Who is the most UNDERRATED historical figure?

I began thinking about this the other day while making some potato pancakes. What got me started on it was that as a chef, I have always been fascinated with culinary history and origins of dishes. So being that I was making a potato dish, Antoine-Augustin Parmentier came to mind. Patmentier was a fascinating individual living in France during the later half of the 18th century/early 19th century. His name is synonymous with the potato and all of its splendor, but 99.9% of people have never heard of him.

Parmentier

Now, he is but an underrated figure in CULINARY history. What I want to know from you all is who do you think is the most underrated person in world history.

I will get it started with one of my choices, La Malinche, the Mexican woman who served as translator, ambassador, and confidant for Hernan Cortez...oh yeah she also is the mother of his first son, who incidentally is one of the first mixed European/Native American babies. It is widely believed that she had vast influence over Cortez and was a driving force in his campaign toward Tenochtitlan.

Her political skill and linguistic abilities were pivotal in attaining and maintaining the large tribal army Cortez was able to amass for his conquest of the Aztecs.

She who wears the pants




OK, my ATSers...who do you nominate and why?

Zhao Ziyang of China for me! He was held under house arrest for trying to bring democracy to China. He was a great person.

What constitutes historical?

I say Nikola Tesla.

If it wasn't for his 'mad' scientist ways and testing his death-ray machine, we wouldn't have the Tunguska Explosion of 1908 to debate over!
Oh yeah, plus alternating current generators, transformers and wireless electricity, But the Siberian incident is far more interesting to me!

We really should have a Tesla holiday!
I say, get rid of Independence Day (because that's becoming more of a joke with each passing year) and make it Tesla Day!

reply to post by Human_Alien


If Tesla was the most overrated inventor ever, he would still be the most underrated inventor to date.

Also, I find John Dee to be somewhat underrated.

John Dee Wiki


Source

John Dee collected 4000 rare books and 700 manuscripts, many of which are now to be found in the British Museum. His was generally agreed by scholars to be the largest philosophical, magical and scientific library in Elizabethan England, possibly in all of Renaissance Europe. In comparison the University of Cambridge possessed 451 books and manuscripts at the time.

Source
He also was the first in modern times to apply Euclidean geometry to navigation, and was founder of the Rosicrucian order, which as we know, has had a great influence in political history throughout the centuries.

I like this thread!

Originally posted by Human_Alien
What constitutes historical?

I suppose anyone from the past that made a significant contribution to history (good or bad). It would have to be a figure that the ATS populous would have a reasonable chance of having heard of.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5ec41118d473.png[/atsimg]

Sophie de Condorcet

The first feminist in history.
She ran a salon where she hosted
the intelectual leaders of the French Revolution.

She wrote the "Lettres sur la Sympathie" -1798 or Letters of Sympathy.

Until recently, her eight letters on sympathy were however ignored by historians of economic thought, and were recently translated into English (Brown, 2008).

reply to post by vimanarider


I don't know who the most underrated person in world history is, but I can definitely tell you the most underrated in American history.

en.wikipedia.org...(statesman)
This man, Willie Jones (pronounced Wylie), is America's forgotten founding father. After the revolution he became the leader of the anti-federalists and opposed the Constitution.

He believed that under the constitution the federal government would grow out of control and tyrannical. He convinced the state of North Carolina not to ratify the constitution which resulted in James Madison adding the Bill of Rights to help convince them to ratify.

If it weren't for this man we wouldn't even have the Bill of Rights, yet you'll never see him in a textbook. Most people have never heard of him, so I guess that makes him underrated.

www.suite101.com...
Here's some more about him.

Originally posted by pirhanna
reply to post by Human_Alien

 

Also, I find John Dee to be somewhat underrated.

Good call, I was always intrigued with his connection to the Voynich Manuscript.

I like this thread!

That was the idea

reply to post by Human_Alien


Yup, Nikola Tesla. a huge chunk of the modern world wouldnt be possible without his inventions and a majority of the other stuff he had worked on is all secretly locked away in secret vaults or being worked on in secret laboratories someplace secret and [atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/c43b732ddc0b.png[/atsimg]

Excellent subject and topic OP.

I have so many as this is quite the past time for me. Geeky yes, interesting, HELL YES.

For me I have two:

Firstly:

Clyde Tombaugh - He was an American astronomer who discovered Pluto and Called for SERIOUS research into UFO's or Unidentified Flying Objects. He also discovered many Asteroids.

Clyde Tombaugh

My second would be:

James Clerk Maxwell - Was a Scottish Theoretical Physicist who invented Maxwells Equations and through this showed that electricity, light and magnetism are all manifestations of the same phenomenon The Electromagnetic Field. His work is recognized as the "Second greatest unification in Physics" after the first one carried out by Sir Isaac Newton.

James Clerk Maxwell

I would have to say me, yep, that's right me! As future emperor of the world I am hardly ever given any mention in the press, media, movies, or books.

I try not to take it personally; I mean I have in fact yet not become the emperor of the world, so it’s probably hard for these various entities to recognize just how topical, fascinating and entertaining I am.

Though I admit it could all be from jealousy or envy or even some political plot or coup against me, to unseat me before I actually ascend to the throne.

Yet I remain convinced that one day I will be a household name that everyone from the youngest school child, to the elderly know by name and smile wistfully when they speak it.

In the mean time, I have been robbed, robbed I tell you!

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


While your reply is quite humorous, it was not unexpected. I figured someone would give this answer...or say their mother for bringing them into the world.

So let us try and keep to some level of seriousness.