Saturday, September 30, 2017 6:53 pm + to quote pad

One hundred living geniuses- a list compiled by the consulting company Creators Synectics and published by the British newspaper Daily Telegraph on October 28, 2007.

The initial basis of the list was put together through an email survey of 4,000 Britons who were asked to name 10 contemporaries whom they geniuses, whose merits proved to be the most valuable for mankind. Approximately 600 responses were received, naming approximately 1,100 people (of whom two-thirds were from the UK and the US).

The firm sent emails to 4,000 Britons, asking each to name up to 10 living candidates for the title of genius. As a result, 1100 names were received. The committee then made a list out of 100 people, which were evaluated according to five parameters - contribution to changing the belief system, public recognition, the power of the intellect, the value of scientific achievements and cultural significance. As a result, Albert Hofmann and Tim Berners-Lee, who shared the first place, received 27 points out of 50 possible each.

"Saint Hofmann" - painting by Alex Gray

Nearly quarter included in the list 100 living geniuses"made up British. To share Americans account for 43 places in the list. Which is not surprising, because it was not the Chinese or Russians who were interviewed.
Nonetheless, three Russians also found a place on the list. These are Perelman, Kasparov and Kalashnikov. One even managed to get into the top ten.

100 most brilliant people of our time
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/One hundred_living_geniuses

So, here is the List. Top 10 first!

1-2.Tim Berners-Lee, Great Britain. computer scientist


An Oxford graduate and computer scientist, he is the author of the HTTP protocol and the HTML language.
In 1989 Berners-Lee proposed global hypertext project that laid the foundation for the creation of the World Wide Web, the Internet!

3. George Soros, USA. Investor and philanthropist
An outstanding financier and speculator, whose huge resources allowed him to organize a series of attacks on the national currencies of Great Britain and Asian countries.


He has recently retired from business and is actively involved in philanthropic work through the Open Society Organization and philanthropic foundations in 25 countries.

4. Matt Groening, USA. Satirist and cartoonist
The author and producer, became famous thanks to the satirical animated series "The Simpsons" and "Futurama".


The Simpson family and the fictional city of Springfield first appeared on television in 1987. Since then, the popularity of the series has not weakened, and in 2007 a full-length version of the cartoon was released on movie screens.

5-6. Nelson Mandela, South Africa. Politician and diplomat


A fighter for human rights, a Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1993, fought for a long time at the head of the African National Congress against apartheid in South Africa, spent 28 years in prison. From 1994 to 1999 he served as president of the country. Currently actively supporting the fight against AIDS.

Frederick Senger, Great Britain. Chemist
Graduate of the University of Cambridge, biochemist, Nobel Prize winner.

He is known for his work on the study of insulin, which made it possible to obtain it synthetically, and for research in the field of DNA.

Dario Fo, Italy. Writer and playwright


Theatrical figure, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1997. In his work, he combined propaganda satire with the traditions of the medieval theater. Author of "Mystery Buff" (1969), "Death of an anarchist from an accident" (1970), "Knock knock! Who's there? Police" (1974), "If you can't pay, don't pay" (1981).

Stephen Hawking, Great Britain. Physicist
One of the most famous theoretical physicists of our time, a specialist in cosmology and quantum gravity.


Being practically paralyzed, Hawking continues to engage in scientific and popularization activities. Bestselling author of A Brief History of Time.

Oscar Niemeyer, Brazil. Architect
One of the founders of the modern Brazilian school of architecture, a pioneer of reinforced concrete construction.


Since 1957, he carried out the construction of the new capital of the country - the city of Brazil, participated in the design of the UN headquarters in New York.

Philip Glass, USA. Composer


Minimalist composer, performer. He became known to the general public after creating the soundtrack for Godfrey Reggio's film "Koyaniskazzi". He also wrote music for the films "The Truman Show", "The Illusionist", "Hours", music for the opening of the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Grigory Perelman, Russia. Mathematician


Scientist from Petersburg proved the Poincaré conjecture formulated in 1904. His discovery was recognized as the most significant scientific achievement of 2006. Despite this, the reclusive Russian refused a million dollar prize and the highest award in the mathematical world - Fields prizes.
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And other geniuses:

12-14. Andrew Wiles (mathematician, UK) - proved Fermat's Last Theorem - 20
12-14. Li Hongzhi (spiritual leader, China) - Created a religious organization "Falun Gong" - a mixture of Buddhism and Taoism with elements of qigong health gymnastics.
12-14. Ali Javan (engineer, Iran) - Engineer, one of the creators of the world's first gas laser based on a mixture of helium and neon.

15-17. Brian Eno (composer, UK) —19 Invented ambient — a musical genre with elements of jazz, new age, electronic music, rock, reggae, ethnomusic and noise. 19
15-17. Damien Hirst (artist, UK) — One of the most expensive contemporary painters. Death is a central theme in his work. The most famous series is Natural History: dead animals in formalin.
15-17. Daniel Tammet (savant and linguist, UK) - Encyclopedist and linguist works with numbers faster than a computer. In a few hours he can learn any foreign language.

18. Nicholson Baker (Author, USA) - A novelist whose writings focus on the flow of the storyteller's thought.
19. Daniel Barenboim (musician, Israel) — 17th pianist and conductor. He has received many awards, including for various recordings.
20-24. Robert Crumb (writer and artist, USA) — 16 Greeting card artist, music connoisseur. He gained worldwide fame for his underground comics.
20-24. Richard Dawkins (biologist and philosopher, UK) — 16 Leading evolutionary biologist. The terms that appeared for the first time in his books were widely used.
20-24. Sergey Brin and Larry Page (founders of Google, USA) - 16
20-24. Rupert Murdoch (Publisher and Media Mogul, USA) — 16 Founder and CEO of News Corporation. Under his control are the media, film companies and book publishers in the US, UK, Australia and other countries.
20-24. Geoffrey Hill (poet, UK) — 16 Poet, translator. He became famous for his unusual "corporate" style - the language of advertising, mass media and political "rhetoric".

25. Garry Kasparov (chess player, Russia) - 15
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is considered one of the strongest chess players of all time.


At 22, he became the youngest world champion in history, and defended the title more than once. In 2005, the grandmaster announced the end of his sports career and took up social and political activities. Currently, he heads the United Civil Front organization and criticizes the current Russian government and president.
………………
26-30. Dalai Lama (spiritual leader, Tibet) - 14
A spiritual leader who, according to legend, is the reincarnation of the endless suffering of all the Buddhas. Combines the title of king and head of Tibetan Buddhism.

26-30. Steven Spielberg (film director, screenwriter and producer, USA) - 14
Director, producer, screenwriter. At the age of 12, he won an amateur film competition, presenting a 40-minute film about the war, Escape to Nowhere (1960).

26-30. Hiroshi Ishiguro (robotics engineer, Japan) - 14
Roboticist. Created a guide robot for the blind. In 2004, presented the most advanced android resembling a human. Known as one of the creators of the series of robots Actroid, Geminoid, Kodomoroid, Telenoid.

One version of these robots completely repeats the appearance of the creator himself and replaces him during lectures.

26-30. Robert Edwards (physiologist, UK) - 14
Robert Edwards (Great Britain). In 1977, he was the first in the world to carry out the fertilization of human germ cells outside the body and transfer the resulting embryo to a future mother. Louise Brown was born 9 months later
26-30. Seamus Heaney (poet, Ireland) - 14
Each of the poet's books became a bestseller. 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature

31. Harold Pinter (writer and playwright, UK) - 13
In his performances, the actors use colloquial vocabulary, play vagabonds and hard workers.
32-39. Flossie Wong-Staal (en: Flossie Wong-Staal) (biotechnologist, China) — 12
Biologist-virologist. She became the first researcher to decipher the structure of the immune deficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS.

32-39. Robert Fischer (chess player, USA) - 12


Bobby Fischer at the age of 14 became the youngest US chess champion in the history of the country.
…………..
32-39. Prince (singer, USA) - 12 The Western press called the singer the most unsinkable musician in history. For more than 20 years, his songs have been consistently popular.
32-39. Henryk Górecki (composer, Poland) — 12 Known for his unique style of music, which critics call life-explosive.
32-39. Noam Chomsky (philosopher and linguist, USA) — 12 Philologist and linguist. His father was a Jew of Ukrainian origin.
32-39. Sebastian Thrun (robotics engineer, Germany) — 12 Created unmanned vehicles that reached speeds of up to 60 km/h.

32-39. Nima Arkani-Hamed (physicist, Canada) — 12 Phys. He states that our three-dimensional island-universe floats inside the fourth dimension, commensurate with the macrocosm.
32-39. Margaret Turnbull (astrobiologist, USA) - 12
He studies the principles of the birth of stars, galaxies and universes.
40-42. Elaine Pagels (Historian, USA) - 11 Historian - author of books of research on alternative scriptures rejected by the church. The most famous is the Gnostic Gospels.
40-42. Enrique Ostrea (MD, Philippines) — 11 Pediatrician and neonatologist. Known for many studies, in particular, how drugs and alcohol affect the baby in the womb.
40-42. Gary Becker (economist, USA) - 11
Economist. Advocates for investment in human capital
…………………
43-48. Muhammad Ali (boxer, USA) - 10
One of the most famous boxers in the history of the sport. He came up with the tactical scheme "Flutter like a butterfly and sting like a bee."

43-48. Osama bin Laden (Islamist, Saudi Arabia) - 10 Leader of the Islamic terrorist organization Al-Qaeda. Terrorist number 1 in the world. The bounty on his head has exceeded $50 million.

43-48. Bill Gates (creator of Microsoft Corporation, USA) - 10th richest man on Earth.

43-48. Philip Roth (writer, USA) - 10 Awarded the most prestigious awards in America, including the Pulitzer. His novel The Plot Against America became a bestseller.
43-48. James West (physicist, USA) — 10 Inventor of the electret condenser microphone, which does not require a voltage source.
43-48. Vo Dinh Tuan (biologist and physician, Vietnam) — 10 Invented several diagnostic devices (in particular, an optical scanner) capable of detecting DNA damage.
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49-57. Brian Wilson (musician, USA) - 9
Rock genius. He led the Beach Boys until he became addicted to drugs. But he managed to overcome the addiction.
49-57. Stevie Wonder (singer-songwriter, USA) — 9 Singer-songwriter, blind from birth. At the age of 10, he signed his first music contract, and at 12 he released his debut album.
49-57. Vinton Cerf (Internet Protocol Developer, USA) — 9th Computer Scientist. One of the "fathers" of the Internet.

49-57. Henry Kissinger (diplomat and politician, USA) - 9th Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1973 for unquestioned authority in the field of international relations.

49-57. Richard Branson (businessman, UK) - 9 Billionaire, founder of Virgin Corporation. Known for repeated attempts to break world speed records.
49-57. Pardis Sabeti (geneticist, anthropologist, Iran) — 9 Received her PhD in biology with a PhD in anthropology from Oxford. Specializing in genetics.
49-57. John de Mol (media mogul, Netherlands) - 9 Producer, TV mogul. He owns the idea of ​​​​creating the most popular reality show "Big Brother".
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49-57. Meryl Streep (actress, USA) - 9


Hollywood calls her the best actress of her generation. She was nominated for 12 Oscars and received two gold statuettes.

49-57. Margaret Atwood (Author, Canada) - 9 Invented the LongPen electronic device that allows her to sign copies of her books from the comfort of her home.
58-66. Placido Domingo (opera singer, Spain) — 8 World famous operatic tenor. He is fluent in conducting and piano.
58-66. John Lasseter (animator, USA) is Pixar's 8th Creative Leader. He is called a lone artist, and in his manner he is compared with the late Walt Disney.
58-66. Sunpei Yamazaki (developer of computer monitors, Japan) - 8 Computer scientist and physicist. The most "fertile" inventor in history- owner of more 1700 patents!

