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1. Literate, energetic, and adept in the usual pursuits of a Western European royal heir, he stands out as a Renaissance Man. However, his impact on history has rather little to do with his scholarly or artistic pursuits. Instead, his significance lies in his rebellion against the Catholic Church, albeit for less than noble reasons.
Which Tudor king of England instigated the English Reformation and contributed to the further growth of Protestantism on the European continent following his abolishment of the Catholic Church in England?
2. During the mid-nineteenth century, American women had an average of seven children. By the mid-twentieth century, the birth rate was closer to 2.2 children per woman. This plummeting birth rate was due in part to the efforts of one female, who had watched her own mother die in childbirth and was forced to care for many of her own siblings.
Which social reformer coined the phrase "birth control", established America's first birth control clinic, and organized a number of pro-contraception groups, including Planned Parenthood?
3. Ralph Waldo Emerson once described this Prussian polymath as "one of the wonders of the world, like Aristotle, like Julius Caesar, who appear from time to time, as if to show the possibilities of the human mind". Indeed, "Kosmos" seems a very fitting title to his multi-volumed encyclopedic work.
Who was this German scientist who led a 6,000-mile Latin American expedition, laid the groundwork for the fields of biogeography and geomagnetic monitoring, and proposed the phenomenon of human-induced climate change? (Which Alexander was most likely the "least prideful," so to speak?)
4. "Prince of the Humanists" some have called him, and he is regarded by many to be one of the greatest Christian scholars of the Renaissance. He greatly influenced such leaders of the Protestant Reformation as Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Milton, and Henry VIII, yet he remained a steadfast Catholic his entire life.
Who was this Dutch philosopher famous for such works as "Adagia" (a collection of proverbs from classical times), "The Praise of Folly" (a masterpiece of satire), and his Latin and Greek editions of the New Testament?
5. Holy Roman Emperor Louis of Bavaria treated this man as a heretic until he realized this man's book justified the emperor's own side in his conflict with Pope John XXII. Louis rewarded the book's author by making him Archbishop of Milan.
Who is this fourteenth-century European author of "Defensor Pacis", which radically called for a church of poverty-stricken priests subservient to kings, who themselves should be subservient to the will of the people? (Think about Galileo, St. Anthony, or "The Taming of the Shrew").
6. "Have I done the world good, or have I added a menace?" this Italian wondered as he lived long enough to see his invention become massively used for entertainment and advertising purposes.
Who was this aristocratically born inventor who built a machine to exchange wireless telegraph signals using the electromagnetic waves discovered by Heinrich Hertz and then, of course, created what we call the radio itself?
7. Many might be tempted to refer to this individual as the patron saint of sales and advertising, for he possessed a talent for convincing people to purchase what they did not need or to pay to see what they did not believe.
Who was this Connecticut-born showman, politician, and businessman whose American Museum introduced commoners and royalty alike to such as fu-Hum-Me, the Feejee mermaid, the Swedish Nightingale, and General Tom Thumb?
8. Some scholars have declared him the most influential Chinese philosopher of the common era's second millennium, and others consider him the second most significant thinker in Chinese history, Confucius being the first.
Who was this Song Dynasty scholar, writer, and politician who "re-invented" Confucianism and wrote and compiled material for almost one hundred books, including the "Four Books"? (Only one person listed is of Chinese ethnicity.)
9. His name is derived from the Persian word for "tiger", and he was a direct descendant of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane. He inherited an Afghan principality when he was but eleven years old, but his appetite for something greater extended much beyond this.
Who was this conqueror of Mongol descent whose victorious battles in Afghanistan and northern India established him as the creator and first Emperor of the Mughal Empire?
10. An era consisting of over half a century in Great Britain is named for one of this country's most famous monarchs. During her reign, this country led the world economically, industrially, militarily, and culturally. In fact, many said that her empire was one "the sun never set" upon.
Who was this Hanoverian leader of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, and "Grandmother of Europe" whose reign lasted a remarkable sixty-three years?
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alaspooryoric
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gtho4 before going online.
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