
Ask HN: Who are the 100 people who most changed the world? - petenixey
Norman Borlaug invented dwarf wheat and in so doing allowed the earth to support billions more people.<p>Mikhail Kalashnikov invented a weapon which changed the world map and the ability of the common man to fight governments (and vice versa).<p>In creating C and Unix, Dennis Ritchie created arguably the infrastructure for all modern computing.<p>---------<p>Who would be on your list of the top (perhaps unsung) people who changed massive numbers of lives for centuries and WHY?
======
xefer
Unsung and infamous: Fritz Haber inventor of the nitrogen-fixation process
(later industrialized by Carl Bosch, which is why it is known as the Haber-
Bosch process.)

At a minimum, 3 billion people are alive today because the proteins in their
bodies contain nitrogen that had been fixed by fertilizers created in
factories using this process. Without artificial fertilizers produced with
this process it would be impossible to support a human population of more than
4 billion people even if every bit of arable land were being farmed to maximum
capacity.

The Haber-Bosch process broke through the hard limit of how much plant protein
could be produced through agriculture and led directly to the population
explosion started in the 19th century.

Paraphrasing Vaclav Smil's arguments:

Naturally-produced fertilizers can provide approximately 200 kg. of nitrogen
per hectare annually; this allows for the production of between 200 and 250
kg. of plant proteins. This places a theoretical limit on the number of people
that each hectare of land could sustain. Under ideal conditions this would
amount to around 15 people per hectare; in practice, the historical limit has
been about 5 people per hectare.

Note: he also invented chlorine gas for use during World War I

~~~
petenixey
Excellent reference. A friend mentioned him to me the other day and you're
absolutely right, he was a game changer

------
javindo
I would make an argument for Bill Gates. I know on HN people might snub this,
but I honestly believe that for better or worse, the future was reshaped by
his business tenacity.

I know that everyone involved in the entire PC movement equally played a big
part, but Windows ended up being the huge unifying factor for Joe White-
Collar-Worker. I think the surge in office computing in Windows was what
eventually lead to the acceptance and idea of "normal people" owning computers
in the home and consequently the drive towards intelligent consumer
electronics in general.

Also a mention for Sir. Tim Berners-Lee, of course it was not a one man effort
but he is largely attributed to the creation of the WWW which, let's face it,
has already hugely reshaped society in many ways.

~~~
showerst
I'd argue that long after his business acumen is just a footnote, Bill Gates'
charity work will stand him head and shoulders into the top people who've ever
lived.

He'll be remembered as a business tycoon probably among the likes of JP Morgan
or Carnegie, but that will fade with time. His charity work, on the other
hand, might eventually work out to save _tens of millions_ of lives.

If the foundation prospers long enough to beat malaria and waterborne disease
in the developing world, they'll re-shape the population of a continent. They
may not only save more lives than anyone in history, but manage to save more
lives than any dictator was able to end, which is a sadly astonishing
achievement.

------
jvvlimme
\- Nicola Tesla, no matter how much he is praised, it's always way too little.

[http://www.activistpost.com/2012/01/10-inventions-of-
nikola-...](http://www.activistpost.com/2012/01/10-inventions-of-nikola-tesla-
that.html)

\- Henry Ford: Giving the world mass production and giving his workers
(comparatively) high wages for the time.

~~~
levosmetalo
It's correct spelling is Nikola Tesla, but yes, he is the enabler of modern
society and the way we live today.

------
jcutrell
Constantine, the first Christian emperor. This was the first time Christianity
was recognized by the state; much of A.D. history (but not necessarily most)
revolves around the interplay between church and state, most namely the
institutionalized Catholic church and protestants.

Similarly, it follows that Martin Luther (not King), one of the vocal leaders
of the protestant reformation, was influential with his 95 theses.

Jesus Christ (and the story of the man) obviously has made one of the most
global and lasting impacts on culture and humanity.

I'd agree that Pauline literature largely shapes the perception of Christ and
Christianity, so Paul is an important figure.

The Beatles - Shifted culture significantly, not just in the US but around the
world.

Certainly Dennis Ritchie.

Vannevar Bush, who first conceptualized hypertext via the Memex in the
mid-20th century.

Tim Berners-Lee.

I lightly tread and say Mark Zuckerberg, but really I mean the brainpower
behind Facebook. Regardless of staying power, to have a massive enough sum of
people to start saying things like "1 in 13 people on earth", it certainly is
one of the most far reaching and adopted efforts in history.

Albert Einstein - the theory of relativity shapes the way a lot of modern
physics are approached.

Adolf Hitler.

