An Indian who makes us proud.

Srinivasa Ramanujam

Born	22 December 1887 Erode, India
Died	26 April 1920 (aged 32) Chetput, (Madras), India
Residence	India, U.K.
Nationality	Indian
Fields	Mathematics
Alma mater	Government Arts College Pachaiyappa's College Cambridge University
Academic advisors	G. H. Hardy J. E. Littlewood
Known for	Landau–Ramanujan constant Mock theta functions Ramanujan conjecture Ramanujan prime Ramanujan–Soldner constant Ramanujan theta function Ramanujan's sum Rogers–Ramanujan identities

Invention of the Telescope////Sorce 'The net'

Johannes Hevelius observing with one of his telescopes [click for larger image] The Telescope The telescope was one of the central instruments of what has been called the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century. It revealed hitherto unsuspected phenomena in the heavens and had a profound influence on the controversy between followers of the traditional geocentric astronomy and cosmology and those who favored the heliocentric system of Copernicus. It was the first extension of one of man's senses, and demonstrated that ordinary observers could see things that the great Aristotle had not dreamed of. It therefore helped shift authority in the observation of nature from men to instruments. In short, it was the prototype of modern scientific instruments. But the telescope was not the invention of scientists; rather, it was the product of craftsmen. For that reason, much of its origin is inaccessible to us since craftsmen were by and large illiterate and therefore historically often invisible. Although the magnifying and diminishing properties of convex and concave transparent objects was known in Antiquity, lenses as we know them were introduced in the West [1] at the end of the thirteenth century. Glass of reasonable quality had become relatively cheap and in the major glass-making centers of Venice and Florence techniques for grinding and polishing glass had reached a high state of development. Now one of the perennial problems faced by aging scholars could be solved. With age, the eye progressively loses its power to accommodate, that is to change its focus from faraway objects to nearby ones. This condition, known aspresbyopia, becomes noticeable for most people in their forties, when they can no longer focus on letters held at a comfortable distance from the eye. Magnifying glasses became common in the thirteenth century, but these are cumbersome, especially when one is writing. Craftsmen in Venice began making small disks of glass, convex on both sides, that could be worn in a frame--spectacles. Because these little disks were shaped like lentils, they became known as "lentils of glass," or (from the Latin) lenses. The earliest illustrations of spectacles date from about 1350, and spectacles soon came to be symbols of learning. The Spectacle Vendor by Johannes Stradanus, engraved by Johannes Collaert, 1582 [click for larger image] These spectacles were, then, reading glasses. When one had trouble reading, one went to a spectacle-maker's shop or a peddler of spectacles (see figs. 2 and 3) and found a suitable pair by trial and error. They were, by and large, glasses for the old. spectacles for the young, concave lenses[2] that correct the refractive error known as myopia, were first made (again in Italy) in the middle of the fifteenth century. So by about 1450 the ingredients for making a telescope were there. The telescopic effect can be achieved by several combinations of concave and convex mirrors and lenses. Why was the telescope not invented in the fifteenth century? There is no good answer to this question, except perhaps that lenses and mirrors of the appropriate strengths were not available until later. In the literature of white magic, so popular in the sixteenth century, there are several tantalizing references to devices that would allow one to see one's enemies or count coins from a great distance. But these allusions were cast in obscure language and were accompanied by fantastic claims; the telescope, when it came, was a very humble and simple device. It is possible that in the 1570s Leonard and Thomas Digges in England actually made an instrument consisting of a convex lens and a mirror, but if this proves to be the case, it was an experimental setup that was never translated into a mass-produced device.[3] The earliest known illlustration of a telescope. Giovanpattista della Porta included this sketch in a letter written in August 1609 [click for larger image] The telescope was unveiled in the Netherlands. In October 1608, the States General (the national government) in The Hague discussed the patent applications first of Hans Lipperhey of Middelburg, and then of Jacob Metius of Alkmaar, on a device for "seeing faraway things as though nearby." It consisted of a convex and concave lens in a tube, and the combination magnified three or four times.[4] The gentlemen found the device too easy to copy to award the patent, but it voted a small award to Metius and employed Lipperhey to make several binocular versions, for which he was paid handsomely. It appears that another citizen of Middelburg, Sacharias Janssen had a telescope at about the same time but was at the Frankfurt Fair where he tried to sell it. Galileo's telescopes [click here for larger image] The news of this new invention spread rapidly through Europe, and the device itself quickly followed. By April 1609 three-powered spyglasses could be bought in spectacle-maker's shops on the Pont Neuf in Paris, and four months later there were several in Italy. (fig. 4) We know that Thomas Harriot observed the Moon with a six-powered instrument early in August 1609. But it was Galileo who made the instrument famous. He constructed his first three-powered spyglass in June or July 1609, presented an eight-powered instrument to the Venetian Senate in August, and turned a twenty-powered instrument to the heavens in October or November. With this instrument (fig. 5) he observed the Moon, discovered four satellites of Jupiter, and resolved nebular patches into stars. He published Sidereus Nuncius in March 1610. Verifying Galileo's discoveries was initially difficult. In the spring of 1610 no one had telescopes of sufficient quality and power to see the satellites of Jupiter, although many had weaker instruments with which they could see some of the lunar detail Galileo had described in Sidereus Nuncius. Galileo's lead was one of practice, not theory, and it took about six months before others could make or obtain instruments good enough to see Jupiter's moons. With the verification of the phases of Venus by others, in the first half of 1611, Galileo's lead in telescope-making had more or less evaporated. The next discovery, that of sunspots, was made by several observers, including Galileo, independently. ??? A typical Galilean telescope with which Jupiter's moons could be observed was configured as follows. It had a plano-convex objective (the lens toward the object) with a focal length of about 30-40 inches., and a plano-concave ocular with a focal length of about 2 inches. The ocular was in a little tube that could be adjusted for focusing. The objective lens was stopped down to an aperture of 0.5 to 1 inch. , and the field of view was about 15 arc-minutes (about 15 inches in 100 yards). The instrument's magnification was 15-20. The glass was full of little bubbles and had a greenish tinge (caused by the iron content of the glass); the shape of the lenses was reasonable good near their centers but poor near the periphery (hence the restricted aperture); the polish was rather poor. The limiting factor of this type of instrument was its small field of view--about 15 arc-minutes--which meant that only a quarter of the full Moon could be accommodated in the field. Over the next several decades, lens-grinding and polishing techniques improved gradually, as a specialized craft of telescope makers slowly developed. But although Galilean telescopes of higher magnifications were certainly made, they were almost useless because of the concomitant shrinking of the field. As mentioned above, a the telescopic effect can be achieved with different combinations of lenses and mirrors. As early as 1611, in his Dioptrice,Johannes Kepler had shown that a telescope could also be made by combining a convex objective and a convex ocular. He pointed out that such a combination would produce an inverted image but showed that the addition of yet a third convex lens would make the image erect again. This suggestion was not immediately taken up by astronomers, however, and it was not until Christoph Scheiner published his Rosa Ursina in 1630 that this form of telescope began to spread. In his study of sunspots, Scheiner had experimented with telescopes with convex oculars in order to make the image of the Sun projected through the telescope erect.[5] But when he happened to view an object directly through such an instrument, he found that, although the image was inverted, it was much brighter and the field of view much larger than in a Galilean telescope. Since for astronomical observations an inverted image is no problem, the advantages of what became known as the astronomical telescope led to its general acceptance in the astronomical community by the middle of the century. The Galilean telescope could be used for terrestrial and celestial purposes interchangeably. This was not true for the astronomical telescope with its inverted image. Astronomers eschewed the third convex lens (the erector lens) necessary for re-inverting the image because the more lenses the more optical defects multiplied. In the second half of the seventeenth century, therefore, the Galilean telescope was replaced for terrestrial purposes by the "terrestrial telescope," which had four convex lenses: objective, ocular, erector lens, and a field lens (which enlarged the field of view even further). Hevelius's 60- and 140-foot telescopes (Machina Coelestis, 1673) [click for larger image] With the acceptance of the astronomical telescope, the limit on magnification caused by the small field of view of the Galilean telescope was temporarily lifted, and a "telescope race" developed. Because of optical defects, the curvature of lenses had to be minimized, and therefore (since the magnification of a simple telescope is given roughly by the ratio of the focal lengths of the objective and ocular) increased magnification had to be achieved by increasing the focal length of the objective. Beginning in the 1640s, the length of telescopes began to increase. From the typical Galilean telescope of 5 or 6 feet in length, astronomical telescopes rose to lengths of 15 or 20 feet by the middle of the century. A typical astronomical telescope is the one made by Christiaan Huygens, in 1656. It was 23 feet long; its objective had an aperture of several inches, it magnified about 100 times, and its field of view was 17 arc-minutes. Aerial telescope (Christiaan Huygensm Astroscopium Compendiaria,1684) [click for larger image] Telescopes had now again reached the point where further increases in magnification would restrict the field of view of the instrument too much. This time another optical device, the field lens came to the rescue. Adding a third convex lens--of appropriate focal length, and in the right place--increased the field significantly, thus allowing higher magnifications. The telescope race therefore continued unabated and lengths increased exponentially. By the early 1670s, Johannes Hevelius had built a 140-foot telescope. But such long telescopes were useless for observation: it was almost impossible to keep the lenses aligned and any wind would make the instrument flutter. After about 1675, therefore, astronomers did away with the telescope tube. The objective was mounted on a building or pole by means of a ball-joint and aimed by means of a string; the image was found by trial and error; and the compound eyepiece (field lens and ocular), on a little stand, was then positioned to receive the image cast by the objective. Such instruments were called "aerial telescopes." Although some discoveries were made with these very long instruments, this form of telescope had reached its limits. By the beginning of the eighteenth century very long telescopes were rarely mounted any more, and further increases of power came, beginning in the 1730s, from a new form of telescope, the reflecting telescope. Since it was known that the telescopic effect could be achieved using a variety of combinations of lenses and mirrors, a number of scientists speculated on combinations involving mirrors. Much of this speculation was fueled by the increasingly refined theoretical study of the telescope. In his Dioptrique, appended to his Discourse on Method of 1637, René Descartes addressed the problem of spherical aberration, already pointed out by others. In a thin spherical lens, not all rays from infinity--incident parallel to the optical axis--are united at one point. Those farther from the optical axis come to a focus closer to the back of the lens than those nearer the optical axis. Descartes had either learned the sine law of refraction from Willebrord Snell (Snell's Law)[6] or had discovered it independently, and this allowed him to quantify spherical aberration. In order to eliminate it, he showed, lens curvature had to be either plano-hyperboloidal or spherico-ellipsoidal. His demonstration led many to attempt to make plano-hyperboloidal objectives, an effort which was doomed to failure by the state of the art of lens-grinding. Others began considering the virtues of a concave paraboloidal mirror as primary receptor: it had been known since Antiquity that such a mirror would bring parallel incident rays to a focus at one point. Newton's reflecting telescope (1671) [click for larger image] A second theoretical development came in 1672, when Isaac Newton published his celebrated paper on light and colors. Newton showed that white light is a mixture of colored light of different refrangibility: every color had its own degree of refraction. The result was that any curved lens would decompose white light into the colors of the spectrum, each of which comes to a focus at a different point on the optical axis. This effect, which became known as chromatic aberration, resulted in a central image of, e.g., a planet, being surrounded by circles of different colors. Newton had developed his theory of light several years before publishing his paper, when he had turned his mind to the improvement of the telescope, and he had despaired of ever ridding the objective of this defect. He therefore decided to try a mirror, but unlike his predecessors he was able to put his idea into practice. He cast a two-inch mirror blank of speculum metal (basically copper with some tin) and ground it into spherical curvature. He placed it in the bottom of a tube and caught the reflected rays on a 45� secondary mirror which reflected the image into a convex ocular lens outside the tube (see fig. 12). He sent this little instrument to the Royal Society, where it caused a sensation; it was the first working reflecting telescope. But the effort ended there. Others were unable to grind mirrors of regular curvature, and to add to the problem, the mirror tarnished and had to be repolished every few months, with the attending danger of damage to the curvature. Hevelius's rooftop observatory, (Machina Coelestis, 1673) [click for larger image] The reflecting telescope therefore remained a curiosity for decades. In second and third decades of the eighteenth century, however, the reflecting telescope became a reality in the hands of first James Hadley and then others. By the middle of the century, reflecting telescopes with primary mirrors up to six inches in diameter had been made. It was found that for large aperture ratios (the ratio of focal length of the primary to its aperture, as the f-ratio in modern cameras for instance), f/10 or more, the difference between spherical and paraboloidal mirrors was negligible in the performance of the telescope. In the second half of the eighteenth century, in the hands of James Short and then William Herschel, the reflecting telescope with parabolically ground mirrors came into its own.

