Showing posts with label renaissance humanism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label renaissance humanism. Show all posts

Wednesday, 20 February 2013

Polymath


Leonardo da Vinci is regarded as a "Renaissance man" and is one of the most recognizable polymaths
A polymath (Greek: πολυμαθής, polymathēs, "having learned much"),[1] sometimes (if male) referred to as a Renaissance Man, is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath (or polymathic person) may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable. Most ancient scientists were polymaths by today's standards.[2] The term was first used in the seventeenth century but the related term, polyhistor, is an ancient term with similar meaning.
The common term Renaissance man has been used historically to describe polymaths or persons who aspired to be polymaths.[3] The concept emerged from the numerous great thinkers of that era who excelled in multiple fields of the arts and science, including Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Galileo Galilei, Nicolaus Copernicus and Michael Servetus[4]. The emergence of these thinkers was attributed to the then rising notion in Renaissance Italy expressed by one of its most accomplished representatives, Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472): that "a man can do all things if he will". [5] His concept embodied the basic tenets of Renaissance humanism, which considered humans empowered and limitless in their capacities for development, and it led to the notion that people should embrace all knowledge and develop their capacities as fully as possible. The term applies to the gifted people of the Renaissance who sought to develop skills in all areas of knowledge, in physical development, in social accomplishments, and in the arts, in contrast to the vast majority of people of that age, who were not well educated. This temporarily limited term entered the lexicon during the twentieth century and has been applied to great thinkers living before and after the Renaissance such as Aristotle, Avicenna, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Benjamin Franklin,and Isaac Newton. Terms such as polyhistor, polymath or even universal genius are sometimes employed as synonyms to the term.

Contents

[edit] Related terms

A different term for the secondary meaning of polymath is Renaissance man or woman (a term first recorded in written English in the early 20th century).[6] Other similar terms also in use are Homo Universalis (Latin) and Uomo Universale (Italian), which translate to "universal person" or "universal man". These expressions derived from the ideal in Renaissance Humanism that it was possible to acquire a universal learning[7] in order to develop one's potential, (covering both the arts and the sciences[8] and without necessarily restricting this farewell learning to be the academic fields). When someone is called a Renaissance man or woman today, it is meant that they do not have only broad interests or a superficial knowledge of several fields, but rather that their knowledge is profound and often that they also have proficiency or accomplishments in at least some of these fields and in some cases even at a level comparable to the proficiency or the accomplishments of an expert.[9] The related term Generalist is used to contrast this general approach to knowledge to that of the specialist. The expression Renaissance person today commonly implies only intellectual or scholastic proficiency and knowledge and not necessarily the more universal sense of "learning" implied by Renaissance humanism. Note, however, that some dictionaries use the term "Renaissance man" as roughly synonymous with polymath in the first meaning, to describe someone versatile with many interests or talents,[10] while others recognize a meaning restricted to the Renaissance era and more closely related to Renaissance ideals.

Hildegard of Bingen, a medieval polymath, shown dictating to her scribe in an illumination from Liber Scivias
A more colloquial term for such a person would be a jack of all trades, though this often refers to skill and not necessarily knowledge. The term "jack of all trades" also occasionally has negative connotation (see, for instance, jack of all trades, master of none); such a person may be labeled as a dilettante, while "polymath" typically has a positive connotation.
The term Universal Genius is also used, taking Leonardo da Vinci as a prime example again. The term seems to be used especially when a person has made historical or lasting contributions in at least one of the fields in which he was actively involved, and when he had a universality of approach. Despite the existence of this term, a polymath may not necessarily be classed as a genius; and certainly a genius may not display the breadth of knowledge to qualify as a polymath.