~~~
hcho
Not to upset any fans, but how did The Beatles shift the culture? I have the
impression that culture was shifting by itself and The Beatles only lucked
into being at right place at the right time.

~~~
jcutrell
Fair comment. I suppose I mean that The Beatles were a large catalyst in
shifting culture, in that they mark the beginning of rock and roll and TV-
casted, stadium-oriented performance and stardom. More importantly, this was a
new wave in massively widespread pop culture that perhaps would have been
weaker or absent without them.

Let me be clear - I'm not saying they invented or caused the shift. (Which I
suppose I said before.) I'm saying they were incredibly influential to pop
culture, to a massive degree. (This isn't fanboy talk, so I won't be upset on
this thread whatsoever.)

------
talles
There's a book on this exact subject: [http://www.amazon.com/The-100-Ranking-
Influential-Persons/dp...](http://www.amazon.com/The-100-Ranking-Influential-
Persons/dp/0806513500)

Here is the list:
[http://physics.hallym.ac.kr/~physics/course/a2u/evolution/im...](http://physics.hallym.ac.kr/~physics/course/a2u/evolution/img/toptenlistweb.pdf)

~~~
AlexanderDhoore
Very cool list. Though seeing all the religious figures at the top, makes me
cry a little inside. But when I think about it, it makes sense.

It seems ancient history produced two types of people: great political and
religious leaders.

Modern history mostly has: scientists, inventors, philosophers...

------
joshuahedlund
Gutenberg - printing press made the sum of human knowledge exponentially
easier to transmit and expand

(random article from Google:
[http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,36527,0...](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,36527,00.html))

~~~
tnuc
I think the Chinese did this a few hundred years earlier.

~~~
bennyg
Then both helped move human knowledge exponentially further.

------
hga
I wouldn't credit Kalashnikov quite so highly, the real key was the invention
and wide post-WWII adoption of non-corrosive primers, which radically
decreased the maintenance required after firing a gun. After that, it was the
Soviet system that ensured zillions of reliable, low/no maintenance weapons
would flood the world; Kalashnikov's was the later, but it was proceeded by
the SKS (same round, fixed magazine fed by clips).

But using him to represent all the of the above works. I'd add John Moses
Browning, history's greatest and most influential small arms designer, if for
no other reason a design detail that's used in almost every semi-auto pistol
today. And we are still using weapons he designed in the 1910s, e.g. the 1918
M2 heavy machine gun and the M1911 handgun, one of which I carry almost every
time I walk out my door.

I'd add Jay Forrester, who's Project Whirlwind invented the physical computer
as we know it; he left the field after that project, saying correctly all the
really important and interesting stuff had been accomplished.

Alfred Nobel, inventor of the first stable high explosive (stabilized
nitroglycerin known as dynamite).

Pick a selection from _Thirty Years That Shook Physics_ (quantum physics), and
go back some, at least to Newton and Leibniz. And, oh, Euclid.

Claude Shannon is best known as the father of information theory, but before
that he wrote one of the most consequential master's thesis ever, in which he
applied Boolean logic to found both digital circuit and digital computer
design.

Hewlett, Packard and Shockley unintentionally founded Silicon Valley.

John Ericsson, inventor of the monitor class of warships
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monitor_(warship)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monitor_\(warship\))
) and how they influenced naval design following.

Tesla, for AC power, Edison's DC had strict transmission length limits.

Time for breakfast, that'll do for now.

~~~
hga
In between Newton and the quantum mechanics, Dmitri Mendeleev for the periodic
table, a complete discontinuity in chemistry.

Linus Pauling wouldn't make the top 100 because _someone_ would have done it
around that time, it was that obvious, but he was the first to apply quantum
theory to chemistry.

------
CurtMonash
For starters:

Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed -- obviously. Similarly Marx. Socrates/Plato and
Aristotle also had long-enduring influence on how people thought.

Highly effective conquerors -- Alexander and Genghis Khan come to mind first,
because they punched WAY over the weight of the nations they started with.

Newton, Gauss, Darwin, Einstein -- massive and enduring influences on how
science and mathematics are framed.

