Polymath (Renaissance man) What Are Polymaths And How Can We Learn From Them?

1. Polymath
(Renaissance man)
What Are Polymaths And How Can We
Learn From Them?

2. Polymath

3. Polymath
• Do you know someone who seems to excel in many
fields – perhaps a great mathematician or scientist,
who has a published art collection, a talent for music,
or expertise in political debate? Such people can be
described as polymaths.
• A polymath is typically defined as a person with a
wide range of interests and expertise in various
fields of science, humanities, and the arts.

4. Polymath

5. Polymath
• The word polymath is derived from the Greek
polymathes, “having learned much,” with
poly meaning “much,” and manthanein
meaning “learn.”

6. Polymath
• A polymath is a person who excels across a
diverse range of areas.
• Also known as “renaissance men”, the term
was used to refer to the numerous great
thinkers that lived during that time period and
boasted achievements in intellectual, social,
artistic and physical pursuits.

7. Polymath

8. Polymath
• Notable examples throughout history include
Benjamin Franklin (writer, politician,
inventor, scientist), Imhotep (chancellor,
architect, physician) and Leonardo da Vinci
(scientist, artist, philosopher, writer,
inventor).

9. Polymath
Benjamin Franklin Imhotep

10. Polymath
• A polymath is an individual whose knowledge
spans a substantial number of subjects, known
to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to
solve specific problems.

11. Polymath
• Polymaths include the great scholars and
thinkers of the Renaissance and
Enlightenment, who excelled at several fields
in science, technology, engineering,
mathematics, and the arts.

12. Renaissance man
• The term "Renaissance man" was first
recorded in written English in the early 20th
century.
• It is used to refer to great thinkers living
before, during, or after the Renaissance.
Leonardo da Vinci has often been described
as the archetype of the Renaissance man, a
man of "unquenchable curiosity" and
"feverishly inventive imagination".

13. Leonardo da Vinci has often been described as
the archetype of the Renaissance man

14. Renaissance man
• When someone is called a "Renaissance man"
today, it is meant that rather than simply having
broad interests or superficial knowledge in several
fields, the individual possesses a more profound
knowledge and a proficiency, or even an
expertise, in at least some of those fields.
• Some dictionaries use the term "Renaissance
man" to describe someone with many interests
or talents

15. Renaissance man

16. Renaissance man
• A polymath is a person with broad knowledge
or learning.
• Renaissance Man and (less commonly) Homo
Universalis are related terms to describe a
person who is well educated, or who excels, in
a wide variety of subjects or fields.

17. Homo Universalis

18. Renaissance man
• It is based on the Humanistic view of human
beings as the center of the universe,
unlimited in their capacity.
• The ideal person, therefore, in this view is
one who attains all knowledge and develops
all their abilities to the greatest extent,
abilities which should encompass the full
spectrum of human nature.

19. Humanistic view of human beings as the
center of the universe

20. Renaissance man
• The ideal of the polymath Renaissance Man is
embodied in the Italian Leon Battista
Alberti, an accomplished architect, painter,
classicist, poet, mathematician, and horseman,
and Leonardo da Vinci, renowned in fields as
diverse as art, science, invention, music, and
writing.

21. Renaissance man
Leon Battista Alberti Leonardo da Vinci

22. Renaissance man
• Today, the ever continuing growth of
knowledge has led to a situation where it is
next to impossible for any single person to
attain a complete knowledge and the ideal is
now often regarded as a person expert in one
field but with a sufficiently broad base to
network effectively with experts in other
fields.

23. The ever continuing growth of knowledge has led to a situation
where it is next to impossible for any single person to attain a
complete knowledge

24. Renaissance man
• Also, studies of intelligence have revealed that a
single, unitary intelligence is not adequate to
account for all human intellect.
• Instead, the idea of multiple intelligences has gained
ground, in which there are various types of
intelligence, such as linguistic, logical-mathematical,
spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, and so forth, with
different people displaying differing levels of each
type.
• In this view, the ideal is to develop one's own unique
talents and abilities to the fullest, without needing to
be an expert in all areas.

