Culture. Nurture. Tincture. Enrapture.

The Time‘s 100 persons of the Century

You read the title so you know what I will get into but the why might be clear yet. The reason is simple really: I find this list of surprising quality and genuinely representative of the last century. And, of course, I thought it would be a fun diversion. Knowing a little about these figures will help you better understand where we come from. Keep in mind that these are "the most influential persons" not those with the most positive influence.

Let‘s begin with the “winner“. That would be Albert Einstein. I am sure (well, I hope) you all know who it is. In the original publication of the list, The Time states that “the 20th century will be remembered foremost for its science and technology[...] Einstein serves as a symbol of all the scientists—such as Fermi, Heisenberg, Bohr, Richard Feynman, who built upon his work". Well said and a very fitting choice in my mind. In another way, his groundbreaking year (1904) is just right at the start of the century, making it an even more fitting choice to inaugurate it. I should point out that The Time‘s also chose two runner-ups. The first is Mahatma Gandhi a representative for the trend of social reformers that occupy a good portion of the list. The second is Franklin D. Roosevelt. That Roosevelt represents the (other) good portion of politicians on the list. It goes without saying that both were very influential: Gandhi for the popularization of non-violence protest and F.D. Roosevelt for the New Deal and popularizing economical active and concerned governments.

Let‘s continue with the list, listed by category (which I made up). Many of these figures you should already know about, so I will take more time on the less recognizable figures… and why you should know them. Every figure will be accompagnied with the original description it had in the list (a few words frankly).

Social Reformers and Activists

  • Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights leader.
  • Rosa Parks, civil rights torchbearer.
  • Billy Graham, evangelist. Graham is not known enough today. He was a social rights advocate close to various presidents and Martin Luther King. He was particularly against racial segregation and reknowned for his "crusades" where he preached. He did more than 417 “crusades“ in 58 years in over 50 countries. Quite an achievement in its own right.
  • Margaret Sanger, birth-control crusader. From 1911, she dedicated herself in sharing contraception information to women with her infamous “The Woman Rebel“ newsletter. Keep in mind that was in a time where that promotting contraception was illegal (in the USA). She went to prison, went outlaw and had to flee to Canada. She later opened the first birth control clinic and helped overturn restrictions on contraception. She also greatly pushed for the acceptance of the birth control pill in the 1950s when it was developped. Without her, we can assume it wouldn't have been (well, at least, not as fast). A paramount feminine activitst that should not be forgotten.
  • Emmeline Pankhurst, suffragist. She was probably even more important than Sanger for the feminist movement. She organised the suffragette in Britain - the first feminist organization that made clear political results. Her greatest success was the social acceptance of women's vote. She was also imprisonned for some years. Just shows that what we take for granted was not always so. Someone probably had to fight for it. She did.
  • Helen Keller, champion of the disabled. A writter you probably don't know of. She wrote and promoted many paramount themes popular in the years to follow: women's suffrage, labor rights, world peace, etc. She lost her eyesight and hearing in childhood and wrote using signs and a scribe. Just think about it: 14 books and hundreds of speeches in that condition. Impressive woman.
  • Harvey Milk, gay-rights leader.
  • Mother Teresa, missionary nun. I'm leaving a post just to her.
  • Bill Wilson, founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. We should not forget his co-founder Dr. Bob Smith.
  • Walter Reuther, labor leader. He built the United Automobile Workers association.

Political Leaders

  • Che Guevara, guerrilla leader.
  • Unknown Tiananmen Square rebel. An unorthodox choice but, frankly, a good one.
  • Andrei Sakharov, Soviet dissident.
  • Lech Walesa, Polish union organizer.
  • Mahatma Gandhi, father of modern India (runner-up).
  • Pope John Paul II, religious leader. Most influential pope of the century? Most influential pope of the century. Very funny guy too. I will add an honourable mention to Pius XI.
  • Diana, Princess of Wales. You should know her. She actually the first wife of the current king of the United Kingdom Charles III (but they divorced). Extremely influential and charismatic woman who advocated for world peace and the removal of landmines. She also preached for the recognition of social rights of many groups including: AIDS patients, children, the elderly, cancer patients and those affected by mental illness. An extremely positive figure. Her death in a car crash was a news sensation and a tragedy.
  • Adolf Hitler, German dictator. Most influential is (sadly) about right.
  • Ho Chi Minh, first President of North Vietnam.
  • Ayatullah R. Khomeini, leader of Iran's revolution.
  • Mao Zedong, leader of communist China.
  • David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first Prime Minister.
  • Nelson Mandela, South African President.
  • Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, founder of the Soviet Union.
  • Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet reformer.
  • Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister.
  • Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister.

And now, for USA presidents:

  • Ronald Reagan, U.S. President.
  • The Kennedys, dynasty. “Dynasty“ is a very fitting description.
  • Eleanor Roosevelt, U.S. First Lady.
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt, U.S. Pres. and New Deal architect (runner-up).
  • Theodore Roosevelt, U.S. President and environmentalist.

I have a soft spot for Teddy, but Franklin is the right choice as “most influential“.

Arts and Culture

Starting with music:

  • Louis Armstrong, jazz musician.
  • Aretha Franklin, soul musician.
  • The Beatles, rock musicians.
  • Bob Dylan, folk musician.
  • Frank Sinatra, singer.
  • Igor Stravinsky, classical musician.

If you feel like I should have described any of these, you should REALLY hear some of their music. Classics. We also have some sport icons:

  • Muhammad Ali, heavyweight boxing champion.
  • Pele, soccer star.
  • Jackie Robinson, baseball player.

