The Polymath: Unlocking the Power of Human Versatility

by Waqas Ahmed

  Ivan Mažuranic (twentieth-century Croatia) — Led accomplished careers as a lawyer, astronomer, mathematician, economist, poet, linguist, and politician.

  James Weldon Johnson (twentieth-century United States) — One of the greatest cultural figures of the 1920s Harlem Renaissance, he began his career as a Broadway composer and later published his famous novel The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man as well as acclaimed poetry. Professionally, Johnson underwent multiple careers in law, diplomacy, journalism, and politics.

  Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont (sixteenth-century Spain) — A soldier best known for inventing steam powered water pump for draining mines but was also an avid astronomer, painter and musician.

  Joseph Priestley (eighteenth-century England) — English church minister who, in addition to being one of the most respected theologians of his time, made significant contributions to chemistry (soda water), language (English grammar), physics (electricity), history (timelines and charts), and philosophy (metaphysics).

  Juana Ines de la Cruz (seventeenth-century Spain-Mexico) — a self-taught nun, a savant, who wrote poetry in multiple languages, composed music and wrote on a number of subjects relating to philosophy and science.

  Kenneth Essex Edgeworth (twentieth-century England) — Pollock Medal-winning officer in the British army during World War I, he was also a trained engineer and published four books on economics during the Great Depression as well as a number of breakthrough papers on astronomy.

  Konrad Megenberg (fourteenth-century Germany) — Scholar priest, wrote poems and hymns as well as treatises on history, philosophy, and many branches of natural science.

  Luke the Evangelist — Paul’s disciple, referred to in the New Testament as a physician to the Colossians on a number of occasions. In becoming one of the Four Evangelists or authors of the canonical Gospels of Jesus, he is considered one of Christianity’s earliest historians and theologians. He is also acknowledged as one of Christianity’s first painters and is widely thought to have produced the earliest icon images of Mary and Jesus.

  Madame de Genlis (eighteenth-century France) — a celebrated musician (harpist) and Governess to the Children of France at the royal court, where she devised and implemented a special education curriculum for the children of the royal household. She was also a prolific writer (over 80 works) of fiction, poetry and prose.

  Mary Anne Evans (nineteenth-century England) — Attained success as both a novelist and psychoanalyst, but was also as a polyglot, philosopher, and columnist. She had to use the (now-famous) pseudonym George Eliot partly because of her gender but also in order to pursue other fields.

  Michael Servatus (sixteenth-century Spain) — A theologian and humanist philosopher who published works on medicine and astrology. He taught mathematics while studying law and medicine, after which he was employed as physician to the archbishop at Vienne. He also wrote poetry and as a polyglot used his linguistic skills to make several translations of the Bible.

  Nasir Khusrow (eleventh-century Persia) — A polyglot, who began his career as financier for the Seljuk sultan Toghrul Beg and wrote a treatise on mathematics, which has now been lost. He then went on a famed spiritual journey to Makkah and Jerusalem, chronicling his travels (published as the famous Safarnama) and wrote theological and philosophical works, but is best known as one of Persia’s great poets.

  Nicolae Iorga (twentieth-century Romania) — One of Romania’s foremost historians, anthropologists, poets, playwrights, novelists and linguists — publishing a record 1,300 volumes and 25,000 articles on a variety of topics — before becoming the one of the country’s most revered Prime Ministers.

  Nicolas of Kues (fifteenth-century Germany/Rome) — A theologian, philosopher, and mystic who became a cardinal in Rome. He was a trained jurist and made scholarly breakthroughs in mathematics and astronomy — his treatises De Docta Ignorantia, De Vision Dei, and On Conjectures became important scientific works of the early Renaissance.

  Omar Khayyam (eleventh-century Persia) — Best known for his Rubaiyat (a collection of poems popularised in the West), but he began his career as a mathematician and also wrote important books on subjects ranging from mineralogy and music to medicine and theology.

  Pliny the Elder (first-century Rome) — One of the most celebrated naturalists in history, but also a successful lawyer, statesman, soldier (commander in Germania and writer on military tactics), historian, and grammarian.

  Posidonius (first-century bc Greece) — Described by his contemporary Strabo as ‘the most learned philosopher of his time,’ he made philosophical observations on physics (including meteorology and physical geography), astronomy, astrology and divination, seismology, geology and mineralogy, hydrology, botany, ethics, logic, mathematics, history, natural history, anthropology, and warfare.

  Samudragupta (fourth-century India) — The second and most celebrated of the Gupta rulers, he was a polymathic monarch who, as well as being a patron of the arts and of scholarship, was known for his military genius and for achieving distinction as a poet and musician in his own right.

  Samuel ibn Naghrillah (twelfth-century Andalucía) — Rose from merchant to top military general and vizier to the Caliph, ultimately becoming one of the most influential Jews in Andalucía. He was also a Talmudic scholar, wrote on Hebrew grammar, and became one of the iconic poets of this era.

  Sri Chinmoy (twentieth-century India) — Gained renown in the West as an Indian spiritual leader, mystical philosopher and author. He wrote more than 1,500 books, consisting of poems, spiritual musings, theological treatises, and plays, as well as 12,000 short poems. He was also a visual artist with an extensive output as well as a prolific composer and multi-instrumentalist. He took up weight lifting later in life and stunned the world by setting several world records.

  Su Shi (eleventh-century China) — An artistic polymath who excelled in painting, calligraphy, poetry, gastronomy, and literature. His writings include some 2700 poems, 800 letters, and his famous travel book known as the “daytrip essays.”

