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Originally Posted by plaaynde
One of the big questions about influence is how big an impact the great scientists and inventors had by themselves. Would the things have been discovered anyway, soon? Which impact did for example Gutenberg, Darwin, Tesla, Edison and Pasteur have by themselves, as compared to the destructive warlords? And, how about Newton and Einstein?
Maybe, "sooner or later". My tendency is towards "later". We have found the Archimedes Palimpsests and it's clear that he "predated" a lot of Newton's work by almost 2,000 years. Heron's ball is a nice experiment, but an automotive (not in the style of Da Vinci's inventions, but a real, steam-powered "car") was created by the Jesuits in the 17th century in order to impress the Chinese rulers. Locomotives took centuries to appear on the "field".
So the "public" became the center of some invention years, most of the time, centuries after the actual "invention" of the technology.
If we put religious figures and warlords aside (them being "instruments of their time" or later epochs), I think without any doubt, Nicola Tesla will be remembered as the biggest influence on the world.
And in his case, he was a century ahead of his time, as were his inventions. He was the living "quantum leap". Alternating current and blade-less turbines, so basically all of which can be associated with electricity and its generation, radio-communication were his inventions. He foresaw a future in which his inventions would be used to "transport sound, pictures, text and movies" around the globe.
Electricity as well. He did it all for US, not for HIMSELF.
None of his inventions were created to kill people more efficiently, so that's a big plus as well (so he was different in that aspect than say Da Vinci, who did everything for money).
And you don't get his ideology or humorous quotes shoved down your throat (as in the case of Einstein), so only his work speaks for him.
Edison and Einstein are completely overrated and compared to Tesla, schoolboys.
And we are just beginning to understand the depth of his genius.