Who is the greatest inventor of all time?

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Pretty much self expanatory.

Ill go with this dude.

ARCHIMEDES

Hard to believe most of his work was lost. Who knows where science would be today if this had not happened. Its even said that he was the first to invent the computer.

Archimedes was the eminent mathematician and excellent physicist of his time. He was born in Syracuse, on the island of Sicily in 287 B.C. At that time Sicily was a Greek land. Archimedes was the son of an astronomer. He studied at Alexandria in Egypt, and then returned to Syracuse. He early became an astronomer. He constructed a brass planisphere - a projection of the celestial sphere - that showed the revolution of the Sun, the Moon and the five known planets, and showed the nature of eclipses.


Discoveries and inventions




During a Roman siege of Syracuse in 213 Archimedes kept off the attacks of the Roman forces. There is a legend, that he used a gigantic mirror which focused the Sun's rays upon the Roman ships. When the Romans overcame the Syracusan defences, they ordered to bring Archimedes to Rome. Archimedes was 75 at that time. A Roman soldier was near Archimedes after the breach of the city's defence. Archimedes, probably tired after his work during the siege, was sitting on the ground, drawing mathematical figures in the dust. A soldier ordered him to surrender, but the great mathematician paid no attention to him. The problem was more important to him. Archimedes said, "Get away from my circles, you dog!" The soldier killed the world's greatest thinker.


His planisphere was taken to Rome and was described by Cicero, 150 years later. Archimedes is generally regarded as the greatest mathematician and scientist of antiquity and one of the three greatest mathematicians of all time.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

A good candidate. Archimedes and Da Vinci having a competition would have been something. Archy actually built more of his ideas though.

My vote is a tossup between the un-named someone who first developed the wheel or the folks who developed the intregrated circuit.

[bmolsson]

The one that invented the fire.......

[Red Harvest]

Archimedes is probably the most incredible of the lot. Da Vinci had a lot of ideas and would probably be above Archimedes in some ways, however I don't know how much he actually carried much past the concept stage. His skills of observation and understanding would be hard to top by any other in known history.

Edison would be competition for Archimedes.

Huygens deserves a mention although most of his inventions were major improvements rather than fundamentally new.

[Soulforged]

The one that invented the fire.......

Fire wasn't invented, it was discovered.

I think if that you take it from the side of numbers it would be Da Vinci. From the side of utility it would be the one who invented the wheel. But i like John Harrington inventor of the lavatory.

[Kaiser of Arabia]

M. Werndl

[Zalmoxis]

The guy that invented forums? Or else we wouldn't be talking, and we'd all be sitting mumbling to ourselves about this general and that weapon.

[Big_John]

nikola tesla, because he has a badass name. plus, electricity is cool.

but seriously, tesla basically invented the modern world, which has seen, arguably, the most dramatic transformations in human history.

[Samurai Waki]

Da Vinci! invented almost 10 times as many useful things to mankind than Thomas Edison did.

[Paul Peru]

Pretty much self expanatory.

Ill go with this dude.

ARCHIMEDES

Second or fifth or whatever that!
Amazing guy, apparently.

Mr. Gore's Internet thingy is quite nifty as well, though it's Doomed (or so I keep hearing).

JS Bach has some good ones, also.

[Petrus]

I do not know if he can be classified among inventors, but Alexander Flemming, for penicillin, places himself on the first rank of the great men.

[yesdachi]

I do not know if he can be classified among inventors, but Alexander Flemming, for penicillin, places himself on the first rank of the great men.

Absolutely important invention but wasn’t it the result of an accident? I would almost call this a discovery. Worth a mention but he’s no Leo.