If one wants to consider mass murderers/war mongers, maybe it should be the first of such people, there were a lot less people then thus a bigger difference?
well, he did a good job when he wasnt a conservative, but yes we wouldnt be where we are now if it wasnt for him.
Leonardo Da Vinci: **Good article on Wikipedia dot com** Had a great impact on modern life. Way ahead of his Time. Some of his inventions, and theories, led to modern techniques and strategies. Still, many are useful.
Maybe you would not be here at all if some ancient war had killed your great great great etc grandad.
Thespis! Creator of the Big Bang of human imagination. Greece in the fifth century BC was the cradle of modern western civilisation. The creation of dramatic art of a recognisably modern form in the sixth century BC surely detonated the cultural and intellectual explosion that was to follow. Imagine, after all, a world without play-acting! Imagine a world without imagination! Thespis (from whose name we derive "thespian") is held to be the individual to whom most credit is due.
It is very difficult to attribute the invention of some thing to one man. (who invented the steam engine)?