder of the kind that is used by fire trucks still, locks for a canal, machine guns, mortar, tanks and a submarine.

And this brought me to wonder, is such an influential person, that is, one that can contribute on a wide variety of subjects, still possible in this world of information? Or, has knowledge on these subjects expanded to the point where a person can only specialize in one or maybe two of these?

Given how little was known at the time about physics, almost any contribution or discovery would be influential. However, I suppose that it now takes many years of study just to learn and understand the principles of physics that are already known before a person can even begin to contribute much.

So I ask this of you…  
Do you believe that all of the easy things have been done? From here forward, what becomes of the multi-discipline student? Does it become more and more difficult to excel in multiple fields of study? Is there soon to be introduced a level of education that extends beyond that of a “mere” Ph.D.?