# Greatest Person in History



## Couchie

Greatest Person in History: A Poll


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## Meaghan

http://mahlerowesmetenbucks.blogspot.com/2009/05/wagner-week-part-5-neard.html


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## SiegendesLicht

I voted Jesus. Wagner is not far behind though.


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## Fsharpmajor

While being very suspicious of some kind of a set-up here, I voted for Jesus Christ.


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## clavichorder

Kanye West, lyrical wordsmith, voice of a generation.


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## Yoshi

Glenn Gould obviously...


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## Cnote11

From this list I voted Richard Wagner. There was no competition there. Jesus never composed Die Walkure. He just did a bunch of lame magic tricks, while Wagner created real magic.


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## quack

Greatest Person in History: "Fryderyk Chopin" A Pole


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## SiegendesLicht

Cnote11 said:


> From this list I voted Richard Wagner. There was no competition there. Jesus never composed Die Walkure. He just did a bunch of lame magic tricks, while Wagner created real magic.


* Sniff* Am I the only one who can smell troll here?

Anyway, Jesus, being one of the Trinity, is partly responsible for the creation of all human genius, including that of Wagner.


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## Cnote11

What? You're got it wrong. Wagner is part of the trinity. 

Also, it isn't trolling; it is called making a joke, even if it only is as successful as a Sid James joke.


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## Couchie

My poll, my choices people. No others.


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## Crudblud

Hilary Swank.

In 2030 she cures AIDS, all cancers, and at least 30 strains of common cold, and brings about lasting world peace through the signing of the S-Wank Accord which ensures that if world leaders are nice to each other they get jelly and ice cream for dessert every Saturday.

My time travelling buddy Gioacchino Rossini showed me this, I know it to be true.


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## sospiro

Couchie said:


> My poll, my choices people. No others.




but where's Polednice??????


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## Chi_townPhilly

SiegendesLicht said:


> I voted Jesus. Wagner is not far behind though.


_Liked_.

I know he ain't on the poll- but I'd like to find room in this conversation for Aristotle, too.

Also, among people without whom Western Civilization might be a VERY different place- consider Charles Martel, and Winston Churchill.


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## sah

Goliath. 

Ups! Now there are more than10 characters.


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## Cnote11

Wagner and Jesus tied. More proof that they are indeed one and the same


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## violadude

I reckon that the greatest person in history was never put in the limelight and thus we don't know about him/her.


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## science

Woo-hoo!

_I'm winning!_


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## jhar26

Mozart of course. Jesus is great, but he's no Mozart.


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## Cnote11

science said:


> Woo-hoo!
> 
> _I'm winning!_


Look again, Clara Schumann only has 4 votes.


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## starthrower

I voted for Ali. He had the balls to stand up to the US war machine and refused to murder Vietnamese. That's good enough for my generation.


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## Lukecash12

For me, it goes like this:

1. Jesus, because he's the most important person ever, of course.
2. Ptolemy, for his cultural and philosophical contributions.
3. Ramses II, for basically the same reasons as Ptolemy.
4. Pope Pious IX, for writing some of the most significant and brilliant papal encyclicals.


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## Lukecash12

violadude said:


> I reckon that the greatest person in history was never put in the limelight and thus we don't know about him/her.


Hmmmm.... What was the name of the scientist who was part of Napolean I's entourage, and he discovered the Rosetta Stone? He's pretty crucial to Egyptology, that's for sure.


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## quack

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug scientist that saved millions, greater than entertainers like Swank, Wagner and Jesus methinks


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## Fsharpmajor

I think the greatest unsung scientist in history is Alfred Wegener, the discoverer of continental drift:

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Wegener*

His ideas set down the basis for plate tectonics. Thanks to him, we know the reason for the existence of earthquakes and volcanoes--and also understand the evolution of extremely ancient, but still extant animal groups, such as the fish genus _Arowana, _whose distribution, without the concept of continental drift, simply does not make any sense.


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## superhorn

The greatest person in history is Alfred E. Newman . What me worry ?















