| Britain, the country that started the Industrial Revolution becoming the first mechanised, industrialised and urbanised country on the planet, the country that spawned the world's biggest ever empire, the country that gave the world the computer, the lightbulb, the television, the train, the World Wibe Web, the cardiac pacemaker, the lawnmower, innoculation, the discoverers of gravity, evolution and dinosaurs, the father of geology, the photographic negative, the jet engine, the internal combustion engine, penicillin, the radar, the tank and the aircraft carrier, has more living geniuses per head of population than any other country in the world. The country that gave the world Newton and Darwin still produces great geniuses.
More than 60% of the people in the list are British and American. But Britain is way ahead of even second-placed America - it has one genius per 2.5 million people, more than any other nation. Next is the US, with one genius per 6.9 million people.....
[SIZE="5"]British brains dominate list of living geniuses[/SIZE]
By Aislinn Simpson
30/10/2007
The Telegraph
Britain has more living geniuses per head of population than anywhere else in the world, according to a new survey which reveals the country's influence on science, technology, business and the arts.
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British scientists Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989
Almost a quarter of those featured in the list of 100 living geniuses are Britons, including Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the world wide web, in joint first place, and physicist Stephen Hawking at seven in the list.
British artists and musicians feature heavily, including Brit Art leader Damien Hirst at number 15, poet Seamus Heaney at 26, playwright Harold Pinter at 31, Sir Paul McCartney at 58, David Bowie at 67, Harry Potter author JK Rowling at 83 and filmmaker Ken Russell at 100.
Sir Richard Branson, the head of Virgin Group, at 49, chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall, at 58, and psychologist Dorothy Rowe, at 72, also made the list.
With 24 Britons in the list, the country has generated one living genius per 2.5 million people – a higher proportion than any other country.
The list, compiled by a panel of six experts in creativity and innovation, is jointly topped by Sir Tim and Albert Hofmann, the Swiss scientist who created the drug LSD.
They are followed by George Soros, the American financier and philanthropist, Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons and Nelson Mandela, the former South African president.
There are also some surprise entrants. Osama Bin Laden ranks at number 43, a spot he shares with Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder and Mohammed Ali, the former world heavyweight boxing champion.
The Americans have 43 geniuses on the list – one per 6.9 million people.
Creators Synectics, a global consultants firm, chose their geniuses by awarding scores out of 10 to each entrant against a number of factors: paradigm shifting; popular acclaim; intellectual power; achievement and cultural importance.
They received back 1,100 nominations for individuals in all walks of life, more than 60 per cent of whom were either American or English. Only 60 per cent were still alive.
The panel was then charged with ranking the list in order of genius and to present a resulting shortlist of 100, who were then scored against the five factors.
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British scientist Richard Dawkins is at number 20 in the list
Nigel Clarke, a managing partner of Synectics UK & Europe, said: "Many people argue that a genius can be defined by their contribution, where it turns conventional thinking on its head.
"I think that Albert Hoffman and Tim Berners-Lee have this in common with the great geniuses of the past.
''Both of them have, in their own way, turned the world that we live in upside down. And it may be that alone that accounts for their acclamation as the world's greatest living geniuses."
[SIZE="5"]Top 100 living geniuses [/SIZE]
1= Albert Hoffman (Swiss) Chemist
1= Tim Berners-Lee (British) Computer Scientist
3 George Soros (American) Investor & Philanthropist
4 Matt Groening (American) Satirist & Animator
5= Nelson Mandela (South African) Politician & Diplomat
5= Frederick Sanger (British) Chemist
7= Dario Fo (Italian) Writer & Dramatist
7= Steven Hawking (British) Physicist
9= Oscar Niemeyer (Brazilian) Architect
9= Philip Glass (American) Composer
9= Grigory Perelman (Russian) Mathematician
12= Andrew Wiles (British) Mathematician
12= Li Hongzhi (Chinese) Spiritual Leader
12= Ali Javan (Iranian) Engineer
15= Brian Eno (British) Composer
15= Damian Hirst (British) Artist
15= Daniel Tammet (British) Savant & Linguist
18 Nicholson Baker (American Writer
19 Daniel Barenboim (N/A) Musi |