 Galileo disproved that the earth is the center of the universe

.

Two Inventions that changed mankind.

10: The Plow

Compared to some of the gleaming, electronic inventions that fill our lives today, the plow doesn't seem very exciting. It's a simple cutting tool used to carve a furrow into the soil, churning it up to expose nutrients and prepare it for planting. Yet the plow is probably the one invention that made all others possible.

No one knows who invented the plow, or exactly when it came to be. It probably developed independently in a number of regions, and there is evidence of its use in prehistoric eras. Prior to the plow, humans were subsistence farmers or hunter/gatherers. Their lives were devoted solely to finding enough food to survive from one season to the next. Growing food added some stability to life, but doing it by hand was labor intensive and took a long time. The plow changed all that.

Plows made the work easier and faster. Improvements in the plow's design made farming so efficient that people could harvest far more food than they needed to survive. They could trade the surplus for goods or services. And if you could get food by trading, then you could devote your day-to-day existence to something other than growing food, such as producing the goods and services that were suddenly in demand.

The ability to trade and store materials drove the invention of written language, number systems, fortifications and militaries. As populations gathered to engage in these activities, cities grew. It's not a stretch to say that the plow is responsible for the creation of human civilization.

The Cas Chrom, or Foot Plough, was a simple but labour intensive tool for the preparation and cultivation of the soil. Highland land was farmed and divided on the basis of runrig, or lazy-beds. This method of land distribution was often communal, and the layout of the lazy-beds had to accommodate the contours and features of the rugged land. Use of the Cas Chrom and the runrig system extended well into the 20th century.

The Cas Chrom was often fabricated by the crofters themselves from available material such as driftwood found on the beaches. This implement has a long handle attached by an iron binding to a carved and formed knee of driftwood. This example has an iron sock bent around the tip, which is pushed into the ground using the foot peg. The handle is used to turn over the soil in a twisting motion. Though the Cas Chrom was suited to the rough land of the highlands, the crofter would have taken several days of hard work to plough his small lazy-bed.

9. Wheel

Baerbel Schmidt/Getty Images
The invention of the wheel enabled a variety of elaborate mechanisms like this water pump.

The wheel is another invention so ancient that we have no way of knowing who first developed it. The oldest wheel and axle mechanism we've found was near Ljubljana, Slovenia, and dates to roughly 3100 B.C.

The wheel made the transportation of goods much faster and more efficient, especially when affixed to horse-drawn chariots and carts. However, if it had been used only for transportation, the wheel wouldn't have been as much of a world-changer as it was. In fact, a lack of quality roads limited its usefulness in this regard for thousands of years.

A wheel can be used for a lot of things other than sticking them on a cart to carry grain, though. Tens of thousands of other inventions require wheels to function, from water wheels that power mills to gears and cogs that allowed even ancient cultures to create complex machines. Cranks and pulleys need wheels to work. A huge amount of modern technology still depends on the wheel, like centrifuges used in chemistry and medical research, electric motors and combustion engines, jet engines, power plants and countless others.

Discovery of "Nintendo" Card game

Nintendo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the Nintendo corporation. For the third-generation video game console, see Nintendo Entertainment System.
Nintendo Co., Ltd.

Nintendo's logo, which dates back to the 1980s. The current color was adopted in 2006; the previous red version is still used on some properties.[1]
Type Public
TYO: 7974
Osaka SE: 7974
Pink Sheets: NTDOY
FWB: NTO
Industry Card games (previously)
Video games
Founded September 23, 1889[2]
Headquarters Original office
Kyoto, Japan
International offices:[3]
Redmond, Washington, United States
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Großostheim, Germany
Scoresby, Victoria, Australia
Suzhou, PRC (as iQue, Ltd.)
Seoul, South Korea
Taiwan, ROC (via Nintendo Co., Ltd. and Haku Yu)
Windsor, Berkshire, UK
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Area served Worldwide
Key people Satoru Iwata: President and CEO
Reggie Fils-Aime: President and COO of NOA
Shigeru Miyamoto: Game Designer
Conrad Abbott: President of NOC
Rose Lappin: Managing Director of Nintendo Australia
Gunpei Yokoi (deceased): Creator of Game Boy, Game & Watch and Metroid video game series
Hiroshi Yamauchi: Former President and Chairman
Minoru Arakawa: Former head of NOA
Satoru Shibata: President of NOE
Satoshi Tajiri: Creator of the Pokémon franchise
Products Game Boy line, Color TV Game, NES, SNES, Virtual Boy, Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo DS, Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and various video games
Revenue ¥1 trillion (2011)[4]
Operating income ¥171 billion (2011)[4]
Net income ¥77.6 billion (2011)[4]
Total assets ¥1.6 trillion (2011)[4]
Total equity ¥1.2 trillion (2011)[4]
Employees 4,712 (2011)[5]
Website Nintendo Japan
Nintendo of America
Nintendo of Canada (English)
Nintendo of Europe
Nintendo Australia
Nintendo Taiwan
Nintendo of Korea
Nintendo Co., Ltd. (任天堂株式会社 Nintendō Kabushiki gaisha?) is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889[2] by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards.[6] By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel.[7]
Nintendo developed into a video game company, becoming one of the most influential in the industry, and Japan's third most valuable listed company, with a market value of over US$85 billion.[8] Also, Nintendo of America is the majority owner of the Seattle Mariners Major League Baseball team.[9]
The name Nintendo can be roughly translated from Japanese to English as "leave luck to heaven".[10] As of October 18, 2010, Nintendo has sold over 565 million hardware units and 3.4 billion software units.[11]
Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 As a card company (1889–1956)
1.2 New ventures (1956–1974)
1.3 Electronic era (since 1974)
1.3.1 Handheld console history
2 Infrastructure
2.1 Key Executives
2.2 Offices and locations
3 Software development studios
3.1 First-party studios
3.2 Second-party studios
3.3 Former affiliates
4 Policy
4.1 Emulation
4.2 Content guidelines
4.3 License guidelines
4.4 Seal of Quality
4.4.1 NTSC regions
4.4.2 PAL regions
4.5 Environmental record
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links
History

Main article: History of Nintendo


Former headquarters plate, from when Nintendo was solely a playing card company
As a card company (1889–1956)
Nintendo was founded as a card company in late 1889, originally named Nintendo Koppai. Based in Kyoto, Japan, the business produced and marketed a playing card game called Hanafuda. The handmade cards soon became popular, and Yamauchi hired assistants to mass produce cards to satisfy demand. Nintendo continues to manufacture playing cards in Japan[12] and organizes its own contract bridge tournament called the "Nintendo Cup".[13]
New ventures (1956–1974)
In 1956, Hiroshi Yamauchi (grandson of Fusajiro Yamauchi) visited the U.S. to talk with the United States Playing Card Company, the dominant playing card manufacturer there. He found that the world's biggest company in his business was only using a small office. This was a turning point when Yamauchi realized the limitations of the playing card business. He then gained access to Disney's characters and put them on the playing cards to drive sales.


The Nintendo Love Tester
In 1963, Yamauchi renamed Nintendo Playing Card Co. Ltd. to Nintendo Co., Ltd.[14] The company then began to experiment in other areas of business using newly injected capital. During this period of time between 1963 and 1968, Nintendo set up a taxi company, a love hotel chain, a TV network, a food company (selling instant rice, similar to instant noodles) and several other things. All of these ventures eventually failed, and after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, playing card sales dropped, and Nintendo's stock price plummeted to ¥60.
In 1966, Nintendo moved into the Japanese toy industry with the Ultra Hand, an extendable arm developed by its maintenance engineer Gunpei Yokoi in his free time. Yokoi was moved from maintenance to the new "Nintendo Games" department as a product developer. Nintendo continued to produce popular toys, including the Ultra Machine, Love Tester and the Kousenjuu series of light gun games. Despite some successful products, Nintendo struggled to meet the fast development and manufacturing turnaround required in the toy market, and fell behind the well-established companies such as Bandai and Tomy.
In 1973, its focus shifted to family entertainment venues with the Laser Clay Shooting System, using the same light gun technology used in Nintendo's Kousenjuu series of toys, and set up in abandoned bowling alleys. Following some success, Nintendo developed several more light gun machines for the emerging arcade scene. While the Laser Clay Shooting System ranges had to be shut down following excessive costs, Nintendo had found a new market.
Electronic era (since 1974)
Nintendo's first venture into the video-gaming industry was securing rights to distribute the Magnavox Odyssey video game console in Japan in 1974. Nintendo began to produce its own hardware in 1977, with the Color TV Game home video game consoles. Four versions of these consoles were produced, each including variations of a single game (for example, Color TV Game 6 featured six versions of Light Tennis).
A student product developer named Shigeru Miyamoto was hired by Nintendo at this time.[15] He worked for Yokoi, and one of his first tasks was to design the casing for several of the Color TV Game consoles. Miyamoto went on to create, direct and produce some of Nintendo's most famous video games and become one of the most recognizable figures in the video game industry.[15]
In 1975, Nintendo moved into the video arcade game industry with EVR Race, designed by their first game designer, Genyo Takeda,[16] and several more titles followed. Nintendo had some small success with this venture, but the release of Donkey Kong in 1981, designed by Miyamoto, changed Nintendo's fortunes dramatically. The success of the game and many licensing opportunities (such as ports on the Atari 2600, Intellivision and ColecoVision) gave Nintendo a huge boost in profit.


