Biography of the Millennium: 100 People - 1000 Years
A & E Biography: 100 Most Influential People of the Millennium
name______________
Read the article below. Then, respond to the questions that follow.
Butterworth, T. (2007, May 24). Fifteen People Who Changed the World. Forbes.com. Retrieved
from http://www.forbes.com/2007/05/23/people-changed-world-tech-07rev_cz_tb_0524changers.html
In the 1970s, U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger asked Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai his opinion on the
chief consequences of the French Revolution. "It's too early to tell," Zhou is said to have replied.
The comment captures the essential problem of determining which historical moments really matter. None of us
can see what directions the world will take in the future, and events that seem monumental today might turn out
to be mere pebbles on the road of history.
Take inventor Dean Kamen's gyroscopic Segway scooter. Just a few years ago, it was heralded as the answer to
the world's transportation woes, a device that would lead to a redesign of entire cities. It flopped. Conversely,
2,000 years ago few could have predicted the success of a small religious group following the teachings of a
Nazarean carpenter. Today Christianity is the biggest religion in the world.
But there are some achievements so notable, so ground-shaking, that even within the short space of a few
decades we can feel their impact. We've chosen a few examples of this revolutionary spirit: 15 people who
changed the world since 1950.
Of course, not everyone changes the world for the better. Clearly, we could do with fewer Osama bin Ladens
and more Mikhail Gorbachevs, who, when given great power, directed it toward goals that benefited mankind.
Our list is made up exclusively of the latter.
In any case, when it comes to accomplishments that truly alter the way we live day today, political figures prove
to be less influential than scientists.
Creators of technology--ideas in physical form-–dominate our list. Take Paul Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield's
invention, magnetic resonance imaging, which has transformed almost every area of surgery, allowing doctors
to see inside a patient's body without cutting it open first.
"MRI has totally changed neurosurgery," says Nirit Weiss, assistant professor of neurosurgery at Mount Sinai
School of Medicine in New York. "If you open the skull and look at the brain, it looks like a blob--you can't just
look at it and see the different cell groups. But MRI has allowed us to visualize the brain's structures so we have
a map in our head of where to go and where to avoid."
Sometimes the most influential breakthroughs don't require incredible advances in science and take years to be
appreciated. Equipping the trailer of a truck with a large, standardized, removable box required nothing more
than a stroke of imaginative brilliance. And yet the current global economy is unimaginable without it.
American entrepreneur Malcolm McLean invented the shipping container in 1956, but it took a decade for its
stunning effectiveness to be revealed as it went to use supplying the military during the Vietnam War.
Containerized shipping is still growing--by 11% a year--which is something that McLean, who began his
business in North Carolina in 1934, using a single truck he bought for $120, would surely marvel at if alive
today.
Some revolutionaries were slighted by the scientific establishments of their time--like Rosalind Franklin's
exclusion from sharing in the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the structure of DNA. Described by her peers as
a "genius," she exposed herself to massive amounts of radiation to try to get the best possible X-ray photograph
of a strand of DNA, dying of cancer at 37. Her image of a double helix provided the crucial evidence James
Watson and Francis Crick needed to complete their model, but neither scientist acknowledged her work when
they received the Nobel Prize in 1962.
The history of influence is the history of imagination, passion, hard work and belief. These 15 people who have
changed the world show what belief can accomplish.
I. If you were to name 15 people who changed the world in the last millennium, who would you include?
List them below.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
II. How might you organize them? Classify your nominees into categories or groups. You may create a
code for the list on the reverse, or attach a new page.
Biography of the Millennium: 100 People - 1000 Years
A & E Biography: 100 Most Influential People of the Millennium
name______________
In the area below, list your “Top 15” of the 100 most influential individuals of the last millennium. Include
notes about each person’s accomplishments/contributions.
Name
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Accomplishment/Contribution
Category
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Which one individual would you choose as the most influential person of the last millennium? Create a 140character nomination for this person, highlighting his/her contributions to humankind.
Biography of the Millennium: 100 People - 1000 Years
A & E Biography: 100 Most Influential People of the Millennium
name______________
Choose one individual from the list to be the focus of your Biography of the Millennium project. List your
person here: ___________________________________________________
Task:
You will create a dynamic Prezi to share researched information about your subject. You may access the free
software at prezi.com.
Requirements:
Your Prezi must include the following components:
1. Carefully researched biographical information utilizing at least three scholarly sources, one of which
must be a print source
a. Birthdate and place
b. Childhood
c. Influential People
d. Education
e. Accomplishments and accolades
f. Adult Years
g. Death and place of rest
2. Biographical Timeline
3. Embedded video (video clips, Blabberize, etc.)
4. Drawings or pictures (minimum of 3 for each requirement listed in a-e, above)
5. URLs hyperlinked to sites related to your subject (minimum of 3)
6. Music or other sound effects
7. APA-style reference page (minimum of 3 scholarly sources, at least one print)
8. Video credits
You will make a formal presentation of your Prezi to the class. Please prepare a brief (30-second)
introduction. Presentation dress is required.
Presentation order will be determined in advance by drawing numbers. In order to receive full credit for
your work, please make sure that your Prezi is accessible and glitch-free on your presentation day.
You will be allotted a minimum of three class periods for research and two periods for presentation design.
