Tournament of Genius

Tournament of Genius

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This spring, we'll be having a little March Madness of our own here at mentalfloss.com. Instead of playing hoops, though, we'll be working to put the title of "History's Greatest Genius" on its rightful owner. To find this singularly great thinker, we're having a single-elimination tournament to settle the debate about humanity's greatest mind once and for all. Is it Albert Einstein? Sir Isaac Newton? Evel Knievel? (Every tournament needs its Cinderellas.) The winner will be crowned on April 6th!

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Tournament of Genius: The Winner Is...

Leo wins! According to mental_floss's learned readers, Leonardo da Vinci is history's greatest genius. While the Renaissance man may have easily bested Albert Einstein in the 65-person tournament's final round, his path to the title wasn't so easy. He had to survive a controversial first-round matchup against Burt Reynolds that went into a runoff due to allegations of voter fraud, and then he had to slip past Sigmund Freud, Galileo, Nikola Tesla, and Benjamin Franklin. Through it all, though, the... READ ON

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The Title Game: Einstein vs. Leonardo

The Breakdown This matchup has seemed inevitable since we released the brackets, hasn't it? We've already filled you in on what each of these geniuses accomplished, but it's worth running through the list one more time before you decide who should take the title. Einstein's output in 1905 alone was enough for an entire lifetime of work. In that "miracle year" he published four papers that altered humanity's understanding of physics. One explained the... READ ON

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(2) Ben Franklin vs. (1) Leonardo Da Vinci

The Breakdown Two of history's most diverse minds are squaring off here, and it's going to be tough to pick a winner. Not content to just be one of the greatest artists of all time, Leonardo basically spent every waking moment of his life trying to absorb some sort of knowledge. This plan worked perfectly, and in addition to his art he also made huge strides in architectural and scientific studies of fields like botany and anatomy in addition to his breathtaking artistic output.... READ ON

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(1) Albert Einstein vs. (1) Isaac Newton

The Breakdown Talk about a clash of titans. Einstein's name may be synonymous with "genius," but Newton's resume is just as incredible. In his 84 years the man managed to develop calculus, confirm the existence of gravity, build the first practical reflecting telescope, formulate the principle of conservation of momentum and the three laws of motion, and discover the composition of white light. Before his death he even managed to bring out new editions of work that had been... READ ON

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(1) Leonardo Da Vinci vs. (7) Nikola Tesla

The Breakdown Tesla continued his Cinderella run through the tournament by knocking off Descarte, but will the electrical wizard be able to drop one of history's most beloved geniuses? Leonardo's got the more diverse résumé with top-flight artworks, sketches for flying machines, anatomical studies, early notes on botany, bridge designs, and nearly everything else one could possibly study. Tesla, while far more limited in scope, possibly had an even more profound effect on modern... READ ON

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(1) Thomas Jefferson vs. (2) Ben Franklin

The Breakdown An epic clash between two Founding Fathers! Both were prolific writers, Jefferson of the Declaration of Independence and his own version of the Bible, Franklin of Poor Richard's Almanack and countless newspapers and pamphlets. Franklin invented the lightning rod, bifocals, and a carriage odometer, but Jefferson was no scientific slouch himself and filled Monticello, which he also designed, with a number of little inventions of his own, including a gadget that made copies of letters as... READ ON

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(1) Isaac Newton vs. (3) Louis Pasteur

The Breakdown Pasteur is fresh off of his upset of Shakespeare, but a matchup against Sir Isaac Newton hardly gives him a chance to catch his breath. Pasteur's discoveries and innovations in microbiology and vaccinology help keep all of us healthy and give us unspoiled beer and milk, not to mention helping the silk industry to thrive. The stats on the back of Newton's trading card are just staggering, though; he discovered gravity, developed calculus, built the first practical reflecting... READ ON

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(1) Einstein vs. (2) Plato

The Breakdown Any competition between guys who go by one-word names is going to be tight, and this one's no exception. Our beloved cover boy Einstein has a pretty solid claim to being the 20th century's greatest scientist on the merits of his explanation of Brownian motion and formulation of the theory of relativity alone. Plato, for his part, is one of the key figures in the development in philosophy. Not just a student of Socrates and a teacher of Aristotle, Plato's dialogues and... READ ON

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(3) Rene Descartes vs. (7) Nikola Tesla

The Breakdown Tesla zapped his old rival Edison in the second round, but how will he fare against the father of modern philosophy? Tesla's got the fan following and the slew of inventions to keep him rolling through the bracket, but don't discount Descartes' body of work. The clever Frenchman crafted an ontological argument that God exists, came up with the Cartesian coordinate system that laid the groundwork for calculus, and helped drive the Scientific Revolution. Sure, David Bowie... READ ON

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(3) Michelangelo vs. (2) Benjamin Franklin

The Breakdown Two of the bracket's more colorful characters square off here. The ever-quotable Franklin was an inventor, scientist, author, and diplomat without peer in his day, but he was also a fellow who enjoyed a good beer and a fur hat and had an illegitimate son. (William Franklin later became the last Loyalist governor of New Jersey, presumably in the ultimate act of filial rebellion.) Michelangelo, for his part, gained renown for his arrogance and single-minded devotion to his work, which... READ ON

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