58-66. Jane Goodall (anthropologist, UK) — 8 Ethologist, primatologist and anthropologist. Having lived for several years with mountain gorillas, she became the founder of the original method of studying the life of chimpanzees.
58-66. Kirti Narayan Chowdhury (historian, India) — 8 Historian, writer and graphic artist. He is the only historian from South Asia who has been accepted into the British Academy.
58-66. John Goto (photographer, UK) — 8 Photographer. He was the first to use Photoshop to edit his photos.
………………..
58-66. Paul McCartney (musician, UK) - 8

Rock musician, singer and composer, one of the founders of The Beatles. Wrote the most commercially successful single Hey Jude and the hit Yesterday.

58-66. Stephen King (writer, USA) — 8 Writer, works in genres: horror, thriller, science fiction, mysticism. The universally recognized "king of horrors".

58-66. Leonard Cohen (poet and musician, Canada) - 8 Patriarch of folk rock. He released several novels and poetry collections, earning a strong literary name
67-71. Aretha Franklin (singer, USA) - 7 Black singer. She is called the "Queen of Soul". She released two dozen records, received two Grammy awards.
67-71. David Bowie (musician, UK) — 7 Rock musician, producer, audio engineer, composer, artist, actor. He rose to prominence in the 1970s with the advent of glam rock.
67-71. Emily Oster (Economist, USA) — 7 She was the first researcher to reconcile data on the persecution of witches with weather conditions in the 16th and 17th centuries.

67-71. Stephen Wozniak (computer developer, co-founder of Apple, USA) - 7


Considered one of the fathers of the personal computer revolution.

67-71. Martin Cooper (engineer, inventor of the cell phone, USA) - 7

In 1973, he made his first call from a New York street.
But, truly mass mobile phones have become only in 1990 year.

72-82. George Lucas (director, USA) — 6 Directed the TV epic Star Wars. Fans around the world still live by the principles underlying the fictional philosophy of the Jedi.
72-82. Nile Rodgers (musician, USA) — 6 Elite studio musician. This black guitarist, songwriter and producer is considered a master of disco-pop.
72-82. Hans Zimmer (composer, Germany) — 6 Known for music for many films, such as Rain Man. He was the first to use a combination of orchestral and electronic music.

72-82. John Williams (composer, USA) — 6 Five-time Oscar winner. He wrote music for the films Jaws, Superman, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Harry Potter and others.
72-82. Annette Beyer (philosopher, New Zealand) — 6 Made a significant contribution to the development of feminist philosophy.
72-82. Dorothy Rove (psychologist, Australia) - 6 Explains depression and shows how to get out of this state: “Take your life into your own hands!”
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72-82. Ivan Marchuk (artist, sculptor, Ukraine) - 6 Created a unique style of painting - weaving.

72-82. Robin Escovado (composer, USA) — 6 Supporter of the French school. In recent decades, he wrote music exclusively for the chapel of the choir.
72-82. Mark Dean (computer designer, USA) - 6 Invented a device that made it possible to control both a modem and a printer.
72-82. Rick Rubin (musician and producer, USA) - 6 Co-owner of Columbia Records. MTV called him the strongest producer in the last 20 years.
72-82. Stan Lee (writer, publisher, USA) - 6 Publisher and lead writer for Marvel Comics. Started the X-Men comic series.

83-90. David Warren (Engineer, Australia) - 5 Created the world's first emergency flight recorder, the so-called black box for aircraft.
83-90. Jun Fosse (writer, playwright, Norway) - 5 Became famous after writing the play "And we will never part."
83-90. Gertrud Schnakenberg (poetess, USA) — 5 Representative of the feminist movement in contemporary poetry. Writes about universal values.

83-90. Graham Linehan (writer, playwright, Ireland) - 5 Wrote scripts for many television comedies. Known as the screenwriter of the series "Father Ted".

“Glory is in the hands of labor,” said Leonardo da Vinci, and he was undoubtedly right, but in addition to hard work, sometimes at least a little talent is needed. Who knows which way the history of mankind would have gone if at least one of them had not been born - the geniuses who transformed the world. Here are just a few of the Great Ones living today.

1. Tim Berners-Lee - the "spider" who wove the World Wide Web

It is no coincidence that the British scientist and inventor Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee heads the World Wide Web Consortium - after all, it was he who invented the Internet, and also introduced many other developments in the field of information technology.

While working back in 1989 on the ENQUIRE internal document exchange project for CERS (European Laboratory for Nuclear Research), Timothy came to create a global hypertext project, approved and later called the World Wide Web - the World Wide Web. The basis was a system of hypertext documents interconnected by hyperlinks - all this made possible the revolutionary developments of Berners-Lee: HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol), URI identifier (and its variety - URL), HTML language. He created the world's first "httpd" web server and the world's first website, which was born on August 6, 1991 (it can now be found in the archives of the Internet). The brilliant Briton also wrote the first Internet browser for the NeXT computer.

In 1994, Ty Berners-Lee founded the World Wide Web Consortium at the Computer Science Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and he is its head at the present time: the Consortium develops Internet standards.

Now the creator of the Internet wants to go even further: he hopes to create a semantic web - an add-on to the World, which will raise the interaction of computers around the world to an absolutely incredible level. The point is that machines will have access to clearly structured information available to any client applications, and no matter what programming language they are written in: computers will be able to exchange information directly, without human intervention - perhaps this will lead to the creation of the World Artificial Intelligence.

2. George Soros, financial Robin Hood

This is one of the most controversial figures on the world economic stage: some call him a financial fraudster and speculator, while others attribute a brilliant financial instinct.

George Soros "made" "black Wednesday" - September 16, 1992, when there was a "collapse" of the British pound sterling in the foreign exchange market. It was rumored that he himself arranged this collapse, buying up pounds for several years, and then exchanging them for the German mark at a speculative rate: the pound collapsed, and George, using reserve funds, earned $ 1–1 on its purchase in one day, according to various estimates, 5 billion. This legend is not entirely true: the “lucky one” himself only admitted that having shares worth $7 billion, he was bluffing, bringing the amount of transactions to $10 billion - whoever does not take risks, you know ...

The infamous investor developed the “stock market reflexivity theory”, which says that securities are bought depending on the expectations of their future value, and expectations are a thin thing, it is subject to information attacks from the financial media and the actions of market destabilizing speculators.

The grandiose intricate financial activities of George Soros have one undeniably bright side - back in 1979, he created the Open Society Charitable Foundation in the United States. In 1988, one of the foundation's subdivisions even appeared in the USSR, but because of the Soviet partners, the Cultural Initiative Foundation was quickly shut down. In 1995, the “Open Society” itself came to Russia, thanks to the “University Internet Centers” program, 33 Internet centers appeared in Russia. However, in 2003, Soros officially curtailed his charitable activities in Russia.

3. Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons and Futurama cartoon universe

The world-famous cartoonist insists that his last name is pronounced Groening - a quirk of genius, there's nothing to be done: this is reflected in his appearance on The Simpsons, where the last name is pronounced that way.

Matthew from school showed an aptitude for journalism and animation, and after arriving in Los Angeles, he began to draw comics describing how he lives in a big city.

Impressions from Los Angeles, apparently, were not very good, since the comics were called "Life in Hell": Matt had to work as a record seller, journalist, courier, and even the director's chauffeur.

In 1978, the comic book was published by the avant-garde Wet Magazine, and in 1980 by the Los Angeles Reader. Later, Groening was invited to write a rock and roll column in it, but he wrote in it mainly about what he saw during the day, recalled his childhood, shared his thoughts about life - in general, he was fired.

In 1985, Matt was approached by producer James Brooks to draw short cartoon sketches for The Tracey Ullman Show, but Groening came up with something else: the Simpson family living at 742 Evergreen Alley, Springfield.

4. Nelson Mandela, who raised South Africa from its knees

Mandela's life is a vivid example of a non-violent, but no less stubborn and difficult struggle: already in his freshman year at the University of Fort Hare (at that time the only higher educational institution in South Africa where blacks could study), he took part in the boycott of Fort Hare government policies and refused to take a seat on the Student Representative Council, after which he left the university. While studying law at the University of the Witwatersrand, Mandela met future anti-apartheid comrades-in-arms Harry Schwartz and Joe Slovo (the latter would later take a seat in Mandela's government).

In the 1940s, Nelson became interested in radical liberal ideas, became interested in politics and participated in protest demonstrations, and in 1948 he was elected secretary of the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League - this was the beginning of his ascent up the political career ladder.

The political path of Nelson Mandela was long and thorny: years of struggle (including sabotage and preparation of a real subversive war against the South African government) against the oppression of the black population, a trial, and finally - 27 years in prison. Having gained freedom in 1990, Mandela again became the leader of the ANC, which by that time was already a legal political party, and in 1993 received the Nobel Peace Prize. He became the first black president of South Africa by election in 1994, and remained in office until 1999.

5. Frederick Senger, twice Nobel chemist

In his youth, Sanger intended to follow in the footsteps of his father (he worked as a doctor), but later became interested in biochemistry and did not fail. Many years later, he wrote: "It seemed to me that this was the way to a real understanding of living matter and to the development of a more scientific basis for solving many of the problems facing medicine."

The only two-time Nobel Prize winner in chemistry in the world, Sanger has been studying the structure of amino acids and the properties of insulin since the 1940s, in 1955 he first presented a detailed description of the insulin molecule, thus initiating studies of the molecular composition of proteins - this was his first Nobel ", who found a hero in 1958. Sanger's research made possible the production of artificial insulin and other hormones.

Long years of work on deciphering DNA allowed the chemist in 1973 to create an analytical method for establishing sequences of nucleotide chains - this development in 1980 again made him a Nobel laureate along with Paul Berg and Walter Gilbert.

Now Sanger has retired and is enjoying a quiet family life in Cambridge with his wife Margaret Joan Howe (married in 1940), they have three children.

6. Dario Fo, Nobel Laureate Theater

You can tell everything about this person with his quotes, but it’s better to leave you the opportunity to discover his work for yourself if you are unfamiliar with him. In just a few words: this is a fountain of witty political and religious satire, hypocrisy, buffoonery and farce - a fountain that, contrary to the well-known expression of Kozma Prutkov, one does not want to shut up at all.

Dario Fo is an Italian director, playwright, and actor whose indefatigable activity and undoubted genius have made him the greatest figure in theatrical Europe over the past half century. The main motive of his work has always been to ridicule power - whether political, ecclesiastical, it does not matter.

Dario started writing sketches, monologues, and short stories as a student. Since the 1950s, Fo has been acting in films, writing scripts and plays, and touring with his own theater group, actively manifesting his political left.

In 1997, Dario Fo received the Nobel Prize in Literature, his diploma says: “for inheriting medieval jesters, boldly criticizing the authorities and defending the dignity of the oppressed.” He himself joked about this: “I also write novels, but I don’t show them to anyone.”

“The artist is under the gun of the authorities and the power is under the gun of the artist”, “Theater, literature, art that do not speak for their time are of no value” - all this is Dario Fo.

7. Stephen Hawking, professor of mathematics without a mathematical background

Hawking is known for his studies of the structure of black holes and work on quantum gravity: in 1975, he created the theory of "evaporation" of black holes - this phenomenon was called "Hawking radiation". The area of ​​interest of the famous theoretical physicist is the whole Universe, he published several popular science books on its birth and development, the interaction of space and time, superstring theory, and many other entertaining problems of modern physics and cosmology.

