Who had the greater influence on the twentieth century?

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Messages 1 - 62 of total 62 in this topic
Toker Villain

Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
Topic Author's Original Post - May 13, 2015 - 10:10am PT
Jack the Ripper or Nicola Tesla or Teddy Roosevelt?
hamie

Social climber
Thekoots
May 13, 2015 - 10:15am PT
Ralph Nader

Rachel Carson

Jim Bridwell!1!1!1
Norwegian

Trad climber
dancin on the tip of god's middle finger
May 13, 2015 - 10:16am PT
none of the above,
lou reed
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
May 13, 2015 - 10:17am PT
I hate trick questions. I hope this isn't pass/fail.
If Tesla had read Dale Carnegie we wouldn't be posed this dilemma.
WBraun

climber
May 13, 2015 - 10:18am PT
Nicola Tesla hands down ......
Norwegian

Trad climber
dancin on the tip of god's middle finger
May 13, 2015 - 10:26am PT
oohhh we can now zoom around
according to ion-exchange
and continue to perpetuate
our ill-existence without
consuming hydro-carbons!

the great savior!
tesla.

immaterial.
electric-powered vehicles
is not a socio-gain.
no.

it is a mere hiccup
paired next to
the world's heartburn that is intelligence.
JEleazarian

Trad climber
Fresno CA
May 13, 2015 - 10:29am PT
Agree with Werner. Tesla's legacy remains. I doubt TR would recognize the America of today, or the spirit or philosphy of the contemporary, self-styled "Progressives." Jack the Ripper . . .uh, no.

John
Cragar

climber
MSLA - MT
May 13, 2015 - 12:47pm PT
Jimi & Frank
&
J. J. Étienne Lenoir
son of stan

Boulder climber
San Jose CA
May 13, 2015 - 12:54pm PT
Top honors go to Mr Transistor.
throwpie

Trad climber
Berkeley
May 13, 2015 - 12:56pm PT
Albert Hoffman
Chaz

Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
May 13, 2015 - 01:08pm PT
Wright Bros.

In 1900, the fastest humans moved at about 85mph. On trains. American trains still do about 85.
Adventurer

Mountain climber
Virginia
May 13, 2015 - 01:18pm PT
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates
Ward Trotter

Trad climber
May 13, 2015 - 01:22pm PT
Of the 3 choices given I would pick Roosevelt.

However the correct answer is Einstein ,Darwin, and,unfortunately,Karl Marx.
Ward Trotter

Trad climber
May 13, 2015 - 01:31pm PT
Most of his scientific work had little influence on events of the twentieth century.

Okay,strike Einstein and change that to Neil Young or Frank Zappa...Miley Cyrus?
Gary

Social climber
From A Buick 6
May 13, 2015 - 01:33pm PT
Gavrilo Princip. The stone he cast into the pond rippled across the world for the entire century and into this one.
anita514

Gym climber
Great White North
May 13, 2015 - 01:35pm PT
Your mom
Gnome Ofthe Diabase

climber
Out Of Bed
May 13, 2015 - 01:37pm PT
NO yor Mom!
JEleazarian

Trad climber
Fresno CA
May 13, 2015 - 01:41pm PT
Very perceptive comment, Gary. The more I learn about The Great War, the more I still see its influence on the rest of the last century - and continuing to this one.

John
Ward Trotter

Trad climber
May 13, 2015 - 02:07pm PT
Out of curiosity I looked up "...person of the century" and found that Time Mag in 1999 got it right for a change by picking Einstein:

Of the 100 chosen, Albert Einstein was chosen as the Person of the Century, on the grounds that he was the preeminent scientist in a century dominated by science. The editors of Time believed the 20th century "will be remembered foremost for its science and technology", and Einstein "serves as a symbol of all the scientists—such as Heisenberg, Bohr, Richard Feynman, ...who built upon his work".[1]

A poll of academic historians in Britain picked Karl Marx.
I believe Princip was high on the list

The reason I believe Darwin doesn't rank high is because his influence is thought to be confined more to the 19th century --- which I disagree with.
WBraun

climber
May 13, 2015 - 02:10pm PT
Einstein couldn't hold a candle against Tesla.

Tesla was far far beyond anything Einstein could dream of.
Ksolem

Trad climber
Monrovia, California
May 13, 2015 - 02:13pm PT
Of the contenders listed by the op, I'll reluctantly go with Tesla. My reservation is that his discoveries certainly would have been made by someone else had he not been born. Some discoveries are inevitable.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is the music of Bach. Such perfection that in many cases not even a single note can be changed without lessening the whole. Had Bach not been born this music would simply not be.
Ward Trotter

Trad climber
May 13, 2015 - 02:17pm PT
Tesla.

No question his discoveries with electricity and some of his applications were highly influential.(Especially his work with Alternating Current--which speaks for itself)
But other than that Tesla ranks as one of the more overrated figures in the history of science.
This is largely due to this mysterious and even mystical pop culture aura built around his image in recent decades

Tesla was nevertheless a brilliant and very hard working genius.
Gary

Social climber
From A Buick 6
May 13, 2015 - 02:32pm PT
Kris, OT maybe, but Bach's fugues are some of mankind's greatest accomplishments.
Toker Villain

Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
Topic Author's Reply - May 13, 2015 - 03:16pm PT
At a time when the masses were questioning religion and turning to science and existentialism Jack the Ripper sent a message of despair and impotence that carried over into the most rapacious century of mankind's history .

