Most Underrated Person in History
- Thread starter Tdc2182
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Daveman said:
I'm not so sure about him being bigger than Jesus, and i'm not so sure about him having a likeable personality. To quote from the national geographic, who are in turn quoting a member of the Royal Society:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/01/100104-isaac-newton-google-doodle-logo-apple.html
Other than that i agree he was a hugely important scientist, probably more so than Einstein and deserves more credit for what he did.
Here's my suggestion:
Emperor Constantine I: Without him, Christanity would have remained a small religious sect within the Roman Empire, and we would probably be worshipping the Norse Gods today or something. In terms of importance within Christanity, he's probably about second to Jesus.
The first answer I fully and completely agree with.Grimbold said:
Hell, I studied him in high school and, while I'd covered his early life (crucifying kidnapping pirates FTW) it had never dawned on me that the awesomeness that was Rome's first (unofficial) emperor would never have existed if Gaius Caesar and Aurelia didn't do the nasty. Well done, sir.
He saved a billion lives, but he's been mentioned repeatedly in this thread. Vasily Arkhipov and Stanislav Petrov saved more lives, yet they haven't been mentioned yet because they're even more obscure. Even a big Norman Borlaug fan I know had never heard of Arkhipov.Iron Lightning said:
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, a Soviet nuclear submarine was attacked by an American destroyers. The officers on the submarine voted on whether or not they'd launch a nuclear bomb at the American fleet - if they voted unanimously, they'd do it, inevitably killing billions of people in the ensuing nuclear war. Arkhipov was the sole dissenting vote.
Stanislav Petrov was overseeing the missile warning system in the Soviet Union in 1983, a low point for Soviet-US relations. The automated systems detected an American nuclear missile headed for the Soviet Union. According to the USSR's launch-on-warning policy, the proper response would be to launch a barrage of nuclear missiles at the US, starting a nuclear winter and killing billions of people. Petrov instead decided to ignore the warning.
When more nuclear missiles showed up onscreen, Petrov decided that it must be a false alarm. With multiple missiles inbound on Soviet territory, the computer automatically sent warnings to Petrov's superiors. Petrov called those superiors and told them that the attack warning was a false alarm, based entirely on gut instinct. His instinct was, of course, correct.
If Arkhipov or Petrov had let their superiors push the button, we'd be hiding from ghouls and begging for purified water right now. They got no recognition for saving the world. Arkhipov's heroism on that nuclear submarine was covered up until the end of the Cold War, and Petrov was disciplined for failing to follow protocol - protocol that would have caused the end of the world.
There were also American heroes who prevented the US from attacking the Soviet Union. However, I haven't been able to find the names of these underrated unsung heroes.
Well it's only in one book (I think it's callled the 100) where he's rated more influential, but I thought it was worth adding.Nickolai77 said:
I'd say he was reclusive, though that proved to be in his favour as he avoided the plague that way, and he never married which some people construe as evidence that he was homosexual. I don't care either way, that would make him more impressive to me if he was though. The fact is he became very successful for a reason and probably got a lot of hatred and bitterness his way because of it.
Also what kind of scientist reads National Geographic? New Scientist FTW.
Bass Reeves. A former slave who became a U.S. Marshal. I don't know why they haven't made a Western out of his life; Wyatt Earp ain't got nothing on him.
In his 30 year career as a U.S. Marshal, he was said to have apprehended some 3000 fugitives. That's roughly one every four days. He also killed something like 13 criminals in gunfights (I think), was never shot (shot at, but never hit), and kept a spotless record; if he were in Mass Effect, his Paragon score would have been 100%.
I would probably squeal in excitement like a little girl if they released a trailer for a Bass Reeves movie; especially if it were directed by Clint Eastwood and starred Denzel Washington.
In his 30 year career as a U.S. Marshal, he was said to have apprehended some 3000 fugitives. That's roughly one every four days. He also killed something like 13 criminals in gunfights (I think), was never shot (shot at, but never hit), and kept a spotless record; if he were in Mass Effect, his Paragon score would have been 100%.
I would probably squeal in excitement like a little girl if they released a trailer for a Bass Reeves movie; especially if it were directed by Clint Eastwood and starred Denzel Washington.
He's about the only nazi who wasn't a nazi. He was a German, and was implicated in the july bomb plot because he was one of the few germans who had the balls to disagree with Hitler. He fought for his country not for nazism. There were times when he like many people back then were awed by Hitler's charisma but he never implemented the Commando order and even his enemies respected him.
The only reason the nazis venerated him was because he was the only guy at the time who wasn't recoiling from the Russians, until he was absent at El Alamein (which he probably wouldn't have held anyways given his resources).
Now that that's off my chest, regarding his under-appreciation seeing as your living in Germany whereas I have only ever visited, I'll take your word for it regarding the street names etc.
o ya he was famous and he did get alot of respect, up until he started making claims that black ppl are genetically inferior to white people, with NO background in GENETICS!GreyFox389 said:
OT: johan guttenburg the inventor of the printing press.
I am going to back some people up here.
Nikola Tesla, the man was amazing. He invented tons of fantastic things, and others just stole his work.
The man contributed more to the modern world than anyone I can think of, he had, what seemed an understanding of electricity back when electricity was a wild new thing discovered what seems like yesterday (to him at least).
And the poor fellow died alone, and penniless in a shoddy apartment..
Nikola Tesla, the man was amazing. He invented tons of fantastic things, and others just stole his work.
The man contributed more to the modern world than anyone I can think of, he had, what seemed an understanding of electricity back when electricity was a wild new thing discovered what seems like yesterday (to him at least).
And the poor fellow died alone, and penniless in a shoddy apartment..
