Inventors. Francisco Pizarro
Leaders. Simon Bolivar
Philosophy. Johann Sebastian Bach
Religion. Zoroaster
Science. Antonine Laurent Lavoisier
Invention.Alexander Graham Bell
Leader.Mikhail Gorbachev
Arts.Ludwig von Beethoven
Religion.Asoka
Science.Galileo Galilei
Four of my votes are the same as last round. Since Mani is gone, I vote for Asoka. Buddhism strikes me as less influential in history than any of the other major religions, even though it’s been embraced by millions of people.
Invention. Ts’ai Lun
Leader. Mikhail Gorbachev
Philosophy and Art. Homer
Religion. Oliver Cromwell
Science. Gregor Mendel
I already voted, but I thought I’d raise a point: SOME of the people on these lisst were more influential in GENERAL than in the fields they’re categorized in here.
Right now, Oliver Cromwell is placed in the Religion category, with theologians and founders of various religions. Well, within that field, Cromwell wasn’t very important at all. He wasn’t a theologian, and never said or wrote anything about his faith that was of any lasting importance.
Still, he was more responsible than any other single person for transforming England from a traditional monarchy into a parliamentary republic. That, in turn, means he deserves a lot of the credit for the spread of representative government around the globe.
That makes him mighty important, in my book, but as a political and military leader, not as a religious figure.
Astorian,
In coming up with categories, I had 27 Leaders and 14 Religious figures. To get the 5 categories to be (roughly) even in number I had to make some decisions that took people out of 1 category and placed them in another. And you’re right: Oliver Cromwell was one that I took from the Leader category and placed in the Religion one.
As I said, “influential” is defined by the poster. Nobody is limited to determining if person A is influential strictly within the category in which they are found, unless that’s how they want to play it.
Francisco Pizarro
Queen Isabella I
Johann Sebastian Bach
Moses
William Conrad Roentgen
Yikes! Haven’t you all paid attention to JohnT? Don’t vote for Bach yet, dammit!
And RickJay - I think you need to reformat your answers so they fit JohnT’s template:
Invention. Francisco Pizarro
Leader. Queen Isabella I
…
Uh, Panurge, didn’t you already vote this round? We’re on the honour system here! 
Yup, sure did. It was an attempt to show the answer format to RickJay. If JohnT is as rigid with the rules as Dolores Reborn is in the feuds, RickJay’s answer will be disqualified. I suppose I shouldn’t be too upset about that, seeing that it would lead to one vote less for good old Johann B… 
Invention. Christopher Columbus
Leader. John F Kennedy
Philosophy and Arts. Thomas Malthus
Religion. Oliver Cromwell
Science. James Clerk Marxwell
Hated that, it just made me feel stupid. Please don’t question my answers as I won’t be able to defend them convincingly.
Can I question you for voting for Kennedy and Malthus, who have already been eliminated? 
Invention. Christopher Columbus
Leader. Simon Bolivar
Philosophy. Rene Descartes
Religion. Zoroaster
Science. Leonhard Euler
6 and a half hours to go for round 3!
Round 2
Inventions and Exploration. Christopher Columbus
Leader. Charlemagne
Philosophy and Arts. Thomas Malthus
Religion. Oliver Cromwell
Science. Galileo Galilei
Reasoning:
Inventions and Exploration. Christopher Columbus: He just bumped into some land, and not even the bit he was looking for. If he hadn’t, the next boat would’ve done.
Leader. Charlemagne: I struggle with the long term significance of the Holy Roman Empire compared with nation states
Philosophy and Arts. Thomas Malthus: He’s British and yet relatively unknown amongst the general population
Religion. Oliver Cromwell: his significance was political more than spiritual
Science. Galileo Galilei: just one of a number with similar ideas
If it’s not too late to vote in this round…
Inventors. Joseph Lister
Leaders. Charlemagne
Philosophy. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Religion. Zoroaster
Science. Gregor Mendel
I’m surprised to see Galileo and Kepler getting votes already. I’ve wondered about Galileo: his reputation is enormous but, as SanVito implies, Jerome Cardan and Simon Stevin each may have formulated the Law of Falling Bodies earlier. I’ll save my plea for Kepler: Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion were not an easy discovery whose time had come. Celestial motions might seem unimportant or even irrelevant, but their purity directly inspired Newton’s physics and calculus which then could be applied to problems on Earth.
Voting for round 3 is “officially” closed (Septimus, your votes will count, of course). I’ll have the results in about an hour or two…
Uh, that last post was a lie. On compiling the figures, I, er, noticed that I forgot to vote in my own contest. :o
Inventors. Hernando Cortes
Leaders. Queen Isabella I
Philosophy. Nicoli Machiavelli
Religion. Zoroaster
Science. Antonine Laurent Lavoisier
Fraud! I’m calling Jimmy Carter!
Round 3 losers are:
Category, Name, # of votes
I, Francisco Pizarro, 7
L, Simon Bolivar, 5
P, Johann Sebastian Bach, 5 (!!!)