In his first year of teaching mathematics at Oxford, the untrained Hawking read the textbook only two weeks ahead of his students.

In 2003, in an interview, he gave a somewhat pessimistic forecast for the development of mankind: according to him, we will have to move to other planets, because viruses will dominate on Earth.

Back in the 1960s, Stephen began to show signs of a central nervous system disease, which later led him to almost complete paralysis of the limbs - since then he has been moving in a special chair, which he controls through sensors on some muscles that have retained mobility. In communicating with people, he is helped by a computer and a speech synthesizer, which friends gave him in 1985.

A serious illness did not break the character of the great scientist - he lives an interesting, active and, as they say, full life.

8. Philip Glass, the big minimalist

An American composer whose work is rooted in the Indian musical tradition, it can be said that Philip absorbed music along with his mother's milk: his father owned a music store. The trip of a 17-year-old boy to Paris became fateful - from there his ascent to the heights of the musical Olympus begins.

Glass traveled to India for several years, where he met the 14-year-old Dalai Lama, and has since been a vocal supporter of Tibetan autonomy. Glass's genius was influenced by Bach, Mozart, the French avant-garde and the legendary Indian musician Ravi Shankar.

The main thing in the composer's work is rhythm: his melodies are simple but expressive, he is stubbornly called a minimalist, but he himself denies minimalism.

In 1984, Glass became world famous when he collaborated with the director Godfrey Reggio in creating documentaries: in these films, music is not a background or an auxiliary visual means, it is the main character. Prior to this, Philip's most famous work was the opera Einstein on the Beach.

In the same 1984, Glass wrote music for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, his other famous works are the music for the films "Candyman", "The Truman Show" and "The Illusionist".

When Glass was asked the question: "What kind of music should each person hear?", He answered: "Music of one's own heart."

9. Grigory Perelman, a genius in isolation

Back in the 1990s, our brilliant compatriot stirred up the world scientific community with his sensational works in geometry, mathematics and physics, but two proofs of the Poincaré hypothesis, one of the so-called "Mysteries of the Millennium", and the rejection of well-deserved awards and monetary rewards.

Grigory Yakovlevich is a surprisingly modest and unpretentious person in everyday life: having arrived in the United States in the early 1990s, he surprised his American colleagues with an almost ascetic lifestyle and a skeptical attitude towards the scientific community. He is perfectly characterized by the statement “Outsiders are not those who violate the ethical standards in science. People like me are the ones who end up in isolation.”

One day, the mathematician was asked to provide C.V. (summary) and recommendations, to which Perelman sharply replied: “If they know my work, they do not need my C.V. If they need my C.V. “They don’t know my work.”

In 2005, Grigory Perelman resigned from the St. Petersburg branch of the Mathematical Institute, practically stopped contacts with colleagues and lives with his mother, leading a rather secluded life.

10. Andrew Wiles, dreamy mathematician

This professor of mathematics at Princeton University proved Fermat's Last Theorem, over which more than one generation of scientists struggled for hundreds of years.

As a child, Andrew learned about the existence of this mathematical theorem and immediately began to look for a solution, picking up a school textbook. He found it 30 years after another scientist, Ken Ribet, proved the connection between the theorem of Japanese mathematicians Taniyama and Shimura and Fermat's Last Theorem. Unlike more skeptical colleagues, Wiles immediately understood - this is it, and seven years later he put an end to the proof.

The process of this proof turned out to be very dramatic: having completed the work in 1993, Wiles, literally during a public speech with a sensation that shook the scientific world, discovers a gap in the solution - the basis of his proof crumbles before our eyes. It takes two months to search for an error line by line (the solution of the equation took 130 printed pages), for almost a year and a half, hard work is being done to eliminate the gap - nothing comes of it, the whole scientific world is secretly waiting for the result, but at the same time gloating. And on September 19, 1994, Wiles had an insight - the proof was completed.

The selection is based on The Daily Telegraph's "List of 100 Living Geniuses".

Significant date - 150 years since the birth

The greatest genius of the 20th century!

The most mysterious scientist in the history of science. A clairvoyant scientist who was ahead of his time. Genius inventor. The entire modern electric power industry would not have been possible without his discoveries. The Lord of Lightning: those who managed to visit his laboratory recalled with horror how the inventor created and juggled in the air with luminous blobs of energy - ball lightning - and put them in a suitcase. He gave mankind electric light and hundreds of outstanding scientific and technical developments ... Who is he - this mysterious scientist? In the article “Geniuses of Invention”, published in the newspaper on January 25, 2006, I wrote that according to the rating compiled by the American Academy of Sciences, this scientist is one of the five greatest inventors of mankind. The personality of the scientist interested me and I collected one of the richest arrays of information about him, some of which I offer to the attention of respected readers. But first I’ll say: Napoleon’s expression is applicable without any reservations to this bright extraordinary personality: “Genius people are meteors, designed to burn out in order to illuminate their age.” He totally succeeded! We are talking about the Serbian scientist Nikola Tesla. He was born in the town of Smilyan /Croatia/ 150 years ago - July 10, 1856. Tesla was the fourth child in the family, and it seemed that he was destined for the usual fate of a rural teenager, especially since Nikola's father, Milutin Tesla, an Orthodox priest, dreamed of a spiritual career for his son. But something else determined his fate. Already in childhood, the spirit of creative research was laid in him, even then he was attracted and attracted by the secrets of electricity, he experienced an inexplicable craving for the natural sciences. And he does not follow in his father's footsteps and chooses his own path ...

It is appropriate to say: a born person is not a sheet of white paper on which parents, teachers and circumstances write down this or that. Man is already born as a person. And his path is not accidental, he is determined by his own destiny, and this is gradually, not immediately, realized by him sometimes throughout his life. And if we do something else that does not correspond to our true goal (and we do this very often), we do not go well or even we just get sick.

In the biography of N. Tesla there is an instructive episode that confirms what has been said. His father predicted a spiritual career for him and sharply opposed his electrical inclinations. He insisted and put pressure on little Nikola, until he suddenly fell ill - fell ill with some incomprehensible and serious illness. When the crisis came, the doctors informed the father that the child might not survive. He was melting before our eyes, and the father, heartbroken, left his stubborn instructions and was generally ready for anything, if only his son would recover. Wanting to encourage his son, his father officially allowed him to go to college. And little Nikola, having received freedom, began to quickly recover in front of the astonished doctor. So he defended, without knowing it, the right to his own destiny.

Some time later, the young Tesla recovered. Or rather, not really. After suffering an illness, he began to have visions accompanied by flashes of light. Tesla wrote in his diary that strong flashes of light covered pictures of real objects and simply replaced my thoughts. These pictures of objects and scenes had the property of reality, but were always perceived as visions. In order to get rid of the anguish caused by the appearance of "strange realities", I concentrated on switching to visions from everyday life. I soon found that I feel at my best when I relax and allow my imagination itself to pull me further and further. Constantly new impressions arose in me, and so my mental journeys began. Every night, and sometimes during the day, I, left alone with myself, went on these journeys - to unknown places, cities and countries, lived there, met people, made acquaintances and made friends, and, no matter how incredible it may seem, it remains the fact that they were as dear to me as my family, and all these other worlds were just as intense in their manifestations.

To his satisfaction, Tesla noticed that he could clearly visualize his discoveries, without even needing experiments, models, drawings. So he developed his new method of materialization of creative concepts. Tesla made a very clear distinction between ideas that are built into thought through visions and those that arise through hyperbolization (exaggeration). Later, Nikola admitted that thanks to these visions, he can “design” any device in his head and check its performance there, without resorting to any real experiments.

"The moment one constructs an imaginary device is related to the problem of moving from a crude idea to practice. Therefore, any discovery made in this way lacks detail, and it is usually defective. My method is different. I am in no hurry with empirical verification. When an idea appears I immediately begin to refine it in my imagination: I change the design, improve it and “turn on” the device so that it lives in my head. "Something prevents it from working properly. In a similar way, I am able to develop an idea to perfection without touching anything with my hands. Only then do I give a concrete shape to this final product of my brain. All my inventions have worked this way. In twenty years there has not been a single exception It is unlikely that there is a scientific discovery that can be predicted purely mathematically, without visualization. loss of energy and time"...

Tesla graduated from the Polytechnic Institute in Graz in 1878, and two years later from the University of Prague. In his second year at university, in 1880, he was struck by the idea of ​​an induction alternator. Professor Peshl, with whom Tesla shared the idea, found it crazy. But the professor's conclusion only spurred the inventor on, and in 1882 a working model was built. Then he worked as an engineer in Budapest and Paris, and in 1883, at the age of 27, he went to work in an electrical company in Strasbourg.

A year later, he sells everything he had in order to buy a ticket for a transatlantic steamer. The goal is to conquer America. I went to see Thomas Edison - with a recommendation from a Parisian acquaintance: "I know two great people. One of them is you, the second is this young man."

Tesla traveled with adventures. On the way he was robbed. Therefore, the traveler arrived in America hungry, without luggage, with four cents in his pocket. And I was immediately convinced that this is a country of great opportunities: I saw people on Broadway trying to fix an electric motor, helped them and earned $ 20.

Directly from the pier goes to Edison - "the king of inventors". He kindly listened to the guest. Edison was only nine years older than Nikola Tesla, but was at the zenith of his fame. The carbon microphone, the electric light bulb, the phonograph, the dynamo, and dozens of other inventions made Edison a millionaire. But all the works of the eminent American in the field of electricity were based on direct current. And then some Serbian with burning eyes talks about alternating current. Nonsense, of course, but, you see, one day he will break out into dangerous competitors ... Smelling the danger with his nose, Edison nevertheless offered Tesla a job in his company. Bring to mind him, Edison, DC generators. The American looked searchingly at the young emigrant, but he readily agreed. While working for Edison, Tesla did not stop improving his alternating current system and received a patent for it in October 1887.

A cold war broke out between the two great inventors as they approached creative problems in different ways. Edison liked only that which gave immediate profit. Tesla did what was interesting.

Nikola Tesla worked enthusiastically, worked tirelessly: his working day lasted from 10:30 am to 5 am the next day. But his relationship with Edison, alas, did not work out. Edison, scolding the "ungrateful adopted son" to himself, began to publicly and sharply criticize Tesla's generators ... "If you are so sure that you are right," the opponent retorted, "then what do you preventing me from letting me try out my system in your facility?" After another argument, Edison promised Nicola $50,000 if he could re-equip the factory with AC machines. He was convinced that it was impossible. The young scientist successfully coped with the task: he prepared twenty-four types of devices and in a short time carried out his plan. But Edison acted like a pig and did not pay him a cent, citing his sense of humor: "When you become a real American, you will be able to appreciate this joke."

The Edison system used direct current, for which it was necessary to build powerful stations every few miles. Tesla tried to convince him that alternating current was more efficient and less expensive. But Edison persisted and felt a talented competitor in Tesla. The genius of this young man really surpassed the dignity of Edison himself! Edison tried so hard to prove the danger of Tesla's ideas that he did not hesitate to defiantly kill a dog with alternating current. But it didn't help. Won - we know what. After all, alternating current flows through the wires in our apartments - Tesla's current.

The main reason for the controversy was the divergence of views on the origin of electricity. Edison adhered to the well-known theory of "the movement of charged particles", Tesla had a different vision.

In Tesla's theory of electricity, the concept of ether was fundamental - a kind of invisible substance that fills the whole world and transmits vibrations at a speed many times greater than the speed of light. Each millimeter of space, Tesla believed, is saturated with limitless, endless energy, which you just need to be able to extract.

