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Who is the cleverest person there has ever been?


sage

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He drew pictures of helicopters not designed them, i can draw a picture of something and in 500 years time if it's invented will i be in the same class as da vinci?

Not that i'd be around to be smug about it.

I would say Copernicus, Galileo Galilei & newton for discovering the earth was not the center of the universe and that we rotate around the sun. Also the discovery and explanation to the world of gravity.

Yeh, you're right, he was a useless daydreamer.
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I would suggest Leonardo da Vinci. Great painter and also sculptor, writer, botanist and inventor. He designed helicopters, tanks, calculators, solar energy panels and double hull ships, hundreds of years before they were manufactured. He was too far ahead of his time for most of his concepts to become reality.

Yeah, some of his drawings and designs are unbelievable, you have to remind yourself what period he was living in. Again, another man who doesn't get the credit he deserves, I'd imagine the vast majority of people would only associate him with art.

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His remains are lying in Derby Cathedral and he had a school named after him in Breadsall Hilltop, arguably the most Intelligent man to have lived with so little recognition in the wider world- Henry Cavendish.

Problem was he was so shy (probably severely autistic) that he didn't publish the vast majority of his papers and others after his death have since taken credit and took his glory.

He was credited for the discovery of Hydrogen though and weighed the Earth to an accuracy even modern day instruments would struggle with. I don't think there was a pool he didn't dip his toe into.

Richter's law of reciprocal proportions, Ohm's law, Coulomb's law, Charles's law of gases, Ohm's law, essentially mapped out a blueprint for the laws of thermodynamics - all of which discovered after his death by a biographer - very sad.

Certainly up there IMO.

Well, I had no idea about him! Thank you for sharing that.

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His remains are lying in Derby Cathedral and he had a school named after him in Breadsall Hilltop, arguably the most Intelligent man to have lived with so little recognition in the wider world- Henry Cavendish.

Problem was he was so shy (probably severely autistic) that he didn't publish the vast majority of his papers and others after his death have since taken credit and took his glory.

He was credited for the discovery of Hydrogen though and weighed the Earth to an accuracy even modern day instruments would struggle with. I don't think there was a pool he didn't dip his toe into.

Richter's law of reciprocal proportions, Ohm's law, Coulomb's law, Charles's law of gases, Ohm's law, essentially mapped out a blueprint for the laws of thermodynamics - all of which discovered after his death by a biographer - very sad.

Certainly up there IMO.

Way over my head all that is. I'm googling for the rest of the night.
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Well, I had no idea about him! Thank you for sharing that.

No problem. His private life is actually more interesting than his accomplishments.

He supposedly used to communicate with his housekeeper by letter as he could never speak to a woman.

He had a whole back wing and exit built onto one of his estates so he could escape unnoticed if visitors etc. descended onto his property.

Nobody could speak to him with eye contact without him running away, so one had to speak as if addressing an inanimate object.

Despite all this, he was recognised as an intellectual titan of the day but has sort of been forgotten in time. It makes you wonder what he could have achieved without his crippling awkardness and if he'd just had the confidence to publish his work.

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No problem. His private life is actually more interesting than his accomplishments.

He supposedly used to communicate with his housekeeper by letter as he could never speak to a woman.

He had a whole back wing and exit built onto one of his estates so he could escape unnoticed if visitors etc. descended onto his property.

Nobody could speak to him with eye contact without him running away, so one had to speak as if addressing an inanimate object.

Despite all this, he was recognised as an intellectual titan of the day but has sort of been forgotten in time. It makes you wonder what he could have achieved without his crippling awkardness and if he'd just had the confidence to publish his work.

Oh this is fantastic yet tragic. I would be better if I only communicated to the ladies by letters. Is there a good place to find out more about his life? And not wiki! Like a grand book or something?

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Oh this is fantastic yet tragic. I would be better if I only communicated to the ladies by letters. Is there a good place to find out more about his life? And not wiki! Like a grand book or something?

I read a book years ago which was about the lives of some of Britain's most eccentric people, Cavendish had a chapter in it. Can't remember for the life of me what it was called but was one of the best and most entertaining reads I've ever had.

Mostly it covered the aristocracy of times gone by, people who had such incredible wealth (from the Empire) allowing them to take up very peculiar interests. Lord Byron and his pet bear he kept in his room at Trinity College comes to mind! Wish I could remember what it was called now...

Forgot about Cavendish myself, had to recap off his wiki page myself, very odd man.

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I read a book years ago which was about the lives of some of Britain's most eccentric people, Cavendish had a chapter in it. Can't remember for the life of me what it was called but was one of the best and most entertaining reads I've ever had.

Mostly it covered the aristocracy of times gone by, people who had such incredible wealth (from the Empire) allowing them to take up very peculiar interests. Lord Byron and his pet bear he kept in his room at Trinity College comes to mind! Wish I could remember what it was called now...

Forgot about Cavendish myself, had to recap off his wiki page myself, very odd man.

Sounds interesting. History is my thing! If you do remember let me know.

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Paul Dirac must be worth a shout. Physicist who did big work in quantum theory between the wars.

I'd give him a nod because it's a field beyond normal comprehension. Most of us couldn't fully grasp it even when explained patiently by an expert, something that applies with very little if anything else.

I sometimes think I "get" a bit of it, then two minutes later I realise I just didn't.

Edit: He was also autistic. Definate link there.

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Whoever invented coffee. It had to be discovered first of course, but which clever chap thought to pour hot water on? (not boiling as this burns the bean btw).

I'd shake their hand.

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I would suggest Leonardo da Vinci. Great painter and also sculptor, writer, botanist and inventor. He designed helicopters, tanks, calculators, solar energy panels and double hull ships, hundreds of years before they were manufactured. He was too far ahead of his time for most of his concepts to become reality.

I think you're probably right.

Probably not closely followed by the genius who decided that men are incapable of multi-tasking! 'http://www.dcfcfans.co.uk/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ph34r' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':ph34r:' />

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