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Most influential people of the 20th century

Who was the most influential person in the 20th century?

  • The Wright Brothers

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Deng Xiaoping

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Joseph Stalin

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Jonas Salk

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Vint Cerf

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    23

Kandahar

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I'm making a list of the most influential people of the 20th century, and I'm interested in getting your input. Right now my top 10 list is:

1. Albert Einstein (for the theory of relativity which created virtually all of our modern world)
2. Norman Borlaug (for the Green Revolution which helped much of Asia become self-sufficient in food production and saved the lives of a billion people)
3. Margaret Sanger (for promoting birth control which radically reshaped the demographics of the entire world)
4. Henry Ford (for popularizing the automobile)
5. Alan Turing (the father of the modern computer)
6. Max Planck (the most important physicist in the quantum mechanics revolution)
7. Deng Xiaoping (for implementing the economic policies which began the process of lifting China's 1 billion+ people out of poverty)
8. Jonas Salk (for the polio vaccine which nearly eradicated one of the world's worst diseases)
9. Mahatma Gandhi (for the liberation of India from the British Empire and independence for nearly a billion people; also as a model for protestors in the US, South Africa, and Eastern Europe)
10. Alexander Fleming (for the discovery of penicillin, the first effective anti-bacterial drug)


What do you think? Who else was extremely influential in the 20th century? Who on my list is overrated? Generally I consider scientists and technologists to be far more influential than politicians in the long run, but I'm interested to hear some other views on this.
 
Bill Gates
Steve Jobs
Martin Luther King
Robert Goddard
Mahatma Gandhi
Winston Churchill
The Wright Brothers
Adolf Hitler
Elvis Presley
 
Gavrilo Princip. /thread
 
Gavrilo Princip. /thread

Meh, I doubt World War I or the subsequent events would have progressed much differently if Archduke Ferdinand hadn't been assassinated. Europe was a powder keg waiting to explode; that just happened to be the spark.
 
Meh, I doubt World War I or the subsequent events would have progressed much differently if Archduke Ferdinand hadn't been assassinated. Europe was a powder keg waiting to explode; that just happened to be the spark.

You could certainly make that argument.

You could also argue that the Cold War was a powder keg just waiting to explode and wasn't it always inevitable that one of us was going to launch icbms at the other? But that didn't happen, in spite of some pretty breathtaking odds. I think you've just got to go with how we know history unfolded.
 
Like it or Not John Moses Browning has to be on that list
 
I have trouble picking from these three.

- Franklin Roosevelt
- Albert Einstein
- Henry Ford

On one hand, the idea behind FDR's policies arguably still shape the role of government today, not to mention his importances in WWII. Henry Ford on the other hand can also claim an incredibly large amount of influence on modern industry. Albert Einstein's "E=mc^2" equation led to the nuclear bomb which led to the Cold War, another extremely influential event. Einstein would definitely lose to Ford if not for the fact that I'm far more inclined to believe that someone else would have taken Ford's place, rather than Einstein's, and that Einstein's discoveries were further ahead of his time.
 
A list of the 10 most influential people of the 20th century...without Hitler? That has to be intentional.

I doubt anyone could make a rational argument as to how this guy is not in the top 3, if not THE most influential individual of the past 100 years.
 
I have trouble picking from these three.

- Franklin Roosevelt
- Albert Einstein
- Henry Ford

On one hand, the idea behind FDR's policies arguably still shape the role of government today, not to mention his importances in WWII. Henry Ford on the other hand can also claim an incredibly large amount of influence on modern industry. Albert Einstein's "E=mc^2" equation led to the nuclear bomb which led to the Cold War, another extremely influential event. Einstein would definitely lose to Ford if not for the fact that I'm far more inclined to believe that someone else would have taken Ford's place, rather than Einstein's, and that Einstein's discoveries were further ahead of his time.

I agree about Einstein being less replaceable. I'm sure someone would have eventually discovered the same theories, but it could have taken decades longer. I agree with your thoughts on Henry Ford too; he was extremely influential, but probably replaceable. I didn't include FDR on my list, because even though his domestic policies were significant, they only affected the United States. IMO, I think he shares the credit for WWII with too many other people to make the cut.
 
A list of the 10 most influential people of the 20th century...without Hitler? That has to be intentional.

I doubt anyone could make a rational argument as to how this guy is not in the top 3, if not THE most influential individual of the past 100 years.

