Leonardo da Vinci
(1452–1519)

Italian Renaissance painter, inventor, engineer, astronomer, anatomist, biologist, geologist, physicist, and architect. Learn More

George Washington Carver (1864–1943)

From slavery to agriculturalist, botanist, scientist, educator, artist, musician, and inventor.
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LIST

•Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922) invented the telephone, was a scientist, and engineer.
 

•George Antheil (1900–1959) was an American avant-garde composer, pianist, author,  endocrinologist, and inventor.
 

•Gregory Bateson (1904–1980) was a British anthropologist, sociologist, semiotician, linguist, and cyberneticist.

•Imhotep (2650–2611 BC), Egyptian chancellor, physician, and architect.

•Pythagoras (580–490 BC), Greek mathematician, philosopher, and scientist. The term philosophy means "love of wisdom." It was an essential definition advanced by Pythagoras.
 

•Aristotle (384–322 BC), Greek philosopher, a student of Plato, and teacher of Alexander the Great. His fields of expertise include: physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, ethics, biology, and zoology. He numbers among the greatest polymaths of all time.
 

•Archimedes (c.287–c.212 BC), Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer.
 

•Claudius Ptolemy (90 – 168 AD) was a scienttist, mathematician, astronomer, geographer, and poet. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is credited for the Geocentric theory where the Earch is in the center of the solar system.

•Zhang Heng (78-139), Han Dynasty Chinese politician, historian, philosopher, poet, mathematician, astronomer, geographer, cartographer, painter, sculptor, and inventor. He invented the seismometer to detect earthquakes.

•Hypatia (350 ? - 415 AD) was a Greek mathematician, philosopher, and astronomer. She lived in Egypt, and was killed by a Christian mob.
 

•Jābir ibn Hayyān (Geber) (721–815) Persian (or Arab) Muslim chemist, alchemist, astronomer, engineer, pharmacist, physician, philosopher, physicist, and scientist, He wrote 300 books on philosophy, 1,300 books on mechanical devices and military machinery, and hundreds of books on alchemy.
 

•Al-Khwarizmi (c. 780–850), Persian mathematician, astronomer, and geographer.
 

•Ziryab (789-857), Iraqi poet, musician, singer, cosmetologist, fashion designer, astronomer, botanist, and geographer.

 
•Al-Kindi (Alkindus) (801–873), Arab astronomer, geographer, mathematician, meteorologist, musician, philosopher, physician, physicist, scientist, and politician. He wrote 265 treatises.

 
•Muhammad ibn Zakariya Razi (Rhazes) (865–925), Persian physician, alchemist, chemist, and philosopher.

•Abhinavagupta (975–1025), Indian philosopher, literary critic, musician, poet, dramatist, dancer, and logician,

•Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) (965–1039), an Iraqi scientist, physicist, anatomist, physician, psychologist, astronomer, engineer, inventor, mathematician, ophthalmologist, philosopher, and theologian.
      He was one of the first to formulate the scientific method. Alhazen's method combined mathematics, induction, observation, and experimentation. You can observe this in his work on optics. The emission theory held that the eyes emit rays of light. The intromission theory held that objects reflect or emit physical particles that enter the eyes. Alhazen proved that both theories were incorrect. His theory, the intromission theory of vision, demonstrated that light travels in straight lines (even through transparent bodies), is reflected off objects, and enter the eye.

•Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī (973–1048), Persian scientist, physicist, anthropologist, astronomer, astrologer, encyclopedist, geographer, geologist, historian, mathematician, pharmacist, physician, and philosopher. He introduced Indian scientific knowledge & thought to the Middle East & the West.

•Avicenna (980–1037), Persian astronomer, chemist, geologist, logician, paleontologist, mathematician, physicist, poet, psychologist, and scientist. He wrote almost 450. He is known as the father of modern medicine. He is also considered the father of the fundamental concept of momentum in physics.

•Ibn Hazm (994–1064),  Andalusian-Arab polymath. He wrote over 400 works on  jurisprudence, logic, history, ethics, comparative religion, theology, The Ring of the Dove, and the art of love.