25. Studies Of Intelligence Have Revealed That A Single,
Unitary Intelligence Is Not Adequate To Account For
All Human Intellect

26. Definitions
• A polymath (is defined as a person with
encyclopedic, broad, or varied knowledge or
learning).
• It especially means that the person's
knowledge is not restricted to one subject area.
The term is used rarely enough to be
included in dictionaries of obscure words.

27. Polymath

28. Definitions
• Renaissance Man is a related term to describe
a person who is well educated, or who excels,
in a wide variety of subjects or fields

29. Polymath
• Most of the historical figures considered
polymaths would most likely not be so
regarded today based on the level of knowledge
that they possessed.
• Much of their knowledge was basic and purely
theoretical.
• For example, a gentleman educated in various
fields such as math, history, literature, art, and
science during the eighteenth or nineteenth
centuries may be only the equivalent of an
average modern person with a secondary
school education.

30. Most of the historical figures considered polymaths
would most likely not be so regarded today based on
the level of knowledge that they possessed

31. Polymath
• In ancient times, an expert on medicine may
be the equivalent of knowing basic modern
first aid.
• In contrast to modern times, knowledge was
also condensed and comprehensive
information on a particular field could often
be found in single volumes or texts.

32. In ancient times, an expert on medicine may be the
equivalent of knowing basic modern first aid

33. Polymath
• Nowadays, it is difficult to find polymaths in
the wild after university.
• As we make our way through school, we’re
told constantly to specialize.
• Eventually, we get to the point where we are
considered ‘experts’ in our field.

34. Nowadays, it is difficult to find polymaths in
the wild after university

35. Polymath
• A lot of career advice these days focus on
specialization and finding your niche.
• Being a jack-of-all-trades is frowned upon
as are those who can’t seem to stick to an
area of focus.
• So how do we bring back that individual who
wants to divide their efforts and
accomplishments over many fields?

36. Being a jack-of-all-trades is frowned upon as
are those who can’t seem to stick to an area of
focus

37. Characteristics of a Polymath
• Be Curious and Open to Learning
• Polymaths aren’t motivated by fame or the
need to impress.
• They simply want to learn about everything
that interests them.
• This also has a positive effect on improving
our brains in fact, many have compared the
brain to a muscle in that we need to either “use
it or lose it”.

38. Be Curious and Open to Learning

39. Characteristics of a Polymath
• Multiple studies have shown that increasing
mental stimulation (i.e. by continuing to form
new connections through active learning)
helps with memory retention and decreases
the risks of cognitive decline.

40. Multiple studies have shown that increasing mental
stimulation helps with memory retention and
decreases the risks of cognitive decline.

41. Characteristics of a Polymath
• It’s never too late to pick up a new area to add to
your repertoire of skills and careers.
• By all accounts, Leonardo da Vinci originally
trained as an artist under the tutelage of Andrea
del Verrocchio during which he first acquired a
number of artistic (painting, sculpting, drawing)
and technical (carpentry, mechanics, drafting,
metalwork) skills that would serve as the
foundation for his later innovations in
engineering and contributions to the fields of
anatomy and biomechanics.

42. Leonardo da Vinci originally trained as an artist
under the tutelage of Andrea del Verrocchio
Leonardo da Vinci
Andrea del Verrocchio

43. Cultivate Multiple Passions and Interests
• Unlike specialists who will happily live and
breathe their area for years on end, polymaths
will have many different areas they are
interested in exploring further.

44. Cultivate Multiple Passions and Interests
• Think back to your childhood?
• Did you enjoy drawing?
• Building?
• What were your hobbies when you were in
middle school?
• Young children are fascinated with the world
around them and possess an inclination to
explore and try out different things.

45. Cultivate Multiple Passions and Interests

46. Cultivate Multiple Passions and Interests

47. Cultivate Multiple Passions and Interests
• As we progress through the structured
educational systems in place, much of our
natural curiosity gets stamped out in the
process.
• To regain it, you have to explore outside
your usual areas.
• All growth and learning occurs outside your
comfort zone.