Until now, theorists of modern physics have not been able to interpret Tesla's views on physical reality. Another question arises: why did he not formulate his own theory? Was he a spiritual harbinger of a new civilization, in which the only, inexhaustible source of energy will be the asynchrony of various levels of physical processes, that is, Time itself?

Edison, who threw all his efforts into creating DC power systems, could not accept the concept of AC electric machines proposed by Tesla. In my archive there is information that in September 1889 Thomas Alva Edison arrived in Berlin. German electrical engineers wanted to involve him in the development of a three-phase current system and a motor, but the famous inventor recklessly declared: “Alternating current is nonsense that has no future. Not only do I not want to inspect an AC motor, but I also don't want to know about it"...

After the deception, they finally quarreled, and Tesla ended up on the street without a job and without money. “Stop working for your uncle, it’s time to get on your own feet!” - decided the emigrant, firmly believing in his own strength. And this was not arrogance: in April 1887, Tesla, with the financial support of James Carmen, opened his own firm, the Tesla Electric Light Company. A year later, a day came in his life that became truly fateful. On May 16, 1888, Tesla made a presentation and demonstrated his invention at the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. The demonstration of the generator shocked George Westinghouse, a millionaire and inventor of the hydraulic locomotive brake, who was in the hall. He was just about to build a hydroelectric power station on Niagara and was looking for a suitable technical solution for his enterprise.

Having received a million dollars from Westinghouse for his invention, Tesla sets up a laboratory in Colorado Springs and starts experimenting. One day during a thunderstorm, while observing lightning discharges, Tesla came up with the idea of ​​transmitting electrical energy in the same way. This is how he himself understood this task: "there is no need to transmit, radiate and expend power as a radio transmitter does."

Tesla's range of research was very wide. He discovered the phenomenon of a rotating magnetic field, on the basis of which he built electric generators, invented a high-frequency transformer, alternating current and the first high-frequency electromechanical generators. He explored the possibility of wireless transmission of signals and energy over long distances, and in 1899 demonstrated lamps and motors operating wirelessly at high-frequency currents. He designed a number of radio-controlled self-propelled mechanisms. Studied the physiological effect of high frequency currents. In 1899 he built a 200 kW radio station in Colorado and a 57.6 m high radio antenna in Long Island. He invented an electric meter, a frequency meter, etc. Practically without Tesla's inventions, it is not possible to operate any device that uses electricity. Many modern studies in the field of new energy sources, space exploration, vacuum, high-frequency currents, the use of electromagnetic waves, and so on are based on his works. The discoveries of Nikola Tesla formed the basis of modern electrical engineering. Tesla received a big name and general fame when the powerful generators he developed were installed at the then largest in the world, the Niagara hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 50,000 horsepower. Suffice it to say that 13 patents used in the construction of this world's first power plant 9 belonged to Tesla. The richest people of the time participated in the financing of the project: Morgan, Astor, Rothschild and Vanderbilt.

Even the topics of his patents are difficult to enumerate. These are electric motors, rectifiers, electric generators, transformers, fluorescent lamps, high-frequency equipment, lighting systems and much more. Tesla created the first samples of a two-phase alternating current generator and a high-frequency transformer. His work on wireless transmission of signals over a distance had a great influence on the development of radio engineering; he designed a number of radio-controlled self-propelled mechanisms, which he called "teleautomatic devices", developed the principle of radar. While working for Westinghouse Electric, Tesla obtained patents for polyphase electrical machines, for an asynchronous electric motor, and for a system for transmitting electricity through alternating polyphase current. He discovered fluorescent light, built the first electric clock, turbine, solar-powered engine. On his patents, in fact, the entire energy industry of the 20th century grew.

But this was not enough for him. Tesla was especially interested in transmitting energy over a distance without wires. He has achieved outstanding success in this area. So, he experimentally transmitted such an amount of energy over a distance of 40 km that it was enough to light 200 light bulbs! By the way, Tesla's widely known experiment has not been repeated to this day. Tesla worked on the problem of the energy of the entire universe for several decades. He studied what moves the sun and the luminaries. He worked on the construction of artificial intelligence, he wanted to learn how to photograph thoughts, believing that this is quite possible.

At the same time, Tesla is developing new, unprecedented ways to transfer energy. How do we connect any electrical appliance to the network? Plug - that is, two conductors. If we connect only one, there will be no current - the circuit is not closed. And Tesla demonstrated the transfer of power through a single conductor. Or no wires at all. I tried to learn how to manage cosmic energy myself. And connect with other worlds. Tesla did not consider all this his merit. He assured that he was simply acting as a conductor of ideas coming from the ether.

Learn more about Tesla's unique experiment. First, in 1892 in London, and a year later in Philadelphia, in the presence of experts, he demonstrated the possibility of transmitting electrical energy through one wire without using the grounding of the second pole of the energy source. And then he had the idea to use as this single wire ... Earth! And in the same year, at the convention of the Electric Lighting Association in St. Louis, he demonstrated electric lamps that burn without supply wires and an electric motor that works without being connected to the electrical network. He commented on this unusual exposition as follows: “A few words about an idea that constantly occupies my thoughts and concerns all of us. I mean the transmission of signals, as well as energy, over any distance without wires. We already know that electrical vibrations can be transmitted through a single conductor. Why not use the Earth for this purpose? If we can establish the period of oscillation of the Earth's electric charge when it is perturbed by the action of an oppositely charged circuit, this will be a fact of extreme importance, which will serve the benefit of all mankind. Seeing such a spectacular demonstration, such well-known oligarchs as J. Westinghouse and J. P. Morgan invested over a million dollars in this promising business by buying Tesla's patents (huge, by the way, for those times!).

In 1898, a presentation of Tesla's new invention took place in Madison Square Park. In the middle of the park there was a pond in which a small boat floated. The audience was shocked - the ship was moving, following the orders of the scientist. When Tesla jokingly invited them to talk with his invention, someone (also jokingly) asked: “What will be the cube root of 64?”. The beacon on the ship flashed four times.

A little earlier, in 1891, in his laboratory in the town of Colorado Springs, Tesla designed a huge resonant transformer that made it possible to obtain high-frequency voltage with an amplitude of up to several million volts (energy was provided by the El Paso power plant). The scientist proceeded from the hypothesis that our planet is an excellent conductor of electricity, and energy can be transmitted through it at any distance.

Tesla worked in his laboratory for 9 months and came to the conclusion that energy is best transmitted by "reflecting it from the earth and the ionosphere." The scientist calculated that the frequency required for this is about 8 hertz. This theory was experimentally confirmed only in 1950.

During his life, N. Tesla made about 1000 different inventions and discoveries, received almost 800 patents for inventions. Even the topics of his patents are difficult to enumerate. He invented in various fields of technology. You can also name an electric meter, a frequency meter, a number of improvements in radio equipment, steam turbines, etc. Without Tesla's inventions, our life would simply be impossible now. Tesla said: "I do not work for the present, I work for the future!"

Many of Tesla's technical ideas, ahead of their time, were hardly accepted in America. So, for example, he built a model of a ship and showed how it can be controlled from a distance. Even after such a public experiment, he had to convince the expert council to issue a patent for the invention for a long time. In 1917, Tesla argued: "It is possible to determine the location of a ship or submarine using electromagnetic waves." This idea was not taken seriously. And only in the 1930s the first radars began to be created in the world.

In his early letters addressed to friends, Tesla stated that, while investigating high-frequency discharge, he “discovered a thought”, and soon they (friends) would be able to personally read Homer’s poems and discuss their discoveries with Archimedes. This, as well as some other facts of the scientist’s biography, gave rise to a rumor that Tesla (together with Einstein, to whose work he was skeptical, arguing that energy is contained not in matter itself, but in the space between atoms) participated in the famous experiment " Philadelphia".

Many of the most incredible assumptions are being made about this experiment, but there are also absolutely proven facts: on October 28, 1943, the US Navy conducted the Philadelphia experiment to create a powerful electromagnetic field around the Eldridge DE-174 escort destroyer, stuffed with hundreds of tons of electronic equipment . The purpose of this project was to protect ships from German radars. However, after the start of the generators, the Eldridge suddenly disappeared, instantly moving to the base in Norfolk (350 km from the place of the experiment). Some time later, he just as unexpectedly returned back. This experiment had a disastrous effect on the physical and mental state of the crew members. During the experiment, a completely unforeseen side effect was revealed. The ship became invisible not only to the radar, but also to the naked eye. For the people involved in the project, this teleportation was a disaster. While the ship "moved" from the Philadelphia Naval Base to Norfolk and back, the members of the ship's crew completely lost their bearings. In time and space. Upon returning to base, many could not move without leaning on the walls. And they were in a state of inescapable horror. Subsequently, after a long period of rehabilitation, all members of the team were fired as "mentally unbalanced". As a result of the experiment, most of the sailors went crazy, some people disappeared altogether and never reappeared, but the most terrible and mysterious thing was that five people were "melted" into the metal skin of the ship! People claimed that they fell into another world and observed unknown creatures. Perhaps, as a result of the experiment, a "gate" to a parallel world was created.

As a result, the project was closed. What really happened there, no one knows. The author of the phantasmagoria, capable of explaining what had happened, was no longer alive. And Einstein, who allegedly developed the field theory, or advanced far in it, declared that humanity was not yet ready for this knowledge and destroyed his work. All information was classified. It is known that Einstein did not describe all the laws he discovered and realized in scientific papers, but even deliberately destroyed some of what was written.

In 1893, Westinghouse and Tesla won a state competition (beating the General Electric Company) to install lighting for the Chicago World's Fair. On May 1, during the grand opening, US President Stephen Cleveland pressed a button and turned on several hundred thousand lamps, which turned, in the words of journalists, "night into day." It should be said that so far no private company has been able to implement a lighting project of this magnitude.

During his lecture on the high-frequency electromagnetic field in front of the scientists of the Royal Academy, Tesla turned on and off the electric motor remotely, in his hands light bulbs lit up by themselves. In some, there was not even a spiral - just an empty flask. Then it was 1892! After the lecture, physicist John Rayleigh invited Tesla into his office and solemnly proclaimed, pointing to a chair: “Please sit down. This is the chair of the great Faraday. After his death, no one sat in it.

In 1893, Tesla put on a real show at the Chicago World's Fair. Standing on a podium in the center of the exhibition hall, he passed through himself a current of two million volts. According to Edison, not even dust should have remained from the “crazy Serb”. However, Tesla was smiling calmly, and in his hand Edison's light bulb was burning, receiving energy as if from nowhere. Now we know that it is not the voltage that kills, but the strength of the current, and that the high-frequency current passes only through the surface. Then this trick seemed like a miracle.

In 1898, Tesla attached a device to an iron beam in the attic of the building that housed the laboratory. Soon, the walls of the surrounding houses began to vibrate, and people poured into the street in a panic. Of course, these are the tricks of the "mad inventor"!

Journalists and police immediately rushed to Tesla's house, but Tesla managed to turn off and destroy his vibrator. "I could bring down the Brooklyn Bridge in an hour," he later admitted. And he assured that it was possible to split the Earth as well, all that was needed was a suitable vibrator and an accurate timing. Earth-battery.

In the 90s of the last century, Tesla was the first to report on the strange signals he had received, possibly of alien origin, and also the first to publicly demonstrate the possibility of transmitting electrical energy without wires over long distances.

In 1899, with the financial help of billionaire J.P. Morgan Tesla, he organized a laboratory in Colorado Springs (USA) to develop a method for wireless transmission of energy by "exciting standing waves in the earth." One night, while in the laboratory, he noticed how his equipment captures strange periodic signals.

