[Make it Lady]

Guys

Your suggestions are really interesting and I will compile a list from them later.

But only five people responded, so what kind of list can you produce from that? Out of those five how many gave an actual reason as to why this person was influential? All you have is a list of names, in no particular order, this topic could just as easily be called "please list names of fictional and nonfictional people".

Look at those names, a large percentage are of made up people, made up from a book that has no resemblance to the original!

Tetchy!

[Alan McDougall (OP)]

Paul!!!! oh Paul!!!!!!! my bane on the forum ,what can I do to satisfy your critical mind?. There were more than five maybe you should count on your fingers.

But only five people responded, so what kind of list can you produce from that? Out of those five how many gave an actual reason as to why this person was influential? All you have is a list of names, in no particular order, this topic could just as easily be called "please list names of fictional and nonfictional people".

Look at those names, a large percentage are of made up people, made up from a book that has no resemblance to the original!

Regards

Alan

[Make it Lady]

Paul!!!! oh Paul!!!!!!! my bane on the forum ,what can I do to satisfy your critical mind?. There were more than five maybe you should count on your fingers.

But only five people responded, so what kind of list can you produce from that? Out of those five how many gave an actual reason as to why this person was influential? All you have is a list of names, in no particular order, this topic could just as easily be called "please list names of fictional and nonfictional people".

Look at those names, a large percentage are of made up people, made up from a book that has no resemblance to the original!

Regards

Alan

Fight, fight, fight, fight.

Handbags at dawn....yipeeeee!

[Alan McDougall (OP)]

Make it Lady

Fight, fight, fight, fight.

Handbags at dawn....yipeeeee!

Not fighting gentle banality or maybe coming pandemonium

[paul.fr]

Paul!!!! oh Paul!!!!!!! my bane on the forum ,what can I do to satisfy your critical mind?. There were more than five maybe you should count on your fingers.

Maybe you would like to borrow my fingers? There were more than five responses, but only five respondents. So I was quite correct when I said "But only five people responded". I am also correct when I say that the list is worthless and you can compile no data from it. How many people have given the same name? If you had names repeated by different people then you could begin to compile a list, but even then, a list from just five responses is worthless.

And again I say, if nobody gives reason as to why they chose then it is worthless data as expressed in the original question.

One responce is the name "Nelson Mandela", I suppose if I were a young black man who enjoyed bombing white folk in shopping centres them yes I would find him a personal influence, but I am not and He is not.

If I were a young woman with mental problems and like to sleep with members of the armed forces then Princess Diana would be an influence on my life, I am not and so she is not.

They are just names, plucked from the air.

Fight, fight, fight, fight.

Handbags at dawn....yipeeeee!

Alas it would not be a fair fight, should there be a time when I were in a position when Alan was on top of me (ermmmm, bad choice of words) I would simply win by default, the most handsome chap always wins in the end.

[Alan McDougall (OP)]

Alas Paul you are correct most of the names given were born out of sarcasm

Maybe dear old Mandela is changed, he is 90 you know, and a lot better than our soon to be corrupt buffoon president. I will not name him the black gestapo might by looking at my posts.

You are killing me with subtle humour

Alan

[Alan McDougall (OP)]

Pual and others who are interested

Here is my list for what it is worth

Note it is not about heroes our personal perceived greatness.

"IT IS WHO INFLUENCED HUMANITY THE MOST"