 
•Shen Kuo (1031–1095), Chinese scientist, statesman, mathematician, astronomer, meteorologist, geologist, zoologist, botanist, pharmacologist, agronomist, encyclopedist, poet, general, diplomat, hydraulic engineer, and inventor.

•Omar Khayyαm (1048–1131), Persian poet, writer, astronomer, mathematician, physicist, and philosopher.

•Acharya Hemachandra (1089–1172), Indian poet, linguist, grammarian, historian, and philosopher.

•Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (Tusi) (1201–1274), Persian writer, astronomer, biologist, chemist, mathematician, philosopher, logician, physician, historian, physicist, and scientist. He was one of the greatest scientists of the thirteenth century.

•Ibn al-Nafis (1213–1288), Arab physician, anatomist, biologist, physiologist, ophthalmologist, lawyer, philosopher, logician, novelist, psychologist, scientist, science fiction writer, astronomer, cosmologist, geologist, linguist, historian, and sociologist.

•Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472), Italian Renaissance author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer.

•Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance painter, inventor, engineer, astronomer, anatomist, biologist, geologist, physicist, and architect.

•Mαrio Raul de Morais Andrade (1893–1945) was a Brazilian poet, novelist, musicologist, art historian, critic, and photographer.

•Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543), Polish Renaissance astronomer, mathematician, physician, artist, classical scholar, translator,  economist, governor, military leader, and diplomat.
     He formulated the heliocentric cosmology where the Earth spins,  and revolves around the Sun. This marks the beginning of modern astronomy. It's referred to as the Copernican Revolution - no pun intended.
 

•Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475–1564), Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer.
 

•Matrakηı Nasuh (? - 1564) Muslim mathematician, historian, geographer, cartographer, calligrapher, artist, and engineer.

•Gerolamo Cardano (1501-1576), Italian mathematician and inventor.
 

•Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), Italian Jesuit, mathematics, literature, philosophy, poetry, mechanics, and astronomy.

•Akbar the Great (1542–1605), Indian Mughal emperor, architect, artisan, artist, blacksmith, engineer, general, inventor, and writer.

 
•Xu Guangqi (1562–1633), Chinese bureaucrat, agriculturalist, astronomer, and mathematician of the Ming Dynasty.

•Athanasius Kircher (1601- ?), music, Egyptology, and botany.

•Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716), German philosopher, logician, mathematician, scientist, historian, and mechanics.

He invented calculus at the same time as Newton, and it's his notation that we use today. In logic he created the binary system used in computers. In physics he anticipated Einstein; his theory of motion saw space as relative.
 

•Sir Isaac Newton (1643–1727) English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and alchemist. His 1687 publication of the Principia is one of the most influential books in science. It is in this work that Newton described gravitation and the three laws of motion.

•Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), American politician, author, printer, scientist, and inventor. He invented the wood burning stove and bifocals. 

•David Hume (1711–1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist. He is the most important and consistent empiricist philosopher.

•Mikhail Lomonosov (1711–1765), writer, historian, artist, poet, physicist, chemist, and scientist. He discovered the atmosphere of Venus.

•Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) was a German philosopher. His other areas of interest were logic, theology, mathematics, physics, geography, anthropology, law, and history.

His Critique of Pure Reason is one of the most important works in philosophy. It encompasses an attack on traditional metaphysics and epistemology, and highlights Kant's own contribution to these areas. The other main works of his maturity are the Critique of Practical Reason, which concentrates on ethics, and the Critique of Judgment, which investigates aesthetics and teleology.

 
•Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), American politician, horticulturist, architect, archaeologist, paleontologist, and inventor. He was the 3rd President of the United States, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and the founder of the University of Virginia.

•Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832)  German Poet, Novelist, Playwright, scientist, philosopher, and Diplomat.

•Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834), English poet, critic, and philosopher. He coined the phrase suspension of disbelief. Coleridge was bipolar, and an opium addict.
 

