From the last 100 years, name someone famous

I try not to mistake noteriety for achievement. None of these people are as famous as Madonna, but infinitely more important and interesting. If you dont think writers have contributed mightily to mankind youre entitled to your opinion and to be scorned therefor.

Timothy J. Berners-Lee, father of the Web

Fred Smith, founder of FedEx

Frank Lloyd Wright, Van Der Rohe, Burnham, Sullivan, etal

Rosalind Franklin [Watson and Crick know why]

Richard Feynman

Thomas Watson, IBM

Enrico Fermi

Donald Henderson, headed the WHO team that eradicated smallpox

George W. Goethals, chief engineer Panama Canal
 
Alexander Fleming - penicillin
Rachel Carson - Silent Spring, environmentalist
Robert Goddard - liquid fueled rockets and gyroscopic control
Henry Ford - assembly line
J Robert Oppenheimer - nuclear weapons
Mary & Richard, Dr Louis Leakey - human origins
Dian Fossey - primatologist - gorillas
Jane Goodall - primatologist - chimpanzees
John Muir - naturalist
Dr Christiaan Barnard - first heart transplant
Dr Willem Kolff - invented artificial organs (Jarvik was his grad student managing the artificial heart project)
 
I think I understand the point beencounting is making. At a deep level, fame is only a function of seduction. The people who we hold in highest esteem (celebrity is the best measure of this) are the best at making us (or others) feel a certain way. Leaders, actors, writers, athletes, and performers give us no tangible benefit other than making us FEEL something. I can honestly say I’ve only heard of two of the people mentioned in the last two posts, and all of them have probably done more to impact my life in a positive way than Jimi Hendrix... or have they? This type of discussion can only be properly had when fueled by pot.
 
Oscar Schindler though an unlikely hero.

Mother Teresa and while you may discount her for religious purposes her work as a humanitarian certainly qualifies her.
 
Add Ray Kroc and Dave Thomas to the list.

Interesting little bit I learned during US history class in college (had to read Big Mac, RK bio): Ray and Walt Disney were in the service together. Later, as Walt was developing Disneyland, he offered Kroc the food franchise for the park. Kroc turned him down. Disney wanted him to raise the price of the food a bit so as to benefit Disneyland as well. Kroc was committted to making meals affordable for families and thus turned that deal down.

Reading about Kroc and Thomas is way more interesting than most would think.
 
Beencounting,

I'm reading Tolstoy right now in English, not Russian. It doesn't matter what language an author originally writes in, great literature will transcend language. That goes for Marquez, Hugo, and Shakespeare.

If you wonder what writers, specificaly fiction writers, do to benefit society... they do what all great artists do, they make you think about yourself and about the world by presenting you with a human experience outside any possibility of your own life. Maybe some kid that lives in Queens, New York who's only seen a horse pullng carriages and tourists in Central Park and only wants to be a computer engineer...if he reads Lonesome Dove or All the Pretty Horses, maybe he'll have a better idea of the sensibility of Texans, what's important to us. Maybe all these folks in rural areas who have no idea what an investment banker is, but are highly opininated, maybe if they read The Great Gatsby they'll have a better idea what drives these folks. Think about it, what if North Koreans could read The Last Picture Show, probably the quintessential book on growing up in Texas. You don't think it might change their perceptions of us? I don't think it's a coincidence that the Taliban authorizes their libraries to carry only one book. How much empathy do they have for different people? I think they are a perfect example of what happens when you don't read and close yourself off. You only know that tiny part of the human experience of your own, then you become a sheep and cease to live.

There's a reason why there's a Nobel Prize for Literature. Great writers are artists, not just entertainers. You read their books to be intellectually and emotinally challenged. IMO books and the stories in them are the greatest invention ever and it's not even close. Some folks are just entirely too lazy to take advantage of it.
 
Considering the advances in telecommunications into modern day cell phones and internet, I would submit Alexander Graham Bell and Guglielmo Marconi.
 
If you have to explain their achievements, are they really "famous"?
_________________________________________________

If you are asking the avg. United States citizen, then yes.
 
Bernard Baruch

(probably in the top ten of the most powerful men of the last century)
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this guy is basically todays george soros. he essentially ran the country from behind the scenes for about 30 years. you wont find his name in many textbooks.
 
Raoul Wallenberg

Alice Paul

Charles Hamilton Houston

Kick *** dudes and dudette..
 
14tokihorn - what a blast from the past here. When I was in high school POW bracelets were very common. They had the name of a soldier and the date they went missing or became POW. Col Robinson Risner was the name on mine. I had the bracelet for about 2 years or so before he came home. At the time, "tradition" called for you to break the bracelet in two and mail it to the soldier with a note about yourself. I recieved a nice note in return from Col Risner.

Later he wrote "The Passing of the Night" about his years as a POW. Very scary. I admired the man greatly although I never met him.
 
Lostman- thats wild!

Post Memorial Day compulsion drove me to post that. A tangent to the OP, but a personal legend to yours truly.

I attended the same H.S. as Col. Risners' sons, however, I did not know them. About the only thing I remember from that time (Oh yeah, the POW bracelets were an icon of the decade!) was seeing the man as he gave a speech during a High School Assembly, soon after his POW release and return; only later did I learn of his field (or air) exploits.

The Wiki page is the second reference I have of him - . I believe he resides in Austin, at this time (from an earlier Web search).

Every time I pass Camp Mabry, if I see the displayed F-4, I think of him.
 
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