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Apr 25, 2024 15 tweets 6 min read Read on X
The Greatest Minds to Have Ever Lived (A Four-Part Series) - Part 4

Here are luminaries who have laid the foundations for the arts, philosophy, and the sciences that continue to shape our world.

Let's look at how they were immortalized in art.🧵⤵️ Image
Hippocrates

Known as the "Father of Medicine," Hippocrates was an ancient Greek physician who established a systematic approach to clinical medicine and set ethical standards for medical practice, as encapsulated in the Hippocratic Oath. Statue of Hippocrates in front of the Mayne Medical School in Brisbane. By Kgbo - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=103636989
Ibn Khaldun

Ibn Khaldun was a North African Arab historiographer and historian who is often regarded as one of the forerunners of modern historiography, sociology, and economics. His best-known work, the "Muqaddimah" (Introduction to History), is admired for its insightful analysis of historical processes and for laying the foundations of several social science disciplines.Ibn Khaldun (on the right end) along with other philosophers Part of Time's Treasures Mural by Sadequain
Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach was a German composer and musician whose mastery of counterpoint and harmony in works like the "Brandenburg Concertos" and "St. Matthew Passion" has profoundly shaped classical music, leaving an indelible mark on music theory and composition. Johann Sebastian Bach by 'Gebel'
Charles Darwin

Darwin was an English naturalist whose theory of evolution through natural selection, detailed in his book "On the Origin of Species," radically transformed biological sciences by providing a unifying explanation for the diversity of life. While still a young man, Darwin joined the scientific elite; portrait by George Richmond By George Richmond - From Origins, Richard Leakey and Roger Lewin, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22092879
Simone de Beauvoir

De Beauvoir was a French existentialist philosopher whose seminal work "The Second Sex" offered a profound analysis of women's oppression, laying the intellectual foundation for the modern feminist movement. Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre in Beijing, 1955 By 刘东鳌(Liu Dong'ao) - Xinhua News Agency; Larger 1024 x 1199, 183.3 KB version from https://www.delo.si/images/slike/2018/12/17/o_416925_1024.jpg as displayed by https://www.delo.si/kultura/knjiga/ko-se-je-sartre-spogledoval-z-jastogi-124490.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47073115
Thomas Edison

An American inventor and businessman, Edison's creation of the first practical incandescent light bulb and development of electric power generation and distribution systems revolutionized everyday life. Edison's Menlo Park Lab in 1880
Alexander Graham Bell

Bell was a Scottish-born inventor whose invention of the telephone transformed global communication and he also made significant contributions to the education of the deaf and hard of hearing. Bell at the opening of the long-distance line from New York to Chicago in 1892 By Gilbert H. Grosvenor Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress. - http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/recon/jb_recon_telephone_1_e.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1389089
Benjamin Franklin

Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, and his inventions, such as the lightning rod, and his experiments with electricity have had lasting impacts on science and technology. Franklin in London in 1767, wearing a blue suit with elaborate gold braid and buttons, a far cry from the simple dress he affected at the French court in later years, depicted in a portrait by David Martin that is now on display in the White House. By David Martin - The White House Historical Association, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9390044
Rabindranath Tagore

Tagore was a Bengali polymath who reshaped literature and music in India, and as a Nobel laureate in Literature, he brought Indian culture to a global audience. Young Tagore in London, 1879
Wangari Maathai

Maathai was a Kenyan environmental activist and the founder of the Green Belt Movement, an environmental organization that has planted over 50 million trees. She was also the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy, and peace.Maathai and then U.S. Senator Barack Obama in Nairobi in 2006 By Fredrick Onyango from Nairobi, Kenya - https://www.flickr.com/photos/44222307@N00/269107766/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2267930
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

A self-taught scholar and poet of the Baroque school, Sor Juana was a nun in New Spain (now Mexico) who advocated for women’s rights and education, becoming one of the first published feminist writers. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz by Miguel Cabrera
Akira Kurosawa

Kurosawa was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, whose storytelling prowess and cinematic techniques in films such as "Seven Samurai" and "Rashomon" have influenced filmmakers worldwide and are regarded as some of the greatest and most influential films ever made.Kurosawa on the set of Seven Samurai in December 1953 Credit: By 映画の友 (Eiga no tomo) - Scan from the original work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29019594
Elon Musk

As a technology entrepreneur and industrial designer, Musk has made pivotal contributions to the advancement of electric vehicles and renewable energy with Tesla, Inc., and has challenged space exploration frontiers with his aerospace company SpaceX.

He also owns Neuralink, a neurotechnology company focused on developing brain-computer interfaces, and has acquired Twitter, a major social media platform challenging the future of legacy media platforms.Musk discussing a Neuralink device during a live demonstration in 2020 By Steve Jurvetson - https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/50280652497/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=93666208
If you enjoyed this thread, please share with others and do take a look at the earlier parts in this series of four threads starting with Part 1 linked below.

Additionally check out Parts 2 and 3.

