Society has progressed considerably ever since mankind's ability to save their thoughts on paper but there are people from history that stands out for pushing the boundaries unexpectedly further than it logically perhaps should.
Where would we be without the philosophical foundation left by Socrates, or Newton's formula for the rotation of planets around our sun, or the theory of relativity left behind by Einstein?
Isaac Newton's equations, for example, helped put man on the moon in 1969 - almost 250 years after he passed away. Without him, maybe man would still be looking at the moon without knowing that it is possible to go there.
Looking back, we can easily see that Newton's equation was found before its time. That his influence pushed humanity forward significantly and that it took 250 years, of accumulated knowledge, to use his equations to the fullest of its potential.
One has to wonder how can we produce more of those great minds. I think we can all agree that the education available today, while not perfect, is better than at the time of Isaac Newton. Therefor, education alone isn't solely responsible for the creation of great minds. What is? Is it possible to create a systematic way of harvesting great minds: With each generation significantly pushing our understandings vs only challenging what's already in place?
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