“I noticed periodic changes that strongly resembled some sort of account going in a certain order, and they could not be explained by reasons known to me. I am aware, of course, of the electrical disturbances caused by the Sun, auroras, and terrestrial currents, but I am quite sure that in this case these vibrations were not due to any of the listed causes. And only a little later the thought flashed through my mind that these disturbances were manifestations of Reason. All the time I had a growing feeling that I was the first to hear a greeting from another planet ... Although they were weak and vague, they inspired me with a deep conviction that soon all people on the globe would look at the sky with a feeling of love and reverence, excited by the good news : "Brothers, a message has been received from another world, far and unknown."

The most extraordinary electrophysicist in the world, Nikola Tesla, was not only respected, he was also feared. And some even called the black magician. Still - he allowed himself to drive around for a week in an electric car that did not have not only a battery, but also no visible source of energy at all. Those who managed to visit Tesla's laboratory recalled with horror how the inventor juggled in the air with luminous energy clots - ball lightning - and put them in a suitcase. He tamed fireballs: he created them in his laboratory and, together with his friend Mark Twain, who often visited his laboratory, calmly held them in the palm of his hand. According to eyewitnesses, Tesla equaled the Thunderer himself in creating powerful electrical discharges. The famous Jules Verne also visited here, who, under the impression of these experiments, creates the image of Captain Nemo.

In 1901, Tesla began building the Wardenclyffe Laboratory on Long Island near New York. This laboratory was to become the first link in the worldwide system of wireless power transmission. Similar towers were supposed to be built also in Amsterdam, China and at the North and South Poles. Tesla's idea is striking in its scale: with the help of five towers, he planned to turn the globe, together with the Earth's ionosphere, into a single resonant system capable of transmitting electromagnetic oscillations to any distance without loss. Simple in nature, this project was not so easy to implement. First of all, he demanded the power of talent, which Nikola Tesla possessed. But it also required time and money. The well-known American industrialist, steel magnate, genius of business organization and Tesla's personal friend John Pierpont Morgan undertook to finance the project.

The first full-scale tests of the resonator tower were carried out on June 15, 1903. Exactly at midnight, New Yorkers witnessed an unusual phenomenon - man-made lightning that lit up over the ocean and reached a length of more than 100 miles! The New York Sun wrote the next morning: “Those who live near Tesla's laboratory on Long Island are more than interested in his experiments with wireless energy transfer. Last night we witnessed strange phenomena - multi-colored lightning, emitted by Tesla himself, then ignition of layers of the atmosphere at different heights and over a large area, so that the night instantly turned into day. It happened that for several minutes the whole air was filled with a glow concentrated at the edges of the human body, and all those present radiated a light blue mystical flame. We were like ghosts to ourselves."

It was also reported that the experiments were accompanied by thunder peals. A huge ball of light blazed around the tower. People on the streets shied away in fright, watching in horror as sparks jumped between their legs and the ground. The horses received electric shocks through iron horseshoes. The electrified butterflies circled helplessly in the air, glowing with blue lights. The tests were successful, and nothing could interfere with the brilliant implementation of the World System project.

All this electric phantasmagoria was not arranged in order to scare people. The purpose of the experiments was different: twenty-five miles from the tower, 200 electric bulbs lit up at once. Electric charge was transmitted wirelessly, through the Earth.

However, Tesla tried to stop and, as if on someone's orders, abruptly ended the experiments with the Wardenclyffe tower, leaving all the instruments and papers behind. He never appeared there again, went into the shadows. He lived for another 40 years, patenting something, but little things, and from time to time there were mysterious rumors about his successes: a car on gas discharge tubes; a synchronous motor operating on the gravitational waves of the planets; power beams, with which he destroyed some crater on the moon; receiving messages from Mars...

The mysterious Wardenclyffe Tower was looted over time, dilapidated, but never revealed its secrets. Evil tongues said that the reason for everything was the termination of funding for the project, and without Morgan it was unthinkable to carry it out. Like it or not, we most likely will not know. However, the words of Tesla himself from his Autobiography can explain something to us: “Contrary to what the world says, Morgan fulfilled all his obligations to me. My project was delayed by the laws of nature. The world was not yet ready to receive it." He was way ahead of his time. But the same laws will eventually prevail, and the project will be repeated with triumphant success.

At the beginning of the First World War, at the instigation of the same competitors, the US government ordered the tower to be blown up under the far-fetched pretext that it could be used for espionage purposes. This is how Tesla's blue dream about the information unification of the world collapsed. The closure of the Vordenclyffe project was also facilitated by the scientist’s statements that he regularly communicates with alien civilizations (hence the rumors according to which the Vordenclyffe project was intended to communicate with other civilizations), and their signals become especially clear when Mars appears in the sky .

Tesla's obsession with science knew no bounds. Tesla did not marry, he ate from time to time. But he became one of the most famous inventors in the world. He set aside four hours for sleep, of which two were usually spent thinking over ideas. “Technical solutions came to mind on their own.” Tesla took patent after patent, inventions rained down like from a cornucopia.

One of the legends about Tesla even claims that technical innovations were suggested to him by ... aliens. The fact is that, while working with radio circuits, the scientist once caught mysterious signals that, as he believed, came from outer space. In the newspapers of that time, one can find mocking notes about Tesla's connections with the Martians. But the scientist himself took this more than seriously. This can be judged at least by the fact that he invested all his capital in the construction of a giant tower on Long Island, which he called the "World System". With its help, Tesla hoped to establish a connection with another civilization.

Few people knew that Tesla was also a poet. Tesla was professionally engaged in linguistics, wrote good poetry. One of the goals of his move to the United States was writing, he planned to publish a collection of his poems. Passion for science did not make it possible to do this, but Tesla nevertheless published his translations of Serbian poets into English.

Tesla was fluent in eight languages, knew music and philosophy very well. Tesla lived in the most expensive hotels. The servants were surprised that he demanded eighteen fresh towels every day. If a fly landed on the table during lunch, he forced the waiter to bring a new order. Today's psychiatrist would easily make a diagnosis - an exacerbated form of mesophobia (fear of germs).

Phobias and obsessive-compulsive states were combined with Tesla with amazing energy. Walking down the street, he could do somersaults in a sudden impulse. Or stop on the alley of the park and read by heart a couple of chapters from Faust. Sometimes he froze and stood for a long time, thinking hard about something, not noticing anyone around. The inventor was very fond of animals, he was a gentle and peaceful person. All my life I have been fiddling with pigeons, I loved them like close friends ...

The inventor himself claimed that he could completely turn off his brain from the outside world. And in this state, "outbursts of enthusiasm", "inner vision" and "attacks of hypersensitivity" descended on him. At these moments, the scientist believed, his consciousness penetrated into the mysterious subtle world.

Rutherford called him "the inspirational prophet of electricity." Indeed, Tesla knew everything about electricity! It was he who predicted the possibility of treating patients with high-frequency current, the appearance of electric furnaces, fluorescent lamps, and an electron microscope.

The squares and streets of New York were illuminated by Tesla-designed arc lamps. His electric motors, rectifiers, electric generators, transformers, high-frequency equipment worked at the enterprises. Although Marconi received the first patent in the field of radio, many of his other applications were rejected, because Tesla managed to get a lot of patents for improvements in radio equipment. In 1917, Tesla proposed the principle of operation of a device for radio detection of submarines. There is a suspicion that Tesla created a time machine, or something similar.

Tesla did not patent many of his discoveries, he did not even leave drawings. Most of his diaries and manuscripts have not survived, and only fragmentary information has survived about many inventions to this day. And hundreds of legends. Tesla is also credited with the Tunguska catastrophe (1908). The Vordenclyffe tower could very well transfer huge energy through the ionosphere to another part of the world. But the meteorite was never found ... True, he left the project in 1905. But all the equipment was in place ... The US military, of course, could not ignore the famous inventor. There were rumors that Tesla, commissioned by the US military, was engaged in energy weapons. Many were even inclined to consider the Tunguska explosion (June 30, 1908) with a force of 15 megatons of TNT, which flattened hectares of pine forest near the Valunnaya Tunguska River in central Siberia, the result of one of Tesla's experiments. By the way, meteorite fragments were not found.

In 1935, Tesla himself claimed to have created an energy weapon. “My invention requires a large area, but when used, it makes it possible to destroy everything, people or equipment, located within a radius of 200 miles. This weapon provides a wall of energy that presents an insurmountable barrier against any inflicted aggression."

It would seem a mystery, and everything would be fine, but ... the date of the experiment completely - up to the day, coincides with the day of the explosion of the Tunguska meteorite, and if you draw a straight line along the globe, then the place of the explosion coincides with the direction of the source of the most powerful open energy. The terrifying consequences for the whole world of the explosion that occurred in Siberia today do not need to be explained to anyone, what are only weeks of white nights in all latitudes, and the blast wave that has repeatedly circled the globe. Here is another Tesla quote:
"... First of all, I had to choose a place for the experiment. The Arctic was best suited for this. There were no people there and I would not harm anyone. But the calculation showed that with the current position of the Moon, an ethereal vortex object could hit Siberia, and there they could people live.I went to the library and began to study information about Siberia.There was very little information, but still I realized that there were almost no people in Siberia.

... I had to keep my experiment in deep secrecy, otherwise the consequences for me and for all of humanity could be very unpleasant. One question always torments me - will my discoveries be for the benefit of people? After all, it has long been known that people used all inventions to exterminate their own kind.

And this version, by the way, explains many seemingly inexplicable moments of the Tunguska explosion. So, it is very likely that there was no meteorite at all. And imagine what would happen, especially knowing the history of the twentieth century, terrible in terms of its victims, if such an invention fell into someone's unkind hands. And there were countless such hands, and not only in the last century ... And I often think that not only "manuscripts do not burn", but also inventions. They don't burn, they just re-open. Is always!

He himself assured that he received his technical and scientific revelations from the unified information field of the Earth. The radio waves of his devices spread there, from there he received signals inaudible to anyone.

In 1926, Tesla installed radio masts at the Waldorf Astoria and at his laboratory in New York. And he caught mysterious signals of man-made nature of unknown origin, one of the possible sources of which he called Mars. In the newspapers of that time, you can find mocking notes about the connections of the mad inventor with the Martians. But the scientist himself took this more than seriously: "In order to accomplish this miracle, I would give my life!"

At the very beginning of the 20th century, Tesla explored the possibility of transmitting colossal energy through the air. Already in 1905, he patented the "Method of transmitting electrical energy through the natural environment", according to the inventor, such a method of delivering electricity would be completely free for the consumer, no one could trade this energy. However, his wonderful plans never came to fruition. Energy companies would never accept free energy as it would break their energy monopoly. The influential financier millionaire J. G. Morgan, who financed both Tesla and Edison, by monopolizing the world's discoveries in the field of electricity, closed his access to funds. But this did not stop the scientist.

In 1931, Tesla demonstrated a new phenomenon to the public. He removed the gasoline engine from the car and replaced it with an electric motor. Then Tesla placed a nondescript box under the hood, from which two rods protruded, and connected it to the engine. Saying, “Now we have energy,” Tesla got behind the wheel and drove off. Tesla drove it for a week, reaching speeds of up to 150 km / h. There were no batteries or accumulators on the car: it did not need to be recharged at all. "Where does the energy come from?" Tesla's puzzled fellow scientists asked. He calmly replied: "From the ether that surrounds us." Rumors about the madness of electrical engineering began to spread again. . It got to the point that the local press accused him of collaborating with the dark forces. Tesla was pissed off. He removed the mysterious box from the car and took it to the laboratory, burying the secret of his electric car forever. Probably, today we would already drive cars with a perpetual and environmentally friendly engine, if those - long-standing - spectators did not start talking about evil spirits. Its mystery has not yet been solved.

