Asoka Posted April 16, 2011 Posted April 16, 2011 How does one define 'greatest'? If we are talking about influence on the lives/ thought processes/ economic activities etc of people even years after the death of the individual, then the greatest has to be Lord Buddha. His philosophy deeply affected most Asian countries East of India. Its too early to judge about Mahatma Gandhi. A few centuries down the line, if his ideology finds resonance among people, then maybe we can consider putting him at par with Lord Buddha. Ramanujam, as great a mathematician he may be, should be nowhere in the reckoning. What affect did his life/work have on people around him? I would like to define the term greatest as a function of the career achievements of a person. So Ramanujam is in the reckoning.
don_corleone840 Posted April 16, 2011 Author Posted April 16, 2011 Bhagat Singh is one over-rated character who enjoyed planting bombs in assembly halls . No matter whatever the real intention might be but a person who has been involved in an act such as bombing doesnt deserve to be the Greatest Indian . His case in India is no different to Pakis/Afghanis admiration for Islamic Warrior's like Bin Laden or Mullah Omar I beilieve its atrocious to compare bhagat singh with bin laden as he never killed an innocent.He and subhash chandra bose were only freedom fighters with some real spine.I believe we must inscribe their photographs in our currency,:hatsoff:
akshayxyz Posted April 16, 2011 Posted April 16, 2011 I would like to define the term greatest as a function of the career achievements of a person. So Ramanujam is in the reckoning. But when you are comparing different career - how do you arrive which is greater? How do you compare excellence with impact? How do you compare IQ based achievements with the ones based on leadership? It is for these reasons - there are separate categories for rewarding greatness. Also, I would not compare Buddha with Gandhi - or I will be very specific that Buddha is greater than Gandhi in so and so terms. This greatness business is highly contextual. until we have models to compare across disciplines, we should stick to separate categories and also one should specify the greatness (evaluation) criteria as clearly as possible.
Asoka Posted April 16, 2011 Posted April 16, 2011 But when you are comparing different career - how do you arrive which is greater? How do you compare excellence with impact? How do you compare IQ based achievements with the ones based on leadership? It is for these reasons - there are separate categories for rewarding greatness. Also, I would not compare Buddha with Gandhi - or I will be very specific that Buddha is greater than Gandhi in so and so terms. This greatness business is highly contextual. until we have models to compare across disciplines, we should stick to separate categories and also one should specify the greatness (evaluation) criteria as clearly as possible. +1. The concept of 'Greatest Indian' is very vague. We have many great Indians, but to determine who is the greatest is impossible.
don_corleone840 Posted April 16, 2011 Author Posted April 16, 2011 I would like to saay that before you decide about greatest indian you must understand that concept of india(a democratic and secular country) came during british rule.So personalities born earlier cannot be counted.For me greatness inspires the masses,Thus any human who inspires you towards nationalism can be considered greatest indian
akshayxyz Posted April 16, 2011 Posted April 16, 2011 People are not able to settle on 'greatest batsman', and some can't even settle on best batsman of last 20 years. And you want us to settle on 'greatest indian' across few 1000 years!!! :winky:
akshayxyz Posted April 16, 2011 Posted April 16, 2011 Rajnikanth wraaang.. Its because of Rajnikanth India is greatest country.
DomainK Posted April 16, 2011 Posted April 16, 2011 Rajnikanth His name should come when we are talking about the universe.
akshayxyz Posted April 16, 2011 Posted April 16, 2011 His name should come when we are talking about the universe. But is there a question about it? - We all know Rajni is >>>> Universe.
Mariyam Posted April 19, 2011 Posted April 19, 2011 I would like to define the term greatest as a function of the career achievements of a person. So Ramanujam is in the reckoning. Sorry Asoka, but I find this definition very specious, at best. Will you agree with me if I say that Hemant Halwai is the greatest Indian because he has achieved it all in his career (making sweets)? I know you like maths and and you probably are a good maths guy yourself, but don't let that cloud your judgment. :icflove:
Mariyam Posted April 19, 2011 Posted April 19, 2011 I read the name Ramanujam so many times on ICF, that curiosity got the better of me and saw his wiki entry. I appreciate that he's practically a self made personality and all that, but why the hell do all these famous mathematicians write all the proofs for their formulae on some lose scraps of papers/margins/tissue paper/toilet paper/ their marriage certificates etc and eventually when they die people can't find any proof for their work. Seems so fishy. And then another generation or two of mathematicians spend their lives trying to prove the dead guy's hypothesis. Nice short cut for posthumous fame.
