Ten Who Changed The Millennium

Ten Who Changed the Millennium By Agnes Hooper Gottlieb The arrival of the year 2000 has provided much of humanity with cause for reflection on the last millennium. Scientific, social, and political revolutions during the last 1,000 years have left an indelible mark on the world that exists today. Perhaps one of the best ways to examine the sprawling history of the second millennium is to consider the most influential people who shaped it. As American poet and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “There is properly no history; only biography.” But how does one go about selecting from 1,000 years of history a representative group of the most influential people? Which individuals most fully represented the triumphs of humanity and shaped the outcome of the millennium? Five criteria were used to make the selections. The first one—whose contributions had a lasting influence on history?—carried the most weight. The second criterion was the effect on the sum total of wisdom and beauty in the world. This allowed the consideration of artistic contributions, such as a Beethoven sonata, a Michelangelo fresco, or a Shakespearean sonnet, that may not have directly altered the history books but without which world culture would not be as rich as it is. The next criterion was influence on contemporaries. How much did each individual affect the world during his or her own time? This standard allowed consideration of more modern figures, whose lasting contribution to the world is more difficult to gauge at this juncture in history. Another point of evaluation was singularity of contribution. If a single person had invented the automobile or the Internet that genius might have been considered for our roster. But so many of the innovations and inventions that made their mark on history were the result of collaborative efforts. The criterion of singularity of contribution recognized those people whose singular brilliance charted entirely new territory. The fifth and final criterion was charisma. This attribute brought to the selection process great leaders who may not have been intellectual giants noted for path breaking new 1

discoveries, but who nevertheless exerted great influence by virtue of their ability to inspire other people to act. Using these five criteria, the people whose contributions most changed the world in ten different categories were selected. The ten are Johannes Gutenberg, inventor; Christopher Columbus, explorer; Michelangelo, artist; Martin Luther, religious leader; William Shakespeare, writer; Galileo Galilei, scientist; George Washington, statesman; Ludwig van Beethoven, music composer; Elizabeth Cady Stanton, activist; and Mohandas Gandhi, peacemaker.

Inventor History records little about the life of German printer Johannes Gutenberg. Yet his remarkable achievement, the invention of modern printing, is often singled out as the feat that most changed the millennium. Gutenberg's innovation brought the printed word to a wide audience for the first time, altering history with its far-reaching impact on literacy and education. People had been trying to devise printing methods for centuries before Gutenberg's 15thcentury breakthrough. The Chinese and Koreans had much earlier pioneered block printing, in which different characters or images are carved on blocks of wood. This slow, laborious process was not adequate for rapid reproduction of text, however, and most books were still produced by even more laborious hand copying. Gutenberg, who is described in historical accounts as a goldsmith, began experimenting with printing methods in the 1430s. His major breakthrough—the unique development that earns him such high millennial stature—was a system of movable type. It involved a mold that had the outlines of letters or other characters stamped in it. Letters of type could be produced rapidly by pouring liquid metal into the pre-made molds. These letters were then assembled to make up pages for printing. Gutenberg is also credited with refinements in the hand-operated printing press and even in types of ink. The end result of these innovations was the Gutenberg Bible, completed sometime between 1450 and 1456, a work renowned for its beauty and elegance. This triumph did not save Gutenberg's business, however, as a lawsuit forced him to surrender the rights to his revolutionary technology. Ironically, his name does not appear on any of the works attributed to him. With the printing press, reading and writing were no longer confined to religious orders and the rich. This altered the existing power structures: Radical ideas were more easily

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disseminated and people learned to question the authority of the ruling classes. Hoping to head off this movement, about 30 years after the printing press was perfected Pope Innocent VII established the doctrine of prior restraint, which required printers to submit unpublished manuscripts to the Catholic Church for review. Prior restraint, however, failed to stop the printing and widespread distribution of German theologian Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. The printing press thus largely made possible the Protestant Reformation, one of the most significant events of the millennium. Within 100 years of Gutenberg's breakthrough the Americas were discovered, the authority and dominance of the Catholic Church were fractured, and scientists began asking questions that challenged long-held dogmas about creation and the nature of the universe. It is arguable that none of this would have happened without Gutenberg's printing press and the easy exchange of ideas it made possible. (For more on the printing press and other world-changing inventions, see the September 1999 Feature “Landmark Inventions of the Millennium.”)

