Have you ever wondered who made the top one hundred important people in the twentieth century? What made them famous? How did they do it? You’ll learn about ten luminaries that are listed in Time Magazine’s “Most Important People of the Century”. The Time 100 list comprises one hundred important people from such categories as: leaders & revolutionaries, artists & entertainers, builders & titans, scientists & thinkers, and heroes & icons. Those mentioned here are in chronological order, based on the year they became famous.
Dr. Albert Einstein: German. In 1905 he was well known for his contributions to quantum physics and the theory of relativity. With just a pen and paper, he peeked farther behind Nature’s curtain than anyone had since Newton — then spent the rest of his years living it down. Now, when we think of genius, we see his face.
Henry Ford: American. In 1908 he was praised for the first mass-produced automobile, the Model T. He produced an affordable car, paid high wages and helped create a middle class. Not bad for an autocrat.
Sir Winston Churchill: English. In 1944 he exalted in the success of the D-day invasion. The master statesman stood alone against fascism and renewed the world’s faith in the superiority of democracy. Without a doubt one of the world’s most important people.
Estée Lauder: American. In 1948 she began her billion-dollar cosmetics empire. She transformed beauty into big business by cultivating classy sales methods and giving away samples.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta: Albanian. In 1952 she was founder of the Missionaries of Charity in India. In fighting for the dignity of the destitute in a foreign land, she gave the world a moral example that bridged divides of culture, class and religion.
Lucille Ball: American. In 1952 the first lady of comedy brought us laughter as well as emotional truth. No wonder everybody loved Lucy.
Muhammad Ali aka Cassius Clay, Jr.: American. In 1960 he was celebrated for winning a gold medal at the Rome Olympics, and in 1967 as the greatest boxing heavyweight champion of all time. Floating, stinging, punching, prophesying, he transformed his sport and became the world’s most adored athlete.
Rachel Carson: American. In 1962 she was an acclaimed zoologist and marine biologist. Before there was an environmental movement, there was one brave woman and her very brave book. Silent Spring, serialized in the New Yorker, gored corporate oxen all over the country.
The Beatles: English. In 1964 they were renowned for the film “A Hard Day’s Night” and in 1967 the “Sgt. Pepper” era. Irrepressible and irresistible, they were — and remain — the world’s most astonishing rock-’n'-roll band.
Margaret Thatcher: English. In 1979 she was known as the “Iron Lady” or simply “Maggie”. She was British Prime Minister for eleven years. Champion of free minds and markets, she helped topple the welfare state and make the world safer for capitalism.
Naturally your choice of which celebrities were more important than others will no doubt be different but as you can see, this gives you a brief summary of some of the best. Now at least you won’t be stumped when you’re asked if you’ve heard of these important people.
Keith J. Valentine began his interest in leaders, artists, builders, scientists and icons, at seventeen. Now 52, he has written several articles about renowned individuals. For more on celebrities, tips and a free e-zine, please visit 101 Easy Articles at http://www.EasyArticles4u.com
Keith J. Valentine
http://www.articlesbase.com/art-and-entertainment-articles/ten-important-people-of-the-twentieth-century-53451.html
The most significant person of the twentieth century?
Do you believe that it was Gavrilo Princip that carried out the single most important act of the twentieth century, and even though most people have never heard of him it makes him historically the most significant person of that century?
If not Gavrilo Princip, then who?
Bob M, Gandhi too is a good choice but even he was influenced by Princip. Without the assassination of Ferdinand the post WW2 dismantling of the British Empire may never have happened and it is conceivable that India may not have achieved independence.
Michael Jackson
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I would have to say Jonas Salk carried out the greatest act in the 20th century by inventing the polio vaccine he prevented a worldwide epidemic that supposedly had the potential to cripple 83% of the world’s population.
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You make a very powerful argument, I think I agree.
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Tesla. The name itself should ring in us all with eternal resonance.
SssSs (five snakes dancing)
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In my opinion, it was either Gavrilo Princip or Kaiser Wilhelm II. While Princip was a direct cause of the First World War, Wilhelm stimulated the war and its end, which (eventually) put Hitler in power. The outcome of world war II set the stage for the Cold War, and set the order of power for modern times.
so i think it was Kaiser Wilhelm II.
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What about John Logie Baird or Frank Whittle or Chester Carlson or
Ladislo Biro?
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Isn’t it interesting how ethnocentric we become when discussing importance of something like this.
In terms of helping to touch the lives of more people and doing some actual good for them and their descendants, the only person worthy of consideration is Gandhi. His work to free India touched more human lives than any other person in the 20th Century in a positive way. Stalin, Hitler and Mao touches a lot of lives and almost none of them in a positive way. So, they lose out and their importance is almost nothing. But, Gandhi touched more lives and taught more people that to do good is better than to do evil. He lived his principles and it was a great life to have lived. If only each of us could be more like him and less like the three evil men in that century. Sorry, pardon my rant.
Gandhi taught MLK to use civil disobedience to get public opinion on his side and then convert that to action. MLK freed the black man from discrimination and set a whole group free of prejudice in the process. In addition, MLK inadvertently got women equal treatment in the process in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. He use Gandhi’s ideas and systems exactly as Gandhi planned them and made great strides for the American blacks.
Go with Gandhi. He’s the man.