[edit] Renaissance ideal

Many notable polymaths lived during the Renaissance period, a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th through the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. They had a rounded approach to education that was typical of the ideals of the humanists of the time. A gentleman or courtier of that era was expected to speak several languages, play a musical instrument, write poetry, and so on, thus fulfilling the Renaissance ideal. The idea of a universal education was pivotal to achieving polymath ability, hence the word university was used to describe a seat of learning. At this time universities did not specialize in specific areas, but rather trained their students in a broad array of science, philosophy and theology. This universal education, as such, gave them a grounding from which they could continue into apprenticeship to a Master of a specific field. It is important to note that a university education was highly regarded. A person was not considered to need this broad knowledge to apprentice as a carpenter, but to apprentice in the sciences or philosophy it contributed hugely to their being able to comprehend the universe as it was understood at the time. During the Renaissance, Baldassare Castiglione, in his guide The Book of the Courtier, wrote about how an ideal courtier should have polymathic traits.[11]
"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love (1973)
Castiglione's guide stressed the kind of attitude that should accompany the many talents of a polymath, an attitude he called "sprezzatura". A courtier should have a detached, cool, nonchalant attitude, and speak well, sing, recite poetry, have proper bearing, be athletic, know the humanities and classics, paint and draw and possess many other skills, always without showy or boastful behavior, in short, with "sprezzatura". The many talents of the polymath should appear to others to be performed without effort, in an unstrained way, almost without thought. In some ways, the gentlemanly requirements of Castiglione recall the Chinese sage, Confucius, who far earlier depicted the courtly behavior, piety and obligations of service required of a gentleman. The easy facility in difficult tasks also resembles the effortlessness inculcated by Zen, such as in archery where no conscious attention, but pure spontaneity, produces better and more noble skill. For Castiglione, the attitude of apparent effortlessness should accompany great skill in many separate fields. In word or deed the courtier should "avoid affectation ... (and) ... practice ... a certain sprezzatura ... conceal all art and make whatever is done or said appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it".[11][12]
This Renaissance ideal differed slightly from the "polymath" in that it involved more than just intellectual advancement. Historically (roughly 1450–1600) it represented a person who endeavored to "develop his capacities as fully as possible" (Britannica, "Renaissance Man") both mentally and physically, and, as Castiglione suggests, without "affectation".[11] For example, being an accomplished athlete was considered integral and not separate from education and learning of the highest order. Leon Battista Alberti, who was a Roman Catholic priest, architect, painter, poet, scientist, mathematician, inventor, and sculptor, was in addition a skilled horseman and archer.[citation needed]

[edit] Renaissance men

Main article: List of Renaissance men
The list above provides examples of notable polymaths (in the secondary meaning only, that is, Renaissance men). Caution is necessary when interpreting the word polymath (in the second meaning or any of its synonyms) in a source, since there is always ambiguity of what the word denotes. Also, when a list of subjects in relation to the polymath is given, such lists often seem to imply that the notable polymath was reputable in all fields, but the most common case is that the polymath made his reputation in one or two main fields where he had widely recognized achievements, and that he was merely proficient or actively involved in other fields, but, once again, not necessarily with achievements comparable to those of renowned experts of his time in these fields. The list does not attempt to be comprehensive or authoritative in any way. The list also includes the Hakeem of the Islamic Golden Age (also known as the "Islamic Renaissance".)

[edit] Polymath and polyhistor compared

Many dictionaries of word origins list these words as synonyms or as words with very similar meanings. Thomas Moore took the words as corresponding to similarly erudite "polys" in one of his poems, The Devil Among Scholars:[13]
Off I fly, careering far
In chase of Pollys, prettier far
Than any of their namesakes are
—The Polymaths and Polyhistors,
Polyglots and all their sisters.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the words mean practically the same; "the classical Latin word polyhistor was used exclusively, and the Greek word frequently, of Alexander Polyhistor", but polymathist appeared later, and then polymath. Thus today, regardless of any differentiation they may have had when originally coined, they are often taken to mean the same thing.
The root terms histor and math have similar meanings in their etymological antecedents (to learn, learned, knowledge), though with some initial and ancillarily added differing qualities. Innate in historíā (Greek and Latin) is that the learning takes place via inquiry and narrative. Hístōr also implies that the polyhistor displays erudition and wisdom. From Proto-Indo-European it shares a root with the word "wit". Inquiry and narrative are specific sets of pedagogical and research heuristics.
Polyhistoric is the corresponding adjective. The word polyhistory (meaning varied learning), when used, is often derogatory (citation needed).