  Su Song (eleventh-century China) — A public official who served in many different capacities including Minister of Justice, diplomat, financial administrator, and civil engineer. He was also an acclaimed architect and astronomer, wrote a comprehensive treatise on pharmacology and while his main focus was on the sciences, he was also an avid poet and a renowned art critic and collector.

  Tai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen (fourteenth-century Tibet) — Ruler of Tibet and military commander who was also a renowned painter and a notable scholar of grammar.

  Walter Russell (twentieth-century United States) — Church organist, portrait painter, architect, sculptor, art editor, sportsman, physicist, spiritual philosopher, and coiner of the term New Age as a ‘philosophy of the spiritual reawakening of man.’

  William Petty (nineteenth-century England) — Excelled as a naval architect, physician, professor of music, chemist, and engineer who contributed to the birth of modern science, which bridged the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.

  Zaharije Orfelin (eighteenth-century Austro-Serbia) — A master engraver and one of the leading publishers of his time who edited works mainly on cultural history and herbalism. He was also a celebrated poet and linguist who was instrumental in forming the Slavo-Serbian language.

  Zhang Heng (second-century China) — An established poet, painter, and sculptor, who then became chief astronomer at the royal court. As a mathematician, he made a breakthrough calculation of pi, and his inventions included the world’s first water-powered armillary sphere, an improved version of the water clock, and the world’s first seismometer.

  Imhotep — Architect, poet, physician, priest, philosopher, statesman (27th-century bc Egypt)

  Aristotle — Zoologist, botanist, physicist, philosopher, art theorist, political theorist, astronomer (4th-century bc Greece)

  Ban Zhao — historian, genealogist, librarian, poet, philosopher, travel writer, astronomer (1st-century China)
/>
  Lubna of Cordoba — Mathematician, linguist, poets, scientist, librarian (10th-century Andalucía)

  Shen Kuo — Anatomist, astronomer, artist, poet, engineer, mathematician, bureaucrat (10th-century China)

  Ibn Sina — Physician, philosopher, theologian, mathematician, poet, astronomer (11th-century Persia)

  Hildegard de Bingen —Theologian, composer, poet, philosopher, scientist, grammarian (12th-century Germany)

  Ibn Khaldun — Philosopher, historian, economist, sociologist, diplomat, anthropologist (14th-century Tunisia)

  Nezahualcóyotl — Architect, philosopher, poet, patron of the arts, monarch (15th-century Mesoamerica)

  Leonardo Da Vinci — Artist, engineer, architect, philosopher, dramatist, cartographer, anatomist, naturalist (15th-century Italy)

  Ahmed Baba — Educationalist, linguist, theologian, anthropologist, jurist (16th-century West Africa)

  Nicolaus Copernicus — Astronomer, artist, mathematician, economist, lawyer, diplomat, clergyman (16th-century Poland)

  Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz — Lawyer, diplomat, engineer, librarian, alchemist, historian, mathematician, physicist, geologist, philosopher (17th-century Germany)

  Anna Maria Van Schurman — Artist, linguist, feminist, lawyer, theologian (17th-century Netherlands)

  Benjamin Franklin — Publisher, writer, entrepreneur, philosopher, scientist, inventor, diplomat (18th-century U.S.)

  Johann von Goethe — Philosopher, poet, artist, lawyer, scientist, playwright (18th-century Germany)

  Mikhail Lomonosov — Physicist, astronomer, geologist, chemist, artist, poet, historian, linguist (18th-century Russia)

  Thomas Jefferson — Lawyer, architect, inventor, philosopher, linguist, statesman (18th-century U.S.)

  Alexander von Humboldt — Explorer, botanist, oceanographer, anthropologist, zoologist, anatomist, geologist (19th-century Germany)

  José Rizal — Novelist, artist, physician, political activist, linguist, poet (19th-century Philippines)

  William Morris — Artist, entrepreneur, publisher, poet, novelist, political activist (19th-century Britain)

  Karl Marx — Historian, economist, philosopher, sociologist, journalist, activist (19th-century Germany)

  Florence Nightingale — Nurse, mathematician, theologian, feminist, humanitarian (19th-century Britain)

  Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson) — Photographer, inventor, poet, novelist, clergyman, mathematician (19th-century Britain)

  Richard Francis Burton — Poet, fencer, linguist, explorer, anthropologist, soldier, spy (19th-century Britain)

  Winston Churchill — Soldier, journalist, historian, writer, artist, statesman (20th-century Britain)

  Rabindranath Tagore — poet, playwright, philosopher, painter, composer, novelist (20th-century India)

  Rudolf Steiner — artist, architect, philosopher, spiritualist, agriculturist, educationalist, herbalist, political activist (19th-century Austria)

  Jean Cocteau — Sculptor, painter, poet, playwright, film maker, composer, dramatist, novelist (20th-century France)

  Jan Smuts — Botanist, philosopher, journalist, lawyer, soldier, statesman (20th-century South Africa)

  Muhammad Iqbal — Philosopher, barrister, poet, linguist, politician (20th-century Pakistan)

  Albert Schweitzer — Composer, theologian, physician, philosopher, humanitarian (20th-century Alsace)

  Paul Robeson — Athlete, lawyer, singer, actor, linguist, activist (20th-century U.S.)

  Cheikh Anta Diop — Historian, physicist, political scientist, anthropologist, politician (20th-century Senegal)

  Maya Angelou — Dancer, singer, poet, writer, novelist, filmmaker, journalist, linguist, historian, activist (21st-century U.S.)

  Jay Tsung-I — Historian, indologist, sinologist, philosopher, calligrapher, composer, linguist, poet (21st-century China)