Smartest Genius
Viv hit me up with some YouTube nonsense about Einstein being the smartest person who ever lived.
In the context of invention, which is what Viv had been doing at vacation care all day, I said “No, discovery is just giving a name to something that already exists; doesn’t imply genius. Einsten did however have a few patents and the most notable was a redesigned woman’s blouse. Not one of his inventions ever achieved commercial use.”
After much back and forth we settled on the top three geniuses of all time:
Thomas Edison was an inventor on 1,093 US patents. He produced the practical light bulb, the phonograph, the motion picture camera, workable electric power generation and distribution networks, alkaline batteries, audio and film recording systems, and the first industrial research laboratory. His output defined all electrical and media technologies.
Henry Ford created the affordable motor car and many important improvements to automotive components. His main contribution was the assembly line that cut production time and cost. This transformed manufacturing from craft work to mass production.
Nikola Tesla designed the AC induction motor, polyphase AC transmission, practical generators and transformers for long distance power, radio frequency oscillators, and early remote control. Large parts of twentieth century electrical infrastructure were built on his machinery and system architecture.
Other candidates who fit the broader definition of invention include Leonardo da Vinci, James Watt, Alexander Graham Bell, and Fritz Haber, each tied to a specific industrial transformation. They do not displace Edison, Ford, or Tesla at the top because their impact was more specialised.
Leonardo comes close but he was too far ahead of material science and production technology for his designs to translate into commercial reality. His engineering was original and often correct but the gap between concept and execution was measured in centuries, which limits his relevance in a list defined by real-world adoption because by the time these inventions were put to practice they were drastically different to his original ideas.
Newton got in the runners up list. But his invention of the cat flap has been disputed.
We do not know who first invented fire, the wheel, condoms, religion, pillows, the toothbrush or other foundational technologies. These would be discounted in any case because they were inevitable. If the first individual had not made the leap, someone else would have. That kind of inevitability is not genius. It is just timing.
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