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History teacher
Ronald Reagan won the U.S. presidency in 1980, at the end of a decade of humiliation and frustration for the American people. using his affable personality as a potent political weapon, Reagan helped to restore confidence in the country’s future and went on to convert millions of Americans to his conservative ideology. during the 1980s, Reagan oversaw a sustained economic recovery, driven primarily by one of the greatest bull markets of all time on Wall Street. soaring profits in the stock market minted millionaires by the thousands, lending the Reagan Era a certain gold-rush aura as more people attained spectacular wealth than ever before in American history. looking beyond America’s borders, the 1980s brought first heightened tension and then unexpected victory in the decades-old Cold War with the Soviet Union; the peaceful collapse of the global Communist bloc Reagan once denounced as an "Evil Empire" stood as a monumental triumph in American foreign policy.
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Fair & Balanced
Sir winston Churchill he was the Most decorated man of the 20 century and the First to be made a Honorary citizen of the United States and was issued a passport and in 2001 the US navy named a ship after him
some americans go to schools colleges and university’s and use his Scholarships and thats only in America
the Canadians named a mountain range after Him
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honours_of_Winston_Churchill
Hitler?
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I have to agree with you. No one else comes close!
There are several interesting answers here, putting forward the names of some great and influential people, but their influence was local rather than global, also limited in time. To use an analogy I know you will understand; these people were weather, Princip and the consequences of the assassination of Ferdinand, that’s climate!
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Of the people mentioned in other answers, many are doctors, scientists, inventors etc. Though they have rightly been remembered for their contributions, If they hadn’t achieved these, someone else would have, probably within a few years. Ideas have their time and whoever is around at the time gets the glory. That’s the nature of progress!
Essentially, the significance of the Ferdinand assassination was as the main catalyst for the Great War. This soon developed into a war of attrition, only ending when Germany ran out of money and was unable to continue. This lead to the Treaty of Versailles which held Germany solely responsible for the war and required reparations to the value of 132 billion marks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Versailles
Under this pressure, the German economy collapsed, the currency falling to one million millionth of its former value. Unemployment, hunger, poverty, also widespread feelings of injustice and resentment; this was the fertile soil from which support for the Nazi party grew.
This lead to WW2, with around 73 million dead as a result of military action, war related famine and genocide. Over 11 million people died in the concentration camps, around half of these being the Jews.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties
Much of Europe, especially Germany, was in ruins and needed rebuilding. Britain had been bankrupted and was only able to continue the war as a result of the Lend Lease agreement with America. (We only finished repaying this a few years ago!) Financially, the only winner of the war was the USA!
The empires of the European powers fragmented and many of these countries have struggled ever since. Just look around the world and see the mess! Much of the world today was shaped by these events.
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So what would the world have been like if the assassination hadn’t happened?
Would there have been a WW1? … a WW2? Would we have ever heard of Churchill or Hitler?
Would there have been a Russian Revolution?
Would the Japanese have attacked if the European powers had been around to defend their interests?… Would there have been a ‘Pearl Harbor’?
What about ‘The Bomb’? Without the impetus of war, would that have been developed as soon a it was? Would there have been a cold war? … a ‘Korea’? … a ‘Vietnam’?
Would there have been a partition of India? …would it have been less bloody?
Would there have been an Israel? … at least as we see it today?
Of course, these questions and a million similar ones, can not be answered. We don’t know what wars, or other events, would have occurred; perhaps things would have been worse!
The point is that the consequences of Princip’s actions are still with us today in a way that no one else’s are.
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Having said all of that, I think a case could be made against Princip! The attempt to assassinate Archduke Ferdinand that day (of which Princip was a part) had failed! It was poor communication on the part of the police afterwards that lead to Ferdinand’s driver taking a wrong turn. Then, while the vehicle was turning around, Princip walked out of a sandwich shop, realised that chance had given him a second opportunity and he took it!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Archduke_Franz_Ferdinand_of_Austria
Perhaps the Sarajevo police chief is the most significant person in history!
Or perhaps it is Princip after all. How different would things have been if he had stopped to ask for extra mustard!
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I think Princip merely set the fuse to what was already a time bomb.
People accross europe were so enthousiiastic about the "great war" when it broke out, they cheerily marched to the front. Also, atlhough ww2 cannot be understood without knowing about ww1, histoey i not a single track from cause to effect. Without the ignorant pride of clemenceau, the post ww1 world would have looked a lot different too.
Becasue of the dominant role of science in the 20th century, the most significant person of the century in my view has to be a scientist, and the scientist who influenced politics the most through his actions was Robbert Oppenheimer, so that would be my vote. the invention made by his team determined the coming world order, with its proxy wars, minuteman missiles and diametrical political ideologies.
On a side note, Robbert Oppenheimer did strive for nuclear disarmament straight after the war, and he vigorously opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb.
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This is mainly in response to "Fox News is the Best" further up. Don’t you agree that Reagan and the other twirps who followed him created the conditions for the inequity of today’s financial markets and for today’s terrible world instability? His paranoid rantings did no good whatsoever. Apart from being an amiable clown, Reagan did nothing for world peace. Sorry to differ.
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There were many significant people of the twentieth century. To choose the most significant you would have to better categorize their contribution or affect on society.
Nikola Tesla was very influential to the technological evolution with his contribution of alternating current and induction motors. Quite simply, he is the father of modern electricity, electric motors, radio, tv, and cell phone technology. More of his ideas and inventions have impacted our modern society than perhaps any other inventor since.
Medical contributors were Salk for polio, and Flemming for the discovery of penicillin which was very influential in medical and surgical advancement.
However, do not discount the indirect affects of Hitler on modern society. Without that war, it might have been many decades before the team headed by Oppenhiemer assembled a weapon with nuclear capabilities. Without the displacement of so many Jews, Israel might not have been offered as haven, displacing those truly indigenous to the region and causing much dissention among those of true heritage.
But it truly seems that religeon and government have been the most significant drivers of change in society, as always, over any one persons individual contributions.
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