Historical movers and shakers

[Comrade Tortoise]

Charles Darwin: A failure in med school and a mediocre theology student at best, connections got him a position on the HMS Beagle as the Captain's Companion (IE the guy the elitist captain talked to over dinner to avoid depression) When he returned, he came up with the idea, natural selection, that unified all of biology

Oof. Tricky here. I was thinking about using Darwin as another example but I wasn't entirely sure if he'd fit my criteria. Alfred Russel Wallace figured out natural selection independently, although Darwin did think of it first and had twenty years more knowledge, thinking, and evidence to back it up. Of course, with just an essay and not The Origin of Species to drop on the world, things would have been quite different. Probably the evolution (ha) of the theory would have been much slower, for better or worse and with subsequent changes from then on. But then again, Darwin also did a lot of important research in many other fields. So I don't know. Really big and important? Yes. Fits the definition I made? Dunno.

Also, medicine totally sucked back then. You can't really blame him for not wanting to cut screaming conscious patients.


Also, thanks everyone. Keep 'em coming if you can.

Well here we have a little man who no one ever thought would amount to anything. He was a good amateur naturalist, but that was about it. He was brought aboard the Beagle to be basically be the official "captains friend" because the last captain killed himself, and captain Fitzroy wasnt in much better mental state.

When he got back he basically became the world expert on Barnacles out of nowhere, then off from left field stabbed the collective consciousness with the theory of natural selection. Wallace thought of it too, but again, 20 years later than Darwin did.

His ideas have changed the entire world, and given a framework not only to biology, but also to Anthropology, and has spawned or contributed to several large social movements, some good, some bad.

I think he definitely qualifies

[Destructionator XV]

Well what about Einstein? I mean before he came along people were pushing the idea of the Ether of the universe and all. Was there anyone else working a theory of relativity or anything close at the time?

Yes, there were several other people who did small pieces of special relativity in the decade before Einstein, and IIRC (don't remember the details nor have a source right now), there was someone else who independently developed basically the same theory mere weeks after Einstein did his.

The Michelson-Morley experiment in 1887 provided observations that killed the aether idea dead - special relativity was the next logical step (and if Michelson and Morley didn't do that experiment, someone else surely would within just a few years).

I don't remember if someone else got general relativity about the same time independently as well, but it wouldn't surprise me - it is special relativity taken to the next level basically, so it should have come rather soon, even without him.

[Bratty]

I'm sure this thread is all over and to hell and back, but I would throw out a couple off the top of my head :

Scientific: Galileo, Edison, Louis Pasteur, Newton, and yes, Einstein
Philosophical: Aristotle, Machievelli, Satre, Nietsche
Religious: Martin Luther, Ghandi, Dali Llama
Political: Martin Luther King Jr., Carl Marx, and yes, Hitler
Artistic: Leonardo Di Vinci, Michalangelo, Monet,
Women's Interests: Queen Elizabeth, Amelia Eirehart (sp?), Eleanor Roosevelt, and yes Katherine the Great

I would nominate either Katherine the Great or Galileo. Both of them contended with multiple arenas of influence and achieved something of their own accord in those arenas. Katherine the Great being political and women's rights under extraordinary odds. Galilieo being scientific and religious under just such odds.

[Lonestar]

Movers and Shakers? The American Founding Fathers, of course. Too bad we have nothing approaching the quality in this country nowadays...

[Charon]

Looking back at the thread (whoo reviving dead threads!). I would have to argue with Octavius being on the list. For one, he hardly came out of nowhere, the man was practically raised to take the thrown. Most of the work for empire building was done LONG before he was even a twinkle in his father's eye by guys like Marius, Sulla, and Julius Caesar.

All Augustus really had to do was step up, beat the piss out of a few already horribly weak opponents, and then control the empire. He did in fact create an empire that lasted quite awhile, but with the amount of reforms that were done, his empire existed in name only for the full 1500 years. Constantine did far more that lasted far longer. Hell, Hadrian instituted changes that probobly had a greater effect (instilling nationalism in the various sectors of the Empire). Not to mention that Augustus' entire dynasty, with the exception of himself, was filled with madmen, and this was in part caused by himself.

Another name I feel needs to be added to the list is Descartes. Most of his ideas and theories were absolute crap. But he did two amazing things.

1. Beat the shit out of Skepticism, and I mean really, who can't respect a guy who does that?

2. Almost singularly (Bacon helped) move the entirety of Europe from a continent concerned with the universality of ideas to one of concern over particulars, which instilled revolutions all over the place, from scientific, to literary, to political.

[frigidmagi]

Not to mention that Augustus' entire dynasty, with the exception of himself, was filled with madmen, and this was in part caused by himself.

How so?

[Charon]

Not to mention that Augustus' entire dynasty, with the exception of himself, was filled with madmen, and this was in part caused by himself.

How so?

Well for one he picked Tiberius, which just led to the rest of them really. Secondly, he set a bad precident for future emperor's by simply eliminating his enemies. Fast? Yes. Effective? Yes. A good precendent to all the little psychos that followed him? No.

Mostly he had no real effect on the future reigns of the Emperors but he can at least be blamed for Tiberius. As well as the rampant destruction of his enemies, which set the precedent for such action which led to the bloody rampage of Tiberius.