48. Cultivate Multiple Passions and Interests

49. Cultivate Multiple Passions and Interests
• Many polymaths including Isaac Newton and
Rene Descartes have made a number of
significant contributions towards in
mathematics and physics.
• Yet many of them were also philosophers
who wrote at length about their efforts to
make better sense of the world around
them.

50. Many polymaths including Isaac Newton and Rene
Descartes have made a number of significant
contributions towards in mathematics and physics

51. Don’t Worry About Being Perfect
• Malcolm Gladwell may have popularized the
10,000 hours rule, but want to know a secret?
• You don’t need to be the top in your field to be a
polymath.
• You just have to be better than average. That’s
it.
• If one of your interests is tennis, do you think it
really matters whether you’re ranked 45th or
128th in the world?
• The fact that you’re ranked means that you’re
already heads and shoulders above the crowd.

52. Don’t Worry About Being Perfect

53. Don’t Worry About Being Perfect
• So while it’s good to strive for excellence in all
fields, it’s also equally important to remember
that we only have a finite amount of time and
energy.

54. Don’t Worry About Being Perfect
• It’s also worth noting that you don’t need to know
everything in your field in order to be an expert.
• For example, a person who can recognize the 1000
most common Chinese characters already has a
90% understanding of the Chinese language.
• When this is increased to 2000 characters, their
knowledge of Chinese increases to 97%.
• Think about it – learning an extra 1000 characters
for a mere 7% boost in knowledge! It’s the same
with any other field, not just languages.

55. A person who can recognize the 1000 most common
Chinese characters already has a 90%
understanding of the Chinese language

56. Reject Gatekeepers
• Despite the aspiring polymath’s willingness
to learn, they may still run up against
numerous gatekeepers in their quest for
knowledge.
• These can run the gamut from admission
committees to managers at work to literary
agents to subject prerequisites.

57. Reject Gatekeepers

58. Reject Gatekeepers
• When Benjamin Franklin’s brother refused to
publish his writing, he made up a pseudonym –
Mrs. Silence Dogood and submitted his pieces
under that name instead.
• Those letters soon became the talk of the
town, such were their popularity.

59. When Benjamin Franklin’s brother refused to publish his
writing, he made up a pseudonym – Mrs. Silence Dogood and
submitted his pieces under that name instead.

60. Reject Gatekeepers
• Is there an interest that you’ve been putting off
because you felt that you weren’t qualified?
• The rise of the internet has made it easier than
ever to pick up a skill and learn from experienced
teachers.
• YouTube alone boasts thousands of educational
and DIY video tutorials.
• Previously exclusive university courses are now
available to anyone with a working internet
connection through platforms such as
Coursera and edX.

61. YouTube alone boasts thousands of
educational and DIY video tutorials.

62. Reject Gatekeepers
• Part of Gottfried Leibniz's success can be
attributed to the vast library he inherited from
his university professor father at age 6 after the
latter passed away.
• It enabled him access to a number of advanced
texts that otherwise wouldn’t have been available
until he began college.
• The large number of Latin texts he read also
resulted in him being proficient in Latin by age
12.

63. Part of Gottfried Leibniz's success can be attributed to
the vast library he inherited from his university
professor father

64. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
(German Polymath)

65. Set Realistic Goals and Follow Through.
• Every single polymath in history had one thing one
in common: all of them were very hardworking with
extraordinary levels of productivity.
• Benjamin Franklin’s daily schedule reveals how he
was able to accomplish so much over his lifetime.
• Every day, he has specific blocks of time set aside for
deep work as well as time to unwind and for reflection.
As well, at the beginning of each day, he would ask
himself what his goal was for the day and then
evaluating this prior to sleeping.

66. Benjamin Franklin’s daily schedule reveals
how he was able to accomplish so much over his
lifetime.

67. Every single polymath in history had one thing one in
common: all of them were very hardworking with
extraordinary levels of productivity.

68. Set Realistic Goals and Follow Through.
• Remember, the term ‘Polymath’ has never
been synonymous with the term ‘overnight
success’.
• Indeed, history can show that every single
polymath’s success was the result of years of
dedication to their craft and studies.
• This is why their names still live on to this
day.