The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
In 1980, Nintendo launched Game & Watch—a handheld video game series developed by Yokoi where each game was played on a separate device—to worldwide success. In 1983, Nintendo launched the Family Computer (commonly shortened "Famicom"), known outside Japan as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), home video game console in Japan, alongside ports of its most popular arcade titles. In 1985, the NES launched in North America, and was accompanied by Super Mario Bros., currently one of the best-selling video games of all time.[17]
In 1989, Yokoi developed the Game Boy handheld game console.
The Nintendo Entertainment System was superseded by the Super Famicom, known outside Japan as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). This was Nintendo's console of the 16-bit 4th generation, following the Famicom of the 8-bit 3rd generation, whose main rival was the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. A fierce console war between Sega and Nintendo ensued.[18] The SNES eventually sold 49.10 million consoles,[19] around 20 million more than the Mega Drive/Genesis.
During the dominance of the Game Boy line, its creator, Yokoi, designed the Virtual Boy, a table-mounted semi-portable console featuring stereoscopic graphics. Users view games through a binocular eyepiece and control games using a gamepad. Rushed to market in 1995 to compensate for development delays with the upcoming Nintendo 64, the Virtual Boy was a commercial failure due to poor third-party support and a large price point. Amid the systems's failure, Yokoi was asked to leave Nintendo.[20]
The company's next home console, the Nintendo 64, was released in 1996 and features 3D graphics capabilities and built-in multiplayer for up to four players. The system's controller introduced the analog stick. Nintendo later introduced the Rumble Pak, an accessory for the Nintendo 64 controller that produced force feedback with compatible games. It was the first such device to come to market for home console gaming and eventually became an industry standard.[21]
The Nintendo GameCube followed in 2001 and was the first Nintendo console to utilize optical disc storage instead of cartridges.[22] The most recent home console, the Wii, uses motion sensing controllers[23] and has on-board online functionality used for services such as Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and Internet Channel[24] (in contrast to GameCube's limited functionality on select games with an additional modem accessory[25]). The Wii's success, as well as the success of the DS, introduced an expansion of audience to broader and non-traditional demographics, a business model with which Nintendo has had success.[citation needed] Contrarily, the new business model has also resulted in some long-time gamers abandoning the Nintendo console for its competitors.[26]
Nintendo unveiled their newest home console, the Wii U, on June 7, 2011 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo.[27]
Handheld console history


The Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo's latest handheld video game system which features autostereoscopic 3D.
After the successful Game & Watch, the handheld development continued with the Game Boy, the Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Color, with the latter two differing in fairly minor aspects. The Game Boy, the best-selling handheld and third best-selling console of all time, continued for more than a decade until the release of the Game Boy Advance, featuring improved technical specifications similar to those of the SNES. The Game Boy Advance SP, a frontlit (backlit in later editions), flip-screen version, introduced a rechargeable, built-in battery, which ended the need for AA batteries in previous consoles. The Game Boy Micro was released in 2005, after the Nintendo DS's release, but did not sell as well as its predecessors.
The Nintendo DS replaced the Game Boy line sometime after its initial release in 2004, originally advertised as an alternative to the Game Boy Advance.[28] It was distinctive because it had two screens and a microphone, in a clamshell design continuing on from the Game Boy Advance SP.
The Nintendo DS Lite, a remake of the DS, improved several features of the original model, including the battery life and screen brightness. It was designed to be sleeker, more beautiful, and more aesthetically pleasing than the original, in order to appeal to a broader audience.[29] On November 1, 2008, Nintendo released, in Japan, the Nintendo DSi, an improved version featuring larger screens, improved sound quality, an AAC music player and two cameras—one on the outside and one facing the user.[30] It was released in North America, Europe, and Australia at the start of April, 2009. The successor of the DSi, with an expanded screen, is the Nintendo DSi XL, which was released on November 21, 2009 in Japan and the first half of 2010 in other regions.[31]
The successor to the Nintendo DS line, the Nintendo 3DS, uses the process of autostereoscopy to produce a stereoscopic three-dimensional effect and was released in Japan on February 26, 2011, launched in Europe on March 25, 2011 and North America on March 27, 2011.[32] The console got off to a slow start, initially missing many key features that were promised before the system launched. Between the lack of features and many missing first-party games from Nintendo, the 3DS has not sold on par with Nintendo's expectations.[33]
Infrastructure

Key Executives
Satoru Iwata, President and Representative Director
Yoshihiro Mori, Senior Managing Director, General Manager of Corporate Analysis & Administration Division, and Representative Director
Shinji Hatano, Senior Managing Director, General Manager of Licensing Division, and Representative Director
Masaharu Matsumoto, Managing Director
Shigeru Miyamoto, Senior Managing Director and Representative Director[34]
Offices and locations
Nintendo Co., Ltd. (NCL)[35] is based in Minami-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan (34°58′11.89″N 135°45′22.33″E). Its pre-2000 office, now its research and development building, is located in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan (34°58′29.00″N 135°46′10.48″E). Its original Kyoto headquarters can still be found at (34°59′30.03″N 135°45′58.66″E).
Nintendo of America, Incorporated (NOA), its U.S. division, is based in Redmond, Washington. It has distribution centers in Atlanta, Georgia (Nintendo Atlanta) and North Bend, Washington (Nintendo North Bend).
Nintendo of Canada, Ltd. (NOCL) is based in Vancouver, BC, with its distribution center in Toronto, Ontario.
Nintendo Australia Pty Ltd (NAL) is based in Melbourne, Victoria. It handles the distribution, sales and marketing of Nintendo products in Australia and New Zealand. It also manufactures some of the Wii games locally.
Nintendo of Europe (NOE) is based in Großostheim (established in 1990),[36] close to Frankfurt, Germany.
Nintendo UK is based in Windsor, Berkshire.
iQue, Ltd., a Chinese joint venture between its founder, Doctor Wei Yen, and Nintendo, manufactures and distributes official Nintendo consoles and games for the mainland Chinese market, under the iQue brand.
Nintendo also established Nintendo of Korea (NoK) on July 7, 2006.[37]

The exterior of Nintendo's main headquarters in Kyoto, Japan



The Nintendo of America headquarters in Redmond, United States



Nintendo Europe headquarters in Großostheim, Germany


Software development studios

First-party studios
EAD Comprehensive Group –Super Mario 64 DS, Star Fox 64 3D,
EAD Group 1 – Mario Kart series, Nintendogs series, Luigi's Mansion,[38]
EAD Group 2 – Animal Crossing series, Wii-branded games
EAD Group 3 – The Legend of Zelda series
EAD Group 4 – Pikmin series, New Super Mario Bros., Big Brain Academy
EAD Group 5 – Wii Fit, Steel Diver with Vitei
EAD Tokyo – Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Super Mario Galaxy
Nintendo SPD – WarioWare series, Friend Collection, Rhythm Heaven series, Metroid: Other M with Team Ninja[39]
Nintendo NSD – Personal Trainer: Walking,
Nintendo SDD – Brain Age series
Nintendo Software Technology - Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Crosswords DS, Metroid Prime Hunters[40]
Monolith Soft – Disaster: Day of Crisis, Xenoblade[41]
Retro Studios – Metroid Prime series, Donkey Kong Country Returns[42]
Brownie Brown – Mother 3, A Kappa's Trail
Intelligent Systems – Paper Mario series with Nintendo, Fire Emblem series, Advance Wars series,[43] WarioWare series
Project Sora – Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Kid Icarus Uprising
Nd Cube – Wii Party
HAL Laboratory – Kirby series, Mother series, Super Smash Bros series,
Second-party studios
Since the 1980s, Nintendo has built up a large group of second-party partners, through publishing agreements or collaboration.
AlphaDream – Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
Ambrella – Pokémon Dash, Pokémon Rumble, Pokémon Channel, My Pokémon Ranch,[44]
Arika - Endless Ocean series
Creatures Inc. – EarthBound (Mother) series
Camelot Software Planning – Golden Sun series, Mario Power Tennis
Eighting - Kuru Kuru Kururin series
Game Freak - Pokémon
Genius Sonority – Pokémon Colosseum, Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, Pokémon Battle Revolution
Good-Feel – Wario Land Shake It, Kirby's Epic Yarn with HAL Laboratory
Grezzo - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
Monster Games – Excitebike series,[45] Pilotwings Resort
n-Space, Inc. - Geist
Next Level Games – Super Mario Strikers, Punch-Out!! (Wii), Luigi's Mansion 2
Noise – Custom Robo series [46]
Paon – Donkey Kong Barrel Blast, DK Jungle Climber, DK King of Swing
Suzak - Wario: Master of Disguise, F-Zero: Climax, F-zero: GP Legend
Tose - The Legendary Starfy series, Game & Watch Gallery series, Super Princess Peach
Skip Ltd. – Chibi-Robo! series
Vitei - Steel Diver with EAD Group 5
Treasure - Sin & Punishment, Sin & Punishment: Star Successor
Former affiliates
Rare - Donkey Kong Country, GoldenEye 007, Star Fox Adventures, Diddy Kong Racing
Sold to Microsoft Game Studios in 2002.[47]
Cing – Hotel Dusk: Room 215, Another Code: Two Memories
Filed for bankruptcy in 2010.
Silicon Knights – Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
Publishing contract with Nintendo ended in 2004.[48]
Factor 5
Closed in 2009.
Left Field Productions – Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside series
Bought out Nintendo's stake in the company in 2002.[49]
Marigul Management
Closed in 2003.
St.GIGA - Games for the Satellaview
Stopped making games for Nintendo when the Satellaview was discontinued. Eventually, they went out of business.
Policy

Emulation

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Nintendo, particularly Nintendo of America, is known for a "no tolerance" stance for emulation of its video games and consoles, stating that it is the single largest threat to the intellectual rights of video game developers.[50] Nintendo claims that copyright-like rights in mask works protect its games from the exceptions that United States copyright law otherwise provides for personal backup copies. Nintendo uses the claim that emulators running on personal computers have no use other than to play pirated video games, though a use that doesn't involve intellectual property in this way is seen in the development and testing of independently produced "homebrew" software on Nintendo's platforms. It is also claimed that Nintendo's claims contradict copyright laws, mainly that ROM image copiers are illegal (they are legal if used to dump unprotected ROM images on to a user's computer for personal use, per 17 U.S.C. § 117(a)(1) and foreign counterparts)[51] and that emulators are illegal (if they do not use copyrighted BIOS, or use other methods to run the game, they are legal; see Console emulator for further information about the legality of emulators). This stance is largely apocryphal, however; Nintendo remains the only modern console manufacturer that has not sued an emulator manufacturer.[citation needed]
Emulators have been used by Nintendo and licensed third party companies as a means to re-release older games (e.g. Virtual Console).
Content guidelines
For many years, Nintendo had a policy of strict content guidelines for video games published on its consoles. Although Nintendo of Japan allowed graphic violence in its video games, nudity and sexuality were strictly prohibited. Former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi believed that if the company allowed the licensing of pornographic games, the company's image would be forever tarnished.[52] Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Europe went further in that games released for Nintendo consoles could not feature nudity, sexuality, profanity (including racism, sexism or slurs), blood, graphic or domestic violence, drugs, political messages or religious symbols (with the exception of widely unpracticed religions, such as the Greek Pantheon).[53] The Japanese parent company was concerned that it may be viewed as a "Japanese Invasion" if it introduced adult content to North American and European children. U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman praised this zero tolerance policy, but others criticized the policy, claiming that gamers should be allowed to choose the content they want to see. Despite the strict guidelines, some exceptions have occurred: Bionic Commando (though swastikas were eliminated in the US version), Smash TV and Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode contained human violence, the latter also containing implied sexuality and tobacco use; River City Ransom and Taboo: The Sixth Sense contained nudity, and the latter also contained religious images, as did Castlevania II and III.
A known side effect of this policy was the Sega Genesis version of Mortal Kombat selling over double the number of the Super NES version, mainly because Nintendo had forced publisher Acclaim to recolor the red blood to look like white sweat and replace some of the more gory graphics in its release of the game, making it non-violent.[54] By contrast, Sega allowed blood and gore to remain in the Genesis version (though a code was required to unlock the gore). Nintendo allowed the Super NES version of Mortal Kombat II to ship uncensored the following year with a content warning on the packaging.[55]
In 1994 and 2003, when the ESRB and PEGI (respectively) video game ratings systems were introduced, Nintendo chose to abolish most of these policies in favor of consumers making their own choices about the content of the games they played. Today, changes to the content of games are done primarily by the game's developer or, occasionally, at the request of Nintendo. The only clear-set rule is that ESRB AO-rated games will not be licensed on Nintendo consoles in North America,[56] a practice which is also enforced by Sony and Microsoft, its two greatest competitors in the present market. Nintendo has since allowed several mature-content games to be published on its consoles, including: Perfect Dark, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Doom and Doom 64, BMX XXX, the Resident Evil series, killer7, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, BloodRayne, Geist and Dementium: The Ward. Certain games have continued to be modified, however. For example, Konami was forced to remove all references to cigarettes in the 2000 Game Boy Color game Metal Gear Solid (although the previous NES version of Metal Gear and the subsequent Gamecube game Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes both included such references, as did Wii title MadWorld), and maiming and blood were removed from the Nintendo 64 port of Cruis'n USA.[57] Another example is in the Game Boy Advance game Mega Man Zero 3, in which one of the bosses, called Hellbat Schilt in the Japanese and European releases, was renamed Devilbat Schilt in North America. localization. In North America releases of the Mega Man Zero games, enemies and bosses killed with a saber attack would not gush blood as they did in the Japanese versions. However, the release of the Wii has been accompanied by a number of even more controversial mature titles, such as Manhunt 2, No More Heroes, The House of the Dead: Overkill and MadWorld, the latter three of which are published exclusively for the console. The Nintendo DS also has violent games, such as Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Dementium: The Ward, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Resident Evil: Deadly Silence.
License guidelines
Nintendo of America also had guidelines before 1993 that had to be followed by its licensees to make games for the Nintendo Entertainment System, in addition to the above content guidelines:.[52] Guidelines were enforced through the 10NES lockout chip.
Licensees were not permitted to release the same game for a competing console until two years had passed.
Nintendo would decide how many cartridges would be supplied to the licensee.
Nintendo would decide how much space would be dedicated for articles, advertising, etc. in the Nintendo Power magazine.
There was a minimum number of cartridges that had to be ordered by the licensee from Nintendo.
There was a yearly limit of five games that a licensee may produce for a Nintendo console.[58] This rule was created to prevent market over-saturation, which caused the North American video game crash of 1983.
The last rule was circumvented in a number of ways; for example, Konami, wanting to produce more games for Nintendo's consoles, formed Ultra Games and later Palcom to produce more games as a technically different publisher.[52] This disadvantaged smaller or emerging companies, as they could not afford to start additional companies. In another side effect, Square Co. (now Square Enix) executives have suggested that the price of publishing games on the Nintendo 64 along with the degree of censorship and control that Nintendo enforced over its games, most notably Final Fantasy VI, were factors in switching its focus towards Sony's PlayStation console.[citation needed]
Seal of Quality