~~~
timje1
Surely Paul the Baptist was far more influential than Jesus - there were quite
a few crazies wandering around in those times telling people to sell all of
their things and follow them to paradise. It took quite a bit of admin and
organisation to form a religion out of the stories and rumours that were left.

~~~
astine
I think you mean Paul/Saul of Tarsus. There is no "Paul the Baptist." _John_
the Baptist died before Jesus did. Paul of Tarsus was certainly one of the
most influential of the very early Christians, but by all accounts,
Christianity has already taken off before he joined and already had an
organized leadership.

------
pavlov
Akhenaten, the world's first truly radical innovator, circa 1350 BC.

As the pharaoh of Egypt, he had the power to turn his completely original
vision into reality. He abandoned old gods and turned to the only power that
was visible and potent, the Sun. His religious theory based on a concept of
energy originating from the Sun was more scientific than anything that would
be invented for almost a thousand years afterwards.

His powerful influence created a completely new art style, a new kind of
poetry, all driven by a sense of individualism that was completely foreign to
the ancient cultures of his era.

There are many links between Akhenaten's radical monotheism and what formed as
Judaism after his time -- some go so far as to suggest that he was the
historical character who eventually became described as Moses in the Bible.

~~~
Nick_C
Indeed, and even if you haven't followed Egyptian history, you probably would
be familiar with his wife Nefertiti (of the famous bust
[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/Nof...](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/Nofretete_Neues_Museum.jpg/409px-
Nofretete_Neues_Museum.jpg) ) and his son Tutankhamun (who reversed much of
Akhenaten's changes).

------
danso
Genghis Khan...his military and logistical exploits in a time before the steam
engine just boggle the mind.

~~~
xutopia
I don't think people realize just how much he shaped his future. He
essentially brought Asia and the Arab world to its knees and they were more
advanced scientifically than Europe at the time. Without him the world as we
know it would have power shifted eastward.

------
Arjuna
Just imagine the world of technology that blossomed from these 2 inventions:

1\. John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley for the _transistor_.

2\. Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce for the _integrated circuit_.

~~~
kken
Do not forget Julius Edgar Lilienfeld who invented and patented the much more
relevant field effect transistor more than 20 years earlier.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Lilienfeld](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Lilienfeld)

------
ajmarsh
Fritz Haber (9 December 1868 – 29 January 1934) was a German chemist, who
received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his development for
synthesizing ammonia, important for fertilizers and explosives. The food
production for half the world's current population depends on this method for
producing fertilizer.

Also known as the father of chemical warfare so it's a mixed bag.

------
PeterisP
If you're looking literally at the definition of "people who changed massive
numbers of lives" then the relatively recent leaders such as Hitler, Stalin,
Mao whould be at the top:

1\. Autocratic leaders individually affected more change than the comparable
democratic leaders (Roosevelt, Churchill) because they had more radical
actions and more direct power to change and/or take lives on a huge scale;

2\. Relatively modern events affect huge amounts of people compared to older
events - WW2 killed more people than were alive at the peak of Roman Empire,
and directly 'affected' far more than that (~2 billion?).

3\. Really recent political events are comparably tiny - events such as 'War
on Terror' or Rwandan genocide are impactful, but order of magnitude smaller
than the atrocities we did in 20th century.

Of course, we might rather want to glorify entirely different kind of people
:)

------
ddorian43
Skanderbeg 1405 – 17 January 1468

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skanderbeg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skanderbeg)

He has been credited with being one of the main reasons for delaying Ottoman
expansion into Western Europe, giving the Italian principalities more time to
better prepare for the Ottoman arrival.

On October 27, 2005, the United States Congress issued a resolution "honoring
the 600th anniversary of the birth of Gjergj Kastrioti (Scanderbeg),
statesman, diplomat, and military genius, for his role in saving Western
Europe from Ottoman occupation."