69. Every Single Polymath’s Success Was The Result Of
Years Of Dedication To Their Craft And Studies

70. Famous Polymaths
• Each generation produces brilliant minds that
advance humanity with their ideas and
inventions.
• They leave a lasting legacy and become
immortalized by the stories that people
continue to tell about their lives.
• Many of these brilliant people found
throughout human history have had the
characteristics of what is called a polymath.

71. Famous Polymaths

72. Famous Polymaths
• A polymath is typically defined as a person
of wide interests and expertise in various
fields of science, humanities, and the arts.
• They typically generate significant insights
and breakthroughs in a variety of fields.
• Since mainstream academics tend to be very
discipline-focused, polymaths usually learn
most of what they know as highly curious
and experimental autodidacts.

73. Famous Polymaths

74. Here are some influential polymaths and how
you can learn from their examples
• Leonardo Da Vinci
• The archetypal Renaissance Man, Leonardo da
Vinci’s accomplishments were staggering.
• He was a high-skilled scientist, artist, and
inventor.
• His areas of interest included drawing, painting,
sculpture, architecture, science, music,
mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy,
geology, astronomy, botany, paleontology, and
cartography.

75. The archetypal Renaissance Man, Leonardo da
Vinci’s accomplishments were staggering

76. Leonardo Da Vinci
• As an artist, he is known for inventing the High
Renaissance style and having painted priceless
masterpieces such as the Mona Lisa and The
Last Supper.
• He is widely considered one of the greatest
painters of all time.
• he was given no formal academic training but
self-educated himself with his unquenchable
curiosity and by taking on many challenges
with his feverishly inventive imagination.

77. Mona Lisa and The Last Supper

78. Leonardo Da Vinci
• He conceptualized flying machines, a type of
armored fighting vehicle, parachutes,
concentrated solar power, an adding
machine, and the double hull ship.
Relatively few of his designs were constructed
or even feasible during his lifetime.

79. Leonardo Da Vinci’s Inventions

80. Nikola Tesla
• Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor,
electrical engineer, mechanical engineer,
theoretical and experimental physicist,
mathematician, futurist and humanitarian.
• He was a hyper-polyglot who could speak eight
languages fluently including Serbo-Croatian,
English, Czech, French, German, Hungarian,
Italian, and Latin.
• Tesla essentially invented the technology that
underpinned many of the 20th century’s greatest
advances.

81. Nikola Tesla

82. Nikola Tesla
• His inventions included the induction motor, the
first x-rays, radio-controlled vehicles,
hydroelectric power turbines, wireless
transmission stations, and the alternating current
(AC) power standard used globally today.
• He was also likely the first to discover the electron,
radioactivity, cosmic rays, terrestrial resonance,
stationary standing waves, and fluorescent light
bulbs.

83. Nikola Tesla

84. Nikola Tesla
• His distaste for the corruption of the Western
banking system and his visionary
humanitarian views were so ahead of his
time that for many decades his work was
ignored or suppressed in many schools.
• Today, thanks to the free flow of information
on the Internet, there has been an explosion of
interest again in Nikola Tesla’s life and ideas

85. Nikola Tesla

86. Aristotle
• While his teacher Plato (and his teacher Socrates)
share a similar philosophical lineage at the roots
of Western Civilization, Aristotle was the most
polymathic of the trio.
• He was interested in every possible science
practiced in his time and his works, which are
collectively known as the Corpus Aristotelicum,
covers many subjects: physics, biology, zoology,
metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry,
theater, music, rhetoric, linguistics, and
politics.

87. Aristotle

88. Aristotle
• He is one of the most quoted men who has
ever lived and he is also widely known as the
tutor of Alexander the Great.
• He was the founder of the Lyceum, the
Peripatetic school of philosophy and the
Aristotelian tradition.