Explorer Today it is generally recognized that Italian-Spanish navigator Christopher Columbus did not “discover” the Americas, which were already inhabited by native peoples. However, he did instigate the European exploration of these lands at the end of the 15th century. This single act of courage and skill, thought foolish or suicidal by many at the time, set in motion global population shifts and advances in human knowledge that profoundly changed history. Europeans found a new land to inhabit and exploit; however, Columbus's discovery also began a clash of cultures that proved disastrous for the aboriginal peoples of the Americas. Although it is a myth that during Columbus's time people believed the Earth was flat, there was great disagreement over the size of the Earth and the position of the lands and oceans. There is evidence that people from Iceland landed in what is now northeastern Canada around ad 1000, but experts believe this fact was unknown in medieval Europe. Consequently, Europeans had no knowledge that the North American continent even existed. Based on his studies of contemporary maps and accounts, as well as on his sea travels to various European ports, Columbus came to believe that he could reach East Asia—what he called “the Indies”—by sailing west from Europe. Finding royal backing for such a plan was not easy, however, and it was almost ten years before King Ferdinand of Aragón and Queen Isabella of Castile agreed to support his voyage in 1492.

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Columbus was foremost a navigational genius, completing four successful trips from Spain to the islands now known as the West Indies. On the other hand, as many scholars have since pointed out, his motives were primarily financial and personal—he was seeking new lands for Spain and riches and glory for himself. Another aim was to convert the native peoples he encountered to Christianity. He even forced several natives to return to Spain with him to testify to Ferdinand and Isabella of the riches of this new land. However, scholars note that in these actions and views Columbus was no better or worse than other Europeans of his time. Columbus died in 1506, just a few years after his last voyage. He never set foot on the North American mainland. The many explorers who followed him opened up the continent for European colonization, reshaping humanity's view of the world. Columbus's achievements were key in the transition from the Middle Ages to the modern age. More than 500 years later, Columbus's name still looms large over the millennium.

Artist The epitaph on the tomb of the greatest artist in history summarizes his life simply: “Il Divino Michelangelo.” Indeed, Michelangelo Buonarroti was held to be divine by his contemporaries—it was the only way to explain his tremendous genius. While his countryman and peer Leonardo da Vinci edges Michelangelo as the quintessential Renaissance man, when it comes to sheer artistry there is no real competition. Even though Leonardo's Mona Lisa arguably ranks as the millennium's most recognizable painting, Michelangelo's total body of work—his sculptures, paintings, and frescoes—is unequaled. Michelangelo's popular fame may rest on the sculpture masterpiece David (1501-1504, Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence, Italy) and the Sistine Chapel ceiling (1508-1512, Vatican City), but the Italian artist had a long and varied career. He was born in 1475 in the village of Caprese and grew up in Florence, which was the art capital of the early Renaissance. His early success came as a sculptor, but he also excelled at painting, architecture, and even poetry. The famous dome on the top of Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City is a Michelangelo design. Michelangelo seemed to thrive on challenge and difficulty in his work. David, perhaps the most famous sculpture in the world, was completed using a block of discarded marble. The artist spent four years flat on his back high on a scaffold in the Sistine Chapel to complete the masterpiece painting on the ceiling. Although ceiling paintings were usually considered unimportant and were reserved for figures because of their distance from the viewer, Michelangelo produced biblical scenes of power and subtlety on the chapel ceiling. He also painted the controversial fresco Last Judgment (15361541) on the chapel wall above the altar.

