- Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath: scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, musician, and writer. The illegitimate son of a notary, Messer Piero, and a peasant girl, Caterina, Leonardo had no surname in the modern sense, "da Vinci" simply meaning "of Vinci": his full birth name was "Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci", meaning "Leonardo, … - Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin (April 17 1790) was one of the most critical Founding Fathers of the United States. He was a leading author, political theorist, politician, printer, scientist, inventor, civic activist, environmentalist, and diplomat. As a scientist he was a major figure in the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As a political writer and activist he, more than anyone, invented the idea of an American nation, … - Tim Berners-Lee
Sir Tim Berners-Lee Founder of the World Wide Web - Buckminster Fuller
Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller was an American visionary, designer, architect, poet, author, and inventor. Throughout his life, Fuller was concerned with the question "Does humanity have a chance to survive lastingly and successfully on planet Earth, and if so, how?" Considering himself an average individual without special monetary means or academic degree, he chose to devote his life to this question, … - Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (born 16 December 1917) is a British science-fiction author and inventor, most famous for his novel "2001: A Space Odyssey", and for collaborating with director Stanley Kubrick on the film of the same name. Clarke is the last surviving member of what was sometimes known as the "Big Three" of science fiction, which included Robert A. Heinlein and Isaac Asimov. - Michael Stewart
- John Muir
John Muir was one of the first modern preservationists. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, and wildlife, especially in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, were read by millions and are still popular today. His direct activism helped to save the Yosemite Valley and other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is now one of the most important conservation organizations in the United States. - James
James M. Scott (1911 - 2001), an author, inventor, and Senior Olympian, was born in Wisdom, Missouri, on May 28, 1911, to James Baker Scott and Cordelia Susan Suiter. One of five children (a sister of whom died four days after birth), he grew up in Fairfield, Missouri, near Warsaw. The town was buried under water in the early 1970s when the Truman Dam was built. - Ward Cunningham
Howard G. "Ward" Cunningham (born May 26, 1949) is the American computer programmer who invented the wiki. A pioneer in both design patterns and Extreme Programming, he started programming the software WikiWikiWeb in 1994 and installed it on the website of his software consultancy, Cunningham & Cunningham (commonly known by its domain name, c2.com), on March 25, 1995, as an add-on to the Portland Pattern Repository. He currently lives in Beaverton, Oregon. - Wernher von Braun
Dr. Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun (March 23 1912 - June 16 1977) was one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Germany and the United States. The German scientist, who led Germany's rocket development program (V-2) before and during World War II, entered the United States at the end of the war through the then-secret Operation Paperclip. - Paul Harris
Paul Harris is an inventor, magician, and writer. Described by the magic magazine Genii (December 1996) as "the most innovative magic mind of our day" and is listed in Magic magazine (August 1999) as one of "the 100 [magicians] who shaped the art [of magic] in America". He has invented many original tricks including: "Linking playing cards", "a solid deck", a torn and restored card effect, coins materializing from mirrors, … - David Brewster
Sir David Brewster,FRS, (11 December 1781 - 10 February 1868) was a Scottish scientist, inventor and writer. He was born at Jedburgh, where his father, a teacher of high reputation, was rector of the grammar school. At the age of twelve, he was sent to the University of Edinburgh, being intended for the clergy. However, he had already shown a strong inclination for natural science, and this had been fostered by his intimacy with a "self-taught philosopher, … - Raymond Kurzweil
Raymond Kurzweil (pronounced:) (born February 12, 1948) is a pioneer in the fields of optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and electronic keyboard instruments. He is the author of several books on health, artificial intelligence, transhumanism, technological singularity, and futurism. - Robert Cailliau
Robert Cailliau (b. 26 January 1947) is one of the co-developers of the World Wide Web. - Hugo Gernsback
Hugo Gernsback, born Hugo Gernsbacher, was a Luxembourg American inventor, writer and magazine publisher, best remembered for publications that included the first science fiction magazine. His contribution to the genre as publisher was so significant, that along with H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, he is sometimes popularly called "The Father of Science Fiction". - William Murdoch
