People Who Should Be More Famous

Who are some people you think should be more deserving of fame and note?

Jacobus Arminius-One of the two theologians who created the two main trends in Protestantism, the other being John Calvin and Calvinism.
Zhang Xianzhong-Proportionally one of the greatest killers in human history, wiping out the majority of the population of Sichuan province.
James K. Polk-One of the greatest American presidents who against great odds got most of Oregon Territory from Britain and the Southwest from Mexico.
Lewis Cass-Distinguished statesman who fought for the preservation of the Union during Buchanan's presidency but was kicked out of office instead.
 
James K. Polk: Along with what you said, the only president to state clear goals in his campaign platform, accomplish them in four years, then decline to run for a second term.

Antonio Meucci: The true inventor of the telephone. Only reason Alexander Graham Bell got the credit was because Meucci couldn't pay for the full patent. Also, Garibaldi stayed in his apartment in Staten Island while he was in the US.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
John C. Breckinridge: Vice-President under Buchanan, later a Confederate general and the last Confederate Secretary of War. Truly a remarkable man, who basically manifested the entire American Civil War in his own life story.

Jean Monnet: The individual most directly responsible for the formation of the European Union.

James Clerk Maxwell: Scottish scientist who discovered the laws of electromagnetism. Should be ranked with Newton and Einstein.

Roger Sherman: Played a critical role during the Constitutional Convention in 1787, saving the convention from total collapse through his development of the Conneticut Compromise. Should be ranked as high as any of the Founding Fathers.

William Channing: one of the founders of the Unitarian movement in America, and perhaps the most underappreciated theologian in American history.

The unidentified Canadian officer who, during the Second Battle of Ypres, spread the word for the men to urinate on their handkerchiefs to counteract the chlorine gas the Germans had released. His actions undoubtedly saved countless lives.
 
Jan Hus - religious reformer years far before Luther, and his followers fought the first European wars where gunpowder infantry weapons played a decisive role. Maybe I'm jut genetically biased :rolleyes:

Carl Linnaeus - The idea of Evolution over a hundred years before Darwin. Probably would be widely considered the Father of Evolution if he just wasn't Swedish. Thande's LTTW does him justice, in a way.

Unknown Polynesian Sailor - A society that regularly sails out over the horizon, not knowing if anything is out there? BAMF. I'm pretty damn certain they reached the Americas prior to even the Vikings.
 
Definitely agree on Roger Sherman -- he's also one of only five men to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Also:

Xenophon -- seriously, is there anything as awesome as the Anabasis?

Demosthenes -- last great democratic leader of Athens

Liu Pang (spelled numerous ways) -- founder of the Han dynasty, one of only two peasants to become Emperor of China, in addition to being the most awesome one of all time :D

Huldrych Zwingli -- major contemporary of Martin Luther, as major during his lifetime (Calvin became the next other-major-Protestant after HZ was killed in battle)

Dona Mariana, born Maliani, also known as La Malinche -- see Cortes (or my Cortesia TL :D)

Leopold II of Belgium -- after the trio of mass murder that every five year old knows -- Hitler, Stalin, and Mao -- this guy's Congo Free State killed more people than anyone else in the past 500 years, and arguably in recorded history
 
John Pierpont Morgan: Probably the single greatest financier of the 19th century. He organized the creation of General Electric, US Steel, and pretty much bailed out the Federal Treasury to get the country out of the Panic of 1893 by loaning $65 million in gold to the treasury.
 
Lewis Cass

Lewis Cass is best known were I live as Terratorial Goveneror of Michigan. Their are citys big and small that have a Cass streets. One might not like some of the things that go on at his namesake in Detroit there are a lot of public events on Cass Street or Park in other places.
 

Zioneer

Banned
John Pierpont Morgan: Probably the single greatest financier of the 19th century. He organized the creation of General Electric, US Steel, and pretty much bailed out the Federal Treasury to get the country out of the Panic of 1893 by loaning $65 million in gold to the treasury.

Yeah, but he stopped funding Tesla (who himself should be more famous; the man created just as important inventions as Edison, for goodness sake), and since more people only know J.P. Morgan in relation to his hostility towards Tesla, many don't like him.

I already mentioned Tesla, so I'll pick a few others who should be famous, IMO:

Sabbatai Zevi: An interesting, self-serving figure, Sabbatai Zevi was basically a guy who declared himself the Jewish Messiah, and who justified his flaws by terming it "holy sin". He later converted to Islam to keep the Ottomans from just killing him, but didn't stop making himself the Jewish Messiah. IMO, he's a fantastic figure for alternate history, and sort of a warning to Jewish people: Make sure your Messiah can actually create miracles before following him.

Tamerlane: This guy was basically Genghis Khan, but crippled. And just like Genghis, he became a being of terror and hate in Europe. The only reason he didn't sack European cities like the Mongols did? He thought they were too poor to rule over. Oh, and he was exceedingly brutal. Back when he was alive, it was said that he was never defeated at chess. You wouldn't WANT to beat him at chess. I would say he's probably one of the conquerors kids with psychical disabilities should know about.