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Michelangelo's best work offers a combination of detail and exquisite beauty that is unmatched, according to art historians. His attention to the technical aspects of human anatomy, especially the male nude, is brilliant and influential. The artist's work is also intellectually stimulating, grounded in mythology, religion, and other references. Widely considered the greatest artist of his own time, Michelangelo is still seen as a key to the flowering of the Renaissance and is the standard against which all subsequent artists are measured.

Religious Leader It can be persuasively argued that no government or institution wielded as much power during the last millennium as the Roman Catholic Church and its leadership, the papacy. Despite the Great Schism of 1054 that split the Christian church into Western and Eastern branches, the Roman church retained an incredible amount of power and prestige. In the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, however, the church suffered a huge blow to its authority. One man was at the heart of that split: German theologian Martin Luther. Luther, who was born in 1483 in the town of Eisleben, succeeded perhaps because he attacked the corruption of the medieval Catholic Church from the inside. An ordained priest, Luther began questioning some of Catholicism's main tenets after becoming a professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg in 1508. Although many others had decried the corruption of the papacy and the church before, Luther focused his disputes directly on certain church doctrines. Chief among these was his belief that only God, not the Catholic Church, could grant redemption from sin. This directly conflicted with the church's policy of selling indulgences. The indulgence was a monetary payment that promised the soul's release from punishment after death for sins committed during a person's lifetime. It was a popular and successful way for the church to raise money. In 1517 Luther publicly attacked this and other church practices that had become corrupted in his Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences, commonly known as the Ninety-Five Theses. (In Encarta Deluxe see the Sidebar “Luther's Ninety-Five Theses.”) Thanks to the new printing technology of the time, Luther's writings were widely distributed, discussed, and debated. Historians consider his revolutionary ideas the single most important contribution to the Reformation, a movement that ultimately shattered Catholicism's 1,200-year dominance in Europe and gave rise to Protestantism. Luther's defiance touched off more than a century of religious warfare and nurtured an emerging spirit of nationalism throughout the continent as governments rejected the authority of Rome and established their own national churches. In 1534, for example, England's King

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Henry VIII passed a law that created an independent Church of England, with himself as its head. Luther was excommunicated in 1521, but he continued to agitate against the Roman Catholic Church for the rest of his life. He was also the principal figure behind translating the Bible from the ancient Hebrew and Greek into German; this translation was important in opening religious scholarship to those without training in the ancient languages. Luther died in 1546, but his influence lives on in the religious world. Protestantism stands beside Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy as one of the three main divisions of Christianity. Lutheranism, the religious denomination named after Luther, is just one of many Protestant denominations that exist today, denominations that by one estimate claim 316 million adherents.

Writer The sheer volume of writing produced in the last 1,000 years is staggering. Especially with Gutenberg's invention, a world of words was created that has continued to grow exponentially. Accordingly, there is a galaxy of brilliant writers from which to select one writer as the most influential in the second millennium. In reality, however, there is only one person who has the literary resume to even apply for the job: William Shakespeare. Nearly 400 years after his death, the English playwright and poet remains the most influential writer who ever lived. Shakespeare's central canon of 38 plays and a series of 154 sonnets is the standard against which all other writers are measured. His language, characters, plots, and wit are all consistently brilliant. Tragedies such as Romeo and Juliet (1595?), Hamlet (1601?), and King Lear (1605?) have survived the centuries with their beauty and power intact and remain some of the most popular and oft-produced plays. His comedies, including A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595?) and Twelfth Night (1600?), still charm and entertain. As many critics have observed, the tragic flaws and comic conceits depicted in Shakespeare's plays are just as relevant at the end of the 20th century as they were when the plays were written in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The man who is sometimes known simply as the Bard also heavily influenced the English language, which has emerged as the dominant tongue of the Western world. He created and popularized many words that survive in the English language today, and his famed lines are arguably the best known in all of literature: “Get thee to a nunnery,” “The lady doth protest too much,” and “Et tu, Brute?” are just a few of the many Shakespearean lines still commonly quoted. Other languages have their beloved writers, but all languages and lands pay homage to Shakespeare.