Official Nintendo Seal in NTSC regions


Nintendo's Official Seal of Quality in PAL regions
The gold starburst seal was first used by Nintendo of America, and later Nintendo of Europe. It is displayed on any game, system, or accessory licensed for use on one of its video game consoles, denoting the game has been properly licensed by Nintendo.[citation needed]
NTSC regions
In NTSC regions, this seal is an elliptical starburst titled "Official Nintendo Seal". Originally, for NTSC countries, the seal was a large, black and gold circular starburst. The seal read as follows: "This seal is your assurance that NINTENDO has approved and guaranteed the quality of this product." This seal was later altered in 1988: "approved and guaranteed" was changed to "evaluated and approved". In 1989, the seal became gold and white, as it currently appears, with a shortened phrase, "Official Nintendo Seal of Quality". It was changed in 2003 to read "Official Nintendo Seal".[citation needed]
PAL regions
In PAL regions, the seal is a circular starburst titled, "Original Nintendo Seal of Quality". Text near the seal in the Australian Wii manual states:
This seal is your assuranace that Nintendo has reviewed this product and that it has met our standards for excellence in workmanship, reliability and entertainment value. Always look for this seal when buying games and accessories to ensure complete compatibility with your Nintendo product.[59]
Environmental record
Greenpeace's October 2010 "Guide to Greener Electronics" report ranks Nintendo last on a list of electronics manufacturers, with the same score (1.8 out of 10) as in the previous version of the guide (May 2010). The report cites increasing carbon dioxide emissions (failed to be reduced per target) and a lack of waste management. Limited praise focuses on satisfactory energy efficiency of the DSi's AC adapter, the reduction of PVC usage in wiring (and new chemical regulations) and the disclosure of carbon dioxide emissions.[60]
In the January 2010 version of the ranking, Nintendo scored 1.4 points, at which, three days later, Nintendo issued a response that addressed primary concerns, highlighting a policy to indicate the materials used in each product, which makes end-of-life recycling of products easier.[61]

Inventions

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See More About:steam enginethomas saverythomas newcomenjames watt
The History of Steam Engines
Inventors: Thomas Savery, Thomas Newcomen, James Watt

Thomas Savery (1650-1715)
Thomas Savery was an English military engineer and inventor who in 1698, patented the first crude steam engine, based on Denis Papin's Digester or pressure cooker of 1679.
Thomas Savery had been working on solving the problem of pumping water out of coal mines, his machine consisted of a closed vessel filled with water into which steam under pressure was introduced. This forced the water upwards and out of the mine shaft. Then a cold water sprinkler was used to condense the steam. This created a vacuum which sucked more water out of the mine shaft through a bottom valve.

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Thomas Savery later worked with Thomas Newcomen on the atmospheric steam engine. Among Savery's other inventions was an odometer for ships, a device that measured distance traveled.

Illustration of Thomas Savery's Engine circa 1698

Thomas Savery - Biography of Thomas Savery and a description the introduction of his engine to the public
An Engine To Raise Water By Fire - By Thomas Savery
Drawing of Thomas Savery

Thomas Newcomen (1663-1729)
Illustration of Thomas Newcomen's Engine circa 1712

Thomas Newcomen was an English blacksmith, who invented the atmospheric steam engine, an improvement over Thomas Slavery's previous design.

The Newcomen steam engine used the force of atmospheric pressure to do the work. Thomas Newcomen's engine pumped steam into a cylinder. The steam was then condensed by cold water which created a vacuum on the inside of the cylinder. The resulting atmospheric pressure operated a piston, creating downward strokes. In Newcomen's engine the intensity of pressure was not limited by the pressure of the steam, unlike what Thomas Savery had patented in 1698.

In 1712, Thomas Newcomen together with John Calley built their first engine on top of a water filled mine shaft and used it to pump water out of the mine. The Newcomen engine was the predecessor to the Watt engine and it was one of the most interesting pieces of technology developed during the 1700's.

Thomas Newcomen Biography
The Newcomen Steam Engine
James Watt (1736-1819)
Engraving of James Watt

James Watt was a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer, born in Greenock, who was renowned for his improvements of the steam engine. In 1765, James Watt while working for the University of Glasgow was assigned the task of repairing a Newcomen engine, which was deemed inefficient but the best steam engine of its time. That started the inventor to work on several improvements to Newcomen's design.

Most notable was Watt's 1769 patent for a separate condenser connected to a cylinder by a valve. Unlike Newcomen's engine, Watt's design had a condenser that could be cool while the cylinder was hot. Watt's engine soon became the dominant design for all modern steam engines and helped bring about the Industrial Revolution.

A unit of power called the Watt was named after James Watt. the Watt symbol is W, and it is equal to 1/746 of a horsepower, or one Volt times one Amp.

James Watt Biographies

James Watt - 1 Page
James Watt History of the Growth of the Steam Engine - 4 Pages
James Watt - 5 Pages
Steam History and Technology
What is a Steam Engine?
The History of Steamboats
Steam Engine Library
How Steam Engines Work
The Steam Traction Engine
No one person can be credited with inventing the steam powered road vehicle, possibly the first ideas came from a French military engineer called Nicolas Cugnot.
The Steam Turbine - Charles Parsons
The idea of the steam engine, which Charles Parsons patented, was not a new one. Hero of Alexandria had demonstrated a crude form of steam turbine around 130 BC. However, Charles Parsons patented his new steam turbine engine on April 1884 and immediately used the engine to drive an electrical generator, which he also designed.
Benjamin Franklin Tibbets
Canadian, Benjamin Franklin Tibbets invented the world's first practical compound marine engine, used in the steamer "Reindeer." The Reindeer was the fastest steamer in the 1820's.
George H. Babcock & Stephen Wilcox
Babcock and Wilcox co-invented the water tube steam boiler, a safer and more efficient boiler.
©Mary Bellis

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Thomas Newcomen - The Invention of Steam Engines and Thomas Newcomen Role
Thomas Newcomen - Steam Engines of Thomas Newcomen
James Watt - History of Steam Power and James Watt
James Watt - Invention of the Modern Steam Engine
Industrial Revolution - James Watt Improves The Steam Engine

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4 Mind 4 Life: Mental Health Tips

Mental Health Tips



Top 50 Geniuses Of All Time – [In A Random Order]
Created by Drew | : Boost Brain Power


1) Albert Einstein - Albert Einstein is a name that comes to mind first when thinking of geniuses. Einstein’s brain was found to be deficient in certain parts, but extraordinarily powerful in others. Another trait of Albert’s brain was the fact that he had a much larger corpus callosum than the average man. The corpus callosum connects the right and left hemispheres and allows them to successfully transfer information back and forth (communicate with one another). Einstein has received the Nobel Prize in physics, was named “Person Of The Century” by Time Magazine, and has contributed phenomenal theories to the world of science (i.e. theory of relativity, unique field theory, etc).

2) Leonardo Da Vinci - Leonardo Da Vinci is considered one of the best painters of all time and possibly the most multi-talented man to have ever lived! Two of his works include: The Last Super & The Mona Lisa. Da Vinci was truly ahead of his time with ideas such as: a helicopter, a tank, solar power, a calculator, and a theory of plate tectonics. Leonardo was a unique individual who exercised the curiosity of his powerful brain.

3) Nikola Tesla- Tesla was a renowned physicist, inventor, and engineer. He has made phenomenal contributions to science and has been classified as the “world’s greatest electrical engineer.” Nikola engaged in studying many works, memorizing complete books, and supposedly had a photographic memory. Tesla had above average brain power and was an advanced thinker when compared to others of his time.

4) Sir Isaac Newton - Sir Isaac Newton was an astronomer astronomer, physicist, inventor, mathematician, and philosopher. In a 2005 poll, Newton was named more influential than Einstein in science. He has developed laws of motion, principles of momentum, and invented the reflecting telescope. Newton has had tons of great scientific achievements. His diverse list of scientific and mathematic accomplishments demonstrate the incredible ability of his brain.

5) Stephen Hawking - Hawking is known best for his theories of black holes, cosmology, and quantum gravity. He has also written several bestselling books such as: “A Brief History Of Time” and “The Universe In A Nutshell.” Though Stephen is currently bound to a wheelchair due to paralysis from Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS). Hawking has been recognized as a revolutionary thinker and one who displays above average intelligence.

6) Michelangelo - Michelangelo was a phenomenal painter, sculptor, architect, and poet. His diverse interest in art and the world really showed. He sculpted the Pieta and the David before he was 30 years old! He painted the Sistine Chapel and worked on the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica. Michelangelo was a genius that was able to bring an entirely new artistic perspective from his mind to reality.

7) Archimedes - Archimedes was a Greek philosopher, engineer, inventor and astronomer. He is also considered one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. Though there isn’t a ton of documented information regarding his personal life, we do know that he has had a large impact on science and physics. Archimedes’ thoughts were clearly ahead of his time: not many would disagree that he was a genius.

8) Warren Buffet – Though Warren Buffet isn’t a big contributor to science like many other names listed, he does have a ton of knowledge about making money through investing. He is a known philanthropist (someone who donates their time & money for charitable causes) and Time Magazine has regarded Buffet as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in the world. He was also ranked by Forbes in 2008 as the richest person in the world. His company [Berkshire Hathaway] has an estimated net worth of $62 billion dollars. Warren is a very intelligent man and a financial genius.

9) Swami Vivekananda - In the Eastern world, Swami Vivekananda is regarded as a genius by many. He was one of the most influential and spiritual leaders ever and was a highly-renowned thinker. Because of his insight and unique philosophy that he had contributed to eastern religions, his knowledge and intellect will continue to be admired.

10) Samuel Johnson - Samuel Johnson is regarded as one of the biggest literary influences of all time. He was a biographer, critic, and essayist. Johnson is the highest quoted author since William Shakespeare and was one of the most influential people in the 18th century. The man invented and compiled terms for what many consider the first official dictionary.

11) Immanuel Kant - Immanuel Kant was an 18th-century philosopher from Russia. He has been considered one of the most influential thinkers of all time in Europe. Kant brought forth a unique theory of perception and thought deeply about life. Many regard Kant as a genius of his time.