Part 2:

Part 3:

Anyone we missed that should have been on the list?

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More from @CultureExploreX

Jul 5
Most people visit Rome for the Colosseum or the Vatican.

But Rome is a city of cathedrals.

And these 18 churches aren’t just places of worship, they’re where architecture, power, and beauty collided to shape Western civilization.

You won’t believe #3 and #4. 🧵 Basilica de Santa Maria Maggiore, Roma, Italia. Credit: juans83
1. Sant’Agnese in Agone

Francesco Borromini’s boldest move.

He took geometry, crushed it, and turned it into emotion.
Step inside and you’ll feel space bend. Image
2. Santa Maria Maddalena

Baroque at its most unhinged.
Designed by Carlo Fontana and Giuseppe Sardi who curved the façade like it was dancing.

Don’t blink. The walls almost move.
Read 21 tweets
Jul 3
Tomorrow is July 4th. Independence Day.

We’ll hear about Lexington. Muskets. War. But remember this:

The American Revolution didn’t begin with a gunshot; it began with a boycott.

Before the first shot fired, ordinary Americans had already overthrown British rule. 🧵 Detail from Washington Crossing the Delaware, an 1851 portrait by Emanuel Leutze depicting Washington and Continental Army troops crossing the river prior to the Battle of Trenton on the morning of December 26, 1776.
From 1765 to 1775, colonists ran a full-blown civil resistance campaign.

They shut down courts.
Refused to import goods.
Built parallel governments.

It wasn’t protest for show. It was rebellion in plain sight. Spirit of '76 by Archibald Willard
Britain passed the Stamp Act in 1765.

Americans didn’t riot.
They simply refused to comply.

Printers ran papers without stamps.
Lawyers stopped using courts.
Ports either closed or defied British orders. Burning of Stamp Act, Boston. 1 photomechanical print (postcard) : color.
Read 22 tweets
Jul 2
Latin America holds some of the most stunning architecture in the world.

Most of it was built by Europeans on top of Indigenous empires.

These 20 buildings reveal a continent shaped by beauty and conquest.

And the first three will leave you speechless. 🧵 Templo de Santo Domingo - Oaxaca, Mexico Credit: @kobe_sylvester
1. Las Lajas Cathedral – Colombia

It’s not built on a canyon.
It’s part of it.

Bridging cliffs like a miracle frozen in stone.

Built after a woman claimed the Virgin Mary appeared inside the gorge. Image
2. Church of San Francisco – Quito, Ecuador

500 years old.
Baroque on the outside.
Moorish on the inside.

And built by the hands of indigenous artisans during Spanish rule. Image
Read 23 tweets
Jul 1
We talk about globalization like it’s new.

But 2,000 years ago, merchants were already trading silk, spices, and stories from China to Italy.

Not through the internet.
Through deserts, mountains, and war zones.

Here are the 16 cities that shaped the Silk Road. 🧵 The Ark of Bukhara Credit: @fopminui on X
It began in Xi’an, China.

Not just the home of the Terracotta Army but the launchpad of the world’s most ambitious trade route.

Silk, porcelain, and even Buddhist monks left from here.

Every empire west of here would feel it. Credit: @archeohistories
Next stop: Lanzhou.

Sitting on the Yellow River, this city wasn’t just scenic, it was strategic.

If you controlled Lanzhou, you controlled the gateway west.

And everyone wanted it. Image
Read 19 tweets
Jun 30
What makes Russian literature unmatched?

It doesn’t escape pain.
It sits with it. Names it, breaks it open, redeems it.

Before War and Peace, Russian writers had already turned suffering into sacred text.

Let’s walk through it. Then we’ll get to Tolstoy. 🧵 Chekhov and Tolstoy, 1901
Dostoevsky doesn’t flinch.

In The Brothers Karamazov, Ivan demands justice from God.
A child is tortured. A murderer walks free.
There is no easy answer.

Faith isn’t comfort.
It’s a decision you make in the presence of unbearable truth. Image
Pushkin gave us beauty with blood underneath.

Eugene Onegin is a mirror held to wasted youth, pride, and regret.
Tatiana offers love. Onegin rejects her.
Years later, he begs for it. Too late.

In Russian fiction, the cost of love is always real. The pistol duel between Onegin and Lensky. Watercolour by Ilya Repin (1899)
Read 16 tweets
Jun 28
They look alive.

But every one of these sculptures is made of stone.

18 masterpieces that shatter the line between reality and illusion.

You won’t believe they’re real. 🧵👇 Modesty (La Pudicizia) by Antonio Corradini
1. Pietà – Michelangelo, 1499

She doesn’t weep.
She endures.

Michelangelo gave us a Madonna so full of sorrow, the marble itself seems to grieve.
2. The Abduction of Proserpina – Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1622

Look at the hand.
The fingers sink into her thigh.

Look at the face.
Do you see the tear under the eye?

Stone isn’t supposed to do this.
Bernini was able to make marble scream. Image
Read 21 tweets

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