These People Deserve Recognition!

There are many things that we take for granted and we don't know how it is we happen to have these luxuries that we have. Post people in this thread that we haven't heard of that invented something/ did something to make our lifes better!

I'll start :cheeky:

Potato Chips:

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In the summer of 1853, Native American George Crum was employed as a chef at an elegant resort in Saratoga Springs, New York. One dinner guest found Crum's French fries too thick for his liking and rejected the order. Crum decided to rile the guest by producing fries too thin and crisp to skewer with a fork. The plan backfired. The guest was ecstatic over the browned, paper-thin potatoes, and other diners began requesting Crum's potato chips

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btw: you dont have to quote a website, but you can if you wanna

Ok, well you might have already heard of this guy, but a lot of people only know him (and most hate him) for one thing.

George Lucas actually did something a lot more useful than continuously tinkering with classic movies long after they had been released to the public - he actually invented digital movie editing, which made it possible for people to make their own films or edit clips from existing films on their computers.

While he was creating the first Star Wars he also created Industrial Light and Magic, his FX company, and one of the things they did was to push the envelope on digital movie editing until they had created a unit called EditDroid, which was a massive machine that required immense power, similar to the early room-filling computers of the 50's. But in time it switched from hardware-based to software-based and eventually resulted in what we know today as digital video editing that can be done on home computers.

It doesn't excuse the crimes against humanity that he's perpetrated since going over to the dark side, but I guess it helps to balance them out to some extent.

Nikola Tesla. He's probably definately at least as important important as Edison.

I got another one. This one's kinda multifaceted...

Michael Nesmith's mom invented Whiteout. And as a result The Monkees were formed.

Mike Nesmith, for those who don't know, is a member of the rock band The Monkees from the '60s - in fact the founding member as I understand it, and it's only because of his mother's invention. She worked as a typist or secretary or something, and got tired of always having to start over any time she made a mistake, and somehow created the thick sticky opaque and rapid-drying white gunk we now call White-Out. Just brush it on over your typo, give it a couple seconds to dry, and type right over it. Genius!!

Well, she made a fortune on it. And thus her son was enabled to buy expensive studio equipment and tinker around with it and start a band, and even create a TV show around it all.

Lol, as if George Lucas and Nikola Tesla aren't recognized.

Anyways.

Raymond Radiguet
(18 June 1903 — 12 December 1923)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...x-Radiguet.jpg

Radiguet was a precocious French novelist and poet who wrote at 17 a masterpiece of astonishing insight and stylistic excellence, Le Diable au corps (1923; The Devil in the Flesh), which remains a unique expression of the poetry and perversity of an adolescent boy’s love. At 16 Radiguet took Paris by storm and joined the frenzied life of the leading post-World War I figures in the Dadaist and Cubist circles, including Guillaume Apollinaire, Max Jacob, Erik Satie, and, especially, Jean Cocteau, whose protégé (and alleged lover) he became.

Tragically, at only 20 years old, Radiguet died of typhoid, his body wasted by dissipation and alcoholism. Aldous Huxley is quoted as declaring that Radiguet had attained the literary control that others required a long career to reach.

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Lol, as if George Lucas and Nikola Tesla aren't recognized.

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:whistle: :paranoid:

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Originally Posted by Supernova

Nikola Tesla. He's probably definately at least as important important as Edison.

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I'd consider him to be more important than Edison. Edison didn't invent shit, he only refined what already existed in basic form and somehow got all the credit for an entire generation of inventors.

Enrique, who led the only successful insurgency on Hispaniola and is the reason the Taino language survives to this day.

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Originally Posted by Omnis Dei

I'd consider him to be more important than Edison. Edison didn't invent shit, he only refined what already existed in basic form and somehow got all the credit for an entire generation of inventors.

Enrique, who led the only successful insurgency on Hispaniola and is the reason the Taino language survives to this day.

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Thomas Edison Invents Marketing Other People's Ideas | The Onion - America's Finest News Source ;)

Edison was still clinging to his woefully restrictive DC power when Tesla's AC power system, deemed impossible less than 20 years before, harnessed the power of Niagra falls (fulfilling Tesla's boyhood boast that he would one day do just that) and transmitted that power all the way to New York.

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Originally Posted by Seroquel

Lol, as if George Lucas and Nikola Tesla aren't recognized.

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Almost everyone I talked to about Tesla after I read his biography needed me to explain who he was.

Another good one is Sir Frances Bacon, editor for the King James Bible and, along with Shakespeare, the father of modern English.

I didn't know what he did... I thought he was a painter... :whyme:

Sir Francis Bacon unrecognized? He was knighted for fucks sake. He was the father of empiricism, and a famous philosopher (among other things). May as well include Plato, Nietzsche and Sartre.

