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The Most Extraordinary ______ that Humanity has ever produced

Clearing up loose ends:
* Marilyn Monroe is obviously the sexiest woman known to man, although I will consider specific evidence attesting to the allure of Helen of Sparta and Troy. Rita Hayworth merits some sort of Honorable Mention related to her personality. (Don't forget that she was Fred Astaire's favorite dancing partner.)
* I'd rank Bob Dylan higher than the #15 on the Rolling Stone's greatest singer list:
Bob Dylan’s voice, especially the wheezy and/or aggressively twangy strains he favored in his early years, will always sound like a caricature of itself. But the confidence with which he owned his ugly-duckling delivery, and shaped it into something as expressive as his wildly inventive lyrics, has made him one of America’s great vocal eccentrics. Once he was fully in control of his instrument, he could use it to express everything from wry disdain (“Like a Rolling Stone”) to deep devotion (“If Not for You”), wrenching pathos (the Basement Tapes masterpiece “Goin’ to Acapulco”) and sardonic venom (“Idiot Wind”). (On 1969’s Nashville Skyline, he even morphed into a clean-voiced crooner.)
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Obviously
#1 Albert Einstein, and
#3 Sir Isaac Newton
are correct entries for the Three Greatest Scientists List. I am left only with the need to justify
#2 Archimedes.
 
Swammerdami said:
Clearing up loose ends:
* Marilyn Monroe is obviously the sexiest woman known to man, although I will consider specific evidence attesting to the allure of Helen of Sparta and Troy. Rita Hayworth merits some sort of Honorable Mention related to her personality. (Don't forget that she was Fred Astaire's favorite dancing partner.)
* I'd rank Bob Dylan higher than the #15 on the Rolling Stone's greatest singer list:
Bob Dylan’s voice, especially the wheezy and/or aggressively twangy strains he favored in his early years, will always sound like a caricature of itself. But the confidence with which he owned his ugly-duckling delivery, and shaped it into something as expressive as his wildly inventive lyrics, has made him one of America’s great vocal eccentrics. Once he was fully in control of his instrument, he could use it to express everything from wry disdain (“Like a Rolling Stone”) to deep devotion (“If Not for You”), wrenching pathos (the Basement Tapes masterpiece “Goin’ to Acapulco”) and sardonic venom (“Idiot Wind”). (On 1969’s Nashville Skyline, he even morphed into a clean-voiced crooner.)
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Obviously
#1 Albert Einstein, and
#3 Sir Isaac Newton
are correct entries for the Three Greatest Scientists List. I am left only with the need to justify
#2 Archimedes.
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Why would you put Einstein above Newton? Einstein’s work could not have happened but for Newton and Galileo.
 
Elixir said:
Archimedes proved the king had been cheated by using water displacement to measure the crown’s volume without damaging it. He compared the water displaced by the crown to that displaced by a lump of pure gold of equal weight. The crown displaced more water, indicating a larger volume and lower density, proving it was mixed with a less dense metal like silver. This discovery utilized the principle that an object’s volume can be determined by the water it displaces, and led to Archimedes’ famous exclamation, “Eureka!”.
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This is what Perplexity returned, citing a University, Brittanica and someone I don’t recall … but the story is as I recall. What did Google say?
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Measuring the water displacement is what most references show as the answer, and what turns up mostly in Google searches.

This is what I always thought the "answer" to be. I had two objections however:

1. This solution is so obvious that one wonders why it is used as a sign of that man's great genius. Density involves weight and volume; and surely the way to measure volume required no special intuition.

2. When you review the details, the "displacement solution" -- while correct in principle -- introduces measurement difficulties and uncertainties. An alternative approach is more straightforward and reliable.

I'll leave the alternate approach unstated for now. Can anyone come up with a better, more accurate way to test the crown? The fact that the better method is little known even today in the 21st century shrieks volumes to me about Archimedes' genius.
 