[edit] Notable polymaths


Shen Kuo, a polymathic scientist and statesman of the Song Dynasty
Main articles: List of people who have been called "polymaths" and List of Renaissance men
A number of people have been described as "polymaths" by reliable sources, fulfilling the primary definition of the term, although there may not be expert consensus that each is a prime example in the secondary meaning, as "Renaissance men" and "universal geniuses" (see the list of renaissance men above for prime examples of "renaissance men" or "universal geniuses").

[edit] Other uses of "polymath"

Main article: List of multi-sport athletes
In Britain, phrases such as "polymath sportsman", "sporting polymath", or simply "polymath" are occasionally used in a restricted sense to refer to athletes who have performed at a high level in several very different sports, rather than to those gifted in many fields of study. One whose accomplishments are limited to athletics would not be considered a "polymath" in the usual sense of the word. Examples would include:
  • Howard Baker – "Similar claims to the title of sporting polymath could be made for Howard Baker" (who won high jump titles, and played cricket, football, and water polo).[14]
  • Maxwell Woosnam – "Sporting polymath is a full-time post..."[15]
The term can also be used loosely in other curious ways, for example, Rolf Harris (whose fame has come as a popular artist, television presenter, and singer) has also been described by the Daily Mail as "the People's Polymath".[16]

[edit] See also

[edit] References and notes

  1. ^ The term was first recorded in written English in the early seventeenth century Harper, Daniel (2001). "Online Etymology Dictionary". http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=polymath&searchmode=none. Retrieved 2006-12-05.
  2. ^ "1 Introduction: Greek Science in Context" (PDF). http://www.oup.co.uk/pdf/0-19-815248-5.pdf. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
  3. ^ Encarta dictionary.
  4. ^ Michael Servetus Research Website on the anatomical, pharmacological, theological, grammatical, poetical, cartographical, astronomical and translational works by Michael Servetus.
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ Harper, Daniel (2001). "Online Etymology Dictionary". http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=Renaissance+man&searchmode=phrase. Retrieved 2006-12-05.
  7. ^ "Renaissance man (definition)". Lookwayup.com. http://lookwayup.com/lwu.exe/lwu/d?s=f&w=Renaissance%20man. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
  8. ^ Renaissance man. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
  9. ^ "va=Renaissance man — Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary". M-w.com. http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=Renaissance+man. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
  10. ^ "Oxford concise dictionary". Askoxford.com. http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/orexxnaissanceman?view=uk. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
  11. ^ a b c Castiglione, Baldassare. The Book of the Courtier: The Singleton Translation, ed. D. Javitch, (New York: Norton, 2002), 32).
  12. ^ D'Epiro, Peter and Desmond Pinkowish, Mary. Sprezzatura. (New York, Anchor Books, 2001).
  13. ^ The Complete Poems of Sir Thomas Moore by Thomas Moore, Project Gutenberg.
  14. ^ Cox, Richard (2002). Encyclopedia of British Football. Routledge. ISBN. p. 15
  15. ^ Viner, Brian (2006-10-12). "Sporting polymath is a full-time post for which only obsessives need apply: It is hard to get the head round the idea that one man excelled in so many sports". The Independent. http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_m_z/brian_viner/article1218714.ece. Retrieved 2006-10-12.: "I read a book by Mick Collins called All-Round Genius: The Unknown Story of Britain's Greatest Sportsman. It is about a man called Max Woosnam, who ... toured Brazil with the famous Corinthians football team in 1913 ... won an Olympic gold medal for tennis, played golf off scratch, scored a century at Lord's, and made a 147 break on the snooker table."
  16. ^ Tanya Gold, "His lust for fame drove his wife to the brink of suicide. So why is Rolf Harris STILL chasing the limelight?". The Daily Mail. January 3, 2008. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-505854/His-lust-fame-drove-wife-brink-suicide-So-Rolf-Harris-STILL-chasing-limelight.html.

