Toward A Top 100 Most Influential (organizing the list part 1))

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Wright Bros	invented the first successful airplane.
Benjamin Franklin	America's first celebrity; famous inventor, printer, statesman, civic advocate; invented the lightning rod, bifocals and a stove; secured the alliance with France that was necessary in winning American Independence from Great Britain.
Henry Ford	Developed assembly-line mass production, which allowed for cheap automobiles that the middle-class could afford; saw consumerism as the key to world peace.
Hammurabi	for the earliest specific code of laws for a large centralized state. Also, the Law of Retaliation (“Eye for an eye”).
Martin Luther King Jr	the predominant figure in the African-American civil rights movement, and a leading inspiration for the rights of worldwide minorities. He was also, along with Gandhi, a chief practioneer of nonviolent civil disobedience.
Confucius	His ideas were developed into a system known as Confucianism, which form the basis of Chinese tradition, culture and belief. He came up with the “Golden Rule” about 500 years before Jesus did. His direct influence is also in Korea and Japan. Indirectly, he influences the world, primarily because of China’s present influence.
John Locke	the father of liberalism. He may be the key philosopher in influencing the American Revolution, including the language of the Declaration of Independence.
Martin Luther	Crucial early figure of the Protestant Reformation when he protested against the corruptions of the Catholic Church; Argued that the Bible was a greater authority than the Pope; Translated the Bible into the vernacular so that it could be accessible for those unschooled in Biblical languages; Inspired Lutheranism, a major protestant denomination, and the other Protestant movements.
Ludwig Van Beethoven	Revolutionary composer that created the bridge from classical music to romantic era music by breaking free of classical tradition in music; Arguably the "Father of Modern Musical Composition" for doing so.
Immanuel Kant	Arguably the most influential philosopher since Aristotle; Categorical Imperative has huge impact on moral philsophy; Thing in Itself has a huge impact on the concept of reality, reason, and interpretation; Critique of Pure Reason on rationalism, reason, etc.,; had impact on politics for his belief that greater Democracy mixed with international diplomacy will lead us to perpetual peace.
Aristotle	Philosopher who dominated Western thought all the way up to the Enlightenment; first to formally study logic; huge impact on the Islamic Golden Age, early Christian theology, theories of literature, physical sciences, etc. Taught Alexander the Great.
Plato	Founder of Western Political philosophy and Western Spirituality, crucially impacting the theories of government, religion, and common thought; founded the first institute of higher learning in the Western World; teacher of Aristotle; inspiration for Neoplatonism.
Archimedes	Discovered the laws of levers and pulleys, allowing us to move heavy objects with little force; estimated the value of pi; huge mathematical influence on a range of mathematic and physics.
Mohandes Gandhi	Pop culture figure; arguably the most well-known practitioner of non-violent resistance; led the movement that eventually saw Indian gain independence from the UK; inspires worldwide Civil Rights and freedoms.
Napoleon Bonaparte	Most studied military figure in human history; directly involved in the destruction of the Holy Roman Empire, the expedition that discovered the Rosetta Stone, creation of the Napoleonic Code, the Louisiana Purchase, and more; Inspired European nationalism which would later see the unification of Germany and Italy; Inspired the concept of the Great Man theory; nearly conquered continental Europe; his defeat led to the Concert of Europe/Balance of Power, a long period of relative peace.
Michelangelo	Considered by many as the "Greatest Artist of All Time" for his paintings, frescoes, architecture, and sculptures; Painted the Sistine Chapel and was one of the architects for St. Peter's Basillica. Triggered the Mannerism art movement; also a famous Italian poet.
Ernest Rutherford	Considered the "Father of Nuclear Physics" for his discovery of radioactive half-life, the element Radon, and differentiating alpha and beta radiation.
Augustus Caesar	Rebuilt the collapsing Roman Republic into a Roman Empire; First Roman Emperor; greatly expanded Rome; initiated Pax Romana, which saw relative peace throughout the empire.
Hernan Cortes	Conquistador who destroyed the long-lasting and immense Aztec Empire and brought New Spain (future Mexico) under Spanish rule.
Pier Giorgio Perotto	Led in the creation of the first personal computer
Theodore Roosevelt	Crucial figure in the development of the power of the presidency, which was used as an advocating force for social, domestic policy to improve the quality of the lives of US citizens; inspired the conservation movement, business regulations, labor laws, etc; expanded the US navy into a competitive worldwide power.
Charles II	Restored the British Monarchy after the Civil War; arguably the first British monarch to accept Parliament as the predominant governmental power
Pope John Paul II	First non-Italian Pope in over 450 years; played a leading role in ending Communism in Eastern Europe, especially in Poland
Walt Whitman	The "Father of Free Verse," his unrhymed poetry, which often embrace the democratic, self-reliant, and inclusive nature of America, influence later generations of poets, almost all who write in free verse primarily
Catherine the Great	Oversaw the revitalization and expansion of Russia into a Great Power
Sergey Brin & Larry Page	Created the search-engine Google
Charles Goodyear	Invented the process for vulcanizing rubber, allow it to be used for practical purposes.
Omar Khayyam	Laid down the principles of algebra and created the theory of proportional geometry

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This poll will close around 9PM EST. I'll then do the next poll.