Who's your favorite Polymath?

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:31 pm

A Polymath is a person who has mastered many different fields in science and/or art.
They are also called "Rennaisance men" because the idealized Renaissance gentleman
was one who was well versed in many topics (and therefore demonstrated that he had
plenty of money and time to persue them).

I think my favorite is Thomas Young, who cracked the Rosetta Stone, discovered
neat things about light as a wave (rather than a particle), discovered Astigmatism,
devised many practical uses for coal tar (which was previously a waste product).
I could see him playing the whistle one night and giving a physics lecture (in Latin)
the next day.

Kircher's a close second, because there's so much attention to artistic sensiblibities
in his inventions. He was also a trickster, I'm sure if he wasn't a Jesuit, he would have
been a magician in the style of Robert-Houdin.

Congratulations · Post by **Congratulations** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:40 pm

I'd vote Thomas Jefferson. Or Descartes.

jsluder · Post by **jsluder** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:42 pm

I'd have to vote for myself; I can pat my head and rub my stomach at the same time.

chas · Post by **chas** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:44 pm

The Young who deciphered the Rosetta Stone is the same one as Young's interference and the Young's modulus? Cool! I had no idea.

I'd have a hard time choosing between da Vinci and Newton, not to mention Pythagoras.

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:14 pm

I picked Goethe because he said this:

The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decisions, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.

I'm not sure it's worked for me, but I sure like the concept.

I appreciate you folks who picked my great(to an big exponent)-uncle Ben Franklin. It is entirely possible that his brother William, from whom I descend, represented the uninspired side of the family.

Innocent Bystander · Post by **Innocent Bystander** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:15 pm

jsluder wrote:I'd have to vote for myself; I can pat my head and rub my stomach at the same time.

I vote for Slude.

But if he got disqualified for some reason, I'd vote for Richard Feynman. Assisted on the Manhattan Project, developed the Feynman Diagram (showing how subatomic particles interact), held his own one-man art show, (managed to talk a whole bunch of women into posing nude for him,) Ace Safe-cracker, and was a drummer and favela player. My hero!

djm · Post by **djm** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:41 pm

I have been using Vasoline on my scarred knuckle calluses, but it doesn't seem to help much. Does anyone have any viable alternatives?

djm

jsluder · Post by **jsluder** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:48 pm

djm wrote:I have been using Vasoline on my scarred knuckle calluses, but it doesn't seem to help much. Does anyone have any viable alternatives?

Prevention is the best medicine. Try patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time; no knuckle calluses involved.

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 3:01 pm

Innocent Bystander wrote:But if he got disqualified for some reason, I'd vote for Richard Feynman.

Man, I can't believe I forgot Feynman. I love his book, "Surely
You're Joking, Mr Feynman!" especially the parts about talking
in code in his letters to his wife when Los Alamos was censoring...
and pretending they were doing so to annoy the censors

jkwest · Post by **jkwest** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 3:05 pm

What about Tesla?

He sure was wacky for the time.

Coffee · Post by **Coffee** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 3:11 pm

I'm surprised Einstein didn't make the list. Both a physicist and a bit of a philosopher

fyffer · Post by **fyffer** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 3:47 pm

I voted "Franklin" -- perhaps because I'm reading a bio on him right now (and I've never been much of a Bio reader) that I picked up while in Philly last week. No idea if it's a good or accurate bio or not, but it sure is fascinating!

See here for book info (from Amazon.com)

hyldemoer · Post by **hyldemoer** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 3:59 pm

Cofaidh wrote:I'm surprised Einstein didn't make the list. Both a physicist and a bit of a philosopher

Yeah, but other string players who sessioned with him complained that his timing was off.

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 4:03 pm

I respect Einstein, and Tesla is a hero of mine, but I don't know if
they quite qualify for Polymath status... I think you have to go past
"eccentric" and really produce in several fields... Though, I
may be getting too pragmatic.

For the same reason, I didn't include MacGyver, though I was
tempted to include a fictional character... How about Holmes?

Coffee · Post by **Coffee** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 4:12 pm

Holmes yes, but Sherlock or his brother? Mycroft was actually the more brilliant of the two, though granted Sherlock was the more active* of the two.

Edited for posting inebriated.