28-04-2005 11:08									#31
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So pretty close to the same amount of people, just different people, a younger, more resistant population. However, he did discover antibiotics, the population is exploded and the drugs are starting to fail, so I'll sytay with my choice of Flemming.

	28-04-2005 11:10									#32
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You can also add in Maxwell, Faraday, Rutherford, Fermi and Shockley as outside candidates for most important physicist of the last 200 years or so.

Namely 2 for electromagnetism, 1 for the structure of the atom, 1 for nuclear physics and 1 for electronics

	28-04-2005 11:17									#33
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If Gutenberg counts, he certainly will continue to have impact for the next 500. Without the printed word, modern civilization is not possible.

	28-04-2005 11:43									#34
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quote: Originally posted by Ned If Gutenberg counts, he certainly will continue to have impact for the next 500. Without the printed word, modern civilization is not possible.

Gutenberg died in 1468. Close, but he's out of the running. I still say Berners-Lee is the next-best thing.

	28-04-2005 12:24									#35
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WATSON & CRICK, who discovered the structure of the ADN molecule. The next 500 years will be full of biology with tremendous consequences on the human life.

	28-04-2005 12:46									#36
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Watson and Crick is a good guess.

Inventors of gadgets is a really bad guess as these things tend to become obsolete rather quickly. Of course things like printing didn't, so you might look at the web. But then again things are moving so fast now that this might be a bad bet.

It has to be a a science, ideas or politics person.

	28-04-2005 13:25									#37
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darwin hands down.

he completely changed the way we look at the universe and ourselves in 'the bigger scheme' of things

	28-04-2005 13:35									#38
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quote: darwin hands down. he completely changed the way we look at the universe and ourselves in 'the bigger scheme' of things

Really? Try travelling to Kansas sometime.

	28-04-2005 13:40									#39
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yes, but in kansas the universe is believed to be ... kansas

so, nothing lost there.

	28-04-2005 16:34									#40
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Lots of inventors who have been mentioned in this thread discovered or created the sort of things which would've been created or discovered by somebody else after a while (f.e. von Braun with rockets, Adam Smith with free trade, Newton with laws of motion).

Turing is always a good, solid pick.

quote: he [Darwin] completely changed the way we look at the universe

Uhm, no. Certainly not the most during the last 500 years at least. Think about it for a minute.

	28-04-2005 16:59									#41
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Adolf Hitler.

I don't say that lightly.

	28-04-2005 17:29									#42
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quote: Originally posted by DanS JohnT nominated von Neumann and Turing. I nominated von Braun. How about you? Multiple nominations are accepted, but don't list a half dozen without comment.

George III. Without him, no US

	28-04-2005 19:11									#43
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Indeed, inventors might not get their due recognition with such a long time frame.

Heck, something as fundamental as the light bulb probably won't be made in 50 years time. A 200 year run for an invention is pretty damn impressive, but it probably eventually falls outside our discussion here.

Last edited by DanS on 28-04-2005 at 19:17

	28-04-2005 19:35									#44
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Newton. Both for being the father of physics and for the fact that so many political philosophers that still impact on the world today (and in the future) were inspired by him.

Or maybe darwin

	28-04-2005 19:43									#45
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Newton, fundamental discoveries in physics and other areas. Einstein, Planck and others are obviously based on him.

What's special about Darwin? He created a theory that is of little importance. Even if his theory of evolution is true, it doesn't change the humanity drastically. The useful genetic inheritance laws were discovered by Mendel.

For pure brilliance, though, I'd say da Vinci, he seems almost like an alien in his brilliance.

	28-04-2005 20:59									#46
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Prince Henry of Portugal, "the navigator"

	28-04-2005 23:44									#47
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Darwin
Newton
Einstein
Watson & Crick

	28-04-2005 23:53									#48
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1492?

So close, yet so far.

	28-04-2005 23:54									#49
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Ben Franklin?

United States of America.

Electricity.

	29-04-2005 00:16									#50
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quote: Originally posted by Winston How about a guy like Stephen Hawking, especially if his work on a unified theory of physics is succesfully concluded, either by himself (unlikely) or by future generations of scientists.

I don't see how Hawking's work has consequences outside of theoretical physics.

I would nominate Newton, for the philosophical consequences that his work had on the course of the world. He was one of the fathers of The Enlightenment, which can be argued to have had consequences down the road for developments like democracy.

	29-04-2005 11:36									#51
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quote: Originally posted by Agathon Watson and Crick is a good guess. Inventors of gadgets is a really bad guess as these things tend to become obsolete rather quickly. Of course things like printing didn't, so you might look at the web. But then again things are moving so fast now that this might be a bad bet. It has to be a a science, ideas or politics person.

There have only been three "gadget" people mentioned so far: Gutenberg, Shockley and von Braun

All are more than simple one-trick ponies though; their gadgets opened the way for innumerable other gadgets.

	29-04-2005 19:23									#52
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Gutenberg doesn't fit within the last 500 years. It's Shockley and von Braun so far.

	30-04-2005 02:04									#53
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Einstein
von Braun
Watson & Crick
teh j00z

	30-04-2005 02:30									#54
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The Antichrist

(whoever he ends up being)

	30-04-2005 02:41									#55
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quote: Originally posted by DanS Gutenberg doesn't fit within the last 500 years.

It's kind of frustrating that he's not eligilble, but in a way I'm glad because he is the obvious #1 choice, the one who made 90% of the others possible. The mass production and distribution of written communication is what truly gave the world to Europe for the subsequent 400 years and is why Western/Modern Civilization is the predominant, (possibly only, depending upon your definition) one on the planet.

All the rest couldn't have done what they did if they had no means but oral or hand-copied communications. Perhaps it is true that printing with movable type, like many things, was something in the ether, just waiting to happen, but Gutenberg is the one who did it and he deserves the credit. Just like all the others...


especially Luther, who got my vote in the other thread.

	30-04-2005 05:57									#56
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Marx

	30-04-2005 07:08									#57
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quote: Originally posted by Richelieu Marx

Don't forget his brothers. They were all an equally important part of the act.

	30-04-2005 07:23									#58
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I would argue that Gutenberg wouldn't be the tops of the list, even if eligible. The printing press has fallen on hard times and many of the current technologies are not built on the printing press concept. Consider inkjet printers, f.e.

	30-04-2005 07:54									#59
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Edward Teller -- Father of the H-Bomb.

...especially once some #@^&%!! starts a nuclear war.

	30-04-2005 08:28									#60
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quote: Originally posted by DanS I would argue that Gutenberg wouldn't be the tops of the list, even if eligible. The printing press has fallen on hard times and many of the current technologies are not built on the printing press concept. Consider inkjet printers, f.e.

Dan, you would have to consider advances in the technology to be part of that technology. Thus, one would have to include typewriters, copiers, fax machines, computer word processors, radio and TV, the internet, etc., etc.

Communications.