A media star of his day, Jack the Ripper greatly boosted the nascent anarchist movement which in turn created Gavrilo Princip.




Tesla has it hands down over Einstein and Edison combined.

But if it wasn't for TR we might be speaking german.
skitch

Gym climber
Bend Or
May 13, 2015 - 03:26pm PT
No one has mentioned Warren Harding???
Gary

Social climber
From A Buick 6
May 13, 2015 - 03:30pm PT
No one has mentioned Warren Harding???

His FA of Teapot Dome WAS amazing and set the standard for generations to come.
Toker Villain

Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
Topic Author's Reply - May 13, 2015 - 03:40pm PT
Further on Pricip; his assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand (and wife) was the keystone that caused the subsequent avalanche of events. However it was preceded by numerous other attempts, some likewise successful, by anarchists to kill members of various monarchies in the previous decades.

I think that Jack the Ripper opened the door for the anarchist movement.
skitch

Gym climber
Bend Or
May 13, 2015 - 03:42pm PT
Sorry, I meant Warren G. Harding.

Harding pushed for the establishment of the Bureau of Veterans Affairs
Toker Villain

Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
Topic Author's Reply - May 13, 2015 - 03:44pm PT
I heard that Teapot Dome is only 5.7 and overprotected.
scuffy b

climber
heading slowly NNW
May 13, 2015 - 03:54pm PT
If not for Princip, they would have found some other spark.
They were itching for a fight.
Toker Villain

Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
Topic Author's Reply - May 13, 2015 - 04:11pm PT
My point exactly scuffy.


Nicky said, "My cousin Willy loves me. He would never declare war."

Barely a month later Max Hoffman leads 135,000 german professional troops into Prussia using trains to transport troops and, for one of the first times in history, aerial recon to locate the enemy.

He obliterates the two advancing armies of 650,000 Russian troops, mostly shoeless peasants, because he knows their commanders won't lift a finger to help each other.

You see, almost ten years earlier as a military observer at the close of the Russo-Sino War, Hoffman was standing on a railway platform* in Manchuria, and witnessed the two Russian commanders get into a knock down brawl after one slapped the other with a glove.
Only frantic telegraph messages that night from the Czar prevented the duel.

Better for him if he hadn't.
The Russians lost a quarter million dead at Tannenberg, the deadliest single battle in history.





*also on that platform, "Black" Jack Pershing
MisterE

Gym climber
Being In Sierra Happy Of Place
May 13, 2015 - 04:59pm PT
Nicola Tesla hands down ......

Correct answer.
guido

Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
May 13, 2015 - 06:26pm PT
Simple

Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
May 13, 2015 - 06:32pm PT
Those unconscionable losses to the Russians largely made the momentous day at the
Finland Station possible.
rick sumner

Trad climber
reno, nevada/ wasilla alaska
May 13, 2015 - 06:37pm PT
Uncle Joe Stalin, no doubt about it.
zBrown

Ice climber
Brujň de la Playa y Perrito Ruby
May 13, 2015 - 06:42pm PT
Obviously (op), The Twentieth Century Man, not the Twentieth Century Fox.





However, who is the TCM? Wasn't in the original list, but Vladimir Lenin.

lars johansen

Trad climber
West Marin, CA
May 13, 2015 - 07:35pm PT
Rick got it right: Stalin, then Hitler, lastly Roosevelt.
lars
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
May 13, 2015 - 07:38pm PT
Stalin? Pfffft! He woulda been a side note but for Zhukov.
philo

Trad climber
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel or a tr
May 13, 2015 - 07:48pm PT
All the other people mentioned used and benifited from many of Tesla's inventions.
By far Tesla was the greatest influence on the 20th century.
Gary

Social climber
From A Buick 6
May 13, 2015 - 08:49pm PT
I think that Jack the Ripper opened the door for the anarchist movement.

Could you expound on that a bit. I don't get it. Johann Most was talking "propaganda of the deed" in 1885, Ripper was 1888. Alexander II was assassinated in 1881.
zBrown

Ice climber
Brujň de la Playa y Perrito Ruby
May 13, 2015 - 08:56pm PT
I'm certainly not anti-Serb, but if the dude was so important then why

By the end of his brilliant and tortured life, the Serbian physicist, engineer and inventor Nikola Tesla was penniless and living in a small New York City hotel room. He spent days in a park surrounded by the creatures that mattered most to him—pigeons—and his sleepless nights working over mathematical equations and scientific problems in his head. That habit would confound scientists and scholars for decades after he died, in 1943. His inventions were designed and perfected in his imagination.
JEleazarian

Trad climber
Fresno CA
May 14, 2015 - 10:59am PT
I'm certainly not anti-Serb, but if the dude was so important then why

For the same reason Mozart died a pauper.