Fully understanding the importance of the hero to the Albanians, Nazi Germany
formed in February 1944, the 21st SS Division Skanderbeg, with 6,491 Kosovo
Albanians.

------
lukeck
Thomas Midgley Jr. Invented leaded fuel and CFCs.

Norman Borlaug developed semi-dwarf, high-yield, disease-resistant wheat
varieties credited with saving over a billion people from starvation.

Ignaz Semmelweis discovered that it's a good idea to wash your hands before
carrying out surgery.

------
smenon
Nameless inventor of wheel Jesus Christ Alexander Fleming who discovered
penicillin

~~~
skellystudios
"Nameless inventor of wheel Jesus Christ" \- man, that guy had many talents

------
gmuslera
Take with a grain of salt some of the more known names. History is written by
the victors (i.e. Edison) so your list is probably rigged by construction, and
sometimes what changed history is not the person or what he really did, but
the story about him (i.e. Jesus). Also, calling the "world" the line of
culture that comes from greece and rome to us is dangerous, who invented
gunpowder or arabic numerals? Anyway, considering that with globalization that
line of culture is the prevalent now in all the world, the victor that writes
the history, probably is what you can know.

------
axaxs
I have a hard time choosing, mainly because each time I come up with an
answer, I think "oh wait, that wouldn't be possible without invention x". For
example - the microprocessor wouldn't be possible without electricity. As
such, I think I'd pick Benjamin Franklin. He did much research into
electricity, and even the precursors for what became the design of modern air
conditioners. Without air conditioning, our world would likely be drastically
different - I wouldn't be sitting in an enclosed building working on a
computer, that's for sure.

~~~
sanoli
well, the AC thing, your building would have big open windows and lots of
fans. Not _too_ different...

~~~
axaxs
True, it could be bearable. But, in the summer here it tends to get up to 100
degrees with high humidity, fans don't help too much. It would definitely
change the way the buildings were built, at the least I'd think. Then there's
the question of its effect on computing, which requires much cooling as well.

------
ForrestN
This is a confusing question if we are considering the results of someone's
life mainly because of procreation. If Hitler, for example, can be thought of
as being at the beginning of a causal chain that made a big difference,
wouldn't his mother be even more important? She can as much claim Hitler's
actions as a result of her behavior as he can the behavior of his armies and
subsequent generations and so forth. She has set in motion the Hitler chain
but also a number of other small irrelevant chains that nevertheless help her
overtake Hitler in impact.

~~~
sanoli
So you're saying that the 100 people who most changed the world were the
mothers of the 100 people who most changed the world?

~~~
ForrestN
or their mothers, right?

~~~
sanoli
Actually, in your example, Hitler's mother can't really claim she is the
person responsible for Hitler's actions, unless she was there with Hitler as
his senior advisor or strategist or something. Well, unless she specifically
raised him (bred him?) to be some great cruel dictator or warmonger, in that
case... or should we blame WWII on the Vienna Academy of Art, for not
accepting him?

~~~
ForrestN
Why? What does intent have to do with causation?

~~~
sanoli
Because the question was 'Who are the 100 people who most changed the world?',
as in 'who are the 100 people who _directly_ changed the world?'. I think this
is understood in the question. Everyone named was directly involved in the
change they made, as in _they_ made/changed/invented/came up with whatever it
is they did. So what if they had a mother? Everybody else in the whole world
had one too.

------
treerex
From the 20th Century, definitely Adolf Hitler: the fallout from the war he
started has shaped modern world. The Cold War was certainly accelerated as a
result of the land grab after Germany's surrender and the US development of
the atomic bomb. I would argue that Israel gained its independence from
Palestine in 1948 because of the Shoah. It may have happened later, but one
cannot deny that the Zionists used it to their advantage. Once Israel existed
tensions in the middle east increased, forcing us to take sides and make
strong enemies in the Muslim world.

~~~
hga
Our "strong enemies in the Muslim world" are upset at the 1942 Reconquista,
which kicked the Moors out of what they still held of Spain. The end of your
above history is highly revisionist and completely ignores, say, the Muslim
division of the world into two parts (what they are is left as an exercise to
the reader).