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Scientist There were countless major scientific breakthroughs during the last millennium. To choose one scientist who stands out over the rest requires weighing not just the individual's accomplishments, but also how he or she changed the process of scientific discovery itself. This criterion leads us to Italian physicist and astronomer Galileo Galilei, who pioneered important aspects of what today is known as the scientific method. Galileo was born near Pisa in 1564—the same year Shakespeare was born and Michelangelo died. In 1589, while a professor of mathematics at the University of Pisa, Galileo began to conduct experiments testing Aristotle's theory that the speed of a fall is dependent on the weight of the falling object. Others had questioned the theory in the past, but Galileo was the first to use scientific experiments to disprove it—by dropping objects of different weights from the Tower of Pisa, legend has it. This method of developing a hypothesis and then performing an experiment to see if the hypothesis was true or false established physics as a precise science, bringing science as a whole out of the realm of natural philosophy and into the modern era. Galileo's contributions to scientific knowledge were also significant. He built the first telescope for astronomical purposes, observed that the Milky Way consisted of stars, articulated the laws of bodies in motion, and discovered the Moon's craters, Jupiter's largest four satellites, sun spots, and the phases of Venus. Galileo's ideas generated much controversy at the time, none more than his support for the then-heretical notion that the Earth was not the center of the universe. In his book Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems (1632), Galileo argued for the Copernican theory, which held that the Sun was the center of the solar system. After the book was published, Galileo was charged with and found guilty of heresy by the Roman Catholic Church. He died in 1642, but the fires of scientific revolution that he started still burn bright.

Statesman George Washington was not a social philosopher who helped develop the concept of democracy, but he definitely fostered it and ensured its success as a political system. With the war for independence from Great Britain won, the founders of the United States lacked a clear vision of what their new government should look like. Already a war hero, Washington was instrumental in shaping a model of government that has worked successfully for more than 200 years—an oft-imitated system that has withstood

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destructive forces such as a wrenching civil war and corruption at the highest levels. Some of the crafters of the Constitution of the United States preferred a monarchy such as England had, but Washington rejected the idea and led the way in forging the democratic system that has endured to the present day. Before he was a statesman, Washington was a soldier of the highest caliber. After distinguishing himself fighting for the British army during the French and Indian War (1754-1763), Washington was elected commander in chief of the colonies' Continental Army in 1775. He faced a daunting task, taking on Great Britain's large standing army and a navy second to none in the world. His army was small, poorly trained, and lacking in supplies and weaponry. Washington and his troops fought bravely for eight long years, overcoming a more powerful enemy to win independence from Britain and establish a new nation based on the principle of liberty. After the war, Washington longed to return to his Virginia farm. Instead, realizing the fledgling government was still in danger of failing, he helped craft and ensure passage of the Constitution of the United States. He then accepted the unanimous will of the Electoral College to serve as the nation's first president. “I walk on un-trodden ground,” Washington said, realizing that everything he did in office would establish a precedent. Thus Washington invented the model for the presidency that has been preserved to this day: limiting himself to two terms, respecting the separate powers of the legislative and judicial branches of government, and fostering the concept of a strong central government. In 1799, just two years after he finished his presidency, Washington died on his Mount Vernon farm. The nation mourned a man who was at the same time one of the greatest military figures in history and one of the most important political figures of the millennium. More than any single monarch, more than any groundbreaking politician, Washington was the driving force behind what is arguably the most successful form of government of the second millennium.

Music Composer Choosing one musician as most influential of the millennium is one of the more difficult assignments. Popular music styles change quickly, and musical taste is personal and hard to define. Because of this, the most logical choice is the individual, whose work has stood the test of time, enrapturing each new generation as it discovers him: German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. Born in Bonn in 1770, Beethoven is often linked with Austrian composers Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as a chief figure of the Viennese classical style.