89. Aristotle Teacher Of Alexander The Great

90. Helen Keller
• Helen Keller was an American author,
women’s suffrage activist, anti-militarism
activist, advocate for the poor and voiceless,
and teacher who lectured all over the world.
She was the first deaf-blind person to earn a
Bachelor of Arts degree

91. Helen Keller’s Teacher Anne Sullivan

92. Helen Keller
• Despite being deaf and blind she
accomplished more than 99.9% of people in
human history.
• She co-founded the American Civil Liberties
Union, authored more than a dozen books and
remains an enduring symbol of courage and
triumph over adversity.

93. Helen Keller

94. Helen Keller
• Her lasting legacy is felt in the female rights
movement today and with declining male
achievement and woman now the majority
in most Universities.

95. Benjamin Franklin
• Benjamin Franklin was an American
polymath and one of the Founding Fathers
of the United States.
• He was an author, printer, political theorist,
politician, scientist, inventor, humorist, civic
activist, statesman, and diplomat.

96. Benjamin Franklin was an American polymath and
one of the Founding Fathers of the United States

97. Benjamin Franklin
• He made major discoveries regarding
electricity and is known for inventing the
lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin wood-
burning stove, and many other inventions.
• Franklin was foundational in defining the early
American ethos as a marriage of the practical
values of thrift, hard work, education,
community spirit, self-governing institutions,
and opposition to authoritarianism in its political
and religious forms.

98. Benjamin Franklin Inventions

99. Benjamin Franklin
• He is one of the best-known Freemasons in
history and he was unique among the
founding fathers identifying as a deist who
challenged traditional Christian doctrine.

100. Benjamin Franklin

101. Rabindranath Tagore
• Rabindranath Tagore was an Indian Bengali
polymath who contributed to numerous fields
including poetry, drama, art, music and education.
• Born in a culturally-rich family, Tagore despised
formal education and was thus mostly home schooled.
• After dropping out from college, he began his
literary career and started managing his family’s
estates in Shilaidaha.

102. Rabindranath Tagore

103. Rabindranath Tagore
• Rabindranath hated formal schooling and he
was mostly home schooled by his siblings.
• Though he didn’t attend school, Rabindranath
learned various subjects including drawing,
anatomy, geography, history, literature,
mathematics, Sanskrit and English.

104. Rabindranath hated formal schooling and he
was mostly home schooled by his siblings

105. Rabindranath Tagore
• Rabindranath Tagore was a creative genius
and a polymath; a versatile poet, a par
excellence short story writer, novelist,
playwright, essayist, artist, rationalist, as
well as a talented painter, whose pictures
with their mixture of representation and
abstraction began to manifest late into his
career.

106. Rabindranath Tagore’s Books

107. Rabindranath Tagore’s Paintings

108. Rabindranath Tagore
• Tagore holds a unique distinction that two of
his poems have been befittingly chosen as
the national anthems of India and
Bangladesh - “Jana Gana Mana” & “Amar
Sonar Bangla” respectively, which is an
extraordinary achievement that any poet can
ever aspire for.

109. Tagore holds a unique distinction that two of his
poems have been befittingly chosen as the national
anthems of India and Bangladesh

110. Rabindranath Tagore
• The polymath Tagore’s contributions in the field
of art, literature, playwright etc are well known all
across the country and so also internationally but
his extraordinary painting skills, which he
acquired at the age of 67.
• The works of Rabindranath Tagore consist of
poems, novels, short stories, dramas, paintings,
drawings, and music that Bengali poet and
Brahmo philosopher Rabindranath Tagore created
over his lifetime.

111. Rabindranath Tagore

112. Benefits of Being a Polymath
• In times of great crisis and uncertainly such
as the present, we can approach our careers
with a polymath mindset.
• In the environment of accelerating change,
people with multiple skills can easily adapt
and thrive.

113. In the environment of accelerating change, people
with multiple skills can easily adapt and thrive

114. Benefits of Being a Polymath
• Today, right now it pays to be a polymath a
person of wide knowledge or learning.
• Think people like Leonardo da Vinci (a
painter, an architect, an engineer, a theatrical
producer), Benjamin Franklin (founding
father, writer, political philosopher, politician,
scientist, inventor,) and even Steve Jobs
(engineer, inventor, designer and marketing
mastermind).