MY RANKING LIST


Jesus Christ

Iscaac Newton

Muhammad

Buddha
Confucius
St. Paul
Ts'ai Lun
Johann Gutenberg
Christopher Columbus
Albert Einstein
Louis Pasteur
Galileo Galilei
Aristotle
Euclid
Moses
Charles Darwin
Shih Huang Ti
Augustus Caesar
Nicolaus Copernicus
Antoine Laurent Lavoisier
Constantine the Great
James Watt
Michael Faraday
James Clerk Maxwell
Martin Luther
George Washington
Karl Marx
Orville and Wilbur Wright
Genghis Khan
Adam Smith
Edward de Vere
a.k.a. William Shakespeare
John Dalton
Alexander the Great
Napoleon Bonaparte
Thomas Edison
Antony van Leeuwenhoek
William T.G. Morton
Guglielmo Marconi
Adolf Hitler
Plato
Oliver Cromwell
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Fleming
John Locke
Ludwig van Beethoven
Werner Heisenberg
Louis Daguerre
Simon Bolivar
Rene Descartes
Michelangelo
Pope Urban II
'Umar ibn al-Khattab
Asoka
St. Augustine
William Harvey
Ernest Rutherford
John Calvin
Gregor Mendel
Max Planck
Joseph Lister
Nikolaus August Otto
Francisco Pizarro
Hernando Cortes
Thomas Jefferson
Queen Isabella I
Joseph Stalin
Julius Caesar
William the Conqueror
Sigmund Freud
Edward Jenner
Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen
Johann Sebastian Bach
Lao Tzu
Voltaire
Johannes Kepler
Enrico Fermi
Leonhard Euler
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Nicoli Machiavelli
Thomas Malthus
John F. Kennedy
Gregory Pincus
Mani
Lenin
Sui Wen Ti
Vasco da Gama
Cyrus the Great
Peter the Great
Mao Zedong
Francis Bacon
Henry Ford
Mencius
Zoroaster
Queen Elizabeth I
Mikhail Gorbachev
Menes
Charlemagne
Homer
Justinian I
Mahavira

Well what are your views? 

[blakestyger]

A lot of these people have affected the lives of others but what do you mean by influence? There are so many meanings; some are benign and others malign - your list contains a mixture that compromises its meaning.

[rosalind dna]

Blake I agree with you about his long list!

Alan how could you praise Hitler and Stalin considering all of the
many despicable acts that they were both involved in.

Charlemagne nope.
----------------------------
Rosalind Franklin (of course)

But I'd add Sir Christopher Wren because he changed the London and British architecture after the Great Fire of 1666,

Martin Luther King

[Alan McDougall (OP)]

Alan how could you praise Hitler and Stalin considering all of the
many despicable acts that they were both involved in.

This all about influence through human history I did not praise Hitler, he and Stalin are in the list due to their impact on human history, it has nothing to do with good or evil

The adjectives  I list below should indicate why I produced the list like I did





Influential effect affect powerful authoritative loved admired hero dominant respected prevailing enduring well spoken off hated deposed worshiped abhorred debased conqueror defender leader villain rogue good compassionate empathetic evil wicked

If the person had/has affect/ effect influence as above list "on all of humanity in history he/she belongs on the list" The list has nothing to with morals good or bad Marxism for instant brought untold suffering to countless people.[/color]

[rosalind dna]

But William the Conqueror began to change England for the better that's in retrospect I guess.

If you are classing monarchs like that: Think of HenryVIII.
In fact he was only legitimately married once and to his
brother's wife.

John Logie Baird for TV and Alexander Fleming - Pencillin
Also Ian Fleming was his cousin.

Churchill

[paul.fr]

Influential effect affect powerful authoritative loved admired hero dominant respected prevailing enduring well spoken off hated deposed worshiped abhorred debased conqueror defender leader villain rogue good compassionate empathetic evil wicked

If the person had/has affect/ effect influence as above list "on all of humanity in history he/she belongs on the list" The list has nothing to with morals good or bad Marxism for instant brought untold suffering to countless people.[/color]

where are these goalposts, and will they be moved once again?

on all of humanity in history he/she belongs on the list

On all humanity! I would doubt that there is one single person who has done this. Can you provide one, one that is not in the bible or a religious text? Hold on, I doubt you could even name one from the bible or any religious text.

[RD]

I note that Charles Darwin, (mentioned above) is today going to receive an apology from the Church of England ...

By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent
13 Sep 2008

The Church of England will concede in a statement that it was over-defensive and over-emotional in dismissing Darwin's ideas. It will call "anti-evolutionary fervour" an "indictment" on the Church".