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Beethoven briefly studied with Mozart while in his teens, and the two might have become contemporary rivals if Mozart had not died in 1791 at the age of 35. Beethoven moved permanently to Vienna, Austria, in 1792 to study with Haydn, and he remained there the rest of his life. The student soon surpassed the teacher. Beethoven was one of the most skilled and innovative keyboardists of his time, but it were his compositional skill that was truly incomparable. His composing brilliance extended to every genre of classical music, from concertos to symphonies, from sonatas to operas and string quartets. Beethoven's career output is usually broken down by musicologists into three periods, and each period is marked by changes in style and technique—a refusal to rely on familiar forms and a continual search for new challenges, some of the hallmarks of an influential artist. Beethoven's life and career were colored by an unusual tragedy that gave him no choice but to change and adjust: He gradually lost his hearing in the early 1800s and remained deaf for the rest of his life. Although he could no longer perform in public and for a time even contemplated suicide, Beethoven could still compose. Some of his greatest works, such as his Third Symphony in E-flat Major (the Eroica, completed 1804) and the opera Fidelio (1805), were written during and after the time of his hearing loss. In fact, some scholars believe that the composer's greatness came not in spite of his deafness but because of it, as it freed him to experiment with new forms. Experts say that much of the work Beethoven composed during his third and last period was far ahead of its time. Beethoven's body of work endures. The opening strains of his Fifth Symphony (1808) are instantly recognizable today, and the “Ode to Joy” choral finale of his Ninth Symphony (1824) is one of the most famous pieces of music ever written. Some musicologists credit Beethoven with actually changing the way instrumental music, and music in general, is viewed in the pantheon of art. In the late 18th century, instrumental music was considered inferior to vocal music, and music itself was deemed inferior to painting or literature. After Beethoven, the opposite came to be accepted as true.

Activist Until the 19th century, women were disenfranchised and largely powerless before the law. For example, a married woman could not hold property in her own name, and in divorce proceedings men were commonly awarded permanent legal custody of any children. And, of course, women were not allowed to vote. Then, in the mid-19th century, the unthinkable happened: Brave women began speaking up about the inequity in their lives. Slowly, 50 percent of the world's population won largely equal standing under the law. One of the most vocal and important of these women was Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

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Stanton, along with fellow activist Lucretia Mott, was the driving force behind the first women's rights convention in the United States, held in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York. A Declaration of Sentiments, based on the famous language of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, was signed at the end of the meeting. The statement called for property and custody rights for women, criticized men for barring women from higher education and most professions, and proposed that women should have the right to vote—an incredibly radical idea at that time. Stanton and her group, the National Woman Suffrage Association, began winning some battles as states changed their property laws so that women could own property. A constitutional amendment guaranteeing U.S. women the right to vote was first introduced in 1878. Stanton and her cohorts also helped women in other countries in their struggles to win rights such as the vote. However, Stanton did not believe that winning the vote alone would change the plight of women, and certainly not overnight. She was also outspoken on issues such as reproductive rights, contraception, and religion, and her views alienated many of the more conservative members of the women's movement. In essence, Stanton advocated nothing less than a complete restructuring of society. History has largely justified Stanton's beliefs. Although the battle for equal rights continues today in many places around the world, in 1920, 18 years after her death, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was finally passed, giving U.S. women the vote. When the second wave of feminism began in the 1960s, the new leaders of the movement drew on Stanton's life for inspiration. Today's feminists and scholars have a deep appreciation for the pivotal role that Stanton played in the battle for women's rights. Fellow 19th-century activist Susan B. Anthony might have more name recognition, as well as her own dollar coin, but even she acknowledged Stanton as the true founder of the women's rights movement.

