The Greatest Unknown People in History.

[aquatus1]

It isn't often that a single person can be credited with literally changing the course of human civilization and history all by themselves. Indeed, for something so mind-bogglingly monumental, it is often somewhat underwhelming what the actual task was. And yet, there can be no doubt that without them, history as we know it would have taken a dramatically different path.

The Birth of Binary Programming

John Vincent Atanosoff was born at a very young age on the fourth of October, 1903. His potential was seen quite early. At the age of 9, Atanosoff’s father brought home a Dietzel slide rule, one of the then-current instruments of calculation, and it was this device that planted the seed of computation within the young boy’s head. His mother, a mathematics instructor, quite happily introduced her young son to the world of mathematics, teaching him about the various logarithmic functions of the slide rule, and progressing, unexpectedly, into the more advanced world of trigonometry. One can only imagine her surprise when the young child requested her help again with the textbook, A College Algebra, a book which he soon mastered approximately a decade before his peers had even begun to broach the subject. It was in this book that he was first introduced to the idea of Base Numbers, and to the idea that Base 10, the decimal system used by the entire world, is not the only means by which to recognize a number. It was this discovery that would lead him to making the greatest leap forward in electronic computing yet seen, and so far unequaled.

Edited October 4, 2014 by aquatus1

[keithisco]

It isn't often that a single person can be credited with literally changing the course of human civilization and history all by themselves. Indeed, for something so mind-bogglingly monumental, it is often somewhat underwhelming what the actual task was. And yet, there can be no doubt that without them, history as we know it would have taken a dramatically different path.

The Birth of Binary Programming

John Vincent Atanosoff was born at a very young age on the fourth of October, 1903. His potential was seen quite early. At the age of 9, Atanosoff’s father brought home a Dietzel slide rule, one of the then-current instruments of calculation, and it was this device that planted the seed of computation within the young boy’s head. His mother, a mathematics instructor, quite happily introduced her young son to the world of mathematics, teaching him about the various logarithmic functions of the slide rule, and progressing, unexpectedly, into the more advanced world of trigonometry. One can only imagine her surprise when the young child requested her help again with the textbook, A College Algebra, a book which he soon mastered approximately a decade before his peers had even begun to broach the subject. It was in this book that he was first introduced to the idea of Base Numbers, and to the idea that Base 10, the decimal system used by the entire world, is not the only means by which to recognize a number. It was this discovery that would lead him to making the greatest leap forward in electronic computing yet seen, and so far unequaled.

Sorry, this just gave me a good laugh... I was also born at a very young age!

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

I'd say the bloke who invented the first wheel (and whoever invented the second one, thank you Rich Hall) would have to be one of the greatest unknown people.

Them and whoever worked out how to make fire without having to wait for the gods to provide a convenient bolt of lightning.

[PersonFromPorlock]

I'll suggest whoever invented the loincloth. Guys get antsy around other guy's exposed schlongs, probably because male primates generally use deliberate genital displays as an insult (you thought 'the finger' was about the finger!?) and while most primates are hunched over enough to cover themselves, humans not only have larger penises than other apes but are upright and on display at all times. So covering up the offending member must have gone a long ways towards smoothing male cooperation in groups.

This, I admit, is not a widely held view.

[aquatus1]

Some of you may remember your elders telling you about how, during the Cold War, we came came the closest to nuclear annihilation than we have ever been. Some of you may remember the movie "

", where Denzel Washington played the part of the executive officer on a nuclear submarine who refuses to agree to a nuclear launch. Some of you might remember the movie

, where Harrison Ford plays the captain of a nuclear ship undergoing a coolant leak. What you may not know is that both movies were based on the life of Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov, executive officer on board both submarines at the time.

