The Most Productive People in History, Part 1: From Archimedes to Ben Franklin

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 29 May 2018

⏱️ 73 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

They never knew how he did it. Few composers write more than one or two symphonies in their lifetimes. Beethoven spent a year on his shorter symphonies but more than six years on his 9th Symphony. But Georg Philipp Telemann composed at least 200 overtures in a two-year period. Over his lifetime Telemann's oeuvre consists of more than 3,000 pieces, although “only” 800 survive to this day.

He was not the only person whose productivity defied all reason. Greek scientist Archimedes discovered mathematical phenomena that weren't confirmed for 17 centuries. Isaac Newton invented classical physics and was one of the inventors of calculus. Benjamin Franklin wrote, published, politicked, invented, experimented, and humored, sometimes all at the same time.

This episode is part one of two that explores the lives of the most productive people in history. We will look at the cultures into which they were born and see the methods that they used to achieve such sweeping results.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The History of North America podcast is a sweeping historical saga of the United States,
0:09.4	Canada, and Mexico from their deep origins to our present epoch.
0:13.9	Join me, Mark Vinet, on this exciting, fascinating epic journey through time, focusing on the compelling,
0:20.7	wonderful, and tragic stories of North America's inhabitants, heroes, villains, leaders,
0:27.1	environment, and geography.
0:29.5	I invite you to come along for the ride!
0:59.5	Welcome to the History Unplugged Podcast, the unscripted show that celebrates unsung heroes,
1:14.5	myth busts historical lies, and rediscover the forgotten stories that changed our world.
1:21.3	I'm your host, Scott Rank.
1:30.2	Nobody drank as much coffee as 19th century French novelist Oneré de Balzac.
1:36.2	He wrote thousands of words a day by drinking up to 50 cups of bitter coffee, usually on an empty stomach.
1:43.2	Balzac was displeased with a state of literature in his country.
1:46.8	He was surrounded by romantic poets and playwrights who emphasized intense emotion,
1:51.2	Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, and Walter Scott fetishized epic poetry in verbose language.
1:57.7	Serbby pros flooded the bookshops of Paris.
2:01.0	On the other hand, Balzac preferred real human experiences to abstractions, and he preferred lots of them.
2:08.0	He wrote about everything and everyone in French society from 1815 onward.
2:13.5	Balzac presented a massive panorama of French society painstakingly reconstructing the French urban
2:19.8	working class and provincial life. With a journalist's eye, he recorded details of the
2:24.6	lives of thousands from every trade, profession, background, and level of social respectability.
2:31.0	Balzac described soldiers or aristocrats, workmen, spies, mistresses, and scoundrels.
2:36.2	He described core clothing and possessions. The settings included cities, countryside,
	...

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