12) Aristotle - Aristotle was a Greek philosopher, student of Plato and one who taught Alexander the Great. Aristotle became a great writer and is regarded as one of the most important and influential figures towards shaping Western philosophy. His works were the first to ever study “logic” and he had a profound influence on others during his time.

13) Pablo Picasso - Though Picasso may not have been an amazing scientist, his revolutionary mind forever changed the way people looked at art. He was a master drawer, painter, and sculptor. He founded “cubism” – an art style which became a huge movement in the 20th century. Pablo Picasso’s unique perception, which he expressed through his art, caused many people to view reality from a different perspective.

14) Niles Bohr - Niels Bohr was a phenomenal physicist and a highly advanced thinker. He invented the Bohr Model which is regarded as a huge contribution to atomic physics. Bohr was heavily involved with post World War II scientific issues and carried a great head on his shoulders.

15) Thomas Jefferson - Thomas Jefferson was a very brilliant individual. He was the 3rd president of the United States, wrote The Declaration Of Independence, and was the most influential Founding Father for the U.S. He influenced the republican party and was a horticulturist, statesman, architect, author and inventor. Jefferson was the founder of the University of Virginia and understood that slavery was unethical in a time when most everyone else thought it was proper. Thomas Jefferson was definitely had an exceptional brain.

16) Plato - Plato was a Greek philosopher that was taught by Socrates, but taught Aristotle. Along with Socrates and Aristotle, Plato helped lay the groundwork for Western philosophy. He was known to be a mathematician, great writer, and founded “the Academy” or “institute of higher education and learning,” in Athens. His works in philosophy, logic, and mathematics, were studied and used by many teachers after his time. Not only was Plato a revolutionary thinker, he was a genius of his time.

17) Winston Churchill – Winston Churchill was a rightfully famous British politician during World War II. He is well-known for his abilities as a great leader, speaker, officer in the British Army, a historical writer, and an artist. Churchill became a hero of his time and is considered one of the most intelligent men of his time.

18) Benjamin Franklin - Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the U.S., an author, and a printer. He was also a great politician, inventor, and scientist. Benjamin Franklin’s scientific contributions have shaped physics and the field of electricity. He invented the lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove, the odometer, and the glass harmonica. Franklin created the first public lending library in the United States and first fire department in the city of Pennsylvania. Ben Franklin was a true genius of his time.

19) Thomas Edison – Thomas Edison was a great inventor and businessman who created many appliances that have had profound influence on life around the world. A couple of his inventions are: the phonograph and a long lasting light bulb. Jefferson was also one of the first inventors to apply the idea of “mass production” to the invention process. Many give Jefferson credit with creating the first ever industrial research lab. He is considered one of the most gifted inventors ever and holds over 1,000 United States patents. Edison truly added his touch of genius to the scientific community.

20) Daniel Tammet - Daniel Tammet is a high-functioning autistic savant. He has been gifted with a knack for mathematics, language learning, and above average memorization skills. He was featured on a discovery channel special that tested his abilities and showed his ability to learn arguably the toughest language, Icelandic, in less than 7 days to appear in an interview. Daniel has an incredible brain and was gifted with an above-average intellect.

21) William Shakespeare - William Shakespeare was a poet, playwright, and has been hailed “the greatest writer” in the English language and the worlds best dramatist. He has been deemed the national poet of England and his works include: nearly 40 plays, around 150 sonnets, and 2 long poems. Shakespeare’s plays have been translated into every language, and are performed more often than any other playwright. Shakespeare shed his genius-like thoughts through his complex storytelling.

22) Kim Peek - Though Kim Peek is a savant, he has some exceptional brain abilities. He is lacking a functional corpus callosum (which makes it impossible for his right and left brain hemispheres to exchange information) and has a damaged cerebellum. Without a corpus callosum, some develop above average memory abilities. In Kim Peek’s case, he can read a new book in about 1 hour and manages to retain over 98% of the information within the book! Impressive.

23) Ludwig van Beethoven - Beethoven was a German pianist and legendary musician. He was very influential in Western classical music and is thought of as the best composer of all time. Though Beethoven’s hearing began to cease in his early twenties, he was still able to create classical masterpieces. He was able to conduct, compose, and perform music even after he was completely deaf! Beethoven blessed the world with his musical genius and brilliant mind.

24) Srinivasa Ramanujan - Srinivasa was an Indian mathematician who was able to make huge contributions in the area of mathematical analysis and number theory. Srinivasa demonstrated an uncanny, natural ability to master mathematics. He had a complete math book mastered by 13, and even discovered theorems of his own. He won many awards by showing others his superior mathematical ability at his school. By age 17, this mathematical prodigy was doing his own research with mathematics and numbers. He compiled nearly 4,000 equations and identities in his short lifetime.

25) Johann Sebastian Bach - Bach was an exceptional composer and organist. He specialized in choir, orchestra, and solo instruments. He was able to enrich the German composing style with a full harmonic scale and was able to adapt rhythms from Italy and France. Though his music began early in the 19th century, he is now noted as one of the greatest composers in the Western tradition. Bach was yet another musical genius.

26) Wolfgang Amedeus Mozart - Mozart was a very influential composer during the classical era. He was able to create over 600 compositions that were widely accepted and acknowledged. His music specialties included symphony, chamber music, piano, opera, and choral music. Mozart is among the most popular of classical composers, and many of his works are still included in concerts today. Mozart clearly demonstrated his musical proficiency and level of genius.

27) Sir Francis Drake - Drake was a famous traveler, navigator, and politician from England. He managed to circumnavigate the world in 1577 and has been proclaimed a legend in England. Drake was an exceptionally smart individual and had an estimated I.Q. of 130. Sir Francis was a powerful man that happened to have an incredibly powerful brain.

28) George Berkeley - George Berkeley was an Irish philosopher and developed a famous theory of “immaterialism.” Berkeley also published a book called “The Analyst” that would critique calculus and influence common day mathematics. University Of California, Berkeley was named after George due to his intelligence and philosophical insight.

29) Ludwig Wittgenstein - Ludwig was an Austrian philosopher that developed theories involving logic. He contributed to the philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of language, and philosophy of the mind. He has had a huge influence on philosophy and is widely accepted as one of the twentieth century’s best philosophers. Wittengenstein published 2 books and both were highly influential in philosophy.

30) Socrates - Socrates is regarded as one of the best ancient greek philosophers of all time. As teacher of Plato, he has been associated with highly advanced thinking during his time. His work continues to form much of the foundation for the study of philosophy today. Socrates has made important contributions to the study of logic and writings, and has provided a lot of groundwork that much of the Western civilization has followed.


31) Linus Pauling – Linus Pauling was a peace activist, scientist, author, and teacher. Pauling is regarded as one of the most influential chemists in history and was one of the most important scientists of all time. He was one of the pioneers to work in the study of molecular biology and quantum chemistry. He has been awarded more than 1 Nobel Prize and is one of only 2 individuals to receive them for different fields.

32) Christopher Michael Langan - Christopher Langan is an American with an IQ was reported by “20/20″ and other media sources to have been measured at nearly 200. Though he used to work as a bouncer in Long Island, he rose to fame as “the smartest man in America” in 1999. Langan has developed “a theory of the relationship between mind and reality” which he calls the “Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe and is still alive today. This man has one of the highest I.Q.’s ever on Earth.

33) Michael Faraday - Michael Faraday was a phenomenal chemist and physicist who contributed to the fields of electrochemistry and electromagnetics. His inventions of electromagnetic devices formed the foundation of electric motor technology, and it was largely due to his efforts that electricity became available for use in technology. Faraday was also the very first Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution of Great Britain.

34) Blaise Pascal – Blaise Pascal was a French physicist, religious philosopher, and great mathematician. Pascal was a child prodigy and was taught a lot by his father. Pascal’s contributions included: mechanical calculators, concepts of pressure, concepts of vacuum, and the study of fluids. In literature, Pascal is regarded as one of the most important authors of the French classical period. His name (Pascal) has been given to the SI unit of pressure, some programming language, and Pascal’s law.

35) Galileo Galilei - Galileo Galilei was a legendery astronomer, physicist, mathematician, and philosopher. He played a major role in the scientific revolution. His achievements include the first studies of uniformly accelerated motion, improvements to the telescope, and astronomical observations. Galileo has been called the “father of modern observational astronomy”, the “father of modern physics”, the “father of science”, and “the Father of Modern Science.” With his discoveries and studies, Galileo was able to display his brilliance.


36) Martin Luther - Martin Luther was a German professor, a monk, theologian, and church reformer. Luther’s theology challenged the authority of the church by stating that the Bible is the only infallible source of religious authority and that all baptized Christians are a priesthood of believers. According to Luther, salvation was attainable only by true repentance and faith in “Jesus as the Messiah.” His revolutionary ideas inspired the Protestant Reformation and changed the philosophy of Western civilization.

37) Robert Boyle - Was a natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, inventor, and early gentleman scientist. Boyle was largely known for his works in physics and chemistry. He is best known for the creation of “Boyle’s law.” Boyle is recognized today as one of the first modern chemists and one of the founding fathers of chemistry. One of his works, “The Sceptical Chymist” is viewed as a legendary book in the field of chemistry.

38) John Locke - John Locke was a phenomenal English philosopher. Locke’s ideas had a huge influence on the development of political philosophy and he is considered one of the most influential thinkers during the Enlightenment and one of the biggest contibutors to liberal theory. Locke’s influence is reflected in the American Declaration of Independence. Locke was the first philosopher to define the self through a continuity of “consciousness.” John Locke was an independent thinker and among the greatest philosophers.

39) Charles Darwin - Charles Darwin was a naturalist and geologist who proposed that all species of life have evolved over time. The fact that evolution occurs became accepted by the scientific community and the general public. Darwin’s scientific discovery remains the foundation of biology. Darwin is yet another great thinker of his time and his theories are still studied and discussed today.

40) Johannes Kepler - Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer. He was a huge influence towards the astronomical revolution of the 17th century. Kepler is best known for his laws of planetary motion. His laws also provided one of the foundations for Isaac Newton’s theory of universal gravitation. Kepler is regarded as a man with revolutionary thoughts towards astronomy.

41) Napoleon Bonaparte - Napoleon Bonaparte was a political and French military leader who had a huge influence on European history. Napoleon was a general during the French Revolution, Emperor of France, King of Italy, and Mediator of the Swiss. Napoleon was a very intelligent military leader who used innovative tactics and strategy to help him win many battles.

42) Garry Kasparov – Garry Kasparov was a former World Chess Champion, writer, and political activist. Kasparov was a candidate for the Russian presidential race of 2008. Kasparov holds the all-time highest chess rating of 2851 and records for consecutive tournament victories.

43) John Stuart Mill – John Stuart Mill largely influenced British thought and politics in the 19th century. His large number of works include: texts in logic, economics, social and political philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, and religion. John Stuart Mill is recognized as one of the most intelligent men of his time and is regarded as one of the smartest men of all time.

44) Rene Descartes - Rene Descartes was an influential philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and writer. Descartes has been given the title “Father of Modern Philosophy,” and has contributed a lot to Western philosophy. His writings are still being studied today and he has had a huge influence in mathematics. Rene was a key figure in the scientific revolution and was able to share his incredible insights with others.

45) George Washington - George Washington was the first President of the United States, and lead the U.S. continental Army to defeat the British in the Revolutionary war. Washington is viewed as a symbol of the United States and republican party. He has been consistently ranked by citizens as one of the greatest presidents of the United States.

46) Miguel de Cervantes – Miguel de Cervantes was a Spanish novelist, poet, painter and playwright. He is one of the most influential and important people in literature and the leader of culture in 16th century Spain. Cervantes’ novel “Don Quixote” is considered a classic of Western literature and has been ranked among the best novels ever written. Miguel de Cervantes’ work is considered among the most important in all of literature!