Please list these dates in your agenda and come prepared to work!
A & E's Biography: 100 Most Influential People of the Millennium
--Musicians on the list are marked by an asterisk [*]-1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
*26
27
*28
29
*30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
*57
58
Johann Gutenberg (mass media--movable type for printing)
Isaac Newton (gravity)
Martin Luther (Protestant Reformation)
Charles Darwin (evolutionist writer)
William Shakespeare (Renaissance playwright)
Christopher Columbus (explorer)
Karl Marx (19th c. political writer)
Albert Einstein (physicist)
Nicolaus Copernicus (astromony)
Galileo Galilei (astromony)
Leonardo da Vinci (for science)
Sigmund Freud (psychoanalysis)
Louis Pasteur (bacteria)
Thomas Edison (inventor)
Thomas Jefferson (3rd US president, Declaration of Independence)
Adolf Hitler (Nazi leader during WWII)
M. Gandhi (led peaceful revolution in modern India)
John Locke (17th c. philosopher)
Michaelangelo (Renaissance artist/sculptor)
Adam Smith (18th c. Scottish philosopher and economist)
George Washington (1st US president, General of Revolutionary War)
Ghengis Khan (12th c Mongul conqueror)
Abraham Lincoln (16th US president)
St. Thomas Acquinas (Catholic philosopher)
James Watt (Scottish inventor; steam engine)
W A Mozart (great Classic composer)
Napoleon (French general, president and self-proclaimed emperor)
JS Bach (great Baroque composer)
H. Ford (mass production of automobile)
Beethoven (great late Classic/early Romantic composer)
WatsonCrick (DNA)
Descartes (philosopher)
ML King Jr (US civil rights leader)
Rousseau (great philosopher of French "Enlightenment")
N. Lenin (Russian political lewader/writer)
A Fleming (pen)
Voltaire (great philosopher of French "Enlightenment")
Francis Bacon (deductive reasoning)
Dante Alighieri (Medieval writer)
Wright Bros. (first human flight)
Bill Gates (computer software giant)
Mendel (genetics)
Mao Tsedung (1st Chairman of Chinese Communist party)
A G Bell (telephone)
William the Conquerer (11th c. leader of Normans and English)
Machiavelli (political philospher)
Charles Babbage (17th c. early "computer" pioneer)
Mary Wollstonecraft (women's rights)
Gorbachev (1st Soviet premier to establish good relations with US)
Margaret Sanger (crusader for birth control legislation)
Edward Jenner (vaccination)
Churchill (Prime Minister of Britain during WWII)
Marie Curie (radioactivity)
Marco Polo (explorer)
F. Magellan (explorer)
E. Stanton (womens rights)
Elvis Presley (first major icon of Rock and Roll)
Joan of Arc (French religious martyr)
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
*76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
*96
97
*98
99
100
I. Kant (philosopher)
FD Roosevelt (longest serving US President)
M. Faraday (chemist/physicist; electricity & magnetism)
Walt Disney (early animation)
Jane Austen (writer)
Pablo Picasso (painter)
Werner Heisenberg (physicist; "uncertainty principle")
D W Griffith (film)
Vlad Zworkin (TV/RCA)
Ben Franklin (inventor, writer, statesman)
William Harvey (blood circulation)
Pope Gregory VII (separated church & state)
Harriet Tubman (underground railroad)
Simon Bolivar (great South American general and freedom fighter)
Princess Diana (human rights)
Enrico Fermi (nuclear physicist; quantum theory)
Pincus (birth control pill)
The Beatles (most influential band in rock history)
Thomas Hobbes (17th c. philosopher)
Queen Isabella I (supporter of Columbus' voyages)
Joseph Stalin (ruthless Russian leader during WWII)
Elizabeth I (Queen of England in late Renaissance)
Nelson Mandela (imprisoned leader against Apartheid)
Niels Bohr (atom)
Peter the Great (Russian Czar)
Marconi (radio)
Ronald Reagan (40th US President)
James Joyce (author)
Carson (environment)
Oppenheimer (atomic bomb)
Susan B. Anthony (US women's suffrage)
Daguerre (photo)
Spielberg (film)
Florence Nightingale (medicine)
Eleanor Roosevelt (United Nations and human rights)
Patient Zero (1st AIDS victim)
Chaplan (film)
Caruso (famous singer and early recording star)
Salk (polio vaccine)
Louis Armstrong (great jazz trumpeter and scat singer)
Vasco de Gama (explorer)
Suleyman I (greatest Sultan of the Ottoman Empire)
Biography of the Millennium: 100 People - 1000 Years
A & E Biography: 100 Most Influential People of the Millennium
name______________
Task:
You and your partner will receive 3-4 questions relating to the video. For each each question, research the
answer and create a response in one to two well-developed paragraphs. Each response should be typed and
your scholarly research references should be cited using the APA style guide.
Your typed responses are due on _____________________________.
Biography of the Millennium: 100 People - 1000 Years
A & E Biography: 100 Most Influential People of the Millennium
name______________
Task:
You and your partner will receive 3-4 questions relating to the video. For each each question, research the
answer and create a response in one to two well-developed paragraphs. Each response should be typed and
your scholarly research references should be cited using the APA style guide.
Your typed responses are due on _____________________________.