Swammerdami said:
I'll leave the alternate approach unstated for now. Can anyone come up with a better, more accurate way to test the crown? The fact that the better method is little known even today in the 21st century shrieks volumes to me about Archimedes' genius.
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To be clear, Archimedes did not publish his specific method. The anecdote survived and subsequent scientists guessed at Archimedes' method. But Archimedes, or so some modern thinkers believe, employed a better simpler method that other thinkers overlooked -- a method that was ignored for many MANY centuries!

I don't know what the actual evidence for any of this is, but the claim I read is that the person who first deduced the actual method Archimedes probably used was born (a whopping) 1850 years after Archimedes; his name was Galileo Galilei.

Here's your chance! Figure out how the great Archimedes REALLY judged the purity of that famous gold crown, a method simpler and more reliable than measuring water displacement, a method so clever that nobody figured it out for 1850 years!
 
pood said:
Swammerdami said:
Obviously
#1 Albert Einstein, and
#3 Sir Isaac Newton
are correct entries for the Three Greatest Scientists List. I am left only with the need to justify
#2 Archimedes.
Click to expand...

Why would you put Einstein above Newton? Einstein’s work could not have happened but for Newton and Galileo.
Click to expand...

We agree that Newton and Einstein both belong on the Three Greatest Scientist List, and are just quibbling over the relative order. Of course Einstein had an extra 240+ years of science to build on compared with Newton, but Newton himself "saw further [] by standing on the shoulders of giants" including Galileo and Kepler among others.

Although I've read quite a bit about the history of science, I don't feel qualified to "rate" the great scientists. I rely on the opinions of great scientists themselves; and these people praise Einstein with superlatives. The General Theory of Relativity was "the most creative scientific theory ever", and nobody else ever achieved anything like it. Had Einstein done no work in relativity he'd still be famous as a key figure in quantum physics. Max Planck had derived  Planck's law to match experimental data, but it was Einstein who is credited with the "discovery of the photon," which explained Planck's result.

Anyway, we agree that Einstein and Newton both belong on the Top Three List. I am much less happy about Archimedes' inclusion. However great Archimedes' genius was, his influence on other scientists was almost zero. :cry: Perhaps Niels Bohr is a better choice for the Top Three. Or maybe just reduce to a Top Two List.
 
With regard to Darwin, whose grandfather Erasmus was also a proponent of evolution, and for sure natural selection was also thought of by Wallace, and no doubt would also be thought of by someone if they didn't think of it (just like with Newton and Leibniz both creating calculus), what he did that was also of importance is that he went and gathered evidence, and the latter is the difference between simply having ideas and making them a scientific theory.
 
Just want to say Thank You to Politesse for actually writing out loud just how overrated the Godfather films are. I absolutely agree—even though I have never managed to sit through an entire Godfather except for the first—which says something, I think about the films.

Best female comedian must be Lucille Ball and a lot of recognition should go to Ball and Desi Arnaz who, believe it or not actually broke what was considered to be a color barrier with their marriage and partnership on camera and in their studio. Arnaz actually invented the three camera filming technique still used by television shows today. They were both innovators and extraordinary talents.

Other tremendously talented comedians include the incomparable Robin Williams as well as Eddie Murphy. Tina Fey and Jean Smart ( really, guys—you have to see Hacks) It is impossible to not include Charlie Chaplin as an epic, perhaps GOAT comedic performer, actor, innovator, writer, director and producer. It is impossible to mention Chaplin without mentioning the Marx Brothers.
 