[edit] Further reading

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Listing of Renaissance Men

This is a partial list of Renaissance men. Ref Wikipedia

Contents

[edit] Introduction

The terms Renaissance man and, commonly, homo universalis (Latin for "universal man" or "man of the world") are related and used to describe a man (or woman, as "Renaissance woman") who is well educated or who excels in a wide variety of subjects or fields.[1] The idea developed in Renaissance Italy from the notion expressed by one of its most accomplished representatives, Leon Battista Alberti (1404–72): that “men can do all things if they will.” [2] It embodied the basic tenets of Renaissance humanism which considered man empowered, limitless in his capacities for development, and led to the notion that people should embrace all knowledge and develop their capacities as fully as possible. Thus the gifted men of the Renaissance sought to develop skills in all areas of knowledge, in physical development, in social accomplishments and in the arts.
The following people represent prime examples of "Renaissance Men" and "universal geniuses", that is "polymaths" in the strictest interpretation of the secondary meaning of the word. The list is organized by date of birth.

[edit] List

  • Imhotep, 2650–2600 BC, was an Egyptian polymath,[3] who served under the Third Dynasty king, Djoser, as Vizir (or Chancellor ) to the pharaoh and high priest of the sun god Ra at Heliopolis. He is considered to be the first engineer, architect and physician in history known by name. The full list of his titles is:
Chancellor of the King of Egypt, Doctor, First in line after the King of Upper Egypt, Administrator of the Great Palace, Hereditary nobleman, High Priest of Heliopolis, Builder, Chief Carpenter, Chief Sculptor and Maker of Vases in Chief.
Imhotep was one of very few mortals to be depicted as part of a pharaoh's statue. He was one of only a few commoners ever to be accorded divine status after death.
  • Chamundaraya (940–989) (also called Chavundaraya) was a military commander, poet and a minister in the court of the Western Ganga Dynasty of Talakad (in present day Karnataka, India). A person of many talents, in 982 he commissioned the Gomateshwara, a monolithic sculpture in Shravanabelagola, an important place of pilgrimage for Jains. He was a devotee of the Jain Acharya Nemichandra and Ajitasena Bhattaraka and was an influential person during the reign of Kings Marasimha II, Rachamalla IV, and Rachamalla V (Rakkasa Ganga). A courageous commander with the title of Samara Parashurama, he found time to pursue his literary interests as well and became a renowned writer in Kannada and Sanskrit.[13][14] He wrote an important and existing prose piece called Chavundaraya Purana (also known as Trishasthi Lakshana Purana) in Kannada (978) and Charitrasara in Sanskrit. In his writing, he claims he was from the Brahmakshatriya Vamsa (Brahmin and converted to the Kshatriya caste).[15] He patronised the famous Kannada grammarians Gunavarma and Nagavarma I and the poet Ranna whose writing Parusharama Charite may have been a eulogy of his patron.[13] Because of his many lasting contributions, Chavundaraya is an important figure in the history of medieval Karnataka.
  • Trotula of Salerno 11th to 12th century Salerno, south Italy. Chair of Medicine, Salerno Medical School responsible for alleviating women’s suffering in illness and the specific medical needs of women. Physician, obstetrician, gynaecologist, medical teacher, writer, health planner and experimenter, responsible for major advances in female medicine, public health, pharmacology and medical teaching methods, as well as generally in science. Trotula became famous for establishing the distinct field of women’s health, and teaching men about women’s health. She wrote books used for many centuries about this area, most significant was Passionibus Curandorum, sometimes called The Book of the Diseases of Women or Trotula Major and also De Ornatu Mulierum known as Trotula Minor. These works discuss menses, conception, pregnancy, childbirth, and general issues of illness and treatments. In Trotula’s view men also suffered fertility problems. She promoted and experimented with opiates to numb pain during childbirth.[19]