115. Today, right now it pays to be a polymath a
person of wide knowledge or learning

116. Benefits of Being a Polymath
• Cross-discipline expertise help can help you
survive and thrive in almost any
environment.
• “The future belongs to the integrators, ”
says Educator Ernest Boyer.
• Modern work demands that we become
versatile and live a more polymathic life.

117. Benefits of Being a Polymath

118. Benefits of Being a Polymath
• You can use your time in isolation more
efficiently to make space for multiple
interests and improve your skills in any
disciplines of interest to you.
• Capitalism rewards people who are rare and
indispensable.
• Make yourself rare by combining two or
more “pretty good” skills until no one else
has your mix.

119. You can use your time in isolation more efficiently to
make space for multiple interests and improve your
skills in any disciplines

120. Benefits of Being a Polymath
• In the 21st century, careers are no longer
narrowly defined by core skills, but through
complementary skills and learning agility.
• Complementary skills include the ability to work
effortlessly with others, the ability to apply
knowledge across disciplines, the ability to
understand and manage your own emotions, and
those of the people around you, and an
understanding of fields outside your area of
expertise.

121. In the 21st century, careers are no longer narrowly
defined by core skills, but through complementary
skills and learning agility

122. Benefits of Being a Polymath
• Your skills, knowledge, and competency (past,
present) are either helping you advance your
career or hindering your progress in life.
• More than ever, we all need to improve
ourselves to become indispensable in the
new world.

123. Your skills, knowledge, and competency are either
helping you advance your career

124. Benefits of Being a Polymath
• Learning multiple complementary skills not
only raises your market value, but it may
also make you more successful in the long
run.
• “When you gain new knowledge and enhance
your skills, you’re provided with many more
opportunities and see that more roads are open
to you,”

125. Learning multiple complementary skills not only
raises your market value, but it may also make you
more successful in the long run

126. Benefits of Being a Polymath
• If you’re a designer, being able to see new
patterns and generate ideas across fields where
people don’t usually make connections is a
superpower.
• This superpower rarely comes with deep
expertise in one unique field at the expense of
other areas of knowledge.
• So, go ahead and learn something totally different
from your expertise.
• Develop a wide range of skills that complement
and support your main skill. Your future may
depend on it.

127. Benefits of Being a Polymath

128. Benefits of Being a Polymath
• Pay attention to the trajectory of your
industry and stay on the forefront by
learning new applicable skills.
• Transforming into a polymath professional
could be just what you need to take your
career to the next level.

129. Pay attention to the trajectory of your industry and
stay on the forefront by learning new applicable
skills

130. The value of hiring polymaths
• A company is like a machine.
• It has specialized parts all working together to propel itself
forward.
• You can think of specialists as the individual parts.
• They’re the designers, marketers, strategists, and social media
coordinators.
• Polymaths bring a different kind of value to the team.
• We need polymaths in our organizations because they’re
mouldable.
• They can shift and squeeze to fit the corporate structure as it
changes shape.
• They’re also future-proof — the type of employees that can
withstand upcoming changes to the job force (such as artificial
intelligence and globalised job markets).

131. The value of hiring polymaths

132. The value of hiring polymaths
Polymaths are leaders
• Exploring and becoming proficient in a variety of topics gives leaders the
tools to lead confidently.
• Many of the worlds greatest leaders were polymaths at heart:
• Benjamin Franklin
• George Washington
• Steve Jobs
• Elon Musk
• Tim Ferris
• Terry Crews
• The list goes on, hiring polymaths for your organization is a good way of
propagating potential leaders.
• You’ll need these people as the company grows larger and you start to
look for additional layers of management.

133. Polymaths are leaders

134. How to find polymaths for your organization
• Hiring proficient, diversified polymaths sounds great, but how do we
find such people?
• It’s actually not as hard as it sounds
1. Look beyond the resume
• The resume has always been a key tool in the hiring process to weed out
those unfit for the job.
• The problem, however, is that our obsession over specialization makes
it hard to see through the carefully-crafted resume of job applicants.
• Polymaths will rarely refer to themselves as such, and often present
themselves as specialists.
• In order to find them, you need to probe a little deeper during the
hiring process.
• Ask questions that delve deeper into the interests of the job candidates.
• What are their interests? What other forms of education or experience do
they have unrelated to the job in focus? Do they have any side hustles or
passion projects?
• Probe any response you get. Once they start talking about something
they’re interested in, the story starts to come out.

