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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.
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.