•Thomas Young (1773–1829),  English polymath who made notable contributions to the fields of vision, light, solid mechanics, energy, physiology, language, musical harmony, and Egyptology.

•Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919), was a German naturalist, philosopher, physician, and artist. He discovered and named thousands of new species. view work

 
•Jose Rizal (1861–1896), Filipino ophthalmologist, poet, journalist, novelist, volcanologist, biologist, political scientist, painter, and polyglot.

•Edward Heron-Allen (1861–1943), Lawyer, writer, violin builder, marine zoologist, meteorologist, historian, archaeologist, Buddhist philosopher.

•W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) was an author, sociologist, historian, economist, and civil rights activist. He was the first African American to graduated from Harvard University where he earned his PhD in History. He was a professor of history and economics at Atlanta University, the head of the NAACP in 1910, founder, and editor of the NAACP's journal The Crisis.

Read: The Souls of Black Folk

•Walter Russell (1871–1963)  painter, sculptor, architect, philosopher, and physicist. He believed mediocrity is self-inflicted, and genius is self-bestowed.

•Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, pacifist, and social critic. In 1950 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

•Charles Burgess Fry (1872–1956), English politician, publisher, teacher, writer, and athlete. He held the world record for the long jump.

•Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965), German theologian, philosopher, musician, physician, humanitarian, and activist. He won the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize, and spent the last years of his life campaigning against nuclear weapons.

•Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951), Austrian-British philosopher, logician, mathematician, architect, aeronautical engineer, and musician. Wittgenstein is one of the greatest philosopher of the 20th century. He inspired logical positivism and the philosophy of language.

•Jean Cocteau (1889–1963), French poet, novelist, artist, filmmaker, dramatist, designer, boxing manager, ballet scenarist, illustrator, and playwright.

•William James Sidis (1898–1944), Russian-Jewish child prodigy. He wrote on mathematics, cosmology, psychology, Native American history, and public transportation. "His sister, Helena, said of him that he could learn a new language in one day.

•Andrι Malraux (1901–1976), French novelist, art historian, adventurer, and politician.
 

•Howard Hughes, Jr. (1905 – 1976), American aviator, engineer, industrialist, film producer, film director, philanthropist, and one of the wealthiest people in the world.

Hughes set multiple world air-speed records, and expanded Trans World Airlines. Hughes was an eccentric obsessive–compulsive.

•John von Neumann (1903–1957), Hungarian American physicist, mathematician, contributions to game theory, economics, pioneering computer scientist.

•Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1910–1997), French oceanographer, naval officer, explorer, ecologist, filmmaker, scientist, photographer, author, and inventor. He co-developed the aqua-lung.

•Herbert Simon (1916–2001),  American political scientist, psychologist, computer science, philosophy of science, a leader in artificial intelligence, and Nobel Prize winner in Economics. He wrote almost a thousand publications.
 

•George Price (1922–1975) was an American mathematician, chemist, and geneticist, biologist, and science journalist. He he committed suicide after giving all his possessions to the poor.

•Desmond Morris (1928 - ), British zoologist, painter, and author.

 
•Naquib Al-Attas (1931 - ), Islamic philosophy, metaphysics, theology, education, art, architecture, and military science.

•Jonathan Miller (born 1934), British theatre and opera director, author, television presenter, sculptor, and doctor. 

•Rowan Williams (1950 -), Archbishop of Canterbury, theologian, poet, and speaks 12 languages, .

Views on creationism:
His believes that creationism should not be taught in schools as an alternative to evolution. He said, "I think creationism is, in a sense, a kind of category mistake, as if the Bible were a theory like other theories…, it's not what it's about."
 

•Julie Taymor (1952 - ) is an American director, actor, set designer, costume designer, and puppeteer. She has two Tony Awards, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design, an Emmy Award, and an Academy Award nomination for Original Song.

•Jamie Foxx / Eric Marlon Bishop (1967 - ), is an American actor, comedian, singer, and pianist. He won an Academy Award (Best Actor) for his performance in Ray. He's a Grammy Award winning musician (Unpredictable and Intuition).