Warbler, I tried to restrict my comments to those on the original list proffered by Toker Villain.* If Jesus Christ were on the list, I would have said His influence exceeds any of the three named.

John

*Toker Villain, I never got a chance to compliment your choice of ST handle. When I was a kid, my cousin and I decided that natives of Castroville should be "Castrovillains."

John
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
May 14, 2015 - 11:08am PT
Mozart died a pauper because he was anti-Serb? I thought he was just a
typical welfare cheat living beyond his means?
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
May 14, 2015 - 12:07pm PT
Mozart died a pauper cause he wasn't as 'smart' as Salieri.
Plus he had a high maintenance wife.
Bruce Morris

Social climber
Belmont, California
May 14, 2015 - 01:04pm PT
Heinrich Himmler and his trusty aid, Adolf Eichmann?
zBrown

Ice climber
Brujň de la Playa y Perrito Ruby
May 14, 2015 - 01:22pm PT
I got it now. This is quite a device. I wonder if Tesla invented it. I think it should be used sparingly though, e.g. maybe when your dissertation defense starts to go south.

Thomas Mann failed to finish Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull. Der Memoiren, erster Teil, for the same reason that Rosie Ruiz finished the Boston Marathon ahead of schedule.

Flip Flop

climber
Earth Planet, Universe
May 14, 2015 - 03:17pm PT
Probably this guy.

Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS (/ˈtjʊərɪŋ/ tewr-ing; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was a British pioneering computer scientist, mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, mathematical biologist, and marathon and ultra distance runner. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which can be considered a model of a general purpose computer.[2][3][4] Turing is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence.[5]

TGT

Social climber
So Cal
May 14, 2015 - 06:05pm PT
Agnes Driscoll
Gary

Social climber
From A Buick 6
May 14, 2015 - 07:11pm PT
Agnes Driscoll

Wow, what a woman she was.
hobo_dan

Social climber
Minnesota
May 14, 2015 - 07:12pm PT
I've found AC to be useful so I'm going with Tesla
TGT

Social climber
So Cal
May 14, 2015 - 07:50pm PT
Flip Flop's mention of Turing got me to thinking,

Who broke the Japanese naval code?

The world may have ended up looking quite different without Midway.

There she was.

From Toker's list Tesla, no contest!

Shockley and Noyce are right up there with him.
Larry Nelson

Social climber
May 14, 2015 - 09:10pm PT
Hedy Lamarr.
Not because she invented spread spectrum frequency hopping to counter jamming of radio signals during WWII, but because she may have done the first Hollywood nude scene as well.

OK, Einstein and Tesla are up there also, but they're one dimensional compared to Hedy.
bookworm

Social climber
Falls Church, VA
May 15, 2015 - 07:32am PT
marx...for the 100 million (conservatively) murdered (usually slowly through starvation) to promote socialism
paul roehl

Boulder climber
california
May 15, 2015 - 08:11am PT
I vote Hedy Lamarr for most influential orgasm of the 20th C.
Gary

Social climber
From A Buick 6
May 15, 2015 - 09:08am PT
^^ She said the secret of her beauty was “to stand there and look stupid.”
sempervirens

climber
May 15, 2015 - 09:15pm PT
she spread spectrum frequency hop jamming nude.
philo

Trad climber
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel or a tr
May 16, 2015 - 04:33am PT
Tesla
Bob Harrington

climber
Bishop, California
May 16, 2015 - 09:47am PT
As to Warbler's list of influential musicians, they're great, but I have to put Les Paul first. Besides being a fine musician and recording artist, his pioneering work on the solid body electric guitar and multi-track recording had a ubiquitous influence on the sound and direction of 20th century music.
rockermike

Trad climber
Berkeley
May 17, 2015 - 08:03pm PT
The suggestions above seem rather euro centric. No one has mentioned Mao yet. 1.3 billion people have him to thank for living on the cusp of the modern world... rather than a failed feudal empire.

Not making excuses for his technique but he got the job done. I'm living in China right now and not a day goes by that I am not amazed at this country... both the number of people and the rate of modernization. Say goodbye to mud huts and hello to widescreen TV in every house. Not that that is necessarily an improvement and no doubt mother earth will pay.... but it still impresses me.
philo

Trad climber
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel or a tr
May 20, 2015 - 01:23pm PT
https://www.facebook.com/SolarThermalMag/posts/10155502055485417

The Contributions of Tesla.
sween345

climber
back east
May 20, 2015 - 06:22pm PT
moosedrool,

Groucho or Harpo?
maddog69

Trad climber
Ut
May 20, 2015 - 07:03pm PT

Hitler

Churchill
FDR

Tesla
Maytag (for the ladies who all of a sudden started going to college and voting)
Fermi (Oppie was more interesting and conjoined but Fermi made it real)

Anybody named Warren (Hardings, Brauns, Buffet etc..)

For the dark side: Stalin/Mao/Tojo/Vader

Tom Dowd/Elvis/ Gene Autry (Everything about music you know was heavily impacted by these three )


And because, f*#k it, Ali
Messages 1 - 62 of total 62 in this topic
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