Tesla? May as well include Edison and Bell. George Lucas? Include Steven Spielberg.

My point is you are naming people who do not need more recognition.

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Originally Posted by Seroquel

Sir Francis Bacon unrecognized?! LOL

He was knighted for fucks sake.

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Can we stop discrediting people and realize this isn't just a thread for people no one has heard of but is also for people who deserve greater recognition than they received due to their impact on modern society?

Last person I mentioned Sir Frances Bacon to thought I was talking about Sir Frances Drake.

Also, the 3 other philosophers you mentioned are a very telling reason why Bacon deserves a place in this thread. That's like saying you might as well include Edison and Bell if you're going to mention Tesla. The fact is, some are historically recognized while others are not.

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Originally Posted by Darkmatters

It doesn't excuse the crimes against humanity that he's perpetrated since going over to the dark side, but I guess it helps to balance them out to some extent.

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Um, I consider the immense freedom and potential of home video editing for all FAR more important than Star Wars.

I asked someone if they knew who Napoleon Bonaparte was and they thought I was talking about Napoleon Dynamite..

So.

Napoleon Bonaparte
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Ish7688voT...8533032877.jpg

Napoleon Bonaparte was a brilliant military commander who conquered much of Europe. In November 1799, Napoleon staged a coup and declared himself Emperor of France. While he ended anarchy in post-Revolution France, many considered him a tyrant who ignored treaties and conventions, seeking undisputed rule throughout Europe.

After a failed excursion into Russia in 1812, Napoleon was forced to abdicate and was exiled to the island of Elba, from which he would escape almost a year later. He returned to power but was defeated again at the battle of Waterloo. He would spend the final years of his life on the Island of St Helena under British watch.

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Originally Posted by Seroquel

I asked someone if they knew who Napoleon Bonaparte was and they thought I was talking about Napoleon Dynamite..

So.

Napoleon Bonaparte
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Ish7688voT...8533032877.jpg

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Hit them.... Hit them with a stick.

Also, Hitler/Nazis German. Without them, the US would not have become an economical powerhouse.

Mohandis Gandhi; he never received a Nobel Peace Prize, even though he successfully rebelled from British rule, peacefully. (And then somehow Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize? Oops.)

John Muir; father of Preservationism and environmentalism (and the man who convinced Teddy Roosevelt to establish the National Parks Service of the United States).

(How the fuck do they not know Napoleon Bonaparte?! He's one of the most well-known French figures, even though he wasn't French!)

If they're in Bill and Ted, they're recognized enough.

Another worthy mention (though he's probably more famous in Britain) is Oliver Cromwell, who overthrew the British Monarchy and established Republican Commonwealth in 1649. Though Charles II took the thrown in 1660, after Cromwell died of illness, it is still thanks to him the British Parliament has the House of Commons.

John Muir is a good one, but how the fuck is Napoleon Bonaparte not French?

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Originally Posted by IndieAnthias

John Muir is a good one, but how the fuck is Napoleon Bonaparte not French?

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His family was Italian, and he was born in Corsica. He was sent to schooling in France and became a military officer.

And I never realized this until today, but John Muir is on the California quarter!

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Originally Posted by Darkmatters

Ok, well you might have already heard of this guy, but a lot of people only know him (and most hate him) for one thing.

George Lucas actually did something a lot more useful than continuously tinkering with classic movies long after they had been released to the public - he actually invented digital movie editing, which made it possible for people to make their own films or edit clips from existing films on their computers.

While he was creating the first Star Wars he also created Industrial Light and Magic, his FX company, and one of the things they did was to push the envelope on digital movie editing until they had created a unit called EditDroid, which was a massive machine that required immense power, similar to the early room-filling computers of the 50's. But in time it switched from hardware-based to software-based and eventually resulted in what we know today as digital video editing that can be done on home computers.

It doesn't excuse the crimes against humanity that he's perpetrated since going over to the dark side, but I guess it helps to balance them out to some extent.

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Another similar thing, know the name, may not know the achievement. Steve Jobs actually revolutionised computer animation when he was building NeXT.
Disney bought his company because his OS made it possible for them to easily make animations for movies. That's how Toy Story was made.

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Originally Posted by Seroquel

Napoleon Bonaparte

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Napoleon Bonaparte!? May as well include Genghis Khan.

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Originally Posted by tommo

Napoleon Bonaparte!? May as well include Genghis Khan.

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http://thespeakeasy.net/Smileys/defa...s_the_joke.jpg

Well SooooOOOOORy, Sero.
Sarcasm with no indication of it and the same structure as a non sarcastic post doesn't come through well in text.