Peacemaker The last millennium saw the invention of some of the most destructive weapons and the waging of some of the most horrific wars imaginable. But there were also individuals who championed peace by using philosophies of nonviolence. Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi was such an individual. During the first half of the 20th century, Gandhi used civil disobedience and passive resistance to oust British colonial rule from his native India and to improve the lot of his country's poorest people. Gandhi's nonviolent revolution and philosophy of Satyagraha, which means “truth and firmness” in Sanskrit, inspired many others, including American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Born to a modest family in India in 1869, Gandhi studied law in London, England, and then moved to South Africa. There he was radicalized when he discovered he was considered a member of an inferior race. For 20 years, Gandhi protested against discriminatory treatment, and he was jailed on many occasions. It was in South Africa that Gandhi formulated his policy of passive resistance to authorities, based in part on the writings of Russian author Leo Tolstoy and American author Henry David Thoreau, as well as on the teachings of Jesus Christ. In 1914, after the South African government had met many of his demands, Gandhi returned home to India, where the British had been a colonial power since the 18th century. Armed uprisings in the past had failed, but Gandhi advocated different tactics for combating British rule. He encouraged noncooperation with authorities and urged Indian bureaucrats to resign from their posts. His method of nonviolent protest, called ahimsa (non-injury), eventually attracted millions of followers. In a 1922 speech, Gandhi stated his philosophy: “I am endeavoring to show to my countrymen that violent noncooperation only multiplies evil and that as evil can only be sustained by violence, withdrawal of support of evil requires complete abstention from violence.” Gandhi became the leader of the independence movement and the most powerful individual in all of India, but he lived the simple lifestyle of the country's most impoverished. British officials could do little to thwart him. When imprisoned he fasted, and the authorities were forced to release him, knowing that the country would explode if Gandhi were to die in prison. In the end, all the political clout and military might of the British government were overcome by a peaceful man in a loincloth. India won its independence in 1947. The following year, while still working for peace in a country torn by religious factionalism, Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist. Gandhi showed the international community that guns and power were not the only—or even the most effective—way to topple an empire. A deeply spiritual man, his message went beyond politics and into the universal realms of human nature. Gandhi's life and teachings were of major importance in three of the biggest social struggles of the millennium: the battles against colonialism, racism, and violence. In recognition of his greatness, the Indian people gave Gandhi the Sanskrit title Mahatma, which means “great soul.”

Influential Risk Takers These ten people who helped shape the second millennium were in one way or another radicals, risk takers, or controversial figures. All possessed the courage of their convictions and believed, often against considerable opposition, that they were in the right. Whether influential as religious reformer, free-thinking scientist, defender of democracy, women's activist, or in another role, these ten people changed the millennium

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and made history because they refused to accept the limits and conventional thinking of their eras. The world today is so much the richer for it. About the author: Agnes Hooper Gottlieb is an associate professor of communication and women's studies at Seton Hall University. She is a coauthor of 1000 Years, 1000 People: Ranking the Men and Women Who Shaped the Millennium. Further reading: Abbott, David, ed. Biographical Dictionary of Scientists. Peter Bedrick Books, 1986. Day, Lance, and Ian McNeil, eds. Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology. Routledge, 1996. Feldman, Anthony, and Peter Ford. Scientists and Inventors. Facts on File, 1979. Garraty, John A., and Peter Gay. The Columbia History of the World. Harper & Row, 1972. Gottlieb, Agnes Hooper; Henry Gottlieb; Barbara Bowers; and Brent Bowers. 1,000 Years, 1,000 People: Ranking the Men and Women Who Shaped the Millennium. Kodansha, 1998. Grimm, Harold J. The Reformation Era, 1500-1650. Macmillan, 1973. Magill, Frank N., ed. Great Lives from History. Salem Press, 1990. Morison, Samuel Eliot. Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus. Little, Brown, 1991. Raven, Susan, and Alison Weir. Women of Achievement: Thirty-Five Centuries of History. Harmony, 1981. Source: Encarta Yearbook, December 1999.

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