Mine are Charles Darwin, Richard Dawkins, Albert Einstein and Voltaire.
Darwins contribution to our understanding of our place in the world is unparalleled.
He was a great scientist who also struggled with many of the problems people do today.
"Do you speak what you consider the truth and suffer the consequences, or stay silent and betray yourself?" A genius with ordinary problems is always nice for a change.
Dawkins hard ball attitude to science and the fact of evolution in particular is a fresh wind in a society that always seems to bend to religious groups.
He does not consider religion to have any place in our society and isn't afraid of going into detail why.
Not to mention his incredible argumentary skills that would make even the best politician jealous. I've yet to see a debate where he didn't utterly destroy his "opponent". It's hard to debate with someone who knows so much more about the subject, and is a way better speaker than you.
"Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence."
Albert Einsteins surname has become equal with someone geniously smart which in itself speak volumes of his importance to us.
His personal life was a mess, with multiple divorces and their like. But still we've all at some point wished we had his brain power.
His work on general relativity is known by most who's gone to school.
He's also the ultimate proof of how wrong the nazis were. How else could the smartest man that ever lived be a part of the most inferior race?
Voltaire is known by his surname only. Not because he's that famous but because he's got a hell lot of first names
. And he used Voltaire as his cover for the then controversial work he wrote.A very complicated individual without the same consistency as many of my other intellecual heroes but also the one I can identify the most with.
One of his most famous works is "Candide" which I've read dozens of times without over exaggerating.
It is very short however though
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