4. Aristotle
During his time, Aristotle was known as “the man who knows everything.” Afterward, he became known simply as “the philosopher.” In fact, Aristotle was so well-known as the singularity of genius that a thousand years after his end, the Medieval writer Dante referred to him simply as “the master,” and his readers knew whom he was talking about. Aristotle pioneered scientific inquiry into every kind of knowledge. Furthermore, he made contributions in fields as disparate as biology, political science, agriculture, literature, metaphysics, medicine, botany, physics, mathematics, logic, ethics, and even theatre.