The misspelling is due to copy and paste.
Mendel, for a start, who wasn’t a Mendelian and never fully understood his own work (later rediscovery of his work was more influential: his work on peas was mostly forgotten for decades). Faraday’s impact is also far smaller than Maxwell’s. It’s one thing to discover a concept, it’s another to understand and crack the concept so thoroughly that your work sets the stage for a whole century of scientific investigation.
Any of the 19th & 20th century physicists besides Einstein (and even he is arguable but I don’t expect to win that argument). Quantum and atomic theory are hugely important, but they also had a dozen inventors; Heisenberg, Fermi, Planck, etc. deserve credit, but who’s to say one of the others (or Niels Bohr, or Erwin Schrodinger) wouldn’t have made their advances in their place if they weren’t there?
It’s obviously much harder to directly compare Maxwell and the biologists or chemists or Renaissance or ancient Greek scientists. But at a minimum I’d put him ahead of probably half a dozen physicists on the list.
Inventor. Christopher Columbus
Leader. Mikhail Gorbachev
Philosophy. Nicoli Machiavelli
Religion. Zoroaster
Science. William Conrad Roentgen
I have a hard time understanding people choosing Maxwell or Heisenberg, and calling quantum mechanics insignificant. Understanding quantum phenomena was crucial for the development of lasers and semiconductors, which in turn are needed for transistors and microchips. No quantum mechanics would also mean no Information Age and everything that comes with it. It may seem esoteric and hard to understand, but it is one of the most important discoveries of the 20th century.
Faraday essentially founded/discovered:
The basis for organic chemistry
Electric induction
The rotary motor
Theory of electromagnetic fields–he did demonstrate the unity of light and electromagnetic force before Maxwell
To give Maxwell precedence over Faraday is disingenuous at best.
[Host]
I do correct for mispellings, first name omissions, etc when compiling the data.
[/Host]
Maxwell’s pretty huge - of those remaining, Lavosier (sorry if I spelled his name incorrectly), Dalton, Roentgen, and Harvey are easily below him in influence, and the fact that billions of people have used electricity since his discoveries makes him a compelling underdog against the brand names of Galileo, Einstein, Newton and Darwin.
Inventors. William TG Morton
Leaders. Mikhail Gorbachev
Philosophy. Jean-Jacques Rosseau
Religion. Zoroaster
Science. Nicolas Copernicus
Copernicus may not deserve elimination so soon, but I want to direct attention at him, since I think he should be ousted before any of Galileo, Kepler, Maxwell, or Lavoisier all of whom are accumulating votes.
By the way, it appears only two have been eliminated from the top half of Hart’s own list as yet: Cromwell and Bolivar.
Perhaps this is due to a post-9/11 anti-Revolutionary bias!
There was a round of feudal warfare after the First Emperor’s death, but the same can be said about many great conquerors. I think Qin Shi Huang’s special significance was institutional reforms which have, in effect, meant that China has been united for almost all of the past 22 centuries.
While Wiki’ing I came across an interesting quote. Being compared to the First Emperor (Shi Huang Di), Mao Zedong responded:
Round 4 is complete!
The losers are…
Category, Name, # of votes
I, Christopher Columbus, 8
L, Shi Huang Di, 5
P, Jean-Jacques Rosseau, 4
R, Zoroaster, 9
S, William Conrad Roentgen, 3
Columbus is the first Hart Top-10 name to fall off the list. Shi Huang Di was ranked 17th, so we now have two Top-20 names off the list. (Previous high-ranking vote-getter was #41, Oliver Cromwell).
Rousseau lost in a three-way tie-breaker (with Beethoven (shame!) and Descartes), while Roentgen lost in a 4-way tie-breaker in the extremely competitive Science division (Lavoisier, Galileo, and Maxwell also received votes).
Remaining Nominations:
Inventors
Alexander Fleming, Scientist, Invented Penicillin
Alexander Graham Bell, Scientist, Invented Telephone
Antony van Leeuwenhoek, Scientist, Inventor of Microscope
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
Sui Wen Ti, Chinese Emperor, Reunited China
William the Conquerer, Norman Duke and English King, Led In Norman Conquest of England
Philosophy and the Arts
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
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
Scientists
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
Round 5 has begun…
A four-peat for me:
Inventors. Hernando Cortes
Leaders. Queen Isabella I
Philosophy. Nicoli Machiavelli
Religion. John Calvin
Science. Antonine Laurent Lavoisier
For the religion vote, it came down between Justinian I and John Calvin.
Inventors. Alexander Fleming
Leaders. Charlemagne
Philosophy and the Arts. Voltaire
Religion. Moses
Scientists. Nicolas Copernicus
Moses had influence, but was likely fictional.
Copernicus’ famous idea was more inevitable by his time than Columbus’. IIRC, scientists in the Hindu and Islam empires were already heliocentricity-savvy.
Inventors. Ts’ai Lun
Leader. Cyrus the Great
Philosophy. Lao Tzu
Religion. Asoka
Science. Antonine Laurent Lavoisier
Invention. Alexander Graham Bell
Leader. Queen Isabella I
Philosophy. Homer
Religion. Pope Urban II
Science. Werner Heisenberg
I would be foolish to understate the importance of telephony, but the fact remains that Bell practically stole his patent–and barely beat Elisha Gray to the office.
Science is pretty much a pick 'em by now, but it’s difficult to see the logic by which Heisenberg is more influential than Lavoisier (or the dear departed Harvey for that matter). Grand pronouncements aside, modern chemistry and physiology are more important to contemporary life than quantum mechanics. Perhaps a century from now, this will no longer be true.
Invention. Hernado Cortes
Leader. Cyrus the Great
Philosophy. Rene Descartes
Religion. ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab
Science. Leonhard Euler
Three new faces for me, but it’s getting tougher.
Inventions. Hernando Cortes
Leader. Charlemagne
Philosophy. Ludwig von Beethoven
Religion. Moses
Science. Werner Heisenberg
Not being familiar with Hart’s list I was quite surprised to Columbus ranked top 10.
Invention. Hernando Cortes
Leader. Mikhail Gorbachev
Philosophy. Nicoli Machiavelli
Religion. John Calvin
Science. Johannes Kepler
Inventions. Orville and Wilbur Wright
Leader. Isabella
Philosophy and Arts. Rene Descrates
Religion. Justinian
Science. Werner Heisenberg
Justinian - He accomplished a lot in his lifetime but pretty much all of his accomplishments were later reversed.
Inventor. Hernando Cortes
Leader. Cyrus the Great
Philosophy. Rene Descartes
Religion. Justinian I
Science. James Clerk Maxwell
All repeats except for ol’ Cy, who replaces Shi Huang Di.
All repeats:
Inventor. Cortes
Leader. Queen Isabella I
Philosophy. Homer
Religion. Pope Urban II
Science. Johannes Kepler
Missed the previous round…
Invention. Ts’ai Lun
Leader. Mikhail Gorbachev
Philosophy and Art. Homer
Religion. Moses
Science. Nicolaus Copernicus
Damn, the science category is tough.
Invention.Alexander Graham Bell
Leader.Mikhail Gorbachev
Arts.Ludwig von Beethoven
Religion.Asoka
Science.Galileo Galilei
I have to keep voting for the same 5 guys until somebody agrees with me.