Tomyris:
Warrior-queen of the Massagetaes (a Scythian-like tribe of Indo-Iranians), Tomyris is only mentioned once or twice in various histories, but she is mentioned for a very good reason: Tomyris defeated Cyrus the Great, Persian Emperor and used his skull as a wine goblet. One female warlord you would not want to mess with. As good an example of female power as Joan of Arc.

Baldwin IV of Jerusalem: In the theme of crippled conquerers, Baldwin IV is an excellent example. King during the Muslim reconquest of the Levant, Baldwin was the ONLY ruler to stand against Saladin and win. Even if you hate the Crusades, Baldwin was apparently a fair, just, and kind leader, and if he wasn't stricken with leprosy, probably would have lead Jerusalem into a golden age. The Kingdom of Heaven movie is probably were most people know him from, and that's a shame.

Simo Häyhä: Known as "The White Death" to the Russians, Simo was responsible for over 700 confirmed kills against the Soviet army in their Winter War against Finland. He used clever tactics, such as employing an old, scopeless rifle (the glare on the scope of the newer rifles caused many Soviet deaths), putting snow in his mouth to mask the mist of his breath, and wearing a white uniform to blend in with the snow of Finland. He killed counter-snipers, squads sent to kill him, artillery used to blow him up, and was only taken out of the warrior through an EXPLODING BULLET TO THE JAW. Simo is a model for snipers everywhere, and a perfect example of how to defend your country against human wave tactics.


Annd that's I have. For now, at least.
 
I second the Arminius suggestion - not enough people even knew he existed, much less helped shape the Reformation. Jan Hus and Zwingli are arguably very famous already, albeit in their respective countries (and, to an extent, in Germany as well) and are certainly well known to most religious and late Medieval scholars.
I would propose that Vytautas and Jogaila are not well known enough, particularly considering the massive influence they had on Central and Eastern European history.
Likewise, not enough people know of the pure awesome that was Jan Zizka. Seriously, go look him up - consistently beating the shit out of numerically superior forces in hostile territory, the man became the terror of the HRE.
I'd also venture that HRE Emperor Charles IV Luxembourg and HRE Emperor Freddy III Habsburg aren't well-enough known, despite the massive shift in the nature of the HRE that both of their reigns represented.
Edit: I see someone else liked Kingdom of Heaven.
 

Quatermain

Banned
Andrew Carnegie - Scottish orphan who came to America and became one of the great captains of industry of the 19th century. Great philanthropist as well.

Harald Hardrada - King of Norway and general Viking bad-ass. Claimed to be King of Denmark by virtue of chasing the Danish king out, and invaded England as well(which didn't really turn out well for him, or for King Harold II)

Whittaker Chambers - Ex-Communist, helped smash Alger Hiss spy ring, wrote a book about it, Witness. Good read. Also wrote another book that published posthumously, where he predicted the break-up of the Soviet Union, and that it would start with the Eastern European satellites breaking away.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
Surprised to see the mention of Tamerlane, as well as the financiers J. P. Morgan and Andrew Carnagie. All these guys seem pretty well-known to me.
 
As ever, Flavius Belisarius for being perhaps the greatest general of the entire first millenium, certainly Caesar's equal when it comes to great Roman generals. Then some other figures who we don't really hear much about in the West, Tsar Symeon the Great, perhaps?
 
Jacques Necker - Swiss banker and French finance minister from 1777-1781. Arguably one of the only men who could have reformed French finances and staved off the revolution. Unfortunately, he tends to be eclipsed in history by his daughter, the prolific author known as the Madame de Staël.

Gian Rinaldo Carli, Pietro Verri, Lodovico Ricci - Italian reformers of the late 18th century. This period is almost entirely forgotten, as it is dominated by the later French revolutionary invasions of Italy and the subsequent decade of warfare.
 

Zioneer

Banned
Surprised to see the mention of Tamerlane, as well as the financiers J. P. Morgan and Andrew Carnagie. All these guys seem pretty well-known to me.

Among historians and Ah.commers, yeah, of course! Among normal people, or even other types of geeks? Not so much.
 
Yeah, but he stopped funding Tesla (who himself should be more famous; the man created just as important inventions as Edison, for goodness sake), and since more people only know J.P. Morgan in relation to his hostility towards Tesla, many don't like him.
Umm, people who I know who have heard of him definitely haven't heard of him because of Tesla. And to be fair, Morgan stopped funding him because Tesla wanted freely available power and Morgan, being a businessman, saw it as an unprofitable investment. Besides the fact that Tesla went way overbudget, I can completely understand why Morgan and other financiers decided to pull the plug.
 
Among historians and Ah.commers, yeah, of course! Among normal people, or even other types of geeks? Not so much.


Carnagie is fairly well known. Americans love rags-to-riches stories. Of course he was one of the few exceptions of the self-made man becoming obscenely wealthy.
 
Anatoly Grishchenko
The man wo preventer Chernobyl to go from bad to worse by dropping 20- to 30-metric-ton loads of wet concrete to entomb the molten reactor.
By doing so, exposed to radiation and ultimately dead
 
Last edited:
Top