The bold move is certain to dismay sections of the Church that believe in creationism and regard Darwin's views as directly opposed to traditional Christian teaching.

The apology, which has been written by the Rev Dr Malcolm Brown, the Church's director of mission and public affairs, says that Christians, in their response to Darwin's theory of natural selection, repeated the mistakes they made in doubting Galileo's astronomy in the 17th century.

"The statement will read: Charles Darwin: 200 years from your birth, the Church of England owes you an apology for misunderstanding you and, by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand you still. We try to practise the old virtues of 'faith seeking understanding' and hope that makes some amends."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/2910447/Charles-Darwin-to-receive-apology-from-the-Church-of-England-for-rejecting-evolution.html

This apology comes 126 years after Darwin's death: but better late than never.

[Alan McDougall (OP)]

Paul,

As new great people of influence come on the scene, the gaol posts might have to be moved. But can whe see anyone unseating Newton, Christ or Muhammad?

I generalised when I stated that those who belong on the list must have influenced all of human history When  I keyed that in my mind was revolving around he whole list and I am sure you knew what I really meant

If there is one person who ha had an affect/effect or influence on most people my choice would be Jesus Christ

Alan

[Alan McDougall (OP)]

Applogise to Darwin for what?

[rosalind dna]

Applogise to Darwin for what?

Darwin had a strong C of E faith and was insulted by the church
when he published the Origin of the Species.

Also by the 2nd captain of the Beagle, who disagreed with him
Robert Fitzroy, but we should all be grateful to this man for
inventing the forecasting systems that is now part of our lives
and he saved loads of sailors lives.

So he's another hero of mine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_FitzRoy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Beagle

[Don_1]

This apology to Darwin is as pointless as the Vatican's apology to Galileo.
Did the Catholic church ever apologise to Copernicus? If not, why not, I'm sure he is still waiting in his grave for it!!!???

[Alan McDougall (OP)]

Don_1

I agree what nonsense , this church is abandoning all its beliefs until is becomes an atheistic anything is OK institution, that does not believe in God.

These priests in their long red or white ropes and splendor waving smoking lamps marching like zombies make me sick

This has absolutely nothing to do with following God and I am sure he looks at it with distaste

If humble Jesus tried to enter these halls of spender and preach the eternal truth and wisdom like he did, most likely he would be promply chased out

Alan

[rosalind dna]

Don_1

I agree what nonsense , this church is abandoning all its beliefs until is becomes an atheistic anything is OK institution, that does not believe in God.

These priests in their long red or white ropes and splendor waving smoking lamps marching like zombies make me sick

This has absolutely nothing to do with following God and I am sure he lookers at it with distaste

If humble Jesus tried to enter these halls of spender and preach the eternal truth and wisdom like he did, most likely he would be promply chased out

Alan

Alan if that is how you feel about religions, why did you mention a lot of men to do with faith in an earlier long post of yours?

EG Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, St. Paul. Lao Tzu?
It is a strange view I think.

But I think that scientific men or women in our present or historical pasts have changed the world for the better/worse.

Although at the top of my list it'll always be my first cousin
Rosalind Franklin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_Franklin
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=13151.0

[DoctorBeaver]

I think you have to decide whether by "influential" you mean the person who has had the most influence, or has affected the most people. To affect someone, you need not influence them directly.

Take the case of Kublai Khan. Most Chinese would probably not have heard of him, but there can be no doubt that Chinese culture was greatly affected by Mongol rule. As there are now well over a billion Chinese, that's a lot of people that he has indirectly influenced.

And what about Buddha? No-one has mentioned him yet (at least, I didn't notice it).

The philosophy of Karl Marx has affected untold people, as has that of Keynes (Capitalism).

Queen Victoria, in whose name half the world came under British influence and many countries still retain much culture and laws based on the British - USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, much of Africa, etc.

Or how about that ancient Greek bod who dreamed up democracy? (I think he was Greek)