It is known about another very interesting experiment of the scientist, conducted by him at the beginning of the last century. Here is an excerpt from the scientist's diary: "And then the thought occurred to me that if I can create a resonant system between the Earth and the Moon, then the transmitter power can be very small, and the energy from this system can be extracted very large." Apparently, the calculations were more than successful, since it came to a scientific experiment. It turned out to be so amazing and "successful" that the scientist immediately and for some unknown reason abandoned his discovery, and even destroyed all mention of it. The reasons for this are also unknown.

In the pre-war years, Tesla began working on secret projects for the US Navy. This included the wireless transmission of energy to defeat the enemy, and the creation of resonant weapons, and attempts to control time. From 1936 to 1942, he was the director of the Rainbow Project—stealth technology—which included the infamous Philadelphia Experiment.

Tesla foresaw the possibility of human casualties and delayed the experiment, insisted on reworking the equipment. However, in the conditions of war, there was neither time nor money for this, and casualties were considered inevitable.

In 1915, the New York Times reported on Tesla's new invention: “Inventor Nikola Tesla applied for a patent for the main components of a machine whose capabilities are amazing. The invention will be able to move through space at a speed of 300 miles per second, representing an unmanned ship without a propeller or wings, transported by electricity to any point on the globe with its destructive mission, whichever it is given.

A very sad fact - Tesla's inventions interested the US government only after the death of the scientist. The New Yorker Hotel, where he died, was raided. The FBI seized all the papers related to the scientific activities of the physicist. Dr. John Trump, who led the National Defense Committee, reviewed them and made an expert opinion that "these records are speculative and speculative, they are purely philosophical in nature and do not imply any principles or methods for their implementation."

However, 15 years after that, the Defense High Tech Research Agency (DARPA) implemented the top-secret Swing Project at the Lawrence Livermoor Laboratory. It took 10 years and 27 million dollars, and, despite the fact that the obviously failed results of these experiments are still classified, all scientists agree on one thing - in 1958, the Americans tried to create Tesla's legendary “death rays”.

It is known that shortly before his death, Tesla announced that he had invented "death rays" that could destroy 10,000 aircraft from a distance of 400 km. About the secret of the rays - not a sound. In the 1960s, both the United States and Russia took full advantage of the fruits of Tesla's research. One of the technologies developed by the brilliant scientist attracted the greatest attention of military specialists and became the subject of secret developments. Tesla called this invention a radio frequency oscillator, it was used, in particular, in his death ray. The main idea of ​​the invention is the transmission of energy in the atmosphere and its focusing for various purposes. These technologies, largely based on Tesla's inventions, were later used in the Star Wars program.

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It is known that the desperate inventor sent around the world proposals to design a “super-weapon”, suggesting to establish a balance of power between different countries and thus prevent the onset of the Second World War. The mailing list included the governments of the United States, Canada, England, France, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.

The Soviet Union became interested in this proposal. In 1937, the inventor negotiated with the Amtorg company, which represented the interests of the USSR in the United States, and handed over to her some plans for a vacuum chamber for his "death rays". Tesla received a check for $25,000 from the USSR two years later. This, of course, did not stop the war - the Soviet Union created laser technology much later.

In 1940, in an interview with The New York Times, 84-year-old Nikola Tesla announced his readiness to reveal the secret of telepower to the American government. It was built, he said, on a completely new physical principle that no one dreamed of, different from the principles embodied in his inventions in the field of electric power transmission over long distances.

According to Tesla, this new type of energy will operate through a beam with a diameter of one hundred millionth of a square centimeter and can be generated by special stations that will cost no more than $ 2 million and take three months to build.

Yes, perhaps the aging inventor really plunged into the world of illusions. However, given that he never threw words to the wind and always implemented the declared projects, it can be assumed that Tesla could adapt the technology of wireless power transmission to the needs of the military.

Some believe that Tesla was ahead of time, while others hold a different opinion. He, according to the second, appeared just when it was necessary - on time and not by chance. When he was tending sheep on the slopes of the mountains, he did not yet know who he would be. But there was Something, some mysterious force that knew, which brought him into our world and predetermined his fate. Predestination is one of the great problems of the time. Does it exist? Are our destinies destined? Does each of us have some specific purpose that prompts us to seek and act and outlines the general contours of our path? In Tesla's case, such a thought naturally comes to mind. Indeed: Smolyany, where he was born in the summer of 1856, is an unremarkable Serbian area. Rural life. A rural school, hardly able to give much. . Mountains, nature, sunsets, stars - it's a lot, but there are everywhere, not only in Serbia.

So, we can conclude: there is something that initially determines for each person the direction of the future path. Not exactly the path, but its direction: innate aspirations, interests, inclinations, tastes, goals. This direction corresponds to our destination, and there is a certain force that indicates this destination to us at the very beginning and gently but persistently, directing us to the true path, if we deviated from it by the will of circumstances. Our time is thus preceded by another time, and there is some great harmonizing force that reconciles these two passages of time.

Nikola's lectures were most often attended by people far from physics. The fact is that the lectures were a colorful show. The demonstration of a fluorescent light bulb devoid of a filament was especially successful. At that time, it was perceived as something between a cunning trick and black magic.

Rumor has it that Tesla's death in 1943 was staged to ensure the safety of the scientist after his participation in the Philadelphia project.

Tesla lived in both worlds - both in the material and in the spiritual - and in both he felt at home. This is his amazing phenomenon. At Tesla, it looks especially clear, convex and eloquent. But it directly concerns each of us. All of us in one way or another, whether we like it or not, are connected with the subtle world. We are all familiar with contemplation and insight. And we are all looking for our own path, destined for us and coordinated with the movement of the Universe. And in this regard, it is better to look at Tesla not just as a miracle - a technical visionary, a forerunner of an environmentally friendly civilization of the third millennium, but - as a pioneer and teacher, whose example will help deal with such burning questions as: Who are we? Where? Why did we come into this world?

Tesla was indeed an amazing person, a phenomenally successful engineer, inventor and scientist, who, moreover, did without notes and drawings. No, not without that at all, of course. He had them, but - in his head. And on the basis of all his purely mental calculations and constructions, he conducted his numerous experiments, studies and experiments.

Only now we are beginning to realize the door to which unknown world Tesla opened. The Kirlian effect, for example, was patented in 1949, and Tesla demonstrated the effect of an amazing glow of the "aura" of objects at the end of the 19th century.

Half a century after Tesla juggled ball lightning, a Nobel Prize-winning academic tried to create them. In the 1980s, at an experimental installation for the creation of ball lightning, he received a "by-product" in the form of magnetic graphite with unique properties. Moreover, the elements of the installation itself were the source of an unknown field that reduces blood clotting, improves the taste of food and even vodka.

To date, the impact of strong magnetic fields on living organisms is actually demonstrated in Japan, where frogs and dogs are sent into "weightlessness". Animals "float in the air" in superstrong magnetic fields. However, people do not yet fly - the consequences of the actions of such fields have not been studied.

Tesla was assigned the ability of a clairvoyant, he had a pronounced gift of foreboding. Once, when friends from Philadelphia were visiting him, they were going to return home by train in the afternoon. But Tesla felt a strange desire to detain them in any way, which he did almost by force. The train on which they were supposed to return crashed. Another time he had a dream that his sister became mortally ill and died. And this turned out to be true, although I did not receive any information from her about the illness. And when Tesla’s former financial benefactor J.P. Morgan bought a ticket for the first flight of the Titanic, the inventor categorically insisted that he refuse to travel. Morgan believed Tesla and refused a prestigious flight, which may have saved his life ...

He lived in relative poverty, although he could have become the richest man on the planet. And it is quite obvious that if contemporaries took his inventions seriously, then it is likely that you and I would now live in a different world - and the phrase “other world” could be interpreted literally. After all, Nikola Tesla was really ahead of his time and was a real “man not from here”.

Most of the diaries and manuscripts of Nikola Tesla disappeared under unclear circumstances. Where are they today? What secrets do they contain? Maybe they're in the Pentagon's vaults, waiting in the wings. Or maybe, as some biographers believe, Nikola burned them himself at the beginning of World War II, making sure that this knowledge was too dangerous for unreasonable humanity.

In the history of science, at least two unique inventions are known, the secret of which has not been disclosed so far. Moreover, both are interconnected: this is a method of transmitting the energy of an explosion over a distance, which, according to some sources, already has a three-hundred-year history (the inventors who reported this discovery soon died under mysterious circumstances), as well as a method of transmitting electrical energy over a distance (without wires), demonstrated at the end of the 19th century by the great inventor Nikola Tesla.

In the 1930s he was awarded the Nobel Prize. He refused to accept it, not wanting to share it with Edison, whom he never forgave to the end of his days for public criticism of alternating current.

Tesla died on Christmas Day, January 7, 1943. At 86 years old. World War II was going on in Europe, and Tesla's projects for the military department remained unfinished. Maybe that's why he stubbornly refused the help of doctors. In the morning the maid came into the room - Tesla lay dead on the bed. The body of the great inventor was cremated, and the urn with the ashes was installed at the Ferncliff Cemetery in New York.

Thus ended the life of the most mysterious, perhaps, of all the great scientists. The urn is now kept in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade. The world will have to wait a long time for the appearance of a genius equal to Nikola Tesla, says museum director Vladimir Elenkovich. He says that the Belgrade Museum of Nikola Tesla is a real temple, as it contains his legacy, his personal items, about a thousand original photographs, more than 156 thousand documents, originals of his patents, drawings, manuscripts, correspondence, a collection of orders, diplomas and medals which he was awarded. “A large number of exhibits are working models, including Tesla's egg, a high-frequency oscillator, the famous radio-controlled boat, the forerunner of today's telecommunications and radio-controlled machinery,” says Jelenkovic.

Of all the accomplishments of Tesla in physics textbooks, unfortunately, only one is usually mentioned - the "Tesla transformer". Moreover, the unit of measurement of magnetic induction and the airport in Belgrade are named after him. I have to say with bitterness that his contribution to science and production has not yet been fully appreciated by the world community.

This year in Serbia and a number of other countries is marked by the 150th anniversary of the birth of one of the greatest geniuses of the past century, Nikola Tesla. With his numerous inventions, this glorious Serbian scientist made an invaluable contribution to the development of modern civilization. Eternal glory and peace to him!

Pictured: Nikola Tesla.

Vladimir Tsarikaev, Patent Specialist, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Doctor of Technical Sciences

The last century of the second millennium can safely be called revolutionary. It was a time of major shifts in the worldview of people, a time of breakthroughs in medicine and science. It is hard to disagree with the fact that the 20th century has seriously affected our lives, the world that we see now. And yet, who is the most famous person of the 20th century?

It is impossible to give an exact answer to this question. The most brilliant people of the 20th century can be called both Adolf Hitler and Coco Chanel or Albert Einstein. But first things first.

This student was Albert Einstein.

Yes, it was this scientist who was officially recognized as the most famous person of the 20th century. His discoveries in mathematics, physics and many other sciences gave a great start to today's technologies. What is the Theory of Relativity or the invention of the Bose-Einstein condensate worth. In total, Einstein wrote more than three hundred scientific papers and almost two hundred scientific books.

Interestingly, in early childhood, Albert did not express his abilities in any way. Many people doubted that he would be able to lead a full life, and the mother even considered her son a freak because of his too big head.

