This is a thread about the people in history/present who have done something so significant that you think they deserve recognition. It could be an inventor, a famous philosopher, a member of your family. ANYONE who has achieved something in life that makes you sit back in awe.

 

 

 

This is the person who helped me think about this thread and I think he deserves more than recognition.

 

 

 

Don Schoendorfer - An Engineer

 

 

 

Using a simple lawn chair, this is mounted on to the wheelchair frame (metal productions http://www.markivmetal.com) to create a wheelchair (and costs for shipping) for under $52.00!! The wheels are nothing more than a few 24 inch mountain bike wheels! Fix any punctures with a cheap tire kit that is provided with the chair and if they go flat, there is also an added bike pump.

 

 

 

These new chairs are being shipped off to developing countries and are compacted enough to ship 550 kits in a standard 40 ft container. The instructions also include picture demonstations so that people who cannot read English have hope to assemble the chairs together. It is estimated that 3 wheelchairs can be assembled within an hour by someone with little training.

 

 

 

Isn't it amazing how something so simple can help so many lives? I'd like to see people other than 3rd world countries who can't afford their own chair to have access to this amazing opportunity too!

 

 

 

WELL DONE DON!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

 

 

He has inspired me so much that I'm going to write a letter to the fundraising team "FREEDOM WHEELS" (an amazing opportunity) that has raised over 52 million dollars US to help make custom made bikes for children with disabilities and kids with other disadvantages.

 

 

 

With any luck Don and his team will have another fundraiser for their cause.

 

 

 

You can find one of the articles here:

 

http://www.freewheelchairmission.org/wh ... story.html

Perhaps someone like Frederick Sanger. He's an English biochemist and a two-time Nobel laureate. First for the sequencing of insulin in 1958 and second for his dideoxy method of DNA sequencing in 1980, which paved the way for what was to come in genome sequencing years later.

 

 

 

I'll also say Hans Krebs, another biochemist who worked out the metabolic steps in what would later be known as the citric acid cycle (or Krebs cycle, named after him) - a major metabolic cycle involved in harvesting energy from organic compounds. He shared the Nobel prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1953 with a guy called Fritz Lipmann, discoverer of the critically important biomolecule coenzyme-A.

 

 

 

Generally speaking, anyone who helps humanity progress further and alleviate suffering is deserving of recognition in my eyes. Being a science student, scientists are pretty high up on my list, and there's plenty more than those I just listed. I also like teachers, volunteers and people who work with or care for the mentally/physically disabled. All you guys rock. :thumbup:

People who strive the world a better place and especially the ones who risk their lives to make it a better place.

 

 

 

And Craig Venter, the guy who made the first synthetic genome which, I think, is like one of the first steps in creating an artificial living organism? :o

Anyone who puts others before themselves.

Ivan Cooper. A protestant MP who argued for Catholic civil rights during the Northern Irish troubles, he helped carry the wounded from the Rosville flats on Bloody Sunday while the British Army fired upon anyone they saw helping or running.

 

 

 

He chose to help a minority being oppressed by a majority while he shared the same privileges as the majority.

 

He carried the wounded while putting his own life at severe risk of being shot.

 

He Spoke out against the British army and the investigations into the events of Bloody Sunday.

 

He continued to help achieve Catholic rights while being faced with the threat of time in Prison without trial.

 

During his whole ordeal of striving for Catholic rights in a Protestant state he never once sought after violence, even asking the Paramilitaries (IRA, INLA) to not attend his rallies for fear of violence occurring.

 

 

 

Although it occurred mostly 30 years ago, I still feel he never received the recognition he deserves. In a way he's the Northern Irish equivalent to Martin Luther King.

Hmm... interesting. When I read the title of this thread I expected an instant answer, but nothing came.

 

 

 

If there's one lesson I learned from studying History in my A Levels, it's that you can't ever see things through the prism of "great people". You can talk about WWII, and describe it as a battle between Hitler vs Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt, but you'd miss the reality so much it's ridiculous. I've never really thought about individuals like that.