Then, TV and cinema:

  • Lucille Ball, TV star. Ubiquitous in her time. Her most known show was I love lucy, which became the template for pretty much every sitcom to come after.
  • Jim Henson, puppeteer and creator of TV's Muppets.
  • Bart Simpson, cartoon character. Ok: they should have chosen Matt Groening. Funny choice though.
  • Oprah Winfrey, TV talk-show host.
  • Rodgers & Hammerstein, Broadway showmen. The Sound of Music anyone? They brought the golden age of musicals.
  • Marlon Brando, actor.
  • Charlie Chaplin, comic genius.
  • Steven Spielberg, moviemaker.
  • Bruce Lee, actor and martial-arts star. That‘s right: more influential as an actor than anything. An excellent martial-artist in either case.
  • Marilyn Monroe, actress.

Then some representation from other aspects of culture:

  • Coco Chanel, designer. I would have to disagree here… but that should be a post in itself.
  • Le Corbusier, architect.
  • T.S. Eliot, poet. Good choice.
  • James Joyce, novelist. Again: good choice.
  • Martha Graham, dancer and choreographer.
  • Pablo Picasso, artist.

Finance and Corporations

After all, money talks and money walks. Let‘s begin:

  • Stephen Bechtel, construction magnate of the Bechtel Corporation. Worked on international airports, barages and transit systems. His most notable work was the building of the Channel Tunnel, which I suspect is the reason he appears on this list.
  • Leo Burnett, advertising genius. Accurate description. Created many advertising icons including Tony the Tiger, the Jolly Green Giant, The Marlboro Man and Toucan Sam (Froot Loops).
  • Willis Carrier, maker of air-conditioning systems. That invention was way more important than you may think.
  • Walt Disney, creator of animation and multimedia empire.
  • Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Co. In my mind, he was the most important in this section.
  • Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft.
  • A.P. Giannini, architect of nationwide banking. You know the Bank of America? Yeah: that's him.
  • Ray Kroc, hamburger meister. He bought McDonald in 1961 and made it what it is.
  • Estee Lauder, cosmetics tycoon with The Estée Lauder Companies. Modern cosmetics came from there.
  • William Levitt, creator of suburbia. Oh oh oh, I will leave him for a future post.
  • Lucky Luciano, criminal mastermind. He was chosen over Al Capone. Think about it.
  • Louis B. Mayer, Hollywood mogul. co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios (MGM).
  • Charles Merrill, advocate of the small investor. I confess that I don't know him. I will have to look him up.
  • Akio Morita, co-founder of Sony. Makes sense.
  • Pete Rozelle, football-league commissioner.
  • David Sarnoff, father of broadcasting. RCA and NBC were his.
  • Juan Trippe, aviation entrepreneur. Pan American World Airways, probably the most iconic airline of the century.
  • Sam Walton, Wal-Mart dynamo.
  • Thomas Watson Jr., IBM president.

Science and Technology

And for our last section. In The Times‘ view those were the most influential in this “Century of Science“.

  • Leo Baekeland, plastics pioneer. For better of worse, plastic is still everywhere.
  • Tim Berners-Lee, Internet designer. The Internet too is everywhere.
  • Rachel Carson, environmentalist. Another incoming post! Please read her book Silent Spring. Remember it was written in 1962.
  • Albert Einstein, physicist. The “winner“.
  • Philo Farnsworth, inventor of electronic television.
  • Enrico Fermi, atomic physicist. Built the first artifical nuclear reactor.
  • Alexander Fleming, bacteriologist. Penilicin.
  • Sigmund Freud, psychoanalyst.
  • Robert Goddard, rocket scientist. Built the first liquid-fueled rocket.
  • Kurt Godel, mathematician. Broke mathematics (a post maybe?).
  • Edwin Hubble, astronomer. Expansion of the Universe!
  • John Maynard Keynes, economist. So, so so important. Instrumental in the popularization of governmental intervention in economy (that would begin with Franklin D. Roosevelt later).
  • The Leakey Family, anthropologists. I am not sure about this one. I will have to look it up.
  • Jean Piaget, child psychologist. Instrumental in the modern view of childhood.
  • Jonas Salk, virologist. The polio vaccine!
  • William Shockley, solid-state physicist. Extremely important. Helped discover the transitor effect which lead to modern computing.
  • Alan Turing, computer scientist. Solid entry. Fundamental in the development of computers.
  • James Watson & Francis Crick, molecular biologists. The discovery of DNA was a game-changer. With what we now know about the discovery process itself, I find it very sad that Rosalyn Franklin was not even mentionned.
  • Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosopher. One of my favourites. I will talk about him another time.
  • The Wright Brothers, visionary aviators. Self-explanatory.

And it is not quite over! 4 figures were harder to classify. Here goes.

Achievements and Events

  • Anne Frank, diarist and Holocaust victim.
  • Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgay, conquerors of Mt Everest.
  • Charles Lindbergh, transatlantic aviator. THE superstar. Made the first solo transatlantic flight, help with the invention of the perfusion pump (used now in heart surgeries and organ transplantation). The kidnapping of his son in 1932 was also a media sensation. His political downfall came with a few openly anti-jewish and isolationist speeches he made. He might have been a nazi sympathizer, but that is still debated.

Another controversial but fair addition:

  • The American G.I., a soldier for freedom. So basically, every USA fighter. I mean, makes sense. This was the century of USA hegemony. WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam. That trend spilled to the beginning of the next century.

And that‘s the end. Take some time to explore and better know these figures. You will thank me later.

Until then, see you next time.