47) Francois Marie-Arouet – Commonly known by the pen-name Voltaire, Francois Marie-Arouet was a French Enlightenment writer, essayist, and philosopher. He was known for his wit, defense of civil liberties, and philosophy. He was an outspoken supporter of social reform and was one of several Enlightenment figures whose works and ideas influenced important thinkers of both the American and French Revolutions.

48) Baruch de Spinoza - Baruch de Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher that was very proficient in science. Most of Spinoza’s work was not recognized until after his death. Today, Spinoza is regarded as one of the greatest 17th century philosophers. His work in philosophy laid the foundation for the 18th century Enlightenment.

49) Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz - Leibniz was a German polymath who is regarded as one of the greatest philosophers. Liebniz invented calculus, and his version is widely used. He also discovered the binary system, the structure of modern computer architectures. He was, along with Rene Descartes and Baruch Spinoza, one of the 3 greatest 17th century philosophers. He also made major contributions to physics, technology, and made anticipations that surfaced much later in biology, medicine, geology, probability theory, psychology, and linguistics. Liebniz also wrote about politics, law, ethics, theology, and history.

50) Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer whose works span the fields of poetry, drama, literature, theology, humanism, and science. Goethe was a key figure in German literature and the movement of Weimar Classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Goethe is the inventor of the concept of “world literature,” having taken great interest in the literatures of England, France, Italy, classical Greece, Persia, and Arabic literature. His influence on German philosophy is unparalleled and his influence has spread across Europe. Many of his works were a primary source of inspiration in music, drama, and poetry. Goethe is considered one of the most important thinkers in the Western culture and generally recognized as the most important writer in the German language.

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102 Comments »
102 Responses to “Top 50 Geniuses Of All Time – [In A Random Order]”
on 01 Apr 2008 at 5:47 pm # Obi

Dude, I love this post and I think your Top 3 are spot on, but…

How the hell can you put Warren Buffett in the Top 10, and like 20 spots above Socrates?!

And where is Marcus Aurelius in all this madness!?!

You’ve got some explaining to do man…

on 02 Apr 2008 at 2:15 am # Drew

Hey Obi,

Glad to hear you enjoyed it. I didn’t put them in a “ranked” order. I’m planning another project where intelligence will be “ranked.”

Thanks for your comments :)

on 02 Apr 2008 at 2:21 am # Obi

Alright bro, you’re in the clear. :)

on 09 Jul 2008 at 1:25 pm # Ranjeet

hi..

I guess John Nash did an incredible job too… His mind was quoted as “A beautiful mind” indeed…

What say??

Ranjeet

on 07 Oct 2008 at 6:24 pm # stardust

Interesting list, I feel Rudolph Steiner should have appeared on it though!
Stardust

on 26 Nov 2008 at 6:41 am # Mark

Where’s Richard Feynman? He was a by far the most brilliant physicist — way beyond Hawking, just not as stereotypical.

on 29 Dec 2008 at 7:48 pm # sad

whats the point? all born geniuses what’s the point for losers to read about them. its not like you can get as good as these guys.

on 30 Dec 2008 at 6:37 am # Obi

Don’t be so sad, Sad.

Geniuses aren’t born, they’re created. And you have the power to be just as great, if not greater, if you decide to be.

on 06 Feb 2009 at 1:12 am # Bill

u r list is a little messed up…it only list people with magnificent achievement and a major influence to humankind. The definition of genius. 1.exceptional intellectual or creative power or other natural ability. 2 an exceptionally intelligent or able person. from oxford university dictionary. like i don’t understand why Winston Churchill is on there, he is not like insane smart.

Thanks

on 12 Feb 2009 at 6:14 pm # lawal mustapha oluwatosin

genetically ingenious

on 21 Feb 2009 at 5:39 am # Mimi

Where are the women? Are there no women geniuses?

Here’s my try at a list, in no particular order:

Marie Curie
Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz
Elizabeth I
Jane Addams
Lady Murasaki
Jane Austen
Charlotte Brontë
Joni Mitchell
Toni Morrison
Golda Meir

on 21 Feb 2009 at 5:34 pm # eq

there are no women on this list..

on 22 Feb 2009 at 7:35 pm # alaa

I cannot believe sigmund freud is not up there!

on 25 Feb 2009 at 11:07 pm # Jven

hey a friend told me about a book of the most brilliant minds in hstory where can I find it??

on 22 Mar 2009 at 8:42 pm # Martin

Very good list I must say,though I would add Salvador Dali to the list as well.

on 22 Apr 2009 at 1:22 pm # ilias

Well, it is subjective as who to put in this list. I mean Napoleaon was a great general, but was he really smarter than julius ceasar or alexander the great who expanded his empire to India? Philosopher Karl Marx is not on the list as well as Homer and Hippokrates father of medicine.

on 24 May 2009 at 12:39 am # tathiana

WHERES MARX!!!!???

on 28 Jun 2009 at 8:00 am # kristofferson

awesome lists dude.. notify me(if you can) when u get that “ranked” lists of brilliant people =)

on 13 Jul 2009 at 4:04 pm # ajit vadakayil

gentlemen,

NICOLA TESLA SHOULD HAVE BEEN NUMBER ONE!

von neumann should have come ahead of albert einstein.

does anybody know that einstein borrowed ideas, as he was working in the patents office?

like how marconi and edison borrowed tesla’s ideas!

CAPT AJIT VADAKAYIL

on 06 Aug 2009 at 2:15 pm # yasha

Kasparov doesn’t belong on this list.

I’d never put Picasso ahead of Van Gogh and Rembrandt.

Some so-called “geniuses” are noted here for their IQs and how quickly they can absorb information (such as Peek). I am not aware of the full range of Peek’s abilities, but true genius is not so much about absorbing information quickly (reading a book in under an hour, say), but is actually about creative potential, new ideas, etc…

Where is Dante and Chaucer here?
What about Rumi?
Dostoyevsky?
Julius Caesar?
William Blake?

Krishnamurti is a more interesting thinker than Vivekananda.

What about the spiritual geniuses, such as Buddha, Jesus, etc? Where are they?

This is far from a satisfactory list.

I don’t know about Samuel Johnson either. As admirable as he was, compared with the geniuses I listed here, he had mechanical talents.

Descartes – overrated. His statement “I think, therefore I am” is childish, something even the laziest Buddhist philosopher would never say. And Buddhists were around centuries before he lived. It would have been better had Hume been included instead, though I have my doubts about the inclusion of Hume…

on 06 Aug 2009 at 2:28 pm # yasha

I should have said: “Where are Dante and Chaucer here?”

Other serious candidates:

Li Po
Whitman
Hafez
Brahms
Wagner
Heifetz
Dickinson
King David
Nagarjuna
Ibsen
Nietzsche

on 20 Aug 2009 at 8:05 am # D Armor

Please do your research and include Richard Feynman. One of the most brilliant physics and mathematicians ever. The more you read about him the more you will put in in your top 50; I promise. He could replace Kim Peek who really did not do anything relavent.

on 17 Sep 2009 at 6:56 am # Amran

Hey what about Muhammad the prophet?

on 30 Sep 2009 at 1:54 pm # Cesar

Just one question to show you what is more important for mankind…..

Do you know who was the richest man of the world when Socrates was alive?

Did you notice in one documentary, that even the US military was involved trying to find Mozart’s DNA?

Can you imagine doing that trying to get the austrian’s emperor DNA or the DNA of a very wealthy man of that time?

The richest men tend to benefit THEMSELVES…..the work of the REAL genius of the mankind, tend to benefit HUMANS….think about it.

Socrates, Da Vinci, Newton, Darwin, Galileo, Bohr…..
Wich of them were the wealthiest of their time?

on 01 Oct 2009 at 4:53 am # Raymond

good list i like but imo if your going to put thomas jefferson and washington lincoln has to be there as well. he is considered the greatest president by a lot.

on 13 Oct 2009 at 6:19 am # SONNY

WHERE IS DR. JOSE RIZAL OF PHILIPPINES??HE’S A GENIUS MAN WHO IS VERY HUMBLE..HE KNOWS A LOT WHEN IT COMES TO ARTS,MEDICINE,POETRY,,HE IS AN EXCELLENT PAINTER,SCULPTOR,AUTHOR,MATHEMATICIAN,PHYSICIST,OPTHALMOLOGIST,NATIONAL HERO OF THE PHILIPPINES,PHILOSOPHER,THEOLOGIAN,EDUCATOR,CONVERSANT IN ALL LANGUAGES IN THE WORLD,POET,WRITER AND HE HAS A VERY UNIQUE TALENT WHICH ALBERT EINSTEIN CANNOT DO,HE MUST BE PUT AS NUMBER ONE…AND FOR YOUR INFO HE GOT AN EXCELLENT GRADES IN ALL SUBJECTS WHEN HE WAS STILL STUDYING

on 27 Oct 2009 at 10:57 am # acube

Why did Galileo Galilei ended up at top 30 only? He was like the founder of modern science! I was hoping to see James Clerk Maxwell and some strategic military geniuses like Alexander the Great and Julius Cesar who almost took over the world itself!

on 28 Oct 2009 at 8:56 pm # Pablo

I think we need more than one list, or else make an effort to look beyond the white male world.

on 29 Oct 2009 at 10:37 am # Genius

Obi got caught!

on 30 Oct 2009 at 12:15 am # ryan

besides many others mentioned before, i would put particular emphasis on adding nietsche

on 13 Nov 2009 at 10:09 am # lostto

I reviewed this list looking to solve a personal mystery thats plagued me for the last 10 yrs or so…I read a reference once that described a man living in the 5th or 6th century as the most brilliant and accomplished mind of all time. I was very surprised I’d never heard the name, since I read alot of history books.
My recollection of the bio was as follows: he was born in the 5th or 6th century in the south of France to a undistinguished, uneducated family; recognized as brilliant by church officials, he was placed in and educated by the church very early in his life, and spent the rest of his life in Italy. He was renowned in several fields, but especially mathematics and philosophy.
Several figures fit most parts of this bio (Pope Gregory, Gaspard Monge, and 1-2 others), but are way off for a major detail. Any help in id-ing this person is appreciated!
BTW…George Washington!? Do you mean Thomas Jefferson? Washington wrote next to nothing compared with his contemporaries, nor was he an intellectual or highly educated man. A brilliant military talent perhaps, but little else distinguished him. I’ve never understood anyone stating he was a great president. More like in the right place at the time, and a compromise, default pick for the first, based on his military heroism. It was Jefferson who was so renowned for his well-rounded genius, pursuit of knowledge, and brilliant writings.

on 16 Nov 2009 at 12:15 pm # Lenya

It seems that this list was created by one person, with his ideas and without anything other.
Of course most of first 20 are really geniuses, but it’s very strange that some living peoples did nothing genially and added in this list only after they high results on IQ test. Also strange that no women in list, i think here could be Curie at least.
Now we can’t rate geniuses of antique world in one list with living people; author tried to do it, but had not good result.
PS:I’m sorry for my bad english

on 16 Nov 2009 at 9:06 pm # Jimi

Where are the eskimos? Are there no esquimaux geniuses?

Hawking is a popular writer with a lot of time on his hands not Da Vinci. Same with Warren Buffett, right place at the right time.

Carl Jung, John Coltrane, and Milton Erickson had more sophisticated minds

on 17 Nov 2009 at 1:03 am # BOBALOO

What about Helen Keller??? I would call her one because she SURVIVED BEING DEAF AND BLIND! And I do believe that Dr. Jose Rizal should have been on the list. He is a very powerful person who changed the Phillipines. Lincoln maybe should be on there but IDK.

on 27 Nov 2009 at 7:25 am # deadman

please consider Henry Cavendish as he might be even at one of the top spots

on 12 Jan 2010 at 6:41 am # Alex

I agree with Mimi!

