Pursuing Pantomathematics

Genius: a person of great intelligence, who shows an exceptional natural capacity of intellect, especially as shown in creative and original work. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genius) It’s been said that genius is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. It’s also been said that there are three kinds of genius: the one who knows, the one who knows where to find the info, and the one who does both as needed. Which kind are you?

Polyglot: a person who speaks many languages fluently. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperpolyglot) As automatic language translation efforts continue, this will become a thing of the past. (http://www.tc-star.org/)

Polymath: is a person with encyclopedic, broad, or varied knowledge or learning; a "renaissance man" or woman. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymath) This is allowed with unrestricted access to knowledge and experience, the precursors of wisdom. In societies existing without open-access information and education systems, only one of millions achieved this status, since advanced learning was available only to those of means or supported by the affluent.

Examples, in alphabetical order, are: Abbas Ibn Firnas, Abhinavagupta, Abu al-Hasan 'Alī al-Mas'ūdī, Abū Alī ibn Sīnā, Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi, Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī, Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, Acharya Hemachandra, Akbar the Great, Albert Schweitzer, Alexander von Humboldt, Al-Farabi, Al-Jahiz, Al-Kindi, Al-Muqaddasi, André Malraux, Aristotle, Athanasius Kircher, Baldassare Castiglione, Benjamin Franklin, Blaise Pascal, C. B. Fry, Charles Peirce, Edward Heron-Allen, Fathullah Shirazi, Galileo Galilei, Gottfried Leibniz, H. G. Wells, Hakeem, Herbert Simon, Hildegard of Bingen, Ibn al-Haytham, Ibn al-Nafis, Ibn Bajjah, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Rushd, Ibn Tufail, Ibn Zuhr, Ibrahim Muteferrika, Imhotep, Isaac Newton, Jabir ibn Hayyan, Jagadis Chandra Bose, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, John von Neumann, Jose Rizal, Joseph Pomeroy Widney, Katib Chelebi, Kenneth Wayne Jennings III, Le Corbusier, Leonardo da Vinci, Leone Battista Alberti, Mary Somerville, Mikhail Lomonosov, Muhammad al-Idrisi, Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī, Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi, Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī, Nicolaus Copernicus, Omar Khayyám, Rabindranath Tagore, Rafael Francisco Osejo, Richard Feynman, Robert Nozick, Rowan Williams, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Shen Kuo, Steven Pinker, Su Song, Suyuti, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Young, William James Sidis, William Whewell.

Polyhistor: having a knowledge spanning many fields. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyhistor) This is so similar to the polymath definitions, it is considered a synonym.

Pantomath: a person who knows everything; omniscient. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantomath) As circumstances allowing for polymaths continue to increase, and as personal longevity increases, everyone will have the opportunity to be a pantomath.

Until then, interest in and access to learning in all areas is best.