40 Historical People that Everyone Should Know

Cause you cant discover something that already exists

Huh? Sure you can! You do know what discovered means right?

because it's not fact

Who do you think it was then? It is true that Darwin formulated the theory and published it in On the Origins of Species.

I think he's denying that evolution is fact. Which is not an argument I'm inclined to get into.

Evolution was not an established scientific fact when Darwin first hypothesized that natural selection was the mechanism behind speciation. Now, many years later, it definitely is.

And also on gravity, which the 'Evolution vs God' argument can't apply to

Inverted commas? How about quotation marks?

Because that's his first name, all you need is Mao.

Darwin received a joint credit for the theory of evolution along with Alfred Russel Wallace. Wallace should be an acceptable answer for this question.

The clue is perhaps a little ambiguous...

If only you had access to the Internet you could probably find out.

She's an American who became deaf and blind while very young. She was the subject of the play and movie, "The Miracle Worker" which tells how her teacher, Annie Sullivan, taught her to communicate. She eventually became the first deaf and blind person to graduate from college, and she became an author and political activist in the early 1900s.

Darwin did not discover evolution, what he discovered was "evolution through natural selection". Before Darwin, there were other scientists who were working on evolution, like Lamarck.

The ideas regarding natural selection and evolution were surfacing throughout science during that time. However, the theories were not well supported. Darwin and Wallace were the first to present direct and observable evidence.

Edison borrowed, stole, or bought patents from a lot of other inventors - Joseph Swan invented a light bulb several months before Edison (it just didn't catch on because it was less efficient)

Not when apparently everyone should know all forty

Since Macedonia was one of the many states within the Greek world at the time, and its capital (and Alexander's birthplace) was inside the current frontiers of Greece, I don't understand why you feel the distinction necessary.

Alexander was born in the ancient kingdom of Macedonia and was Macedonian (not to be confused with the modern-day nation-state the Republic of Macedonia, or the modern-day ethnicity or nationality); he shared a culture and language with the ancient Greeks (not to be confused with contemporary Greeks); his birthplace Pella is currently within the borders of the modern-day nation-state of Greece, which of course did not exist at the time. It's correct to say that he was both Greek and Macedonian, in the classical sense of each word. It's inaccurate to say that either Greeks, Macedonians, or Greek Macedonians today share an ethnicity or a nation with Alexander. The ancient Greeks and the kingdom of Macedonia are long gone.

Keller, Earhart and Thatcher are definitely not someone that everyone should know about. The effect of their deeds and popularity is mostly limited to their respective countries. I'd say that the rest are reasonably famous historical figures, although as usual, the choice is very skewed (Cook but not Magellan or Vasco da Gama. Dickens, Austen or Twain but not Dante, Moliere or Ghoethe. Elisabeth I but not Louis XIV or Catherine the Great). It's very telling that out of those 40 historical people, only 19 did not have English as their language. The World is bigger than that. four writers in English, four US Presidents, two UK Prime Ministers,... . I'd say that Dante, Moliere, or Ghoethe would have made for a more diverse setup. It would also have been nice to include figures such as here are four presidents from the UK and two prime ministers of the UK.

It doesn't say anywhere that these are the only 40 people you should know.

But Adolf Hitler wan't German

That's not the point. It means he was the leader of Germany, not that he was German. But even at that, he still was German. He was born in Austria, yes, but in case you did not know, people can become citizens of other countries. Which he did.

and German can also be an ethnicity.

and ethnicity and naturalization aside, it doesn't matter, because the clue could just as easily be read to mean "leader of Germany" as "leader who was German."

^exactly. It's such a common source of errors that people just assume that these fabricated divisions like nationality, race, or contemporary nation states existed forever and go back for all time. They certainly did not.

He was born in Austria. But you can become a citizen of another country, and Austria is german, so it doesn't really matter.

Ever heard of Anschluss?

And some of them are appalling dictators. Nice balance

mandela*

The only reason I know Laozi is because of an Epic Rap Battles of History

I study at Johannes Gutenberg University :)

*theory of evolution

Missed one. That was Laozi

Not quite right, at the time nobody was aware of Gravity as such. That is why it would not be possible to 'Explain it'. It was Newton that realised what drew one body to another, and why the planets and sun etc. behave the way they do. He also called this force 'Gravity'. So the question 'Who discovered Gravity?' is correct.

The Earth has been around for 4.5 billion years but history is pretty much the accomplishments of a few American and British men in the last 300 years. We're really living right at the start of history relatively speaking.

However, humans weren't civilised if you like until about 10000 years ago and no 'history' really begins until the Roman time, just before and after 0 A.D.

There's no such date. What you call 0 A.D. is actually 1 B.C.

who are the 9% who didnt get george washington and the 12% who didnt get hitler?

Surprised to see no Harriet Tubman

I got 31 first try. I missed 3 I SHOULD HAVE GOT! Great quiz though

My knowledge of tao te ching is pretty laozi

I got Laozi but missed Martin Luther King Jr. ???????

Everyone learns about Rosa Parks at school in New Zealand. My kids know who she is.

The lamest quiz ever! Hitler is there, but Nelson Mandela is not. Terrible! (just to mention ONE example)

Mandela was a typical freedom fighter of the era. If South Africa didn't have white people then Mandela's cause would have been lost in history books as one of several African conflicts.

Pedantry I know but Soviet is a bit dodgy as demonym for USSR; first Soviet leader made me think of the Petrograd Soviet first. Perhaps Bolshevik or USSR leader might be better.

I mostly agree with this list but not having Aristotle, Plato and Stalin on this list is a mistake. I have to disagree with having Hannibal and Nelson on this list. Great generals but Hannibal didn't conquer Rome and Nelson, well why?? He is a footnote in history if you are not from the UK. Aristotle and Plato's influence on our modern ideas of politics and science can still be seen. Stalin rapidly transformed an agrarian county into a industrial world superpower. Omitting them is foolish.

Everyone needs to quit being so disrespectful to the people on this list. Just because someone wasn't as great of an influence to you, doesn't mean they weren't to someone else.

Shouldn't Jefferson Davis be added as an option for Civil War President?

please accept shakespear

Shakespear is not correct though.

I have 27 General Knowledge quizzes in jetpunk and none of them get the comments like this and many others. Maybe my questions are too factual and not as controversial and contentious as these.

I saw his corpse in Moscow. He looked great for having been married to Yoko Ono.

That was harder than i thought

Someone tell me why I should be expected to know who Helen Keller is. The others I can just about see why they're on the list, but not her

Given the title, I concur completely with the number of athletes that appear on this quiz.

i only guessed Leonerdo da Vinci... But Cool Quiz!