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Leone Battista Alberti, polymath/universal genius, inventor of polyalphabetic substitution (more specifically, the Alberti cipher), and what may have been the first mechanical encryption aid. Giovanni Battista della Porta, author of a seminal work on cryptanalysis.
A polymath [a] [1] or polyhistor [b] [2] is an individual whose knowledge spans many different subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Polymaths often prefer a specific context in which to explain their knowledge but others can be gifted at explaining abstractly and creatively.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (or Leibnitz; [a] 1 July 1646 [O.S. 21 June] – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat who is credited, alongside Sir Isaac Newton, with the creation of calculus in addition to many other branches of mathematics, such as binary arithmetic and statistics.
Leon Battista Alberti (Italian: [leombatˈtista alˈbɛɾti]; 14 February 1404 – 25 April 1472) was an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer; he epitomised the nature of those identified now as polymaths.
Hypatia has been described as a universal genius, [116] but she was probably more of a teacher and commentator than an innovator. [ 117 ] [ 118 ] [ 21 ] [ 119 ] No evidence has been found that Hypatia ever published any independent works on philosophy [ 120 ] and she does not appear to have made any groundbreaking mathematical discoveries.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716), polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. Leibniz has been called the "last universal genius" due to his knowledge and skills in different fields and because such people became less common during the Industrial Revolution and spread of specialized labor after his lifetime.
Charles Babbage KH FRS (/ ˈ b æ b ɪ dʒ /; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. [1] A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer. [2] Babbage is considered by some to be "father of the computer".
The Last Man Who Knew Everything (2006), written by Andrew Robinson, is a biography of the British polymath Thomas Young (1773–1829). [1]This biography is subtitled Thomas Young, the Anonymous Polymath Who Proved Newton Wrong, Explained How We See, Cured the Sick, and Deciphered the Rosetta Stone, Among Other Feats of Genius, which gives a very brief idea of Young's polymathic career.