Meh, Hitler might be in my top 20 but definitely not my top 10. I don't even think he was that influential of a political leader compared to some of the big names of the 20th century. He killed fewer people than either Stalin or Mao, he left almost no lasting political legacy on his country unlike Stalin or Mao, and his actions in WWII probably affected fewer people than Imperial Japan's did. If I was just doing a list of the most influential political leaders of the 20th century, I think I'd go with: 1) Deng Xiaoping, 2) Mao Tse-Tung, 3) Joseph Stalin, 4) Jawaharlal Nehru, 5) Mikhail Gorbachev, 6) Franklin Roosevelt, 7) Adolf Hitler, 8) Indira Gandhi, 9) Dwight Eisenhower, 10) Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Hitler is certainly far less influential than some scientists, technologists, and social leaders, in terms of the impact that they left on the world.
 
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The difference, in my opinion, between Hitler and Stalin/Mao is that Hitler led through arguably the greatest cult of personality the world has ever seen. Stalin and Mao ruled out of totalitarianism-inspired fear. Stalin and Mao were not great orators, while Hitler was - without question - the greatest orator of the century, and debatably all-time. Churchill and MLK are a distant 2nd/3rd. In Reich Germany, there were free elections that Hilter won by absurd numbers (yes, you could argue that it was somewhat corrupt and influenced by the Stasi, but that aside he was beloved). Hitler's rule in the 30s was the prime reason behind a world war, and people flocked to him like he was a human banner.

Death numbers for Stalin and Mao aren't even closer to Hitler, that's absolutely true. However, the reason they're so high is not the same.
 
Henry Ford and Einstein, both would be good choices. I would add Hitlers Germany as I can't give him credit. His scientists (rocket etc) most certainly had an effect we still feel to this day. Don't know if it would have been possible without Hitlers Germany.
 
I'm fairly new to this forum, so I don't know the general attitude/leniency towards what I'm about to do but (subverting attention to a tangent that should probably be its own thread):

What do you guys think the relevant importance of World War II on the world? The connection to the topic (in my mind) is through Hitler, FDR, Churchill, etc.
 
Without a doubt Norman Borlaug.
The sheer number of people, at least stabilized by his work, has done far more for humanity than almost anyone else in the 20th century.
Although I do think Salk was very important too.

Like Kandahar, politicians have done very little compared to inventors and people invested in technology.
 
I hate to say this, but if you measure it ONLY in terms if impact and not at all in terms of being a good person, it's Adolf Hitler.
 
:shrug:....................
 
Ronald Reagan. He brought America's greatest threat to its knees, and unlocked the door to my better half in the process. :)
 
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Hmmm.

Want to go with Einstein, but...
 
The difference, in my opinion, between Hitler and Stalin/Mao is that Hitler led through arguably the greatest cult of personality the world has ever seen. Stalin and Mao ruled out of totalitarianism-inspired fear. Stalin and Mao were not great orators, while Hitler was - without question - the greatest orator of the century, and debatably all-time. Churchill and MLK are a distant 2nd/3rd. In Reich Germany, there were free elections that Hilter won by absurd numbers (yes, you could argue that it was somewhat corrupt and influenced by the Stasi, but that aside he was beloved). Hitler's rule in the 30s was the prime reason behind a world war, and people flocked to him like he was a human banner.

Death numbers for Stalin and Mao aren't even closer to Hitler, that's absolutely true. However, the reason they're so high is not the same.

I agree he deserves (hate to use that word in association with his name) to be on the list. As to being more important than scientists, well he fostered them and really was the cause of other countries promoting science to combat him.
I would put MLK and Churchill way above him in oration skills, He used volume and anger to overcome lack of substance.

BTW I didn`t answer the poll as depending on what factors I choose to look at different people top the list. Effect on the life of largest number of people today I think I have to go with Borlaug
 
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What do you think? Who else was extremely influential in the 20th century? Who on my list is overrated? Generally I consider scientists and technologists to be far more influential than politicians in the long run, but I'm interested to hear some other views on this.
Two names that immediately come to mind for me are John Maynard Keynes and Milton Friedman.

While their views on economics are profoundly different in areas, both of their contributions to the field of economics during the 20th century cannot be denied. Keynes dominated the post-World War II era until the 1970s when Friedman and his ideas helped foster in a new era of economic liberalization. For a while Keynesianism became popular again as a response to the financial crisis.

And yet, both were there as global influences in the advancement of economic freedom.
 
Another person I forgot to add, but who probably belongs in the top 10, is Fritz Haber.

The Haber process is important today because the fertilizer generated from ammonia is responsible for sustaining one-third of the Earth's population.[5] It is estimated that half of the protein within human beings is made of nitrogen that was originally fixed by this process, the remainder was produced by nitrogen fixing bacteria and archaea.[6]

Haber process - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Ronald Reagan. He brought America's greatest threat to its knees, and unlocked the door to my better half in the process. :)

I'd credit Mikhail Gorbachev with bringing about the collapse of the USSR
 
Though he was infuential in a negative way, I'd also add William J. McCarthy to that list.
 
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