:lol: :lol: :lol:


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## Crudblud

Lukecash12 said:


> Hmmmm.... What was the name of the scientist who was part of Napolean I's entourage, and he discovered the Rosetta Stone? He's pretty crucial to Egyptology, that's for sure.


Champollion?


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## Guest

Jesus was first for me, but after that, you all are missing a huge one, especially in science. Jenner, the guy that essentially gave us the smallpox vaccine that completely eradicated a disease that used to decimate populations.


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## Cnote11

Not in the poll.


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## Lisztian

Reisenauer: "I consider Liszt the greatest man I have ever met. By this I mean that I have never met, in any other walk of life, a man with the mental grasp, splendid disposition, and glorious genius. This may seem a somewhat extravagant statement. I have met many, many great men, rulers, jurists, authors, scientists, teachers, merchants and warriors, but never have I met a man in any position whom I have not thought would have proved the inferior of Franz Liszt, had Liszt chosen to follow the career of the man in question. Liszt's personality can only be expressed by one word, "colossal. ""


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## mmsbls

There are many votes for Jesus but no votes for Mohammad (not "The Greatest" Ali). I know too little of Islam to know if the average Muslim views Mohammad as the greatest person ever. Maybe there are very few TC Muslims?


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## Yoshi

Someone should make the thread "The greatest person in talkclassical's history". Now that would be interesting...


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## Klavierspieler

I was tempted to vote for Clara, but I ended up voting for Jesus.


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## Petwhac

Nelson Mandela
Einstein
Beethoven
Galileo
Shakespeare
Newton
Gautama
Confucius
Lao Tzu

Please note.. this list does not include anyone who claims to have conversations with or receive instructions from a supernatural entity. At least, to my knowledge.

Oh yeah, that Phoenician guy that invented writing ( that's proper writing with an alphabet).


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## Couchie

Klavierspieler said:


> I was tempted to vote for Clara, but I ended up voting for Jesus.


Prepare to suffer Clara's wrath.


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## Klavierspieler

Petwhac said:


> Oh yeah, that Phoenician guy that invented writing ( that's proper writing with an alphabet).


Chinese is not "proper writing?"


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## Cnote11

Klavierspieler said:


> Chinese is not "proper writing?"


He said proper writing with an alphabet. Chinese does not have an alphabet.


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## science

Petwhac said:


> Oh yeah, that Phoenician guy that invented writing ( that's proper writing with an alphabet).


Very good thing to know: alphabets had been invented long before the Phoenicians but the governments didn't let people use them - literacy was too dangerous. The Phoenicians were a merchant people rather than a military elite exploiting farmers - so literacy was useful to them, and so while they weren't the first to invent an alphabet, they were the first people to be allowed to use one.

The reason more people don't know this is because it's not useful for the government to let you know. You might start to think about the relationship between knowledge and power, and apply it to contemporary problems. Better to let you imagine that writing existed for 2000 years before anyone thought of anything like an alphabet, and that as soon as it was invented the rulers embraced it for the good of their societies - that kind of thing being what happens in our societies, of course.


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## Cnote11

Sources? I'd like to read about this.


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## Couchie

Oh woe is Alberich, chi_townPhilly, and SiegendesLicht! You would vote the Son above the Holy Father?


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## Mesa

Hubert J. Farnsworth, for his revolutionary work in the field of putting Hitler's brain in a great white shark.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Why aren't *I* up there, eh?!?!?! :scold:

But if I had to choose out of the people listed I'd go for Clara Schumann. Although I'd vote for Karl Marx if he were up there.


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## sheffmark

Seeing as Ray Davies (Kinks) wasn't an option i voted for Jesus!


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## Vaneyes

It wasn't a difficult choice.

View attachment 4438


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## NightHawk

I'd like to nominate Charlize Theron, John Cleese, Noomi Rapace, Jonathan Winters, Julia Roberts, Eddie Izzard, Amy Blunt, Clint Eastwood, Angelina Jolie, Terry Gilliam, and Isabelle Hupert.


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## Argus

NightHawk said:


> I'd like to nominate Charlize Theron, John Cleese, Noomi Rapace, Jonathan Winters, Julia Roberts, Eddie Izzard, Amy Blunt, Clint Eastwood, Angelina Jolie, Terry Gilliam, and Isabelle Hupert.


