A polymath is a person whose knowledge is not restricted to one subject area. In less formal terms, a polymath (or polymathic person) may simply refer to someone who is very knowledgeable. Most ancient scientists were polymaths by today’s standards. Leonardo da Vinci is regarded as an archetypal "Renaissance Man" and is one of the most recognizable polymaths.
However, when wikipedia refers to the list of polymaths there are very few polymaths from the recent times. Herbert Simon is the most recent polymath, but unfortunately he is no more.
Then I came across FT’s book review "The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us and What We Can Do About It" by Joshua Cooper Ramo. Two words that I picked up there were “growing complexity” and “ceaseless newness”, the issues of the modern world and I asked – “does it stop you from being a polymath ?”
Further how do you define a polymath in the modern world. A person with multiple certifications and degrees from same or varied disciplines or a person with ability to create many things.
The modern world measures your intelligence and expertise by the grasp of reproducable knowledge or by the original thinking and original creations.
The modern world means mass-anything, is your expertise then dependant or acquiring the stuff that mass already has or even if you align towards a particular niche is it still a subset of a mass.
While these thoughts were colliding together in my mind, I came across this question on Ask MetaFilter – Is it possible to be a polymath these days?
Here’s the capture of some of the comments and my arguements or viewpoints with the those comments:
The body of human knowledge has grown too large for any single person to master it. The traditional "rennaissance man" was able to do that because the body of knowledge at the time was far smaller. – Class Goat
The body of knowledge will always be greater and overwhelming with the current context of that society. If one is a polymath it doesn’t imply that he has conquered all the possible existing body of knowledge. The following comment puts it nicely and also talks about distinction between the polymath and the jack of all trades.
Well, I guess it comes down to definitions. I would say that a polymath need not be deeply versed in every field of human knowledge, only have significant competence in a large number disciplines. Today’s average first-world citizen enjoys considerably more freedom, opportunity, and leisure to pursue such expertise than most people living during the Renaissance. (The fact that they mainly choose to watch TV is unfortunate.)
Others might argue that my definition draws too fine a line between the polymath and the jack-of-all-trades. Perhaps. I can paint a portrait, write a sonnet, play a very competitive game of chess, code in a variety of programming languages, compose a melody, build a pin-hole camera and develop the pictures, write a novel, and build a fine wood table. I’m not saying I’m exceptionally gifted at any one of those things. While I can do them competently, I’ll never be remembered as a poet with a capital "P" or design the next internet.
There are very few people alive today who can be the best of the best in multiple, unrelated disciplines. You will find few individuals who are simultaneously Nobel Prize worthy Physicists, Pulitzer caliber journalists, and gold medal winning cyclists. But, compared to the Renaissance, I’m not sure there are any fewer of them either.
But in short, the conclusion is, the question didn’t get any answers on – is it possible to be a polymath these days or there are any recent example of a polymath. if you come across any, please put it in the comments or tweet with me on this topic http://twitter.com/santoshmaharshi
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Hi,
Well, I certainly appreciate that somebody in this epoch of supra specialization in all the fields and professions is interested to investigate about the problem of the existence of the universal minds, about the possibility that still in our epoch can be genuine polymaths.
There is a Claim that there were only Polymathic professionals in the Renaicense and that it was primarly since the body of the knowledge of that epoch was pretty more smaller than in our time. However, if that would be the case there must be many polymaths along all the History preceeding the Renaicense times, specially in the ancient Greece, ancient mesopotamia or Egypt, India or China but that is not the case.
The fact is that it is quite difficult to find polymaths in the antiquity when suppossely the knowledge was several times more compact in any subject than in the XV or XVI centuries.
My personal opinion, and that is also a claim, is that a Polymathic mind does not depend on the epoch but on certain special type of intelligence that can attain different types of knowledge, is some kind of brain plasticity that permit to certain individuals to attack successfully distinct professions that under normal conditions the rest of the humans cannot do.
Possibly besides cultural circumstances that favor the development of this so strange type of intelligence there is some special combination of genes that generate them.
Let me say that I know at least the existence of one very genuine and original polymath in our epoch that has the following professions:
- Industrial Mathematician, supported by a Masters degree of University of Texas at Brownsville. He has done research in Quantitave methods applied in to mathematical finance, specifically in semidefinite problems of Portfolio Optimization as well as regularization of inverse ill posed problems in Mathematical Physics.
- General Statistician, supported by another Masters degree of University of Texas at Arlington. He has worked on research in Outliers detection and treatment on the linear and nonlinar regression models.
- Professional Educator, supported by a Educational Specialist degree from the Catholic University St Bonaventure in Columbia South America and by Certifications of DGESCA-National Autonomous University of Mexico and S.E.N.A Technological University in Columbia, South America. He is also Computer Science and Graphic expression Teacher licensed by the Public Education Secretary of Mexico and the National Education Ministry of Columbia, and former teacher of German Schools in those same areas.
- Power & Industrial Electronic Technologist, supported by a Bachelors degree in that discipline granted by Del Valle University in Columbia. He also studied a lot of specialized courses on this disciplines in Pontificia Universidad Javeriana also in Columbia.
- Information Systems Technologist, Supported by another Bachelors degree in that discipline granted by Del Valle University in Columbia. he worked as an Erp Suport Analyst for different companies around the world as for instance for Getronics and Cisco systems.
- Informatic Admnistrator, supported by a Bachelors degree in that discipline granted by UNIVER ( De la Veracruz University) in Mexico city.
- Visual & Plastic Creative Artist, supported by special Professional Recognition granted by the Culture & Education Ministries of Columbia.
- He has a lot of International Copyrights already registered on visual Art works of Oil painting, Water color, Pastel, Computer Graphics, Photography.
