The mental_floss Tournament of Genius

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 Italian polymath’s supporters came out in droves, and it seems that no other genius could quite match Leonardo’s combination of artistic mastery and scientific acumen. Congratulations, Leonardo! Consider this one more addition to your lengthy, impressive resume.

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 photoelectric effect, while another offered an explanation for Brownian motion and the first experimental proof of the existence of atoms. The third and fourth papers laid out his theories of special relativity and his famous “E equals MC squared” formula. Any one of these papers would have been an incredible Nobel-worthy triumph, and he banged out all four in a single year. When early Nazi propaganda targeted Einstein and the “Jewish physics” of relativity and forced other scientists to renounce relativity, he fled to the United States, where he eventually helped convince Franklin Roosevelt to develop the atomic bombs that would end World War II. Later in his life Israeli officials offered Einstein the presidency of their country, although he declined.

Leonardo, for his part, was just as busy. The Renaissance man felt that it was his duty to take in as much knowledge as he possibly could, so he threw himself into all sorts of studies. Works like his Last Supper and Mona Lisa show his artistic virtuosity, particularly his mastery of smoky shadows, but it’s his scientific and engineering work that really sets Leonardo apart from the crowd. When he died, Leonardo left hundreds of pages of journals detailing his observations on all sorts of natural sciences, including botany, anatomy, and zoology. His architectural studies were far-reaching and diverse, and his engineering sketches proved to be well ahead of their time, particularly his designs for flying machines, tanks, parachutes, and an early forerunner to the machine gun. Leonardo may not really have only slept for 15 minutes at a time, but with accomplishments like this, it’s easy to see how that urban legend could spread.

Which one are you going to pick as your top genius, though? Einstein, the scientific powerhouse who won the Nobel and has given us fodder for countless magazine covers? Or do you like Leonardo, the brilliant artist who managed to learn a little bit about almost everything else, too? They’re both great, but there can be only one champion.

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[See the whole bracket here.]

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.

Franklin’s achievements are similarly impressive, though. The Founding Father built an early print media empire, helped draft the Declaration of Independence, won over the French during the American Revolution, flew a kite in a thunderstorm to test his theories on electricity, invented bifocals and the lightning rod, and managed to write a series of hit almanacs. Plus, he was a friend to turkeys everywhere. Who’s the pick: the original Renaissance man or the American Revolution’s own Renaissance man?

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[See the whole bracket here.]

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 translated into Latin.

Einstein, to his credit, explained the photoelectric effect and Brownian motion, formulated special and general theories of relativity, and made a whole slew of other scientific breakthroughs. We’re all lucky that both of these geniuses shared their knowledge with the world, but are you going to take, the kingpin of the Scientific Revolution or the revolutionary scientist whose face is often on our cover?

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[See the whole bracket here.]

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 society by figuring out the alternating current that brings the world its electricity. Turning to pop culture is no help in making this decision, either. Tesla may have a metal band named after him, but Leonardo’s got his own Ninja Turtle. Both of these fellows shaped the world in positive ways, but who’s higher in your genius rankings?

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[See the whole bracket here.]

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 he wrote them. Jefferson also carried out a number of early archeological studies. Both men had a key hand in establishing elite universities, with Franklin’s work at Penn matched by Jefferson’s efforts to start the University of Virginia. It’s hard to imagine the founding of the United States without these two titans, and this race is definitely a dead heat. Who’s the bigger genius, though, the declarer of independence or the discoverer of electricity?

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[See the whole bracket here.]

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 telescope, codified physics’ laws of motion and still had time to lounge around under apple trees. Pasteur’s discoveries have surely saved millions of lives over the last century, but Newton may be the premier scientific and mathematical genius of all time. Which one gets the nod here?

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[See the whole bracket here.]

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 formulation of Platonic realism have been confusing and enlightening scholars for centuries now. (Plus, he had some serious chops as a wrestler.) Who’s coming out on top here, the man who helped us harness the atom or the man who taught us to think a little differently about caves?

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[See the whole bracket here.]

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 never played Descartes in a movie, but the French thinker’s mustache nearly equals Tesla’s. Who’s coming out on top here, the brilliant engineer or the all-around French scholar?

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[See the whole bracket here.]

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 often led the artist to sleep in his clothes and forget to eat. Both are undeniably brilliant, but which genius are you going to take here, the man with the glass harmonica or the man whose hands sculpted the Pieta?

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[See the whole bracket here.]