R, Oliver Cromwell, 9
S, Gregor Mendel, 5
The people remaining for Round 4 are:
Inventors
Alexander Fleming, Scientist, Invented Penicillin
Alexander Graham Bell, Scientist, Invented Telephone
Antony van Leeuwenhoek, Scientist, Inventor of Microscope
Christopher Columbus, Explorer, Discoverer of America
Edward Jenner, Scientist, Developed Vaccination for Smallpox
Gugilemo Marconi, Scientist, Invented Radio
Henry Ford, American Industrialist, Developed Mass Production Techniques
Hernando Cortes, Spanish Adventurer, Conquered Aztec Empire
James Watt, British Scientist, Invented Steam Engine
Johann Gutenberg, Scientist, Inventor of Printing Press
Joseph Lister, Scientist, Developed Antiseptic Methods
Louis Dagurre, Scientist, Invented Photography
Nikolaus August Otto, Scientist, Developed Internal Combustion Engine
Orville and Wilbur Wright, Scientists, Inventor of Airplane
Thomas Edison, American Scientist, 1,000+ inventions
Ts’ai Lun, Scientist, Inventor of Paper
William TG Morton, Scientist, Invented Anaesthesia
Leaders
Adolf Hitler, German Dictator, Started World War II
Alexander the Great, Macedonian Ruler, Formed Macedonian Empire
Augustus Caesar, Roman Princep, Founded Roman Empire
Charlemagne, Frankish Monarch, Founder of Holy Roman Empire
Cyrus the Great, Persian Emperor, Founded Persian Emperor
Genghis Khan, Mongol Ruler, Founded Mongol Empire
George Washington, American Statesman and General, Fought For Independence of United States
Josef Stalin, Dictator of USSR, Expanded Communism
Julius Caesar, Roman General, Ended Roman Civil Wars
Lenin, Russian Leader, Founded Communism in Russia
Mao Zedong, Chinese Dictator, Established Communism in China
Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet Leader, Liberalized and Helped Break Up USSR
Napoleon Bonaparte, French Emperor, Waged Napoleonic Wars
Peter the Great, Russian Emperor, Modernized Russia
Queen Elizabeth I, Queen of England, Made England a Naval Power
Queen Isabella I, Queen of Spain, Sponsored Columbus’ Expeditions
Shi Huang Di, Chinese Emperor, United China
Sui Wen Ti, Chinese Emperor, Reunited China
William the Conquerer, Norman Duke and English King, Led In Norman Conquest of England
Philosophy
Adam Smith, Economist, Advocated Capitalism
Aristotle, Greek Philosopher
Confucius, Chinese Philosopher, Founder of Confucianism
Francis Bacon, Philosopher, Developed Scientific Method
Homer, Greek Poet, Writer of Epics
Jean-Jacques Rosseau, French Philosopher and Writer
John Locke, British Philosopher, Developed Democratic Ideas
Karl Marx, Economist, Founder of Communism
Lao Tzu, Chinese Philosopher, Founded Taoism
Ludwig von Beethoven, Composer
Michelangelo, Artist, Sculptor
Nicoli Machiavelli, Political Theorist
Plato, Greek Philosopher, Developed Platonism
Rene Descrates, French Philosopher
Thomas Jefferson, American Statesman, Wrote Declaration of Independence, Louisiana Purchase
Voltaire, French Philosopher
William Shakespeare, English Playwright
Religion
‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, Muslim Caliph, Expanded the Caliphate
Asoka, Indian Emperor, Spread Buddhism
Buddha, Founder of Buddhism
Constantine the Great, Roman Emperor, Tolerated and Promoted Christianity in Rome
Jesus Christ, Founder of Christianity
John Calvin, Christian Theologian, Developed Calvinism
Justinian I, Byzantine Emperor, Recovered Much of Roman Empire
Martin Luther, Theologian, Started Protestantism and Reformation
Mohammed, Founder of Islam
Moses, Jewish Prophet
Pope Urban II, Pope of Roman Catholic Church, Called For Crusades
St Augustine, Christian Theologian
St Paul, Christian Missionary and Apostle
Zoraster, Founder of Zorasterianism
Science
Albert Einstein, Scientist, Physicist, Theory of Relativity
Antonine Laurent Lavoisier, French Scientist, Advanced Chemistry
Charles Darwin, British Scientist, Theory of Evolution
Enrico Fermi, Scientist, Developed Atomic Bomb
Ernest Rutherford, Scientist, Developed Subatomic Physics
Euclid, Greek Mathematician
Galileo Galilei, Scientist, Advocated Heliocentricity
Isaac Newton, British Scientist, Theory of Universal Gravitation and Motion
James Clerk Marxwell, Scientist, Electromagnetism
Johannes Kepler, Scientist, Developed Theories of Planetary Motion
John Dalton, Scientist, Atomic Theory
Leonhard Euler, Mathematician
Louis Pasteur, Scientist, Pasteurization, Germ Theory of Disease
Max Planck, Scientist, Developed Therodynamics
Michael Faraday, British Scientist, Discovered Electromagnetism
Nicolas Copernicus, Scientist, Theory of Heliocentricity
Werner Heisenberg, Scientist, Developed Quantum Physics
William Conrad Roentgen, Scientist, Discovered X-Rays, principles of radioactivity
…