  • Amir Khusrow (1253-1325 CE), an Indian Muslim scholar, he was a poet, inventor, mystic, writer, musician, linguist, soldier and historian.[33] Born to a Turkish-Afghan father and an Indian mother (the latter a native of Delhi) in Etah, North India he is best known for his poetry composed in Persian and Hindi (then called Hindustani) under the Delhi Sultans;[34] among his best known works were The Tale of the Four Dervishes and Khamsa-e-Nizami (or Khamsa-e-Khusrau) which includes the popular Indian classical romance Majnun-Laila.[35] He also spoke Arabic and Sanskrit. In 1285 Khusrow participated as a soldier in the war against the invading Mongols; he was taken prisoner, but he managed to escape. In 1301 when Ala ud din Khilji, the Delhi Sultanate Emperor, attacked Ranthambhor, Chittor, Malwa and other places, Khusro accompanied the king in order to write chronicles. As a Sufi mystic he was a close aide of Nizamuddin Auliya,a famous Sufi Saint. In 1321 he wrote the Tughlaqnama, a history of the Tughluq dynasty. Khusrow is also known to have invented the classical Hindustani instruments the Tabla and the sitar. He is known for introducing Qawwali, Khayal and Tarana types into Hindustani classical music.[36][37]
  • Donatello (1386-1466) - an Italian painter and sculptor.
  • Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464); was a cardinal of the Catholic Church from Germany (Holy Roman Empire), a philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician, and an astronomer. He is widely considered one of the great geniuses and polymaths of the 15th century.
  • Leone Battista Alberti (1404–1472), painter, poet, medallist, philosopher, hydraulic engineer, cryptographer, including machine assisted encryption, musician, and architect, and writer-novellist.[40][41]
  • Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)[42][43] "In Leonardo Da Vinci, of course, he had as his subject not just an ordinary Italian painter, but the prototype of the universal genius, the 'Renaissance man,' …"; "prodigious polymath… Painter, sculptor, engineer, astronomer, anatomist, biologist, geologist, physicist, architect, philosopher, humanist.".[44] Leonardo's scientific accomplishments are often reduced to inventions (of which he made very many) or to speculation, and an adventurous spirit. Recent writing shows that he was in fact a serious and brilliant scientist, concerned with what today is called 'systems theory', or complex systems; but he devised scientific reasoning models for experimentation, and conducted experiments with validation procedures, all of which qualify him as a scientist in the true sense as well.[45] For the extraordinary and unprecedented range of his work, of which only a minority survives, he is justly considered by many the most diversely talented person, or, as Helen Gardner says "The scope and depth of his interests were without precedent… His mind and personality seem to us superhuman".[46]
  • Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), "Italian scientist, mathematician, astronomer, physicist, and philosopher. He made fundamental contributions to many sciences such as motion, materials, astronomy; he adapted telescope devices to astronomical purposes. As a natural philosopher committed to accounts of the world in mathematical terms moved away from descriptive accounts of the material world to mathematical ones tested empirically by experiments devised according to scientific method and reasoning. He formulated laws on circular inertia, on falling bodies, and parabolic trajectories. Several of these launched the change in how motion was understood and studied and this was decisive in understanding the physical universe. Galileo was a true Renaissance man, excelling at many different endeavors, including lute playing and painting."[50] Galileo is considered by some to have been the true revolutionary (along with Descartes) of the so-called revolution in thought often called the Copernican revolution.[51]
  • Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz (1606–1682) was a Spanish Catholic scholastic philosopher, ecclesiastic and writer who published no less than 262 works on grammar, poetry, oratory, mathematics, astronomy, architecture, physics, politics, canon law, logic, metaphysics, theology and asceticism.
  • Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, the first constructor of mechanical calculators, philosopher, theologian, and one of the greatest masters of French prose. Not frequently described as polymath, as the word doesn't exist in French, he was, for instance, praised by Chateaubriand, who said "There was a man who, aged 12, had rediscovered mathematics using rounds and bars; aged 16, written the deepest book on conics seen since Antiquity; aged 19, reduced to mechanical means a science which exists only in the mind; aged 23, found the weight of air, (…), then turned his thoughts towards God (…) giving its definitive shape to the language used later by Bossuet and Racine (…) This frightening genius was named Blaise Pascal" [52]
  • Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716); "Leibniz was a polymath who made significant contributions in many areas of physics, logic, mathematics, history, librarianship, and of course philosophy and theology, while also working on ideal languages, mechanical clocks, mining machinery…"[55] "A universal genius if ever there was one, and an inexhaustible source of original and fertile ideas, Leibniz was all the more interested in logic because it …"[56] "Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was maybe the last Universal Genius incessantly active in the fields of theology, philosophy, mathematics, physics, …"[56] "Leibniz was perhaps the last great Renaissance man who in Bacon's words took all knowledge to be his province."[57]
  • Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790); "The ultimate creole intellectual… A true polymath of the Enlightenment style, he distinguished himself on both sides of the Atlantic by researches in natural sciences as well as politics and literature." He was a leading author, political theorist, politician, printer, scientist, inventor, civic activist, publisher and diplomat.
  • Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718–1799) a great female polymath. Born in Milan, Italy, she was the second ever female university professor, a brilliant linguist, geometer, theology, logician, algebraist, mathematician and philosopher.[60] She wrote a book discussing differential and integral calculus. A child prodigy she spoke French as well as her native Italian from five years of age and in childhood also acquired Greek, Hebrew, Spanish, German and Latin. From age nine, she was delivering educated talks and later lectures, including a famous logical claim for the right of women to a full and equal education with men. Appointed by Pope Benedict XIV to Bologna University chair of mathematics.[61][62]
  • Hiraga Gennai (1728–1780) Edo period Japanese pharmacologist, student of Western studies, physician, author, painter and inventor.
  • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) was a German poet, novelist, playwright, natural philosopher, diplomat, civil servant. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, literature, theology, philosophy, humanism and science. Goethe's magnum opus, lauded as one of the peaks of world literature, is the two-part drama Faust.[65] "Germany's greatest man of letters—poet, critic, playwright, and novelist—and the last true polymath to walk the earth"[66] "Goethe comes as close to deserving the title of a universal genius as any man who has ever lived".[67] "He was essentially the last great European Renaissance man."[68] His gifts included incalculable contributions to the areas of German literature and the natural sciences. He is credited with discovery of a bone in the human jaw, and proposed a theory of colors. He has a mineral named in his honor, goethite. He molded the aesthetic properties of the Alps to poetry, thus, changing the local belief from "perfectly hideous" and an "unavoidable misery," to grandeur of the finest most brilliant creation.
  • Giacomo Leopardi (1798–1837) was an Italian poet, essayist, philosopher, moralist, historian, linguist, translator and philologist.
  • Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–1894) was a German physician, physicist and philosopher who made significant contributions to several widely varied areas of modern science.
  • Alexander Borodin (1833-1887) was a Russian-Georgian composer, chemist, and educationist. Co-discoverer of the Aldol reaction and the Hunsdiecker reactions, Borodin was also a pioneer in the field of women's higher education in the sciences in Russia. He also translated books in German, French, English, and Italian into Russian, and was a pianist, flautist, and amateur cellist. Although he composed only in his spare time, it is, however, as one of Russia's greatest 19th-century composers that he is now best remembered.
  • Harry Johnston (1858–1927) was a British explorer, botanist, linguist, writer, painter and colonial administrator.
  • Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) was a naturalist, explorer, hunter, author, soldier, politician, and statesman who began the Progressive movement and is considered one of the first modern American Presidents. He is regularly rated as one of the top 5 best. Roosevelt was fluent in 9 languages, author of 17 books, and was an avid cowboy and explorer that catalogued new rivers in South America and Africa. He had a lengthy career in politics, becoming one of the most active members of the New York assembly and ascending to governor, vice-President, and then President. He won his nation's highest award for military valor, the Medal of Honor, and the world's highest award for peace, the Nobel Peace Prize.
  • Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), an Indian Bengali poet, novelist, musician, playwright and painter who reshaped Bengali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse",[76] and as the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature,[77] Tagore was perhaps the most widely regarded Indian literary figure of all time. He was a mesmerizing representative of the Indian culture whose influence and popularity internationally perhaps could only be compared to that of Gandhi, whom Tagore named 'Mahatma' out of his deep admiration for him.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Encarta dictionary". Encarta dictionary. Archived from the original on 2009-10-31. http://www.webcitation.org/5kwsqlOTt.
  2. ^ "article from nytimes.com". nytimes.com. http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/12/03/reviews/001203.03bouchet.html.
  3. ^ http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/436803
  4. ^ "For almost two millennia Cicero has been held up as a polymath mind, translating Greek and South Italian philosophy to Latin, extending Latin's reach and style to include a philosophical vocabulary, and a successful and famous practicing lawyer. Cicero helped shape the European tradition of letter writing taking to great heights during the Republic of Letters period of the late Renaissance which emulated Cicero's 'respublica literaria' McNeely I. F. and Wolverton, L. Reinventing Knowledge. New York, WW Norton (2008).
  5. ^ Mair, Victor H. (2001). The Columbia History of Chinese Literature. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-10984-9 Page 251.
  6. ^ Yan, Hong-sen. (2007). Reconstruction Designs of Lost Ancient Chinese Machinery. Dordrecht: Springer. ISBN 1-4020-6459-4. Page 127.
  7. ^ Dillon, Michael. (1998). China: A Historical and Cultural Dictionary. Surrey: Routledge Curzon Press. ISBN 0-7007-0439-6. Page 378.
  8. ^ Krebs, Robert E. (2003). The Basics of Earth Science. Westport: Greenwood Press of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. ISBN 0-313-31930-8. Page 31.
  9. ^ de Crespigny, Rafe (2007). A biographical dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD). Brill. p. 1172. ISBN 978-90-04-15605-0.
  10. ^ "Zhuge Liang – Kong Ming, The Original Hidden Dragon". JadeDragon.com. http://www.jadedragon.com/archives/history/liang1.html. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
  11. ^ Lynn Townsend White, Jr. (Spring, 1961). "Eilmer of Malmesbury, an Eleventh Century Aviator: A Case Study of Technological Innovation, Its Context and Tradition", Technology and Culture 2 (2), pp. 97–111 [100-101].
  12. ^ Paul Lunde, Science in Al-Andalus, Saudi Aramco World, July 2004, pp. 20–27.
  13. ^ a b Kamath (2001), p45
  14. ^ Sastri (1955), pp356-357
  15. ^ Kulkarni (1975) in Adiga (2006), p195
  16. ^ a b Hiram Woodward (2004), "Review of Indian esoteric Buddhism: A social history of the Tantric movement by Ronald M. Davidson", Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 35: 329–54
  17. ^ Walter H. Maurer (1971). Review of Pramana-Naya-Tattvalokalamkara of Vadi Devasuri by Hari Satya Bhattacharya, Philosophy East and West 21 (1) p. 98–99.
  18. ^ John E. Cort (November 1999). Review of Hemacandra, R. C. C. Fynes, The Lives of the Jain Elders, The Journal of Asian Studies 58 (4), p. 1166–1167.
  19. ^ Green, Monica, 1992, Obstetrical and Gynaecological Texts in Middle English Studies in the Age of Chaucer 14: 53–88. [Reprinted Royal College of Surgeons of England Library — TRACTS D-GRE.]
  20. ^ Review of Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist, Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 2006.
  21. ^ Sami Hamarneh (March 1972). Review of Hakim Mohammed Said, Ibn al-Haitham, Isis 63 (1), p. 118–119.
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