Genius - who is yours?

[Jon]

Many geniuses have graced this world. Who is your favourite?

For me, I will go for Leonardo da Vinci. Multi-talented in so many areas and 400 years ahead of his time. Exceptional!

 

[Deleted member 147267]

Very good one. Who decides what the yardstick is for 'genius'?
Was Michael Faraday a genius? Most (many?) would have no idea how much we owe to him. My apologies to MF if I misspelled his name.

 

[Jon]

There will be countless backroom geniuses that none of us have heard of. For example, I could name a bunch of genius chess players, but most people wouldn't have a clue about any of them. They cannot see their genius because they don't understand their art within that narrow domain.

 

[MajP]

My favorite is the Mathematician and Founding Father of Operations Research
George Dantzig

Mainly for the famous and inspiring story that became urban legend

Luckily late to class
Dantzig, who died in 2005, was a celebrated mathematician best known for his development of the simplex algorithm, a popular algorithm used in linear programming to find the optimal solution to problems that can be described through linear mathematics; for example, how to maximize profits and minimize losses, or how to determine the best diet for an army at the least cost. But part of what made his work in this field feasible was being late for class one day when he was a student.

Dantzig was studying statistics under professor Jerzy Neyman at UC Berkley's graduate program. In an interview, Dantzig explained that "I arrived late one day at one of Neyman's classes. On the blackboard there were two problems that I assumed had been assigned for homework. I copied them down. A few days later I apologized to Neyman for taking so long to do the homework — the problems seemed to be a little harder than usual."

Six weeks later, Neyman rushed over to Dantzig's house and excitedly told him that he had just written an introduction to "one of your papers. Read it so I can send it out right away for publication." Dantzig had no idea what Neyman was talking about until he explained that the two problems on the blackboards were famously unsolved statistical problems — not homework at all.

Later on in his graduate degree, Dantzig was struggling to come up with a thesis topic. Allegedly, when Dantzig told Neyman this, the professor shrugged it off and told him to put the two math problems in a binder for submission — they would count as his thesis.

How the story spread
Years later, Dantzig was an accomplished computer scientist and mathematician when his colleague Don Knuth stopped him. "Hey, George," he said. "I was visiting in Indiana recently and heard a sermon about you in church. Do you know that you are an influence on Christians of middle America?"

As it turns out, Dantzig's story had been making the rounds as an example of the power of positive thinking. Initially, a Lutheran televangelist in Los Angeles had picked up the story, albeit with major embellishments. The televangelist claimed that the problems had stumped even Einstein and that Dantzig's professor hired him on the spot after seeing the correct solutions. Despite these exaggerations, the moral of the story remained the same. Because Dantzig didn't know these problems were unsolved, he wasn't constrained by what he would have believed to be his limits. As he later wrote about the chance event:

"If I had known that the problems were not homework but were in fact two famous unsolved problems in statistics, I probably would not have thought positively, would have become discouraged, and would never have solved them."

As Dantzig's story spread out among religious sermons, his identity became dropped from the story. Others began telling it as well with their own embellishments. The story became an urban legend related to the power of positive thinking, one that would eventually find new life in Good Will Hunting.

 

[NauticalGent]

Mine is a certain ukulele maker...I dont know his real name...

 

[NauticalGent]

On a more serious note, my personal intellectual is Richard Feynman...

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Easily picked. Robin Williams, a genius of comedy. Too many people have forgotten how to laugh. He helped a lot of people remember, until he himself forgot how to laugh.

 

[isladogs]

Apart from those already mentioned : Paul Dirac, Nikola Tesla and Alan Turing... together with Schrodinger's cat and, of course, Albert Einstein

I do know the name of the genius ukulele maker but I won't spill the beans.

 

[Deleted member 147267]

I do know the name of the genius ukulele maker but I won't spill the beans.

Whoever that is, he/she probably will appreciate that.
I imagine NG will learn the secret identity soon enough, assuming there is a return address on the parcel.

 

[isladogs]

I very much doubt he'll want to return it to its maker

 

[AccessBlaster]

Nikola Tesla is a good one.

 

[deletedT]

@Jon Your question made me somehow sad. The more I thought the less I found a favorite genius. I know a lot. Edison, Marie Curie, Davinchi, Pikaso. and a lot more. For me they are genius, because I was told they are, not because I studied them and earned the info and chose a special one. Just something I was taught in the school.

I really have no idea, but if I want to choose someone, I choose my brother who put his whole life to make an engineer out of me.
I also know a lot of members here in AWF who know much more than me and makes them a genius for me.

 

[NauticalGent]

Good post Tera. You're a good egg...a little cracked maybe, but a good egg!