I once read that Johann Sebastian Bach, upon request, sat down at the organ and improvised a fugue. Anyone who has taken music theory will know that a fugue is an extremely complicated form involving point, counterpoint, key changes, and all sorts of devious intricacies. To be able to improvise a fugue speaks of an unbelievable degree of genius, sort of like playing ten games of chess in your head simultaneously.
What??? I always thought that he had developed his theory on calculus over a long period of time, not a mere night. I’m sure that can’t be right.
What the hell is this? We’re not talking about great inventions. We’re talking about skillful acts. Unless you’re talking about the guy that invented all three, Jacob Watts.
Which doesn’t change the fact that it was a lucky shot. If you asked him to repeat that feat, I’ll bet he couldn’t do it 1 time in 100.
This doesn’t change the fact that Hathcock was a great shot. But at those distances, hitting a 2" circle is beyond the limits of the gun, let alone the shooter and variation in wind. It all just came together for him on that shot. I’m sure he was amazed to see he’d hit the scope.
While Newton was a genius, his invention of calculus was not that amazing in and of itself at the time. Leibnitz invented it independently at roughly the same time.
I’m not sure if we’re talking single feats or lifetime achievements here. In sports at least the standout I’m aware of, is the cricketer Don Bradman, who’s lifetime batting average is nearly double that of his nearest competitor. And that’s over 150 years of cricketing history, several nations for whom cricket is the major summer sport, and that he retired in about 1950 (and died recently).
Cheese in an aerosol can is pretty near the apex. With a little effort, they sould be able to make Swiss cheese in an aerosol can! That’s when the future will have arrived.
Xavier, look at my post. I did not say calculus as a whole, which indeed took longer and was simultaneously approached independently by Leibnitz, but a whole new branch of calculus. Not a footnote to calculus but a whole new major branch, application if you prefer. This he did achieve overnight - he received the problem, sat down and invented a new mathematical approach to a solution, solved the thing and sent off the solution the next morning. The story is in Carl Sagan’s book “Cosmos”: (I quote)
Nevertheless his prodigious intellectual power persisted unabated. In 1696, the swiss mathematician Johann Bernoulli challenged his colleagues to solve an unresolved issue called brachistochrone problem, specifying the curve connecting two points displayed from each other laterally, along which a body, acted upon only by gravity, would fall in the shortest time. Bernoulli originally specified a deadline of six months, but extended it to a year and a half at the request of Leibritz, one of the leading scholars of the time, and then man who had, independently of Newton, invented the differential and integral calculus. The challenge was delivered to Newton at four P.M. on the January 29, 1697. Before leaving for work the next morning, he had invented an entire new branch of mathematics called the calculus of variations, used it to solve the brachistochrone problem and sent of the solution, which was published, at Newton’s request, anonymously. But the brilliance and originality of the works betrayed the identity of the author. When Bernoulli saw the solution, he commented, “We recognize the lion by his claw.” Newton was then in his fifty-fifth year.
(unquote)
What do you think? Pretty amazing, eh?
Yes, that is my nomination.
And the fugue was puportedly a six-voice fugue.
And, on an organ, you play with your hands AND your feet, heel-and-toeing over a couple octaves of foot-sized ‘keys.’
As a demonstration of intellectual superiority and physical coordination, it was without equal.
Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak in 1941.
Cecil Adams starting the Straight Dope in 1973 
How’s that for blatant brown-nosing?
What this means is that he applied one helluva lot of skill and then was lucky as hell. [sup]We mere humans wouldn’t have even tried.[/sup]
As to his shooting the sniper a second before he would have been shot, assumes another set of skills combined with the same degree of luck. I doubt it.
Pele’s dummy of the Uruguayan goalkeeper in the 1970 World Cup.
Seriously. This is my personal favourite sporting moment, but sadly Pele (narrowly) failed to score, so it’s not as famous as it could be. Nevertheless, I maintain that it is the single most brilliant act in the history of sport. As BBC commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme memorably said at the time, “oh, what… what GENIUS!” And it was.
That guy in Spain who lit the Olympic flame with an arrow on world wide TV.
I’m sure that there are plenty of masterfully skillful surgeries that have taken place throughout history.
They have done heart surgery on a fetus.
Organ replacements, either with human donors or mechanical replacement is a pretty impressive feat.
I’d also vote ‘steering’ the Apollo XIII home after getting around the moon.
They say that landing on an Aircraft carrier is pretty tough. I’m sure there have been in that group of events some pretty skillful landings. (at night/ without instraments/wounded/damaged craft)
Nobody’s brought up Michael Jordan? Come on! That guy had skills.
Who was that American who captured a large group of Nazis by his sharpshooting skills? Murphy?
What about that sniper guy in that tower. He made some pretty good shots.
I know plenty about soccer, but I don’t know what a “dummy” is. Can you elaborate?
I was under the impression that the archer did not actually make the arrow into the “cup” holding the flame – nor did he intend to. Rather, he intentionally shot the arrow OVER the flame, but made sure that the arrow was on its downward trajectory as it cleared the flame, giving the appearance that it landed inside the cup to light the flame.
This was even shown on television during the '92 Games, IIRC – perhaps even later in the Opening Ceremonies.
OK, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to pass off memories as facts around here. So here we go:
So Rebollo actually shot the flaming arrow through a column of flammable gas – still a great shot – but it did not land in the cauldron.
Still, when I Googled for this, 99% of the sites I found gave Rebollo credit for making the arrow land inside the cualdron! Leave it to an archery website to dispense the Straight Dope. This is one of those cases where popular Internet wisdom is incorrect.
I think in US terminology it might be called a ‘fake play’ or something like that. Anyway, Pele, the keeper and the ball were converging on roughly the same point. Pele surprised the goalie and everybody watching by dashing in front of the ball, making it look like he was taking it past the keeper, when in fact he never touched it. The keeper dived at Pele’s feet for a ball that wasn’t there, while the actual ball rolled straight on behind his back. Pele hurdled him and doubled back to collect the ball - the keeper did an almost comic double take - and shot at goal from a tight angle, just missing.
The great thing about it was not the physical skill involved - as I say, he didn’t even touch the ball - it was that he thought of doing it at all, in a split second. Pele had a talent for coming up with brilliant, unexpected plays like that.
Ah … I have it , Usram. We’d call that a “fake” or a “fake out”.
A more more colorful description might be “Pele screwed the goalie into the ground”.
I didn’t say he hit the cup.
I said he lit the cup.
You try shooting a column of invisible gas on worldwide tv.