And, I believe Kate Bush should be added. I just think she is a “brilliant” musician. Brilliant! But, I am biased…a little.

on 19 Jan 2010 at 4:43 am # David

Nooo in no wayy is Einstein #1 they say his IQ was in the 160′s. At the age of eleven Ted Kaczynski had an IQ of 169

on 04 Feb 2010 at 11:12 am # jake

Muhammad the prophet should definitely be cosidered. I am a white male(trying not to be biased) and i think some women should be included (Mimi’s list has some good suggestions). Also more people beyond the western world should be considered. And yes it does seem like one person created this list. What about Adolf Hitler (even though we perceive him to be evil).

on 15 Feb 2010 at 7:58 am # Cindi

Only white men make the genius list? I must conclude the list-maker and applauders would certainly not make the list. And I am not asking for token names. But a measure that truly covers the range of genius.

on 18 Feb 2010 at 11:20 pm # dasma

An incomplete list, Wittgenstein as nro. 1 for me. And Plato over Socrates? But well done anyway, a good list for starters.

And yes there are no women geniuses, there never was and never will be, since genius is the highest form of masculinity there is.

on 21 Feb 2010 at 8:16 pm # IOAN COSMA

I cannot believe that Lagrange is not on the list.

on 12 Mar 2010 at 9:31 pm # Punchy

3 words: A Dolf Hitler
Oh, and Wayne Gretzky too.

on 26 Mar 2010 at 9:22 am # ashkara

haha..this list is clearly meaningless…no Muhammad included..if you could think logically, this guy have supergreat influenced and huge amounts of followers. now there around 1.4 billion muslim peoples which follow muhammad teaching. so there are so weird if this great guy havent listed.

on 15 Apr 2010 at 8:52 pm # IQ is subjective

Firstly , I would like to point out that the measurement of IQ and intelligence in general is subjective.Secondly , I think that a lot of the people on the list are not geniuses , but rather just individuals who did something important. Also a lot of physicists and mathematicians were missed out , in fact almost all of the list should have been filled with them.

on 26 May 2010 at 6:49 pm # nicolass vpn ahn

nikola tesla should rule
he is the best
smater then eistien and fuke george washington

on 08 Jun 2010 at 3:04 am # Fish

Punchy, Hitler may have been pretty smart at the beginning, but he let the power get the best of him, so that was pretty foolish right there. Besides, Goebbels was the real genius, with all of his work with the propaganda. And Gretzky is just plain awesome XD

on 24 Jun 2010 at 10:35 am # Anush

Few more must have’s..

Science: Fermi, Tsiolkovsky

Medicine: Pasteur, Fleming

Humanitarian: Gandhi, Mother Theresa

Sports: Pele, Maradona, Tal, Bradman

Economics: Caines, Marx, Chanakya

Film: Chaplin, Stanislavsky, Hitchcock

on 15 Aug 2010 at 12:08 pm # list is bollocks

Where are Euler, Gauss, Fermat, Chopin?

Warren Buffet? Are you kidding me?

on 16 Aug 2010 at 3:42 pm # TOM THOMAS

This list meaning less top genius man of all time is

OSHO RAJNEESH (indian mystic)

GAUTAM BUDDHA

Jain 24 Tirthankara MAHAVIR

LAO TZU (TAO)

KABIR (indian saint)

AND ALL ENLIGHTENMET MASTERS

on 07 Sep 2010 at 3:31 am # cusa

Where is Gauß?

on 07 Sep 2010 at 3:42 am # cusa

And, Immanuel Kant was not Russian, he was Prussian.

on 16 Sep 2010 at 10:34 pm # the K.A.P

Why top up ya list with whites, are u saying negroes have no influential men, what about imoteph (the first named Arch.), Hannibal (world’s great warrior who defeated roman empire) H. Macaulay, Mandela among others. Da list is not educative, xry 4 dat word. Try to renew ur list

on 15 Dec 2010 at 5:14 pm # Corinne Nelsen

I think we can all agree it would take a much longer list to name every genius or great intelligence in our world’s history. Just because someone is not on this particular list does not mean they are less intelligent than the individuals here.

That being said I would like to submit Ayn Rand as one of the greatest minds of our time.

on 25 Dec 2010 at 6:30 pm # Angela

You ought to include names like James Watt , who made significant impact in revolutionalizing the misteries behind DNA. Top on the list should be The wright Brothers, Philip Emeagwali, Ukemenam Angela …………

on 01 Jan 2011 at 11:35 am # baghlani

Faithfuully I think the most brilliant mind in all over the world & in all along the history is certainly karl friedrich gauss.Please rearange the above mentioned list accordingly.

on 04 Jan 2011 at 8:58 am # PLB

It’s sad to say that all modern thought/mathematics/philosophy came from the Egyptian and or Nubian cultue and that there isn’t any credit given. But white man has always done that. Wow. Sad and predictible.

on 16 Jan 2011 at 9:33 am # a

WHERE ON EARTH IS KARL FREDRICH GAUSS!!!!!!!!!! AND WHY THE HELL IS NAPOLEAN A HITLER SHAPED MANIAC ON THIS LIST OF GENIUSES??? IS THIS A CHILD PRODIHY LIST OR A GENIUS ONE ? IS THIS A GENIUS LIST OR A LIST OF RANDOM un(in)famous maniacs????????????? whhere is kim ung yong

on 26 Jan 2011 at 2:57 am # Name

Here is my top 5 list that i reccommend.
1.GAUSS
2.EULER
3.ERDOS
4.NEWTON
5.MAXWELL
mostly math and physiscs and people but that’s what i think takes the most genius.

and also i don’t think that these people should be called geniuses since the definition of a genius is VAUGE and all humans are pretty dumb.

on 26 Jan 2011 at 6:06 am # impersonator

I don’t think any of our modern day geniuses hshould have any chance to be on the top 10. maybe Torrence Tao. especailly steven hawkins has contributed little usefulness or proved anything impossinle for the world.

on 27 Jan 2011 at 12:12 am # Gauss

I don’t think einstein should be considerd the greatest genius of all time!!!! I think i have done much more than an d is much smarter than eulre and niudun combbin ed!!!!!!!

on 29 Jan 2011 at 4:54 am # Yeknomo

First off the list is very good it shows many geniuses but as always the order is debatable. The reason for the lack of women and African Americans is because for the majority of time they weren’t taken seriously in the workforce. In the US women and African Americans were discriminated against until the 20th century. I agree with Madam Currie being on the list though. secondly, people like Jesus and Mohammad and MLK Jr. shouldn’t be on the list because they were influential but not in science and math and thus are not geniuses. White men should dominate the list because until around 200years ago they ruled the world.

on 30 Jan 2011 at 9:02 am # THEGAME

I REALLY disagree with this list! WHERE is archemedis euclid and george bush!??? i think first place should definetly be oiler followed by kim ung yong! take out buffet and replace him with GATES. there both crazy rich peole but at lestt bill gatese is a nerd!
GAUSS????

on 03 Feb 2011 at 11:09 am # John

It makes sense that Einstein is 1st, but I would actually put Beethoven at one. But which is more impressive: figuring out that time is relative, or writing the greatest music in history while totally deaf?

on 06 Feb 2011 at 1:20 am # zzzp

IDIOS!!What a shame !!!: Alexander the Great ,Michel Angelo,Dostoyevsky
,Plato,Riemann,Gauss,Einstein

on 07 Feb 2011 at 12:36 pm # Amritesh

GOOD WORK!!! u should try making a new list reading all suggestions…try including john nash,madam curie and richard feynman..try including votes so many people can vote their top 50 and the list will be more relevant.

on 07 Feb 2011 at 8:35 pm # America

When you post a comment know your facts. Hannibal did not defeat the Roman Empire Carthage was defeated. He performed extremely well but in the end he lost. Definitely a brilliant perhaps the most brilliant general of all time but he still lost.

on 07 Feb 2011 at 8:37 pm # America

This list is somewhat biased but consider the American education system. It is largely based on European history therefore who appears on the list? White Males of course. People need to stop attacking the maker of the list he simply went by the people he/she could think of.

on 11 Feb 2011 at 7:12 pm # John Sanders

Iqbal Saleh Abba has the highest IQ tested in the world: so, the info here has to be latest and Chris Langdon is not the person. Why don’t you be accurate?

on 14 Feb 2011 at 5:30 am # Korey

Where is Bill Gates he is a huge part of the technological revolution.

on 26 Feb 2011 at 10:38 pm # Me

Tesla should be number 1. Da vinci is overrated.

on 18 Mar 2011 at 12:16 pm # David Koevoets

Tesla nr 1
or
Maxwell nr 1

No woman in the list, they should clean! :-p

on 22 Mar 2011 at 2:44 am # Bruz2r

Bach 2 the Future?

“25) Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach was an exceptional composer and organist… his music began early in the 19th century….”

on 22 Mar 2011 at 4:43 am # Zach

Speaking composers, I feel Brian Wilson should have made the list. His mind is so vast and so complicated, that the thoughts that go through his mind about music could be compared to those that went through Einstein’s concerning science. I can see why he didn’t amongst competition from composers like Mozart and Beethoven, but just a thought.

on 24 Mar 2011 at 5:46 pm # Dr guru

Good try.can b considerd as list of 50 geniuses instead of TOP.Read many suggessions to improve it

on 25 Mar 2011 at 9:21 am # whatthe

Tesla is the greatest by far!

on 29 Mar 2011 at 7:48 am # john

i agree einstein is number 1, but newton suppose to be number 2 or 3.. he have more contribution than tesla..

on 01 Apr 2011 at 1:36 am # lia

ilias,tathiana ,mimi -you nailed it!!! that’s what i’m asking myself? where the hell are the w0men, hippocrates,HOMER and especially KARL MARX!!!!!!!!!!!!!

on 08 Apr 2011 at 1:56 pm # Steve

AQUINAS…. AUGUSTINE… John Paul II…
You had Fr. Martin Luther but not his wife the ex-nun? If you wanted to pick a Protestant “Reformer” Zwingli or Calvin would have been better choices

on 02 May 2011 at 12:21 pm # platomk

notable missing
pythagoras mathematician
hero of alexandria – greatest inventor of all time

over rated.
leonardo – hardly ever finshed anything. notes and drawings that werte never made or published so had no influence. as all in the renaissance these figures rediscovered the greek ideas, never equalling them as Michaeangelo cried when he saw the sculpture Lacoon because as he put it he could never equal its magnigicance and told the pope he and no one else could ever reach the perfection of the greek artists almost 2000 years before.
science and its discipline was almost single handedly created by Aristotle. what he achieved was profound. ever one since has merely “stood on the shoulders fo giants and can see a little further” but could not see anything without the mental giants that proceeded them. whitehead said that all western philosophy is a footnote to Plato and many agree with him. Plato and socrates should top this list as without them the others dont exist.
archimedes revolutionsed war, catapults, bows so ahead of his time and the world that he kept Rome at bay from ravaging his city SYracuse for 50 years. all real world all working machines that changed the world as we know it. to put leonardo ahead of him is just .. well silly.
Euclids book on mathematics has been the text book for mathematics for most of the world for 2000 years with no changes or additions till the late 1920′s when new ideas were added. none of the other mathematics was changed or altered as it was all but perfection.
heros steam engine, hsi “car”, coin operated vending machines, nuematic doors, pipe organs and the list goes on..
Galens work in anatomy is still studied by Surgeons today. Hypocrates changed the myths and gods out of healing and paved the way for modern medicine.
phythogoras work in mathematics changed it from mere rules of thumb to become the language of science. somthing that today is regarded as possibly mans greatest achievement. and its attibuted to him. sciencists and physicians today owe a debt of grattitude to him.
aristotle work in all fields of knowledge has never been equelled and profound. he basically IS science. regarded to this day as knowing more than any human who has ever lived.
alexander never lost and gennerals today still study him and his plans, Shwartzcoff has stated that certain monueveures in Iraq were based on his tactics in India. Caesar wept as he was was just starting as a commander and at the same age Alexander had conquered the world.
Homers Illiad and the Odyssey are still influencing storytelling and the movies you watch today.
Platos writings changed the world, influencing drastically the christian world and theology, the middle east, creator fo the first university.

the list should have at the top about 20 greeks and then everyone else listed and which greek influenced their ideas.. but hey perhaps im biased but then again I got this from reading it form EInstein, Betrand Russell, Voltaire, THomas Aquinus, and a thousand others including msot fo the people on your list who said the same.

on 06 May 2011 at 5:04 am # Steven

Albert Einstein should be high on the list, but not number 1. He benefited from a lot work developed before him. Riemann was trying to develop a gravitational theory with curved space, which Einstein realized he should have been looking at space-time not space. Also, with Maxwell’s work Einstein would not have developed special relativity. Einstein great genius, but not greatest.