William Murdoch (sometimes spelled Murdock) (August 21, 1754 - November 15, 1839) was a Scottish engineer and inventor. It is believed that his name was Anglicised to Murdock when he moved to England. He was employed by the firm of Boulton and Watt and worked for them in Cornwall as a steam engine erector for ten years, spending most of the rest of his life in Birmingham. He was the inventor of gas lighting in the early 1790s and coined the term gasometer. - Zhang Heng
Zhang Heng (78 - 139 AD) was an astronomer, mathematician, inventor, geographer, artist, poet, statesman, and literary scholar of the Eastern Han Dynasty in ancient China. He had extensive knowledge of mechanics and gears, applying this knowledge to several of his known inventions. According to historian Joseph Needham, Zhang Heng was noted in his day for being able to "make three wheels rotate as if they were one" ("neng ling san lun du zhuan ye")". - Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (September 19, 1935) was an Imperial Russian and Soviet rocket scientist and pioneer of astronautic theory who spent most of his life in a log house on the outskirts of Kaluga, about 200 km (125 miles) southwest of Moscow. - Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (August 27, 1770 - November 14, 1831) was a German philosopher born in Stuttgart, in the region of Württemberg in southwestern Germany. Together with Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, Hegel is considered one of the representatives of German idealism. Hegel influenced writers of widely varying positions, including both his admirers (Bauer, Marx, Bradley, Sartre, Küng), and his detractors (Schelling, Kierkegaard, … - Charles Cros
Charles Cros (October 1 1842 - August 9, 1888) was a French poet and inventor. He was born in Fabrezan, Aude, France. Cros was a well-regarded poet and humorous writer. He developed various improved methods of photography including an early color photo process. He also invented improvements in telegraph technology. - Idan Gafni
Idan Gafni is an award winning mobile expert and entrepreneur. Using a creativity technique he created named “Object Pairing”, Idan harnesses innovation to create mobile value added services. Services are based on mobile interaction, contextual awareness, user-generated content, and dynamic content, using the advantages of technologies such as SMS, MMS, IVVR, and WEB technologies. In the past, Idan served as the innovation manager of Orange Israel, part of the Hutchison 3 telecom group. - Margaret Atwood
Many commend Margaret Atwood for her ability of depicting individual and worldly troubles of universal concern (Study Guide). Over thirty years, Atwood has written more than twenty volumes of verse, novels, and nonfiction. Although she is noted for all of these volumes, she is better known for her novels. In these work of fiction, themes such as feminism, mythology and power of language pervade. - Su Song
Su Song (style Zirong was a renowned Chinese statesman, astronomer, cartographer, horologist, pharmacologist, mineralogist, zoologist, botanist, mechanical and architectural engineer, and ambassador of the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279 AD). Su Song was the engineer of a water-driven astronomical clock tower in medieval Kaifeng, which employed the use of an early escapement mechanism; the verge escapement was not known in Europe until 1275 AD. - David Unaipon
David Unaipon (28 September 1872, Point Mcleay (Raukkan) Mission - 7 February 1967) was an Australian Aboriginal preacher, inventor and writer. Today, he is featured on the Australian $50 note in commemoration. - John Loudon McAdam
John Loudon McAdam (September 21 1756 - November 26 1836) was a Scottish engineer and road-builder. He invented a new process, "macadamisation", for building roads with a smooth hard surface that would be more durable and less muddy than soil-based tracks. Modern road construction still reflects McAdam's influence. - Shen Kuo
Shen Kuo or Shen Kua (1031–1095 AD) was a polymath Chinese scientist and statesman of the Song Dynasty (960–1279 AD). Excelling in many fields of study and statecraft, he was a mathematician, astronomer, meteorologist, geologist, zoologist, botanist, pharmacologist, agronomist, ethnographer, encyclopedist, poet, general, diplomat, hydraulic engineer, inventor, academy chancellor, finance minister, and governmental state inspector. - Wang Zhen
Wáng Zhēn was an official of the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368 AD) of China. He is credited with the invention of the first wooden movable type printing in the world, while his predecessor of the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD), Bi Sheng (990-1051 AD), invented the world's first earthenware movable type printing. His illustrated agricultural treatise was also one of the most advanced of its day, … - John MacGregor