135. Look beyond the resume

136. How to find polymaths for your
organization
• 2. Create a work environment that highlights peoples skill
sets
• A lot of startups these days are using techniques like “lunch
and learns” where staff members are given an hour over
lunch to educate other members of the company on a topic
of their choosing.
• Anything from Roman history, to herbal medicine
manufacturing, is fair game.
• Doing this brings polymaths already in your organization
to the surface.
• It helps you promotes a culture of polymath within your
company.

137. Create a work environment that
highlights peoples skill sets

138. List of Famous Polymaths from history
• Acharya Hemachandra (1089–1172)
• Akbar the Great (1542–1605)
• Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922)
• Archimedes (c.287–c.212 BCE)
• Aristotle (384–322 BCE)

139. List of Famous Polymaths from history
• Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
• Galileo Galilei (1564–1642)
• George Antheil (1900–1959)
• George Washington Carver (1864–1943)
• Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716)
• H. G. Wells (1866–1946)

140. List of Famous Polymaths from history
• Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832)
• Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
• Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
(1475–1564)
• Mikhail Lomonosov (1711–1765)

141. List of Famous Polymaths from history
• Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543)
• Nikola Tesla (1856-1943)
• Omar Khayyám (1048–1131)
• Pythagoras (580–490 BCE)
• Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941)

142. List of Famous Polymaths from history
• Sahajanand Saraswati (1889-1950)
• Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)
• Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
• Winston Churchill (1874–1965)
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

143. Terminology
• Polyglot
• a person who knows and is able to use several
languages.

144. Terminology
Polymath
• an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial
number of subjects, known to draw on complex
bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems.

145. Terminology
Renaissance man
• A Renaissance man is defined as a man who is
knowledgeable or proficient in a variety of fields.
In particular, it refers to a person who excels in
science and mathematical fields, as well as in the
humanities

146. Terminology
Homo Universalis
A terms to describe a person who is well educated, or
who excels, in a wide variety of subjects or fields.

147. Terminology
• Polyhistor
another term for polymath.
a person of great and varied learning.

148. Terminology
• Jack of all trades, master of none
• "Jack of all trades, master of none" is a figure of
speech used in reference to a person who has dabbled
in many skills, rather than gaining expertise by
focusing on one.

149. Terminology
• Opsimath
• An opsimath is a person who begins, or
continues, to study or learn late in life.

150. Terminology
• Philomath
• A philomath is a lover of learning and
studying.
• philomath is someone who greatly enjoys
learning and studying.

151. Books
• The Polymath: Unlocking the Power of
Human Versatility
• by Waqas Ahmed
• https://www.amazon.in/Polymath-Unlocking-Power-Human-Versatility/dp/1119508487

152. Books
• The Polymath: A Cultural History from
Leonardo da Vinci to Susan Sontag
by Peter Burke
• https://www.amazon.com/Polymath-Cultural-History-Leonardo-Sontag/dp/0300260466

153. References
Great polymaths of history: all-round genius
• https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2019/05/great-polymaths-of-history-all-the-all-round-geniuses/
How to Become a Modern Day Polymath
• https://www.lifehack.org/430148/how-to-become-a-modern-day-polymath
History’s Greatest Geniuses: 7 Polymaths Who Changed The World
• https://www.diygenius.com/polymaths/
Polymath
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymath
People With ‘Too Many Interests’ More Likely to be Successful, According to Research
• https://observer.com/2018/05/people-with-too-many-interests-more-likely-successful-polymath-
entrepreneurship-antifragile/
Polymath
• https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Polymath
Why some people are impossibly talented
• https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20191118-what-shapes-a-polymath---and-do-we-need-them-more-
than-ever
Why you should hire a polymath
• https://www.majerrecruitment.com.au/why-you-should-hire-polymaths/

154. Thanks…