pood said:
Swammerdami said:
Clearing up loose ends:
* Marilyn Monroe is obviously the sexiest woman known to man, although I will consider specific evidence attesting to the allure of Helen of Sparta and Troy. Rita Hayworth merits some sort of Honorable Mention related to her personality. (Don't forget that she was Fred Astaire's favorite dancing partner.)
* I'd rank Bob Dylan higher than the #15 on the Rolling Stone's greatest singer list:
Bob Dylan’s voice, especially the wheezy and/or aggressively twangy strains he favored in his early years, will always sound like a caricature of itself. But the confidence with which he owned his ugly-duckling delivery, and shaped it into something as expressive as his wildly inventive lyrics, has made him one of America’s great vocal eccentrics. Once he was fully in control of his instrument, he could use it to express everything from wry disdain (“Like a Rolling Stone”) to deep devotion (“If Not for You”), wrenching pathos (the Basement Tapes masterpiece “Goin’ to Acapulco”) and sardonic venom (“Idiot Wind”). (On 1969’s Nashville Skyline, he even morphed into a clean-voiced crooner.)
Click to expand...

Obviously
#1 Albert Einstein, and
#3 Sir Isaac Newton
are correct entries for the Three Greatest Scientists List. I am left only with the need to justify
#2 Archimedes.
Click to expand...

Why would you put Einstein above Newton? Einstein’s work could not have happened but for Newton and Galileo.
Click to expand...
Or Mileva Maric, Einstein’s first wife.
 
Swammerdami said:
Can anyone come up with a better, more accurate way to test the crown?
Click to expand...
Assuming it has to be non-invasive/ destructive and was technically with reach at the time … not I.
So … what is it? A certificate of authenticity?
 
Toni said:
Best female comedian must be Lucille Ball and a lot of recognition should go to Ball and Desi Arnaz who, believe it or not actually broke what was considered to be a color barrier with their marriage and partnership on camera and in their studio. Arnaz actually invented the three camera filming technique still used by television shows today. They were both innovators and extraordinary talents.

Other tremendously talented comedians include the incomparable Robin Williams as well as Eddie Murphy. Tina Fey and Jean Smart ( really, guys—you have to see Hacks) It is impossible to not include Charlie Chaplin as an epic, perhaps GOAT comedic performer, actor, innovator, writer, director and producer. It is impossible to mention Chaplin without mentioning the Marx Brothers.
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Lucille Ball was a treasure, but when Tig Notaro walked on stage at the Largo and said "Good evening. Hello. I have cancer", she kind of redefined the stratosphere of standup comedy for me. Fearless, funny, fierce, and dry as hell. I love her so much. And like Lucy, she's also a Star Trek alum now! Starships are place to find a female comedian I guess.

Chaplin's influence goes deeper than most people realize, so many talented comedians and film-makers I've known still watch his films religiously. "Modern Life" is another one of my very favorite movies, though I think "City Lights" is more often advanced as his best film and it is also a goody.
 
Politesse said:
Toni said:
Best female comedian must be Lucille Ball and a lot of recognition should go to Ball and Desi Arnaz who, believe it or not actually broke what was considered to be a color barrier with their marriage and partnership on camera and in their studio. Arnaz actually invented the three camera filming technique still used by television shows today. They were both innovators and extraordinary talents.

Other tremendously talented comedians include the incomparable Robin Williams as well as Eddie Murphy. Tina Fey and Jean Smart ( really, guys—you have to see Hacks) It is impossible to not include Charlie Chaplin as an epic, perhaps GOAT comedic performer, actor, innovator, writer, director and producer. It is impossible to mention Chaplin without mentioning the Marx Brothers.
Click to expand...
Lucille Ball was a treasure, but when Tig Notaro walked on stage at the Largo and said "Good evening. Hello. I have cancer", she kind of redefined the stratosphere of standup comedy for me. Fearless, funny, fierce, and dry as hell. I love her so much. And like Lucy, she's also a Star Trek alum now! Starships are place to find a female comedian I guess.

Chaplin's influence goes deeper than most people realize, so many talented comedians and film-makers I've known still watch his films religiously. "Modern Life" is another one of my very favorite movies, though I think "City Lights" is more often advanced as his best film and it is also a goody.
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I don’t know how I forgot Tig! She is fabulous!
 