~~~
hga
Oops, that would be the 1492, which was the end of 781 years of land war in
Western Europe proper.

------
ealloc
Isaac Newton - Introduced a world-view which arguably led to the industrial
revolution and most modern science.

James Bradley (1693 - 1762)- "The inventor of Modern science", for his
development of the modern scientific method.
[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v400/n6739/full/400027a...](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v400/n6739/full/400027a0.html)

------
manishsharan
Gandhi for showing the world that non-violence and non-cooperation can be an
effective form of political expression.

Abraham Lincoln for ending slavery in America.

~~~
treerex
What was the global impact of emancipation in the US? I ask not to be a dick:
I'm legitimately interested in the answer.

~~~
chronial
I would say not a lot. All countries that harshly oppose slavery today did
that way before the US.

The idea that slavery is not fine did also not originate in the US.

------
davidw
How about that Chinese emperor who ordered their fleet of long range boats
sunk, thus stopping Chinese expansion and trade dead in its tracks?

Hrm...maybe I'm remembering it incorrectly:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_voyages#Aftermath](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_voyages#Aftermath)

------
codegeek
People who changed the world can be further classified into a few categories
in my opinion. Includes inventors, revolutionists, philanthropists and even
dictators.

Thomas Alva Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Bill Gates, Marie Curie, Aryabhata,
Mother Teresa, Wright Brothers, Henry Ford, John Vincent Atanasoff,Gutenberg,
Hitler to name a few

~~~
simba-hiiipower
...Nikola Tesla. to name one more.

------
chronial
Fritz Haber

Rather unknown, but he invented a Method to synthesize ammonia, which is
important for fertilizer. I think Wikipedia puts it quite well:

“The food production for half the world's current population depends on this
method for producing fertilizer.”

------
interstitial
You simply do not have modern history without Euler or Gauss. Suck it fops.

------
s_dev
Thomas Jefferson - Founded Republican Party, had a large influence on the US
Constitution. Adolf Hitler - Leader of Nazi party, Started WWII, Big role in
the Holocaust.

~~~
philwelch
Jefferson founded the Democratic Party, known then as the Democratic-
Republicans. The Republican Party was formed later.

------
gregd
J. Robert Oppenheimer - "father" of the atomic bomb

~~~
gregd
Dwight D. Eisenhower - most notably the leader of the Allied Expeditionary
Forces during WWII. I shudder to think where we'd be if Hitler were allowed to
continue...

~~~
sanoli
So put in Soviet Union in place of Eisenhower. They're the ones who actually
stopped Hitler.

~~~
gregd
Psshh. The Eastern front was a diversion for the real war on the other side.
;)

~~~
sanoli
Hello there, fellow Hollywood director!

------
greenburger
Charles Darwin, his was both a scientific and cultural revolution. All modern
biology is taught with evolution as the overarching explanatory framework.

------
phireal
James D. Watson, Francis Crick and Rosalind Franklin.

------
ckluis
Elon Musk.

Electronic Banking turned Pay for Shit Online. Mainstreamed Electric Cars.
Non-governmental Space Travel. Alternative Medium Distance Travel Concept.

------
zalew
Stalin, Hitler, Julius Cesar, Genghis Khan.

~~~
astro1138
Napoleon Bonaparte

------
kken
Nikolaus Otto and Rudolf Diesel who invented the four stroke internal
combustion engine and the diesel engine.

------
witek
Copernicus and Columbus - both literally changed our perception of the
universe and the world.

~~~
hownowstephen
then again...
[http://theoatmeal.com/comics/columbus_day](http://theoatmeal.com/comics/columbus_day)

------
honzzz
Alan Turing, Sigmund Freud, military innovator Jan Žižka z Trocnova a Kalicha.

~~~
krapp
Tommy Flowers should go right beside Alan Turing in my opinion.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Flowers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Flowers)

------
Thiz
Satoshi Nakamoto.

But it's too early for the world to appreciate.

------
aukaost
Osama bin Laden, for 9/11 and its fallout.

------
dar8919
Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia

------
sanoli
Mao

------
eroded
Steve Jobs.

~~~
freyrs3
I don't suspect he'll be that important on the length scale of human progress.