- Also that person is currently studying a PhD in Robotics at the Electrical Engineering Department of a University of Texas College, of course awarded with full assistanship and a position as a researcher in neural networks.
This person has besides his polimath profile a multinational origin. He is born in Mexico city, although he grew up in part in the community of the Exiled white and Green Russians in France, his father was Russian born but emmigrated to the west during the Russian civil war of 1917-20 and in part in Columbia, where it is his mother from, a lady that is at the same time the grand daughter of a German migrant and a Spanish migrant to South America.
This very unique and rare intellectual is also able to understand and communicate with certain level of fluency in Spanish, English, French, German and Russian.
The name of this person is Professor Alexander Erick Trofimoff and he lives currently in the metropolitan area of ForthWorth-Dallas in Texas, United States.
He has a very interesting website at :
http://www.geocities.com/aetrofimoff78/index.htm
and
es.geocities.com/aetrofimoff78/index.htm.
thanks again for the posting of this very interesting discussion topic.
Michael Salem
A Polymath is not a person who is a specialist in more than one subject. To give it such a meaning renders a Polymath irrelevant. A Polymath is a person who asks a interdisciplinary question and then acquires the knowledge and skills to answer it. It is the use of multiple subjects in a coordinated way that gives it meaning. I direct you to http://polymathica.com/researchpolymath.htm
I believe that there are quite a few contemporary Polymaths. The problem is that they are ignored. Luis and Walter Alvarez were highly respected scientists, yet when they attempted a Polymathic approach to science, Academia savaged them. Of course, now everyone knows that they were correct, but then…
Dr. Robert M. Schoch, a noted Geologist, was ridiculed when he suggested that the Sphinx was older than the 4th Dynasty, even though his evidence was very compelling.
Essentially, if you aren’t already well established in academia and you pop off with a Polymathic theory of any significance, you will be completely ignored. They only savage the ones they can’t ignore.
I have read the equivalent of 50 or so graduate texts per year for the past 40 years. When I started out, it was precisely graduate level texts. Now, however, it is primarily papers and task force reports, such as the MIT report on Enhanced Geothermal Systems. I do believe that this level of learning probably qualifies for ‘Polymath’ by any reasonable definition. However, I consider myself to be a Polymath because I have acquired this knowledge in the pursuit of interdisciplinary answers.
So… Where are the Polymaths? They are around. They are being ignored.
Hi thanks for your reply,
Well, as far as i know Professor Trofimoff is working since long time ago in the solution of essential problems of how the human mind learns more rapidly?,
How this accelerated Learning process boost the developing of certain particular brain structures and processes?,
Especially dealing with the different types of memory and the coordination of all the parts of the central nervous and glandular systems involved in learning, working together in synergy to get the necessary consensus in the achievement of any task? ,
Moreover he is focused in what is the physiological support of these learning processes treated the brain from the modeling perspective of Control Theory, the thought as an abstraction through mathematical programming , computer logic and causal inference and the tasks through the frame of Operations research.
He is particularly interested in the way in which working with Q-learning, reinforcement learning, Adaptive Dynamic programming, neural networks could emulate through cybernetic means these same biological operations to enhance artificial intelligence in situations in which it is needed to solve very complex and crucial tasks in a very brief period of time.
Although his original perspective of application of this research has being for years the space exploration, that is the Robot Astronautics; he is now working it in the arena of the military intelligence and logistics assisted with A.I. .
Thanks,
Michael Salem
I know the case of Prof. Trofimoff. I think there are various interesting elements that have conjugate in his personal story, he is the son a Chemistrian ( that worked all his life for multinational companies), the grandson of a Petroleum Engineer( that was one of the pioneer of the world Oil industry of Holland, England and Mexico) , his mother was of the first woman bankers in Columbia, his other Grandfather a Construction manager and entrepreneur in South America, his has through his maternal side a great grand uncle that was poet in Spain, as well as a grand uncle that was Mechanical Engineer and one of the pioneers of Telecommunications in South America. There are famous Painters, Musicians and also Biologists closely related with him.
The fact that makes a person like Trofimoff a polymath is not of course the many degrees he has achieved in various Universities of three continents, I know by sure he has 4 Masters degrees ( 1 in Business Informatics, 1 in Industrial & Pure Math, 1 in General & Mathematical Statistics and 1 in Fine Arts, besides to be Educational specialist, and with 3 bachelor’s degrees behind all those graduate credentials ( in Information Systems, in Business informatics and one more in Industrial & Power Electronics. )
The fact that make this person a truly Polymath is that he has spent his whole life in different lines of serious research: His long professional experience includes , A creative Plastic and Visual Artist career of 20 years,10 years working as Educator and Curriculum Analyst and Designer with Universities and prestigious colleges of different countries ( Columbia, Mexico, Germany, USA) , 6 years as a Systems and Data Analyst as well as ERP support Engineer, about 4 years working in Financial Mathematics and Statistics, and now working in the Area of Control Engineering.
By the way I am dubious about the comment that all the Polymathics developed their outstanding skills as the consequence of their interest in the solution of specific research problems since the beginning, in fact as far as I can remember perhaps the most conclusive feature of some of this genius is their unexhausted thirst of knowledge and curiosity, shown since childhood, they are moreover in fact philomaths, as it was the case of Newton, Da Vinci, Humboldt, Franklin or Jefferson, people that like to learn, whose passion was to acquire wisdom in many directions and that perhaps is the strange force that boost their fine intelligence. Philomaths don’t only have an excelent capacity to work in different sciences or Arts but are the kind of people that experience pleasure into deal with knowledge in general , as once said Jacob Bronowski.
thanks,
Robert Ferguson