History's most intelligent...?

Question

My son was telling me on the way to school the other day that he was 'learning about Albert Einstein'., and that his teacher had told him that Einstein was the cleverest person that ever lived. Whilst at the time I simply nodded in agreement (something i'm sure every parent can symphasie with during a busy school run), It did get me thinking after...'Is his teacher right, although it does seem a little presumptious when you consider it.

For example, was Einstein 'cleverer than Newton or Archamedes, can he be compared to philosphers such as Aristotle or Plato. What about engineers and architects such as Brunel or Da Vinci?

Therefore whilst this is simply a hypothetical question, can you list your top five of any era (although dont put 'the inventor of the wheel' unless you actually know thier name)

Answer 1

Answer a question with a question. Do you mean 'intelligent' or 'clever'. You see to my mind 'intelligence' suggests a range of aptitudes, which might be analytical, or spiritual, or observational; and which might be expressed and well known, or basically 'hidden' and unused. Whereas clever suggests an application of an intellectual or physical talent in an activity that is generally 'well recognized'. So somebody is 'clever at crosswords', or at fixing things, or building things, or solving problems in mathematics or physics or biology.

Then you'd have to weigh up the complexity of a singe or relatively 'few' achievements, versus someone (like Leonardo) who achieved things in many fields. Then you'd have to weigh up whether someone who 'started' many great ideas or things but never finished them, was 'cleverer' or 'less clever' than someone who started fewer but saw them all through to conclusion. Then you'd have to ask whether the test should be who made the 'greatest leaps' from the current state of knowledge, or the person who made just a very small step, but one that hundreds of others had been looking for unsuccessfully for the longest period.

It's a useful question in that it focuses us on the question of what is intelligence and cleverness, and particularly how can we recognize it in the people around us (and in ourselves) and how can and should we value and promote it. Its also an opportunity to examine why we'd pick a certain group of people as our candidates for such a list.

Frankly I'm inclined to value polymaths over specialists, as I tend to see that more dramatic 'leaps' come from the intersection of different fields of knowledge. But to be honest its because drilling down into a field (while essential for the field to progress) bores me, and is something that I'm not good at.

So a polymath-admirer might go for:

Leonardo
Archimedes
Richard Branson (surprise entry, but if you consider a 'corporation' the modern day equivalent of a 'work of art'...)
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

But in the end I think the 'correct' answer is that Einstein was 'one of the cleverest' people ever, and to add in the same breath Isaac's great quote (Newton not Asimov...) that goes: 'if I have seen further it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants'. And a reminder that science, indeed most human achievement is down to the 'little guy (and gal) filling in the small bits 'in between' whether it's raising a family, or cataloging earthworms, or cleaning out the test tubes in the lab. Which is - of course - saying to kids that we all have something to contribute, the important thing is to believe in that and to make a contribution in life (and feel good about doing it).

Answer 2

1st of all, i would say that Einstein was pretty clever. As time progressed, inventing something different took more and more time, because of all the relatively easy foundations laid by others (take that Aristotle and gravity!). So personally i would tend to lean towards clever people of present times, because it really takes thought to think out of the box these days and come up with something new. Then again, these new inventors could have got their idea from some vauge footnote in history, and there lies the conundrum. But then again, I would tend to lean toward the political movers of time, such as Aristotle's other works and other freethinkers such as Plato and Socrates. So here is my list of the cleverest (and therefore most intelligent) people of all time (greatest to less great).

1. Aristotle
2. His student Plato
3. Socrates
4. Cicero
5. St. Thomas Aquinas

These men were all Philosophers and generally practiced more art than one, not to mention laying the foundations for law as we know it today

Answer 3

Top five what? Clever people?

Hmm.

Well, Albert has to go up there. I'd put him above Newton because he just wrapped his head around a concept that so many still can't. And he made it so easy to understand.

And Planck needs to be there.

Let's give Plato some credit. The Republic is a revolutionary book for its time.

I'm trying to think of a clever political figure. I say give it to Hitler. The man was evil, and cruel, and despicable, but in order for someone of that filthy caliber to have won over a nation and won power, he had to be pretty darn clever.

Confucious. His thoughts and ideas are still running through Chinese society to this day.

Answer 4

Great question,

I agree, I do not think that Einstein can hold top billing alone.
Da Vinci is a favorite, along with Newton and the other you mentioned, I would add Galileo Galilei to your list.
What would Einstein have done without the passed on knowledge from other that preceded him.

Answer 5

Hawkins
Planck
Marx
Heisenberger
Einstein

My feeling here is that "clever" does not just denote innate ability but ability to use it.

Each of my choices has jumped outside the square and created whole new dimensions of thought.

Cosmology and astrophysics modelling through intense mathematical reckoning.

Quantum theory from which our deepening penetration of knowing what "stuff" is really begins.

Sociology measures and put values on human kind and their interactions as quantifiable models.

With Planck Heisenberg made incredible jumps of imagination to prove the impossible inevitable and lead the way to chaos theory and, potentially, a Universal Field Theory (to combine Quantum and Cosmological physics).

Determining the relationship of speed is to mass is to energy.(There is however some question as to how much of his credit was due more to his wife than he.)

Answer 6

I agree that Einstein was one of the top ones, but I would also add Leonardo daVinci & Tomas Edison. Nicolaus Copernicus was a brilliant mind, too.

Answer 7

if you sons teacher used the word cleverest.. then i would not trust anything he says.. if it was you son who used it.. i hope he is very young..
however seing how you are using both cleverest and cleverer... well ... what can i say. you are certainly not the most clever person in the world