At school, the future scientist showed himself as a very lazy, reserved and incapable child. His peers loved to laugh at him, and the teachers believed that nothing good would ever come of Einstein. By the way, Albert never finished his studies at the same gymnasium and did not receive a certificate, assuring his parents that he would easily enter the Higher Technical School in Zurich. But his plan failed.

However, it was successful on the second attempt. But even there, Albert did not show himself as a brilliant student: he skipped classes in local cafes, reading scientific journals. But after he received his diploma and got a job as an expert at the patent office, he assessed the technical characteristics in just 10 minutes, devoting the rest of the time to his own theories.

The scientist had a unique skill of finding an extraordinary approach to the problem. Albert Einstein was able to see problems from completely different angles and picked up the most unexpected solutions to them. And when he failed at something, the solution to the problem popped up in his head after playing the violin.

Face of World War II

The most famous dictator in Germany, the man who unleashed the Second World War and ruined the lives of millions of people, Adolf Hitler, has the right to be called a man of the 20th century.

Hitler had no particular background. His father was a customs officer and an illegitimate child, his mother was a simple peasant woman.

Adolf did not study well at school and, like Albert Einstein, did not finish it and did not receive a certificate. He tried to enter the Academy of Arts in Vienna, but twice his attempts failed because of his lack of outstanding abilities. And after the death of his mother, Adolf decided to make a living as an artist without a proper education. For almost 5 years he lived from hand to mouth, moonlighting either as a designer of advertising or postcards, or as a street artist.

Back in 1913, Hitler decides to flee to Munich in order to save himself from mandatory conscription into the army. However, a year later, he still gets a medical examination, but receives a certificate of unfitness. Interestingly, during the First World War, Adolf was suddenly drawn into the army, and he enrolled in an infantry regiment.

The service radically changed his outlook on life, turning him into a real nationalist. He achieved the rank of corporal and received awards four times. And after the war he joined the German Workers' Party to devote himself to the propaganda of nationalism.

Finest hour for Adolf Hitler came after 9 years of work in the party, during the global economic crisis. His party took the lead in Germany, and Hitler himself was appointed Chancellor in 1933. Thus began his career as a dictator.

By the way, Adolf Hitler married Eva Braun on the penultimate day of his life. The next day, the newlyweds committed suicide, but Hitler's body was never fully identified.

Time of revolutions in the fashion world

At the end of the summer of 1883, perhaps the most famous person of the century was born - Coco Chanel, a revolutionary in the fashion world, the inventor of the little black dress and a real rebel.

Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel hated her own name and biography. She rewrote her life anew, adding three cute aunts, a caring father and a new nickname, at the same time reducing her age by almost 10 years. In fact, Gabrielle lost her mother early and grew up in an orphanage, and her last meeting with her father took place when she was 12 years old. In her youth, the future trendsetter often sang only two songs in taverns: “Ko Ko Ri Ko” and “Qui Qua Vu Coco”. That is how her new name was born, which later the whole world knew.

The nuns at the orphanage taught her how to sew, but it wasn't enough to revolutionize the fashion world. Coco Chanel took all her audacity and created women's suits from the "jersey" material, which until then had been worn exclusively by men. So women felt truly free: trousers gave them comfort and freedom.

Later, Koko said that it was time for women to stop wearing the perfume that they were given and choose the scent themselves. Thus was born the legendary women's perfume Chanel No.5. And even the design of the bottle challenged the patriarchal foundations: black, flat and smooth, it painfully resembled a man's bottle. Another challenge was that Chanel No.5 was not a mono perfume, and in those days ladies had the right to use perfumes consisting of only one smell (lilac, lily of the valley, rose). Perfume from Chanel consisted of more than 80 ingredients, thereby overthrowing mono perfumes. Chanel No.5 remains at the peak of popularity to this day.

In addition, Chanel responded to the age-old female question: “What to wear?” found a luxurious answer: a little black dress - clothes for any occasion in life. Some time later, Vogue magazine wrote that the popularity of the little black dress can be compared with a Ford car.

Coco Chanel managed to prove to the world that a woman is not an accessory, not an incubator and not a helpless creature. A woman is a person who is able to provide herself with her mind, talent and cunning. Chanel made all women and girls believe in themselves and in their independence. And for this she can rightly be considered a man of the 20th century.

cartoon genius

It would be an insult not to mention Walter Disney among the most famous people of the 20th century. He was born in Chicago in 1901. During his school years, he was fond of painting, and later joined the Red Cross organization and worked as an ambulance driver abroad for a year. He did not like the camouflage color of his car, and Walter decorated it with various patterns.

After the end of the war, he returned to Kansas City and got a job as an artist in an advertising agency. It was in it that in the distant 1920 he came up with his first animated film. Three years later, Disney leaves for Hollywood with a couple of drawings, his movie, and $40. There he met his brother. Together they borrowed a small amount and built a movie camera podium right in their uncle's garage. Very soon they received their first order for cartoons.

The start was very successful, but the money was only enough to pay off debts. And the situation has not improved over the years. The company has always been one step away from bankruptcy, and Walt Disney has always managed to save it. During this difficult period, he invents Mickey Mouse, which literally grants Walt Disney immortality and glory. And in 1934, Walt decides to take a chance and create a feature film, realizing what it could threaten. All fears were confirmed: "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" ruins the company, but brings a resounding success and an Oscar.
The studio is slowly coming out of its long crisis. The "golden age" for animation begins. One after another, Walt Disney creates masterpieces: Pinocchio (1940), Bambi (1942), Peter Pan (1953). In total, the author received more than 20 Oscars, 5 Golden Globes and two stars on the Walk of Fame. Walt Disney implemented another brilliant idea - he created Disneyland, which became the most famous amusement park in the world.

We can safely say that with the death of this famous person, an entire era died. Walt Disney is a true legend, a model of optimism, imagination and living proof that a person is capable of creating amazing things.

The most authoritative person

In terms of fame, only Adolf Hitler can compete with Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. The contribution that Stalin, a famous person of the 20th century, made to history is undeniable.

Joseph Stalin did not fully graduate from the Gori Theological School - close contact with the Marxists prevented him. Throughout his youth, he helped organize the October Revolution, carried out many orders from the government, joined various parties (the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense, the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, and many others), and was the organizer of the anti-Hitler coalition.

He was a military figure of genius: he had all the information about operations, led the fronts at the highest level, and was well versed in even the most subtle issues. And in this Stalin was helped by his innate inquisitive mind and intuition. He could always find the weakest link in the enemy's armor and put pressure on that particular place, preventing Hitler from carrying out this or that operation. Without a doubt, he was the best military leader.

After the end of the Great Patriotic War, his authority became undeniable. Stalin was respected by many leaders of Western countries: Charles de Gaulle, Roosevelt, Winston Churchill wrote laudatory letters to Joseph. The complete defeat of fascism and victory in World War II made the USSR a superpower, and Joseph Stalin the most authoritative leader of the 20th century.

Of course, this is only a small part of the famous personalities of the 20th century. And it will take more than one week to study all the people who changed the human worldview, gave impetus to technologies, made discoveries in science. After all, the 20th century is the century of great discoveries and changes.

Some people (and even some short-sighted states) believe that scientists are of no use. These scientists sit for years like fools at an empty table and only ruffle their hair. And then bam - and they say that space, it turns out, is curved. And, they say, that's why apples fall. Or vice versa - grow. And why just spend budget money on these freaks? Meanwhile, scientists are not at all offended. And they continue to rivet their great discoveries. And in the twentieth century, they did it extremely carefully - every ten years. It is thanks to this that we live today in a future that even the most crazy science fiction writers did not dream of.

1. Scientific XX century began with a revolution. Moreover, it was arranged by a single person - by name ... no, not Karl Marx. And Max Planck. At the end of the 19th century, Planck was invited to the post of professor at the University of Berlin, but instead of playing bridge or at least a fool in his free time from lectures, the professor undertook to explain to unreasonable humanity how energy is distributed in the spectrum of a completely black body. One must think that with a completely white body, everything was clear by that time. The most surprising thing is that in 1900 the stubborn Planck did derive a formula that very well described the behavior of energy in the notorious spectrum of the aforementioned absolutely

black body. True, the conclusions from this formula followed fantastic. It turned out that the energy is not emitted evenly, as expected from it, but in pieces - in quanta. At first, Planck himself doubted his own conclusions, but on December 14, 1900, he nevertheless reported them to the German Physical Society. Yes, just in case.

Plank was not just taken at his word. Based on his findings, in 1905, Albert Einstein created the quantum theory of the photoelectric effect, and soon Niels Bohr built the first model of the atom, consisting of a nucleus and electrons flying in certain orbits. And it started all over the planet! It is almost impossible to overestimate the consequences of the discovery made by Max Planck. Choose any words - brilliant, incredible, stunned, wow, and even wow! - everything will be small.

Thanks to Planck, nuclear energy, electronics, genetic engineering developed, chemistry, physics, and astronomy received a powerful impetus. Because it was Planck who clearly defined the boundary where the Newtonian macrocosm ends (in which, as you know, matter is measured in kilograms) and the microcosm begins, in which one cannot ignore the influence of individual atoms on each other. And thanks to Planck, we know at what energy levels electrons live and how comfortable they are there.

2. The second decade of the 20th century brought the world another discovery that turned the minds of almost all scientists - although the minds of decent scientists are already on one side. In 1916, Albert Einstein completed work on the general theory of relativity (GR). By the way, it is also called the theory of gravity. According to this theory, gravity is not the result of the interaction of bodies and fields in space, but a consequence of the curvature of the four-dimensional space-time. As soon as he proved it, everything turned blue and green around him. In a sense, everyone understood the essence of things and were delighted.

Most of the paradoxical and contrary to "common sense" effects that arise at near-light speeds are predicted precisely by general relativity. The most famous is the effect of time dilation, in which the clock moving relative to the observer is slower for him than exactly the same clock on his hand. In this case, the length of the moving object along the axis of motion is compressed. Now the general theory of relativity is already applied to all frames of reference (and not only to those moving at a constant speed relative to each other).

However, the complexity of the calculations led to the fact that the work took 11 years. The theory received its first confirmation when, with its help, it was possible to describe the rather curved orbit of Mercury - and everyone took a breath of relief. Then general relativity explained the curvature of rays from stars as they passed near the Sun, the redshift of stars and galaxies observed in telescopes. But the most important confirmation of general relativity came from black holes. Calculations have shown that if the Sun is compressed to a radius of three meters, the force of its attraction will be such that the light will not be able to leave the star. And in recent years, scientists have found mountains of such stars!

3. When Bohr and Rutherford suggested in 1911 that the atom was built in the image and likeness of the solar system, physicists rejoiced. Based on the planetary model, supplemented by Planck's and Einstein's ideas about the nature of light, it was possible to calculate the spectrum of the hydrogen atom. Difficulties began when we proceeded to the next element, helium. All calculations showed a result directly opposite to the experiments. By the early 1920s, Bohr's theory had faded. The young German physicist Heisenberg removed all assumptions from Bohr's theory, leaving only what could be measured with a floor scale.

He eventually established that the speed and location of electrons could not be measured simultaneously. The ratio was called the "Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle", and the electrons gained a reputation as windy beauties. Who are in the candy store today and blondes tomorrow. However, the oddities with elementary particles did not end there. By the twenties, physicists had already gotten used to the fact that light can exhibit the properties of a wave and a particle, no matter how paradoxical it may seem. And in 1923, the Frenchman de Broglie suggested that "ordinary" particles can also exhibit the properties of a wave, demonstrating the wave properties of an electron.

