All throughout history, there were several geniuses, polymaths and
renaissance men/women who existed on this planet. All of them are well
remembered and famous for their exceptional intelligence and achievements in
their respective places and time. Men and women who are experts in many and
various fields are called polymaths. Here’s a long list of polymaths from
ancient time up to the 20th century.
Imhotep
– all-around polymath
Born: 2650 BCE
Died: 2011 BCE
Nationality: Egyptian
Expert as: Physician, architect
Famous as: Egyptian chancellor
Zhang
Heng – Chinese polymath
Born: 78 CE
Died: 139 CE
Nationality: Chinese
Expert as: Astronomer, cartographer, geographer, inventor, mathematician,
painter, poet and sculptor
Famous as: Chinese official, scholar of history and philosophy
Notable achievements: Invention of the first water-powered armillary
sphere and first seismometer in the world
Al-Khwarizmi
– the polymath researcher
Born: 780 CE
Died: 850 CE
Nationality: Persian
Expert as: Astronomer, geographer, mathematician
Famous as: The greatest polymath in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad
Al-Jahiz
– Arab Scholar
Born: 781 CE
Died: 869 CE
Nationality: Arab
Expert as: Arabic prose writer, author of many books in Arabic
literature, biology, history, Islamic philosophy and psychology, theology and
zoology
Famous as: Scholar and polymath
Ziryab
– Renaissance Man before the Renaissance
Born: 789 CE
Died: 857 CE
Nationality: Iraqi-Andalusian
Expert as: astronomer, botanist, celebrity, cosmetologist, fashion
designer, geographer, musician, poet, singer and trendsetter
Al-Kindi
– also known as Alkindus
Born: 801 CE
Died: 873 CE
Nationality: Arab
Expert as: Astronomer, geographer, mathematician, meteorologist,
musician, philosopher, physician, physicist, politician and scientist
Famous as: Omnivorous polymath
Notable achievements: Wrote 265 treatises
Abbas
Ibn Firnas – A Berber polymath
Born: 810 CE
Died: 887 CE
Nationality: Berber
Expert as: Andalusian musician, Arabic poet, aviator, engineer and
inventor
Famous as: Known for an early attempt at aviation,
Abu
Zayd al-Balkhi – Persian Muslim Polymath, disciple of Al-Kindi
Born: 850 CE
Died: 934 CE
Nationality: Persian
Expert as: Geographer, mathematician, physician, psychologist and
scientist
Notable achievements: Founder of Balkhi
School of terrestrial mapping in Baghdad
Muhammad
ibn Zakariya Razi – also known as Rhases
Born: 865 CE
Died: 925 CE
Nationality: Persian
Expert as: Alchemist, physician, philosopher and scientist
Abu
al-Hasan Ali al-Masu’udi an Erudite historian
Born: 896 CE
Died: 956 CE
Nationality: Persian
Expert as: Arab historian, Earth scientist, Islamic scholar, geographer,
geologist and traveler
Famous as: Prolific writer and polymath
Abhinayagupta
– the great Kashmiri philosopher and polymath
Born: 975 CE
Died: 1025 CE
Nationality: Indian
Expert as: Aesthetic, dancer, dramatist, exegetical theologian, literary
critic, logician, musician, philosopher and poet
Famous as: the great Kashmiri philosopher and polymath
Ibn
al-Haytham or Alhazen – a universal genius
Born: 965 CE
Died: 1039 CE
Nationality: Iraqi
Expert as: anatomist, astronomer, engineer, inventor, mathematician,
ophthalmologist, philosopher, physician, physicist, psychologist, scientist and
theologian.
Famous as: A devout, brilliant polymath, a great man and a universal
genius
Notable achievements: Credited with codifying the earliest form of the
contemporary scientific method
Abu
Rayhan al-Biruni – a scholar in many disciplines
Born: 973 CE
Died: 1048 CE
Nationality: Persian
Expert as: anthropologist,
astrologer, astronomer, encyclopedist, geodesist, geographer, geologist,
historian, mathematician, natural historian, pharmacist, physician,
philosopher, scholar, teacher, traveler and theologian
Famous as: Uzbekistan’s
most universal genius
Notable achievements: Introduced Indian scientific knowledge and thought
to the Middle East and the West
Avicenna
– Father of Modern Medicine
Born: 980 CE
Died: 1037 CE
Nationality: Persian
Expert as: Astronomer, chemist, geologist, logician, mathematician,
paleontologist, poet, physician, psychologist, scientist and teacher
Famous as: Known as the “father of modern medicine”, father of the
fundamental concept of momentum in physics and “father of geology”
Notable achievements: Wrote about 450 treatises on different subjects and
medicine, pioneer of aromatherapy for his invention of steam distillation and
extraction of essential oil. He developed the concept of uniformitarianism and
law of superposition in geology
Ibn
Hazm – Arab polymath
Born: 994 CE
Died: 1064 CE
Nationality: Andalusian-Arab
Expert in: comparative religion, ethics, history, jurisprudence, logic
and theology
Notable achievements: The Ring of the Dove on the art of love
Omar
Khayyam – a Persian polymath
Born: 1048 CE
Died: 1131 CE
Nationality: Persian
Expert as: astronomer, mathematician, physician, philosopher, poet,
physicist and writer
Notable achievements: Wrote treatises on geography, mechanics and music
Al-Ghazali
– a Persian philosopher and polymath
Born: 1058 CE
Died: 1111 CE
Nationality: Persian
Expert as: cosmologist, comparative religionist, critic, encyclopedic
author, jurist, moralist, philosopher, psychologist and theologian, theorist
Notable achievements: Pioneer of the methods of doubt and skepticism
Acharva
Hemachandra – one of the great polymaths of medieval India
Born: 1089 CE
Died: 1172 CE
Nationality: Indian
Expert as: grammarian, historian, linguist, poet, philosopher, prosodist
and scholar
Famous as: One of the great polymaths of medieval India
Ibn
Baijah or Avempace – an Arab-Muslim polymath
Born: 1095 CE
Died: 1138 CE
Nationality: Arab-Muslim
Expert as: Astronomer, logician, musician, philosopher, poet,
psychologist, physician, physicist and scientist
Ibn
Tufail or Abubacer – an Arab polymath scholar
Born: 1105 CE
Died: 1185 CE
Nationality: Andalusian Arab
Expert as: Court official, novelist, philosopher, physician and writer
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