From the last 100 years, name someone famous

[beencounting]

We are a nation and a world obsessed by artificial and superficial celebrity with our well know people almost always falling into entertainment or other categories which don't really improve the lot of humankind.

So, name someone famous who is known for their career or invention in the last 100 years other than actors, singers, athletes, politicians, government officials, kings, rulers, or religious personas.

It's not as easy as you may believe: Dr. Michael Debakey and Bill Gates (love him or hate him). Others?

 

[Bevo Incognito]

Rosa Parks

Amelia Earhart

 

[johnny chimpo]

Dammit, I keep coming up with Paris Hilton.

 

[Fievel121]

Eddison, Oppenehimer, Salk, Schindler, Ford,

 

[Nordberg]

You didn't include writers. We could obviously name a few of those.

 

[CanaTigers]

stephen hawking, carl sagan, steve jobs, phil knight (athlete, but certainly not famous for that),

There are many famous people that are not in entertainment but many, once famous cross over to entertainment.

 

[pulque]

Poncho Villa...

 

[zzzz]

Dean Kamen

Tim Berners-Lee

Marc Andreessen

Warren Buffet

 

[BigWill]

Dr. Charles Drew

 

[HornHuskerDad]

General Lemay would fall into that category. How about Dr. Salk?

HHD

 

[Fried JJ Pickles]

maya angelou, albert einstein, johnn steinbeck, j.r.r. tolkien, douglas macarthur, ghandi, hellen keller

 

[IRC]

Albert Einstein
Neil Armstrong
Mme. Marie Curie
Mahatma Ghandi, (Peace, NOT Politics!)
Ayn Rand

 

[BigWill]

Henry Ford

Jack Roush

 

[MaduroUTMB]

Jerry Sanders, Gordon Moore, Kary Mullis, Stephen Jay Gould, Douglas MacArthur, Chester Nimitz, Jeff Skilling, Warren Buffett and Stephen Hawking. I consider Richard Dawkins an entertainer, so he's off limits according to my interpretation of the guidelines.

 

[TXSNOS]

James D. Watson and Francis Crick

conceptualized what is now accepted as the first correct double-helix model of DNA structure

 

[AustinTejasFan]

Charles Alderton

 

[OldHippie]

Gary Larson and Bill Watterson

 

[general35]

Mark Twain just makes it in

 

[LHB_SOB]

Ernest Hemingway. 10x over.

 

[beencounting]

I'm having difficulty accepting the idea that writers of fiction ever did anything to benefit mankind. Yes, man does not live by bread alone, but what exactly did Hemingway and Twain do that benefits people (especially in the non-English speaking world)? JMO, but these artist types fall into the entertainment category, as would William Shakespeare had he lived in the last 100 years.

I'd also question the importance of military leaders. Don't you think the ordinary grunt in 1944 who took a German bullet or the heroic sailor who drowned in the battle of Midway were much more important people than MacArthur or Nimitz? Although we name high schools after these men, I really don't know why we don't name schools after the guy who was blinded by close quarter combat with Hirohito's troops. Personally, I'm not counting political or military leaders in doing much individually for humanity. People like Gandhi or MLK is a close call, but I'm going to reject them as they were political leaders.

also, when listing people, can you write a brief description about their achievements?

 

[OrangeBlooded]

jared fogel

 

[pulque]

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[zzzz]

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[Mrmyke709]

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[MAROON]

Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf

 

[HornHuskerDad]

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[snow leopard27]

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[IRC]

Uhmmm. A bunch of you guys need to re-read the subject.

If you have to explain their achievements, are they really "famous"?

 

[LHB_SOB]

I didn't think anyone NEEDED to explain the importance of literature in our lives. But I was wrong. Unfortunately.

 

[TexasTower]

The intent of the thread was to not have entertainers as part of the discussion, and while an argument can be made of the social implications authors bring to the table, the same could be made for Tom Hanks in Philadelphia or Spielberg with Schindler's List, etc.