Genius
The term genius is originally a Latin term from Roman mythology meaning 'spirit', either the internal driving force within all living things, or a specific spirit, or demon with supernatural powers. A similar term from Arabic legend is jinnee.This paper is about people with exceptional mental abilities. For the cartoon, see Genius (cartoon).
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2 Gifted 3 Greats 4 Others 5 Significant works 6 References |
In modern usage, a 'genius' is a person with distinguished mental prowess. This can manifest either as a foremost intellect, or as a creative talent. The term also applies to one who is a polymath, or someone skilled in many mental areas. The term does specifically apply to mental rather than athletic skills, although it is also used to denote the possession of a superior talent in any field; eg, one may be said to have a genius for golf.
Geniuses come gifted with phenomenal brilliance, and are often very sensitive emotionally. Artistic geniuses usually start out as prodigies, but differentiate themselves from the rest through great originality and/or inspiration. Intellectual geniuses usually have crisp, clear-eyed visions of given situations, in which interpretation is unnecessary - the facts just hit them, and they build or act on the basis of those facts, usually with tremendous energy. Here too, accomplished geniuses in intellectual fields start out in many cases as prodigies, gifted with superior memory, pattern recognition or just understanding.
Prodigies are simply talented virtuosos, more like circus freaks who do not necessarily feel controlled by any impulse to build or create. Geniuses are creators. They make huge original leaps in their field, rather than just extending the previous body of work in that field. To distinguish between a prodigy, a genius must also have created or brought in something new in an established field, usually, the sciences, math, literature, chess, art, and music.
These names are synonmous with the word Genius.
Some widely called geniuses are:
Among history's most significant works of Genius are —
Modern usage
Gifted
Greats
Others
A to L
M to Z
Significant works
References