This is the sixth installment of a series that will focus on Michael H. Hart's book The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History (Citadel Press). As I explained in my first installment, Hart has attempted to survey the whole of human history from early civilization through the late 20th century and identify the 100 individuals whose undertakings have most affected, for good or ill, the largest number of fellow humans. For each, the author provides a brief bio combined with an explanation of his or her historical influence.
I had hoped to publish an entry once a week; however, recent personal issues have interfered with my ability to maintain such a schedule.
In short form, Hart's top 100 list (1992 revised edition), starting with the most influential, is: Muhammad; Newton; Jesus; Buddha; Confucius; St. Paul; Ts’ai Lun; Gutenberg; Columbus; Einstein; Pasteur; Galileo; Aristotle; Euclid; Moses; Darwin; Shih Huang Ti; Augustus Caesar; Copernicus; Lavoisier; Constantine; Watt; Faraday; Maxwell; Luther; Washington; Marx; Wright Brothers; Genghis Khan; Adam Smith; de Vere a/k/a Shakespeare; Dalton; Alexander; Napoleon; Edison; Leeuwenhoek; Morton; Marconi; Hitler; Plato; Cromwell; Bell; Fleming; Locke; Beethoven; Heisenberg; Daguerre; Bolivar; Descartes; Michelangelo; Pope Urban II; 'Umar ibn al-Khattab; Asoka; St. Augustine; Harvey; Rutherford; Calvin; Mendel; Planck; Lister; Otto; Pizarro; Cortes; Jefferson; Isabella I; Stalin; Julius Caesar; William the Conqueror; Freud; Jenner; Röntgen; Bach; Lao Tzu; Voltaire; Kepler; Fermi; Euler; Rousseau; Machiavelli; Malthus; Kennedy; Pincus; Mani; Lenin; Sui Wen Ti; da Gama; Cyrus; Peter the Great; Mao; Bacon; Ford; Mencius; Zoroaster; Elizabeth I; Gorbachev; Menes; Charlemagne; Homer; Justinian I; Mahariva.
My plan is to go through the list from top to bottom and, with each installment, provide bullet point summaries of Hart's biographical sketches, supplemented with synopses of Hart's subjective commentary. I welcome you to suggest other names that should be on Hart's list. Keep in mind, though, that any such suggestion necessarily implies that someone on the list should be dropped. If you can, please tell us which name or names you'd like to toss.
In the first five installments we covered Muhammad through Martin Luther. Here are the next three (not five today, sorry; gotta do my taxes, and my son has a soccer game this afternoon) on Hart’s list of the most influential persons in history:
26. George Washington 1732 - 1799
• son of a wealthy Virginia planter, he inherited a substantial estate at age 20
• served in the army 1753-58; fought in the French and Indian War, gaining experience, rank, and prestige
• married Martha Custis and spent next 15 years ably managing his estate, acquiring substantial wealth
• served as a Virginia delegate to the First Continental Congress
• in 1775, assumed command of the Continental military forces and successfully led American colonists to victory over British forces
• served as president of the Constitutional Convention and as first President of the United States
Washington’s contribution to the formation of the U.S.A. was indispensable. He was no military genius, but nevertheless prevailed in the armed struggle for American independence from Britain – in part because of the incompetence of British commanders. He played a major role in promoting ratification of the Constitution, and as President, provided strong executive leadership that helped prevent the new nation from disintegrating. Washington also set a precedent for the peaceful relinquishment of power.
27. Karl Marx 1818 – 1883
• son of a German lawyer; initially studied law, but eventually earned a doctorate in philosophy
• worked as a journalist and developed radical political views
• moved to Paris and met lifelong collaborator Friedrich Engels
• after expulsion from France, moved to Brussels where in 1847 he published his first major work, The Poverty of Philosophy
• in 1848, with Engels, published The Communist Manifesto
• lived the rest of his life in London
• in 1867, published the first volume of Das Kapital, his most important work; the final two volumes were edited and published by Engels after Marx’s death
Hart summarizes Marx’s teachings as follows:
(1) A few rich persons live in great wealth, while most workers live in comparable poverty
(2) The way to rectify this injustice is to set up a socialist system; that is, a system where the means of production are owned by the government rather than by private individuals
(3) In most cases, the only practical way to establish this system is by a violent revolution;
(4) To preserve this socialist system, the dictatorship of the Communist party must be maintained for a considerable time.
Marx’s writings provided a theoretical basis for Communism and for some forms of socialism. Following Marx’s death, Communist governments were established in many countries, including Russia and China. Hostile competition between Communist and market-based political/economic systems eventually caused many decades of international turmoil and resulted in millions of deaths. As Hart states, "No philosopher in history has had so great an impact on the world in the century after he wrote." Nevertheless, political events in the Soviet Union and China during the late 20th century suggest that Marx’s influence may be rapidly waning.
28. Orville Wright 1871 – 1948; Wilbur Wright 1867-1912
• Wilbur was born in Indiana, Orville in Ohio; both were mechanically gifted
• in 1892 they opened a bicycle shop while pursuing aeronautical research
• in 1899, started working on a solution to the challenge of human flight
• beginning with kites and gliders, they made more than 1,000 glider flights, becoming the world’s most experienced glider pilots
• devoted great attention to solving problems of aircraft stability and maneuverability
• built a wind tunnel to test wing surfaces and made important contributions to aircraft wing design
• designed propellers and a lightweight internal combustion engine suitable for aviation
• on December 17, 1903, each made two flights in their plane, the Flyer I, at Kill Devil Hill, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
• continued to perfect their aircraft and began public flying demonstrations
• organized a company to market their invention
Hart treats the Wright brothers as a single entry, as their achievements are closely intertwined. Aviation has transformed peacetime transportation and military combat. Its widespread adoption effectively "shrunk the planet," and understanding of aeronautics was an essential step in the development of spaceflight.