I would definitely put Newton above Einstein. He developed physics and calculus, during a time when most people during his time were still burning witches and thought plagues was punishment from God. When Newton didn’t have the mathematics required to his work in physics, HE INVENTED CALCULUS TO DO IT!

But, for the greatest genius ever, I would have to go with Archimedes. Archimedes was probably the greatest mathematician that has ever lived. His work was still being studied and deciphered by mathematicians over 1000 years after he was dead. At the time of his death, Archimedes was working on Limits and started developing Calculus. Let me repeat that, he was developing Calculus over 1500 years before Newton invented it. But, he was killed by Roman soldiers before he could complete it. If he had not been killed, physics and science would probably be ridiculously more advanced than it is today, because once you have Calculus (deals with things like rates of change) Newtonian Physics will soon start to poor out of it.

Archimedes did all of this when very little mathematical notation had been developed and pretty much only well known math was Euclid’s geometry. Archimedes was so far a head of his time that no one during his time could even understand what the hell he was doing. Only Newton seems the only one that has a chance to compare to this kind of genius.

on 11 May 2011 at 12:06 am # HIStory vetted

Tesla @ the top and argue about the other 49.

“He who seeks shall find”. If one cares to look.

@ Yekenomo – I DO agree with you about why Jesus, Mohammed and MLK Jr. should be excluded, but why prove your ignorance of black geniuses? True ingenuity and intelligence can’t be discriminated against.

But when I saw Sammel Jackson on the list, for a second there I thought….aw, never mind. :)

The names are for everyone. Their “serious” accomplishments are for Nomo!

Mark E. Dean

Do you know why you can Plug and Play any printer, keyboard, monitor or peripheral without programing your computer to work with it every time? Because of the ISA bus. Mark Dean was the computer scientist who led the team that developed the ISA bus, and he led the design team responsible for creating the first one-gigahertz computer processor chip too. He also contributed to the design of IBM’s first personal computer, holding three of the nine core patents upon which these machines were based. He holds some 25 patents with at least 10 more pending and has been honored with numerous awards including election to the National Academy of Engineers, membership in the American Academy of Arts and Science and being awarded with the Ronald H. Brown American Innovators Award. He’s an “IBM Fellow” (only 231 since 1962) which is the highest level of technical excellence at the company, and has held a variety of posts at IBM, including Vice President of Performance for the RS/6000 division; Director of the Austin Research Research Lab; and, as of 2004, Vice President of the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif., where he has lead the effort to develop tablet-style PCs. In 1997 he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

James West

He studied physics at Temple U. Specializing in microphones, West went on to author 200 patents and more than 60 technical and scientific publications. In 1962, with Gerhard Sessler, West developed the foil electret microphone, which became the industry standard. Approximately 90% of microphones in use today are based on this invention and almost all telephones utilize it, as well as tape recorders, camcorders, baby monitors and hearing aids. In 1999, West and Sessler were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for their invention of the “Electroacoustic Transducer/Electret Microphone”. West left Bell Labs in 2001 as a retired Distinguished Member of Technical Staff and Bell Labs Fellow. His numerous distinctions include Fellowship in the IEEE and membership in the National Academy of Engineering, National Patent Law Association, the Electrochemical Society of America, the Acoustical Society of America and the National Society of Black Engineers. In 1997, he was named president-elect of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA).

West has more than 40 U.S. and over 100 foreign patents and has authored or contributed to more than 100 technical papers and several books on acoustics, solid-state physics and materials science. He is especially active in programs designed to inspire minorities and women to enter fields in science, technology and engineering. As of 2003, he has served as a research professor at the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He was named Divisional Diversity Council of the Whiting School in the fall of that year.

Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)

An internationally known almanac author, farmer, engineer, surveyor, city planner, astronomer, mathematician, inventor, author, and social critic. He taught himself advanced mathematics and astronomy. He is best known for successfully predicting an eclipse in 1789. His estimate made well in advance of the celestial event, contradicted predictions of better-known mathematicians and astronomers. From 1792 to 1802, Banneker published an annual Farmer’s Almanac based on his astronomical calculations. In 1753, when he was 22, using a pocket watch he had borrowed for a model, Banneker carved wooden replicas of each piece and used the parts to make the first striking clock to be made completely in America. Banneker’s clock was so precise it struck every hour, on the hour, for forty years. Banneker even helped Joseph Ellicott to build a complex clock.

Banneker became close friends with the Ellicott brothers. They lent him books on astronomy and mathematics as well as instruments for observing the stars. Banneker taught himself astronomy and advanced mathematics.

Banneker’s parents died, leaving him the farm since his two sisters had married and moved away. Banneker built a “work cabin” with a skylight to study the stars and make calculations. Working largely alone, with few visitors, he compiled results which he published in his Almanac.

Around this time, Major Andrew Ellicott, George Ellicott’s cousin, asked Banneker to help him survey the “Federal Territory”. Banneker and Ellicott worked closely with Pierre L’Enfant who was the architect in charge of planning Washington D.C. L’Enfant was suddenly dismissed from the project, due to his temper. When he left, he took the plans with him. Banneker recreated the plans from memory, saving the U.S. government the effort and expense of having someone else design the capital.

Daniel Hale Williams (1856-1931)

Performed the first SUCCESSFUL surgery on the heart in the 1800′s and his procedure was used as the standard for future internal surgeries because EVERY patient operated on prior to that (by white doctors, Yekenomo) died of infection.

Charles Henry Turner 1867-1923

Insects out number humans about 200 million to one, have 6-10mil different species and represent more than half of all known living organisms, so a major breakthrough in their study would be pretty significant, right?
This zoologist became the first person to prove that insects can hear and can distinguish pitch. In addition, he first discovered that cockroaches can learn by trial and error (those funny maze tests of his we still do) and that honeybees can see color. So, Yeknomo, white scientists actually thought insects didn’t hear, learn or see in color. Nkaay?

@ America (No excuse for missing this next one!)

George Washington? No. George Washington CARVER? Hells yeah!

Born into slavery (Ok, that means educating yourself or your children is VERY likely to be punishable by death), after AGRICULTURAL CHEMIST, George Washington CARVER, became Tuskegee Institute’s director of agricultural research in 1896, he devoted his time to research projects aimed at helping Southern agriculture, demonstrating ways that farmers could improve their economic situation. He conducted experiments in soil management and crop production and directed an experimental farm. At this time agriculture in the Deep South was in serious trouble because the unremitting single-crop cultivation of cotton had left the soil of many fields exhausted and WORTHLESS, and erosion had then taken its toll on areas that could no longer sustain any plant cover. As a remedy, Carver urged Southern farmers to plant peanuts and soybeans, which, since they belong to the legume family, could restore nitrogen to the soil while also providing the protein so badly needed in the diet of many Southerners. Carver found that Alabama’s soils were particularly well-suited to growing peanuts and sweet potatoes,
but when the state’s farmers began cultivating these crops instead of cotton, they found little demand for them on the market.

(and here’s the genius part IMHO, on a scientific AND socio-economic scale.)

In response to this problem, Carver set about enlarging the commercial possibilities of the peanut and sweet potato through a long and ingenious program of laboratory research. He ultimately developed 300 derivative products from peanuts—among them cheese, milk, coffee, flour, ink, dyes, plastics, wood stains, soap, linoleum, medicinal oils, and cosmetics—and 118 from sweet potatoes, including flour, vinegar, molasses, rubber, ink, a synthetic rubber, and postage stamp glue.

So those are my additions. Good enough?

And I don’t think George Washington, Napoleon, or Hannibal for that matter should be included solely because that’s just military planning. A big ol chess game. You just need to be 5% smarter than your enemy. Strategic military geniuses? Definitely. But to use one’s intellect to AVOID war and death, now THAT is genius.

on 11 May 2011 at 12:15 am # HIStory vetted

But everyone on the list was a great in their own way and reading about their lives and work would be nothing but beneficial. Good luck in your travels people. Mentally AND physically!

on 11 May 2011 at 6:48 pm # heyman231000

Great list, but I am disappointed that you left out Levi Boxell, a native of Zionsville, IN. At the age of 17, he has already contributed greatly to the string theory studies, and is currently poised to accept a job offer from NASA that would instantly place him in the upper-echelon of the most powerful scientific minds in the world. President Obama recently requested that Levi contribute to the war on terror in Afghanistan by helping the US intelligence develop new weapons, but Levi politely declined the offer due to his humanitarian interests. A great mind, but an even better person.

on 12 May 2011 at 3:54 pm # peter

All such lists tend to make people mad because of whom they leave out. I am happy to see Warren Buffett included, because he has succeeded by means of an approach that is very systematic and mathematical but blended with a great deal of ‘horse sense.’ Also, he has made so many good investments that there’s no way luck can account for it. Finally, I think he is one of our great economic thinkers. Read his letters to Berkshire shareholders for many nuggets of logical thinking about economic principles which economists get wrong.

I am surprised at the high placing of Tesla. When I was a kid nobody mentioned his name in the company of Newton and Einstein. I wonder what is behind the Tesla surge? Did they make a movie about him or something?

You left out most of the great mathematicians: Gauss, Euler, Riemann, Galois are a few. Was Bach on the list?

Actually, the problem is that there is a difference between brain power, on one hand, intellectual achievement, on the other, and fame, on the third hand, supposing the reader to have three hands …

on 20 May 2011 at 3:50 pm # buch

where are the Wright Brothers,without whom there would be no air travels ,Space,aviation or even airforce wing of the millitary or have you forgotten?

on 20 May 2011 at 3:57 pm # buch

Where are the women? Are there no women geniuses?

Here’s my try at a list, in no particular order:

Marie Curie
Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz
Elizabeth I
Jane Addams
Lady Murasaki
Jane Austen
Charlotte Brontë
Joni Mitchell
Toni Morrison
Golda Meir

on 21 Feb 2009 at 5:34 pm # eq
I agree with you on CURIE alone,others are just not geniuses,there are women,this not democracy remember?

on 20 May 2011 at 7:32 pm # Andrew

Rudolf Steiner is missing in action here.
Biodynamics, eurythmy, Steiner education,Weleda architecture, etc etc. 100 years ago he said the bees would be in trouble about now, so his genius transcends time. He has lectures across a huge range of subject areas, the relevance of many we are only just now beginning to be understood. Some one hit wonders in this list.

on 31 May 2011 at 9:23 am # Gibbs

Gibbs shudve been there, “the first chemical engineer!”

on 01 Jun 2011 at 2:53 pm # Lee Paxton

List is not accurate, for example, Buffett, who would not rate a slot on this list, nor would Langan or Washington. Where’s Werner Heisenbert, Max Planck, or Frege? There’s lots of books explaining genius and cultural contributions, something even more important. Should do your homework! One thing for sure, more genius has been concentrated in Europe than any other place; America is way down the line, whereas, Germany would lead.