Coffee is certainly in the top of my list, next to the inventions of books and music. In terms of music though, Chopin and Rachmaninoff are my favorite composers and I consider their music to be the most sophisticated and extraordinary expression of emotion. But probably the most extraordinary invention to me is fire (at least the bow drill method of producing it), it is easy to see how we might have first discovered flint and use that to produce fire, for example. But how was the bow drill method discovered?
 
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Toni said:
Just want to say Thank You to Politesse for actually writing out loud just how overrated the Godfather films are. I absolutely agree—even though I have never managed to sit through an entire Godfather except for the first—which says something, I think about the films.

Best female comedian must be Lucille Ball and a lot of recognition should go to Ball and Desi Arnaz who, believe it or not actually broke what was considered to be a color barrier with their marriage and partnership on camera and in their studio. Arnaz actually invented the three camera filming technique still used by television shows today. They were both innovators and extraordinary talents.

Other tremendously talented comedians include the incomparable Robin Williams as well as Eddie Murphy. Tina Fey and Jean Smart ( really, guys—you have to see Hacks) It is impossible to not include Charlie Chaplin as an epic, perhaps GOAT comedic performer, actor, innovator, writer, director and producer. It is impossible to mention Chaplin without mentioning the Marx Brothers.
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I agree with regard to Robin Williams. He was brilliant.

In terms of Stand Up Comedians, Sean Lock was probably the greatest. He was pure genius. He will be followed closely by Alex Horne (who actually is a genius).

Lets talk music....

Queen! I am sorry - there are extraordinary musicians out there - but Queen were phenomenal. Especially Freddy Mercury.

Everyone raves about Bob Dylan, but I am sorry - I don't get him.
 
gmbteach said:
Toni said:
Just want to say Thank You to Politesse for actually writing out loud just how overrated the Godfather films are. I absolutely agree—even though I have never managed to sit through an entire Godfather except for the first—which says something, I think about the films.

Best female comedian must be Lucille Ball and a lot of recognition should go to Ball and Desi Arnaz who, believe it or not actually broke what was considered to be a color barrier with their marriage and partnership on camera and in their studio. Arnaz actually invented the three camera filming technique still used by television shows today. They were both innovators and extraordinary talents.

Other tremendously talented comedians include the incomparable Robin Williams as well as Eddie Murphy. Tina Fey and Jean Smart ( really, guys—you have to see Hacks) It is impossible to not include Charlie Chaplin as an epic, perhaps GOAT comedic performer, actor, innovator, writer, director and producer. It is impossible to mention Chaplin without mentioning the Marx Brothers.
Click to expand...
I agree with regard to Robin Williams. He was brilliant.

In terms of Stand Up Comedians, Sean Lock was probably the greatest. He was pure genius. He will be followed closely by Alex Horne (who actually is a genius).

Lets talk music....

Queen! I am sorry - there are extraordinary musicians out there - but Queen were phenomenal. Especially Freddy Mercury.

Everyone raves about Bob Dylan, but I am sorry - I don't get him.
Click to expand...
What I like about Bob Dylan ( and I’m a big fan) is his lyrics and his playing. I’ve only heard him live once, when my oldest was a young adult and it was really a great concert. His voice is not pretty and he certainly never had anything close to the range of Freddy Mercury but if Dylan is your thing—he’s your thing.
 
Toni said:
Best female comedian must be Lucille Ball and a lot of recognition should go to Ball and Desi Arnaz who, believe it or not actually broke what was considered to be a color barrier with their marriage and partnership on camera and in their studio. Arnaz actually invented the three camera filming technique still used by television shows today. They were both innovators and extraordinary talents.

Other tremendously talented comedians include the incomparable Robin Williams as well as Eddie Murphy. Tina Fey and Jean Smart ( really, guys—you have to see Hacks) It is impossible to not include Charlie Chaplin as an epic, perhaps GOAT comedic performer, actor, innovator, writer, director and producer. It is impossible to mention Chaplin without mentioning the Marx Brothers.
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Don't forget Carol Burnette, who is actually still working.
 
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