Vasili was exposed to the radiation leak aboard the K-19 while trying to fix the engineering issue and simultaneously fighting off the mutiny, but that wasn't the the most defining point of his career, giving you a glimpse of the sort of standard we are talking about here. No, rather, a bit over a year later, Vasili was the executive officer on a different submarine cruising around Cuba when, out of nowhere, 11 U.S. destroyers began dropping depth charges all around them. In all fairness, they had no way of knowing the destroyers were using practice charges to "politely" request the submarine to surface. Too deep to receive radio traffic, not having had any contact with Moscow for several days, batteries having run very low, and air conditioning systems having failed (a much higher issue on board a submarine than mere comfort), the Captain of the submarine made the decision that World War III had begun, and they would fire their nuclear missiles. As per Soviet nuclear protocols, the three highest ranking officers on board, the Captain, the Political officer, and the Executive officer, all had to agree to a launch. The Captain made the proposal, and the Political officer agreed with it. Vasili did not.

One can only imagine the sort of pressure he was under at the time, being the sole hold-out, facing off against the Captain and the Political officer, surrounded by the crew of loyal soviet soldiers, submarine close to crush depth, depth charges exploding all around them, batteries low, air system shut down. Then again, this was the same man who had also faced off against a nuclear reactor venting high-pressure radioactive coolant while being threatened at gun point. He was faced with either surrendering to the Americans on the surface, or launching a nuclear torpedo, which, given the state of affairs (the same state which had convinced the CO and Political officer war had already begun) would have resulted in nuclear Armageddon. He chose option C.

I like to think of the sailors aboard the destroyers looking around at each other in bewilderment as a Soviet nuclear submarine calmly surfaced right in the middle of their little kill circle, ignored all radio and verbal demands for surrender, and simply motored their way out and back towards Mother Russia.

Thomas Blankton, the director of the National Security Archive at the time, when asked about the closest brush to nuclear war we had experienced, stated for the record, "A guy called Vasili Arkhipov saved the world."

[sonofkrypton]

i've been a member of UM for a long time and rarely post,

i do however check in every day and read the articles and replies and think the site is amazing

i had to quote this time as i love the idea of this thread and wonder about the amount people in History who will we NEVER know about, who have done something that at that time may have seemed insignificant

AQUATUS1 what a truly brilliant story! thanks for sharing i love the idea that in our darkest hour, when people let fear overcome them, there are people out there with the strength to stand up

[+Noteverythingisaconspiracy]

Aquatus' post about Arkhipov made me think of Stanislav Petrov, another unsung hero who may have prevented a nuclear war. His actions, or rather inaction, prevented the Soviets from launching a retaliatory strike against the US as a response to an apparent US attack. It turned out that there was no US attack and it was all a technical error. If he had followed protocol he should have reported the "attack" to his superiors and this happened at a time when the Soviet leadership genuinely feared a US nuclear attack. Instead he waited for confirmation from other warning systems. which of course never materialised !

The reason why he decided not to report the attack warning was because his satelitte warning system showed only five incomming missiles and he thought that it was much to small to be a "real" attack. Had the malfunction showed a larger attack, the history of the World might have been very different.

http://archive.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/09/dayintech_0926

[questionmark]

The question is "unknown where"? If I would say now Alexander Popov most would not know what to do with it--- except in Russia. He could well be the guy who beat Marconi to the radio receiver that he presented to the public in 1895.

[seeder]

Sort of related. Operation Mincemeat. To fool Hitler!

is the true tale of how a tramps corpse, was dressed in uniform, along with with a briefcase of 'secret documents'.. and the corpse was floated onto a Spanish beach. The fake 'secret documents' told of how an allied invasion was due for Greece, which of course diverted the Germans - as the real target was Sicily. ha!

It worked so well, that even after, when GENUINE top secret files were found by the Germans, they just ignored them, thinking they were just more deception!

The idea was from Ian Flemming... and we all know the stories he went on to write afterwards... James Bond!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11887115

[+DieChecker]

How about T. Keith Glennan. The first administrator of NASA, who pulled everything Eisenhower wanted to do together from a dozen programs. Who's work eventually led to us going to the Moon.

http://en.wikipedia....._Keith_Glennan

Edited October 7, 2014 by DieChecker

[Happy Accident]

Operation Mincemeat: The Germans where infact led to believe the main assault on Italy would come through Sardinia and that the attack on Crete was just a diversion.