Asoka Posted April 19, 2011 Posted April 19, 2011 Sorry Asoka, but I find this definition very specious, at best. Will you agree with me if I say that Hemant Halwai is the greatest Indian because he has achieved it all in his career (making sweets)? I know you like maths and and you probably are a good maths guy yourself, but don't let that cloud your judgment. :icflove: A Mathematician/Scientist's work affects our everyday lifestyle much more than a Mithaiwala's. We owe all the technological advancements to these great men. But the problem with most of these guys is that they are so ahead of their time that we can't properly appreciate the significance of their work. Ramanujam devised some 4000 theorems in his short lifetime. More than 70% are yet to be proved. Once Hardy said that Ramanujam has done enough to keep mathematicians busy for the next 200 years.So probably his true genius will get more appreciation after 100 odd years. He is talked in the same sentence as Newton/Einstein/Gauss/Abel/Cauchy etc. And the greatest part about him is his success inspite of poverty/ill health/no formal education/lack of support and a premature death. He lived only for 32 years. Most people dont start their career at 32 and this guy gives the world his vast high quality work. I am sure that if he lived as long as his other great predecessors he would have done enough to keep the next 10 generations of Maths wizards busy. So I stand by what I said- An achiever like Ramanujam deserves his place in the all time great Indian list.
jaggadaku Posted April 19, 2011 Posted April 19, 2011 Bhagat Singh is one over-rated character who enjoyed planting bombs in assembly halls . No matter whatever the real intention might be but a person who has been involved in an act such as bombing doesnt deserve to be the Greatest Indian . His case in India is no different to Pakis/Afghanis admiration for Islamic Warrior's like Bin Laden or Mullah Omar Do you know those bombs didn't have any shrapnel's so that nobody got hurt
jaggadaku Posted April 19, 2011 Posted April 19, 2011 I do believe that the people born before british raj era can not be qualified as indians as india was divided into many princely states.The concpt of india came into existense so guys like chanakya and ashoka can not be considered' date='[/quote'] But Chanakya was the first person to come up with this concept of Akhand Bharat
straight.drive Posted April 20, 2011 Posted April 20, 2011 I read the name Ramanujam so many times on ICF' date=' that curiosity got the better of me and saw his wiki entry. I appreciate that he's practically a self made personality and all that, [b']but why the hell do all these famous mathematicians write all the proofs for their formulae on some lose scraps of papers/margins/tissue paper/toilet paper/ their marriage certificates etc and eventually when they die people can't find any proof for their work. Seems so fishy. And then another generation or two of mathematicians spend their lives trying to prove the dead guy's hypothesis. Nice short cut for posthumous fame. Analysis :fail: . Most often, these mathematicians are shy and reserved(unlike narcissistic and bombastic film stars). They often think some contribution to be insignificant and neglect them to some "scraps" etc.,.
straight.drive Posted April 20, 2011 Posted April 20, 2011 A Mathematician/Scientist's work affects our everyday lifestyle much more than a Mithaiwala's. We owe all the technological advancements to these great men. But the problem with most of these guys is that they are so ahead of their time that we can't properly appreciate the significance of their work. Ramanujam devised some 4000 theorems in his short lifetime. More than 70% are yet to be proved. Once Hardy said that Ramanujam has done enough to keep mathematicians busy for the next 200 years.So probably his true genius will get more appreciation after 100 odd years. He is talked in the same sentence as Newton/Einstein/Gauss/Abel/Cauchy etc. And the greatest part about him is his success inspite of poverty/ill health/no formal education/lack of support and a premature death. He lived only for 32 years. Most people dont start their career at 32 and this guy gives the world his vast high quality work. I am sure that if he lived as long as his other great predecessors he would have done enough to keep the next 10 generations of Maths wizards busy. So I stand by what I said- An achiever like Ramanujam deserves his place in the all time great Indian list. He IS an all time great. He was "blessed" with poverty, he was considered a failure for not finding a proper job and settling "down" , he was considered an eccentric and useless fellow by his own family. But still he egged on to become one of the greatest men of science in the world.
Mariyam Posted April 22, 2011 Posted April 22, 2011 A Mathematician/Scientist's work affects our everyday lifestyle much more than a Mithaiwala's. This is what I contest. Ramanujam, from what I read was more of a "pure" maths guy and not an "applied" maths guy. How exactly has work helped the masses? Maybe it has led someone else to discover postulates on xyzabc theory and now mankind can compute how many seconds it takes for a centipede to climb up a creeper on a monsoon evening or something like that. I hope you get what I am trying to say. :P Its too early to judge his work and its impact. How exactly has his work affected your life? A halwai on the other hand affects daily life hugely. Excess mithais causes diabetes, which in turn causes people to go to doctors, pharma companies to make the relevant drugs etc etc. Mithaiwalas generate jobs in this billion+ country of ours. Also think about the billions of flies who hang around the kitchen when the mithais are prepared. Their life is also impacted.:P
Asoka Posted April 22, 2011 Posted April 22, 2011 This is what I contest. Ramanujam, from what I read was more of a "pure" maths guy and not an "applied" maths guy. How exactly has work helped the masses? Maybe it has led someone else to discover postulates on xyzabc theory and now mankind can compute how many seconds it takes for a centipede to climb up a creeper on a monsoon evening or something like that. I hope you get what I am trying to say. :P Its too early to judge his work and its impact. How exactly has his work affected your life? A halwai on the other hand affects daily life hugely. Excess mithais causes diabetes, which in turn causes people to go to doctors, pharma companies to make the relevant drugs etc etc. Mithaiwalas generate jobs in this billion+ country of ours. Also think about the billions of flies who hang around the kitchen when the mithais are prepared. Their life is also impacted.:P
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