Is Clint Eastwood the odd one out?

The sequence goes: fit, funny, fit, funny, fit (apparently), funny (at a stretch), fit (I guessed you meant Emily Blunt), badass, fit, funny, fit.


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## Mesa

Norman Borlaug. Who else has saved well over a billion lives?

Ahh quack already said it. More proof.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese

not the first one ...............


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## Capeditiea

i would vote if i was on the list...


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## starthrower

Edison, because I can turn on the lights and put a record on the turntable.


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## Capeditiea

starthrower said:


> Edison, because I can turn on the lights and put a record on the turntable.


ironically i am wearing one of his most notorious unknown inventions. well a picture of it... the electric chair. :3

If Tesla's inventions were more advertised, we wouldn't need money for gas, electricity bills, and such... *nods, plus there would be not as much pollutionative things travelling around the world.


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## Brahmsian Colors

Thomas Edison......


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## Strange Magic

Galileo Galilei. Beginning of experimental science (physics), and of optical and planetary/solar system astronomy. Defier of total ecclesiastical monopoly of "truth". "Let's Find Out!"


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## Jacck

What a lame list is this !?
And some people say Edison? No way. I would certainly vote for Tesla over Edison in terms of impact for the 20th century technology. Edison was a businessman and inventor of some talent and questionable morality and character, but he was nobody compared to giants such as Newton, Maxwell, Einstein. 
Obviously, we could have many candidates for the greatest person - Aristotle, Newton, Jesus (although we know almost nothing about him that is historically verified), Da Vinci etc.


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## starthrower

There is no greatest person in history. Hence my tongue and cheek remark about Edison.


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## Pat Fairlea

I nominate Alphonse Patrick O'Strofey, inventor of the apostrophe.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese

Pat Fairlea said:


> I nominate Alphonse Patrick O'Strofey, inventor of the apostrophe.


Did he like Poodles too


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## Phil loves classical

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson for taking over the action genre as the sole buff actor, and for holding the record of the most selfies in 3 minutes.

Joking aside, I believe it is Plato whose ideals and morals has affected religion, society as a whole.


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## Pat Fairlea

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> Did he like Poodles too


No, that was his brother.

More seriously, given the importance of chemistry to the modern world, I'm surprised no-one has nominated the brilliant and weird Dmitri Mendeleev [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Mendeleev], father of the Periodic Table of elements and therefore the inspiration for orbital theory and much more besides. His opinion of poodles is not, regrettably, on record.


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## Capeditiea

and what about Mandlebrot? 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benoit_Mandelbrot


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## Judith

Voted for Clara Schumann. What she had to go through in her life. 
Father objecting to her marrying Robert
Enduring Roberts health and being widowed quite young with a large family. 
Being in love with Brahms and not able to do anything about it.
Being a musician in her own right


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## CnC Bartok

We named our cat Clara, after Fraulein Wieck/Frau Schumann. So she gets my vote too.

Has said cat been male, we would never have considered the name Jesus. Oppenheimer maybe, good name for a cat. Muhammad? I suspect that would not be an acceptable name for a feline.


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## Barbebleu

My wife is the greatest person in history. Anyone who can live with me has to be a bona fide saint!!

Incidentally this is the weirdest list of people for a poll. Hilary Swank? Really?


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## hpowders

Barbebleu said:


> *My wife is the greatest person in history. Anyone who can live with me has to be a bona fide saint!!*
> 
> Incidentally this is the weirdest list of people for a poll. Hillary Swank? Really?


You took the words right outta my mouth. My wife shoulda left me 30 years ago.....having all the doors and windows bolted may have something to do with her staying. 

Yes! My wife! Definitely the greatest!! :tiphat:


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese

hpowders said:


> You took the words right outta my mouth. My wife shoulda left me 30 years ago.....having all the doors and windows bolted may have something to do with her staying.
> 
> Yes! My wife! Definitely the greatest!! :tiphat:


Should we be informing SVU


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## Gordontrek

Of course Jesus wins this, duh!


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## cwarchc

Irena Sendlerowa


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese

Me .


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