 

 

 

I'm gonna have to give a wimpy answer. Anyone who puts the cause of humanity before their own selfish material needs deserves recognition. Ironically, such people seldom receive any, probably because they're not jumping up and down shouting about what they've done.

Anyone who puts others before themselves.

 

Quoted for truth. I wish I could say I really knew someone like that though.

 

 

 

...That sounded really selfish and kind of egoistical, on second thought...

Johann Guttenberg... I think that's his name. Google won't work right now for me.

 

 

 

The guy who invented the printing press.

Nice thread.

 

 

 

Although the pages of history are littered with stories of incredible scientists, none seemed to come to mind at first for me. The areas of science I know most about are not to be full of people who are advancing medical science, or indeed science with much practical application.

 

 

 

But a scientist who I think is by and large underappreciated is Michael Faraday. His work on electricty and magnetism pioneered the way for electrical engineering and the link between the subjects, with obviously incredibly many applications nowadays. However he was not born into any kind of wealth, and worked his way up as a scientist with little formal training and being largely self taught. When he gained recognition he used his reknown educate the public with exciting and vivid lectures (see the Faraday Cage). In his later life he spent a great deal of time and effort on public service duties as well as continuing his research. He also refused to develop chemical weapons for the Crimean War for ethical reasons.

 

 

 

Unlike many brilliant scientists of that era, I think Faraday was a wonderful person as well as wonderful intellect.

Johann Guttenberg... I think that's his name. Google won't work right now for me.

 

 

 

The guy who invented the printing press.

 

Johan Gutenberg

for instance, James Prescott Joule, who studied the nature of heat which eventually led to the First Law of thermodynamics.

 

 

 

Then there is Robert the Bruce, who led Scottland after William Wallace was captured and killed by the English.

 

 

 

And finally, Charlotte Mason, a British educator who led her life in helping children's education.

Albert hoffman and Gandhi.

 

 

 

Both whom induced a deeper sight into life and have a more broad life experience then the narrow-mindedness of today.

Moot of 4chan- He drastically changed the internet. For better or for worse, we don't know. Let's just say it's a lot more fun \

Moot of 4chan- He drastically changed the internet. For better or for worse, we don't know. Let's just say it's a lot more fun \

 

 

 

/agree

 

 

 

He managed to get allllllll the eejits in one place where they won't bother everyone else

 

 

 

My vote goes for William Blackstone - English jurist that wrote masses of both the UK and US legal system and is still quoted and adhered to today. He also was behind the famous "let 10 guilty men go free to stop one innocent suffering" quote (or words to that effect). Without him, most common law (and legal principles) wouldn't be the same today, or even exist.

Mlbfan13 for being helpful to forum newcomers for over a year now. 8-)

John Nash and his Nash Equilibrium, which pretty much explains how people choose certain economic decisions and is also instituted in various other situations.

 

 

 

Ex: It's a good thing we don't have the death penalty for rape because if the penalty for murder is also death what's to stop the raper from killing his victim when he's through.

Those people who edit movies.

Bill Gates =D> :roll:

Bill Gates =D> :roll:

 

 

 

I take it you're being sarcastic. Perhaps you should go read up on the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. It's one of the biggest charitable organisations in the world, and Bill Gates has been ranked as the second most generous American philanthropist behind Warren Buffett. [1]

Bill Gates =D> :roll:

 

 

 

I take it you're being sarcastic. Perhaps you should go read up on the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. It's one of the biggest charitable organisations in the world, and Bill Gates has been ranked as the second most generous American philanthropist behind Warren Buffett. [1]

 

 

 

No, I said Bill Gates followed by the "roll" emote because it is so evident that he belongs on this thread, and no one has said him yet, even when disregarding his charity.

Sorry about that. Sometimes it's hard to get exactly what people are saying through emoticons.

 

 

 

But anyway, you can tell I agree with you. :thumbup:

Nelson Mandela :thumbup:

Tomas Edison because without him we would be watching tv in the dark

Tomas Edison because without him we would be watching tv in the dark

 

 

 

Wait a minute...

Tomas Edison because without him we would be watching tv in the dark

 

 

 

Pretty sure the lightbulb set down some foundations for stuff like the TV.