I put people into two categories
The so called GREAT achievers
Leonardo Da Vinci
Galileo Galilee
James Clerk Maxwell
Albert Einstein
Howard Flory the real inventor of the medical use of Penecillin. He has saved more lives than anyone else IMHO.
And for the greatest thinker of modern times
Douglas Richard Hofstadter
Google Him if you don't know who he is.
His book
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6...Escher%2C_Bach
Is the only book I never quite finished or did not fully understand.
and the ones who simply by being there and doing what they do make every thing work
your parents
the dunny man
the garbo
the fruiterer
the butcher......
The list is very long
More has been done for humanities health by simply having having clean water,decent food and good sanitation than all the medical interventions put together.
But then we also need to also educate everyone to a level where they can survive independantly.
Bert