De Broglie's experiments were confirmed in several countries at once. In 1926, by combining the mathematical description of the wave and the analogue of Maxwell's equations for light, the Austrian physicist Schrödinger described de Broglie's material waves. And Dirac, an employee of the University of Cambridge, deduced a general theory, the special cases of which were the theories of Schrödinger and Heisenberg. Although in the twenties, physicists did not even suspect about many elementary particles now known to any schoolchild, their theory of quantum mechanics perfectly describes motion in the microcosm. And over the past 90 years, its foundations have not changed. Quantum mechanics is now used in all natural sciences when they reach the atomic level - from medicine and biology to chemistry and mineralogy, as well as in all engineering sciences. With its help, in particular, molecular orbitals are calculated (and what is an exceptionally useful thing in the household). The consequence was the invention of, for example, lasers, transistors, superconductivity, and at the same time computers. And solid state physics has also been developed, thanks to which: a) new materials appear every year, b) it became possible to clearly see the structure of matter. Still, to fit solid-state physics to sexual life - and then every man will gratefully pronounce the name Heisenberg.

4. The thirties can be safely called radioactive. In every sense of the word. True, back in 1920, Ernest Rutherford, at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Sciences, expressed a rather strange (for those times, of course) hypothesis. In an attempt to explain why positively charged protons do not run away in a panic from each other, he stated that in addition to positively charged particles in the nucleus of an atom, there are some neutral particles equal in mass to a proton. By analogy with protons and electrons, he proposed to call them neutrons. The Association grimaced and preferred to forget Rutherford's extravagant escapade. And only ten years later, in 1930, the Germans Bothe and Becker noticed that when beryllium or boron is irradiated with alpha particles, unusual radiation occurs. Unlike alpha particles, the unknown gizmos flying out of the reactor had a much greater penetrating power. In general, the parameters of these particles were different. Two years later, on January 18, 1932, Irene and Frederic Joliot-Curie, indulging in sweet marital fun, directed Bothe-Becker radiation to heavier atoms. And they found out that under the influence of the Bote-Becker rays they become radioactive. This is how artificial radioactivity was discovered. And on February 27 of the same year, James Chadwick checked the Joliot-Curie experiment. And he not only confirmed, but found out that new, uncharged particles with a mass slightly larger than that of a proton are to blame for knocking out nuclei from atoms. It was their neutrality that made it possible to freely break into the core and destabilize it. So Chadwick finally discovered the neutron. This discovery brought mankind many hardships and changes. By the end of the 1930s, physicists had proven that under the influence of neutrons, the nuclei of atoms fission. And that even more neutrons are released. This led, on the one hand, to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to the decades of the Cold War, on the other hand, to the development of nuclear energy, and on the third, to the widespread use of radioisotopes in a wide variety of unclassified scientific fields.

5. The development of quantum theory has not only allowed scientists to understand what is happening inside matter. The next step was an attempt to influence these processes. What this led to in the case of the neutron is described above. And on December 16, 1947, employees of the American company AT & T Bell Laboratories John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley learned how to control large currents flowing through semiconductors using small currents (Nobel Prize in 1966). So the transistor was invented - a device consisting of two p-n junctions directed towards each other. Current through such a junction can only flow in one direction. And if the polarity is reversed at the junction, then the current stops flowing. Two transitions, directed towards each other, gave simply unique opportunities for playing with electricity. The transistor became the basis for the development of all sciences, including veterinary medicine. He knocked out the lamps from the electronics, which drastically reduced the weight and volume of all the equipment (and the amount of dust in our homes). He paved the way for the emergence of logic circuits, which eventually led to the appearance in 1971 of the microprocessor and the creation of modern computers. Why are there computers - now in the world there is not a single device, not a single car, not a single apartment that does not use transistors.

6. The German Karl Voldemar Ziegler was a chemist. No, really, this is an insanely fascinating story. So, this very Karl Voldemar was a German and a chemist. And he was very impressed by the Grignard reaction, in which scientists greatly simplified the synthesis of organic substances. And our Karl tried to understand: is it possible to do the same with other metals? By the way, the question was not idle, because Ziegler worked at the Kaiser Institute for the Study of Coal. And since ethylene is a by-product of the coal industry, its disposal has become a problem. In 1952, he studied the decomposition of one of the reagents, lithium alkyl, into lithium hydride and an olefin. And I received HDPE - low-pressure polyethylene. But it was not possible to completely polymerize ethylene. A couple of months later, an incident occurred in Ziegler's laboratory. At the end of the reaction, not a polymer suddenly fell out of the flask, but a dimer (a compound of two ethylene molecules) - alpha-butene. It turned out that the negligent student simply poorly washed the reactor from nickel salts. And although these same salts remained on the walls in microscopic quantities, this was enough to completely cut down the main reaction. But what is curious is that the analysis of the mixture showed that the nickel salts did not change during the reaction.

That is, they acted as a catalyst for dimerization. This conclusion promised huge profits - after all, in order to obtain polyethylene, much more organoaluminum had to be added to ethylene. Again, both high pressure and high temperature added problems to the synthesis. Having spit on aluminum, Ziegler began to sort out transition metals in search of the ideal catalyst. And in 1953 I found several at once. The complexes based on titanium chlorides turned out to be the most powerful. Ziegler spoke about his discovery at the Italian company Montecatini, and there his catalysts were used on another monomer - propylene. A by-product of oil refining, propylene cost ten times less than ethylene, and made it possible to play with the structure of the polymer. The games led to a slight modification of the catalyst, due to which Natta received stereoregular polypropylene. In it, all propylene molecules were located in the same way. Ziegler-Nattat catalysts gave chemists incomparable control over polymerization. With their help, for example, chemists have created an artificial analogue of rubber. Organometallic catalysts, which have made most syntheses easier and cheaper, are used in virtually every chemical plant in the world. But the main place is still occupied by the polymerization of ethylene and propylene. Ziegler himself, despite the industrial application of his work, always considered himself a theoretical scientist. And the student who did not clean the reactor well was demoted to a laboratory mouse.

7. On April 12, 1961, at 9:07 am, an event occurred that, no doubt, shook the whole world. With the words "Let's go!" from the "second platform" the first man went into space. Of course, this was not the first rocket to fly around the Earth - the first artificial satellite was launched on October 4, 1957. But it was Yuri Gagarin who became the real embodiment of mankind's dream of stars. The launch of a man into space literally catalysed the scientific and technological revolution. It was found that not only bacteria, plants and Belka with Strelka, but also humans can live in weightlessness. And most importantly, it turned out that the space between the planets is surmountable. Man has already been to the moon. An expedition to Mars is being prepared now. The devices of various space agencies literally flooded the solar system. They revolve around Jupiter, Saturn, roam the Kuiper belt, ride through the Martian deserts. And the number of satellites around the Earth has exceeded several thousand. These are meteorological instruments, and scientific (including the famous orbiting telescopes), and commercial communications satellites. Thanks to the latter, by the way, you can safely call anywhere in the world. Sitting in Moscow, chat online with people from Sydney, Cape Town and New York. Run through several thousand television channels from around the world. Or send an e-mail to Antarctica - all the more so, no one will answer anyway.

8. On July 26, 1978, daughter Louise was born in the family of Leslie and Gilbert Brown. Observing the caesarean section, gynecologist Patrick Steptoe and embryologist Bob Edwards almost burst with pride, because they did what the whole world has sex for - they conceived Louise. Mmmm... don't think about the indecent. In fact, nothing pornographic happened. It's just that Madame Leslie Brown, Louise's mother, suffered from obstruction of the fallopian tubes and, like many millions of women on Earth, could not conceive herself. By the way, she tried for more than nine years - but alas. Everything went in, but nothing came out. To solve the problem, Steptoe and Edwards made several scientific discoveries at once. They figured out how to extract an egg from a woman without damaging it, how to create conditions for this very egg for a normal life in a test tube, how to fertilize it and at what point to return it back. Again, no damage. Both parents and scientists soon became convinced that the girl was completely normal. Soon she had a sister in the same way, and by 2007, thanks to the method of in vitro fertilization (IVF), almost two million children were born around the world. Which would never have happened if not for the experiments of Steptoe and Edwards. Yes, it’s scary to say what’s going on right now. Adult ladies themselves give birth to granddaughters if their daughters are unable to bear a child, and wives give birth to dead husbands. Numerous experiments have confirmed that “test-tube babies” are no different from those conceived naturally, so every year the IVF method is gaining more and more popularity. Um. Although the old fashioned way is still much nicer.

9. In 1985, Robert Curl, Harold Kroto, Richard Smalley and Heath O'Brien studied the mass spectra of graphite vapors that were formed under the influence of a laser on a solid sample. And they found strange peaks that corresponded to atomic masses of 720 and 840 units. It soon became clear that scientists have discovered a new type of carbon called "fullerene" - named after the engineer R. Buckminster Fuller, whose designs were very similar to the discovered molecules. they really look like footballs and rugby balls.Now fullerenes are actively used in a variety of devices due to their unique physical properties.However, this is not the main thing - based on the 1985 technique, scientists figured out how to make carbon nanotubes, twisted and cross-linked layers of graphite. At the moment, nanotubes with a diameter of 5-7 nanometers and a length of up to 1 cm are known (!).Despite the fact that they are made only of carbon, they e nanotubes exhibit a variety of physical properties - from metallic to semiconductor.

On their basis, new materials for fiber optic communication, LEDs and displays are being developed. Nanotubes are used as capsules for delivering biologically active substances to the right place in the body, as well as nanopipettes. On their basis, supersensitive chemical sensors have been developed, which are already used for environmental monitoring, military, medical and biotechnological purposes. Transistors, nanowires, fuel cells are made of them. The latest innovation in nanotubes is artificial muscles. The work of scientists from the Rensseller Polytechnic Institute, published in July 2007, showed that it is possible to create a bundle of nanotubes that behaves like muscle tissue. It has the same electrical conductivity as muscles and does not wear out over time - the artificial muscle has withstood 500,000 compressions at 15% of its original length, and its original shape, mechanical and conductive properties have not changed. This discovery will probably lead to the fact that soon all disabled people will receive new arms and legs that can be controlled by the power of thought (after all, a thought for muscles looks like an electrical signal "compress-unclench"). It's a pity, though, that some people can't be given a new head. But this is certainly a matter of the near future.

10 On July 5, 1996, a new era of biotechnology was born. An ordinary sheep became a face and a worthy representative of this era. Rather, an ordinary sheep was only in appearance - in fact, for the sake of its appearance, the employees of the Roslin Institute (Great Britain) worked for several years without unbending. The egg from which Dolly the sheep later emerged was gutted and then the cell nucleus of an adult sheep was inserted into it. Then the developed embryo was planted back into the uterus of the sheep and they began to wait for what would happen. I must say that Dolly was not the only candidate for the vacancy "the first clone of a large animal in the world" - she had 296 competitors. But they all died at different stages of the experiment. But Dolly survived! True, the further fate of the poor thing was unenviable. The end segments of DNA - telomeres, which serve as the body's biological clock, have already measured out the 6 years they have lived in the body of Dolly's mother. Therefore, after another 6 years, on February 14, 2003, the cloned sheep died from the "old" diseases that had fallen on her - arthritis, specific pneumonia and many other ailments. However, the appearance of Dolly on the cover of Nature in February 1997 made a real explosion - she became a symbol of the power of science and the power of man over nature. Over the past eleven years since Dolly's birth, it has been possible to clone a variety of animals - pigs, dogs, thoroughbred bulls. Even clones of the second generation have been obtained - clones from clones. True, until the problem with telomeres has been completely solved, human cloning is prohibited worldwide. However, research is ongoing.