John MacGregor (1825 - 1892), nicknamed "Rob Roy" after a renowned relative, was a Scottish explorer, travel writer and philanthropist. He is generally credited with the development of the first sailing canoes and with popularising canoeing as a middle class sport in Europe and the United States. The son of General Sir Duncan MacGregor, he was introduced to canoeing in the course of a trip to the United States and Canada in 1858. - Willy Ley
Willy Ley (October 2 1906 - June 24 1969) was a science writer and space advocate who helped popularise rocketry and spaceflight in Germany and the United States. - Richard Lovell Edgeworth
Richard Lovell Edgeworth (May 31, 1744-June 13, 1817) was an English writer and inventor. Born in Bath, England, he lived in Ireland. He was the father of Maria Edgeworth and 21 other children, (by his 4 wives), and grandfather to Francis Ysidro Edgeworth. A Trinity College and Oxford alumnus, he is credited, among other inventions, for creating a machine to measure the size of a plot of land. He also made strides in the developing educational methods. - Philippe Phebus Dubois
Philippe Phébus Dubois started painting at the age of 30. During several years he studied the art of painting and drawing. Between 1989 en 1990 he spent a lot of time in Amsterdam, studying the work of Vincent Van Gogh. In the nineties his work evolved to more abstract art. In December 1998 he exposed his abstract work for the first time in the museum of Tubize (Belgium). Phébus currently lives and works in Brussels. (Brigitte Descartes, Doctor of Philosophy/History of Art.) - John Bidwell
John Bidwell (August 5 1819- April 4, 1900) was known throughout California and across the nation as an important pioneer, farmer, soldier, statesman, politician and philanthropist. He is famous for leading one of the first emigrant parties along the California Trail, and for founding Chico, California. - Morgan Robertson
Morgan Robertson (September 30 1861 - March 24 1915) was a well-known American author of short stories and novels, and the possible inventor of the periscope. Nowadays he is best known for the short fictional novel "Futility", first published in 1898. This story features an enormous British passenger liner called the "Titan", which, deemed to be unsinkable, carries insufficient lifeboats. On a voyage in the month of April, … - William John Macquorn Rankine
William John Macquorn Rankine (July 5, 1820 - December 24, 1872) was a Scottish engineer and physicist. He was a founding contributor, with Rudolf Clausius and William Thomson (1st Baron Kelvin), to the science of thermodynamics. Rankine developed a complete theory of the steam engine and indeed of all heat engines. His manuals of engineering science and practice were used for many decades after their publication in the 1850s and 1860s. - Tim O'Reilly
Tim O'Reilly is the founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media, Inc., thought by many to be the best computer book publisher in the world, and an activist for open standards. O'Reilly Media also publishes online through the O'Reilly Network and hosts conferences on technology topics, including the O'Reilly Open Source Convention, the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, and the Web 2.0 Conference. - John Scarne
Orlando Carmelo Scarnecchia (March 4, 1903 - July 7, 1985) was born in Steubenville, Ohio and at some point anglicized his name to John Scarne (International Phonetic AlphabetHe moved to Fairview, New Jersey as a child. Leaving school after the eighth grade, he learned as a teenager from his father how to perform card tricks like Three-card Monte and to gamble using cards and dice. - Eric Lerner
Eric J. Lerner (born 1947) is currently the executive director of the Focus Fusion Society and president of Lawrenceville Plasma Physics, Inc. in West Orange, New Jersey, which describes itself as a technology research, consulting and communications firm. He is an independent plasma researcher and advocates plasma cosmology, a controversial alternative cosmology. Connected to this, Lerner wrote a popular science book, "The Big Bang Never Happened" (1991), … - David Hamel
David Hamel (1924) is a carpenter and inventor who claims to be inspired by extraterrestrials, living in Ontario, Canada with his wife. Hamel claims to have been contacted by aliens, from a planet called "Kladen", which is "located three billion miles from our Earth", and to have been in continuous contact with them ever since. - James Puckle
James Puckle (1667 - 1724) was an English inventor, lawyer and writer from London chiefly remembered for his invention of the "Defence Gun" (better known as the "Puckle Gun"), a multi-shot gun mounted on a stand capable of (depending on which version) firing 9 rounds per minute. The "Puckle Gun" is sometimes considered the first machine gun and resembles a single-barrelled Gatling Gun. - George Daniels
Dr George Daniels MBE, DSc, FSA (born 1926) is an English watchmaker who is famous for creating the co-axial escapement. This has been used by Omega in their highest grade watches since 1999. He is one of the few living watchmakers who can create a complete watch by hand; including the case and dial. He is a former Master of the Clockmakers' Company of London and has been awarded their Gold Medal, a rare honour
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