As Marc Abrahams writes today (24 November) in EducationGuardian, psychologists spend an enormous amount of energy arguing about what genius is, and where it comes from. That said, anyone would be hard pushed to argue that Leonardo da Vinci, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein were not geniuses.
But then, with the dear departed, it's easy to appreciate their formidable legacies to the world. To paraphrase the late great Nick Drake, time has told us; we can clearly see with objective eyes the seismic impact their work had – and more importantly, still has – on the world.
For this reason then, we on EducationGuardian.co.uk believe that way more interesting (and guaranteed to get many more people than just psychologists hot under the collar) is the question of which living people we can legitimately call geniuses: those who are having an almighty impact on the world and whose work has truly eclipsed that of their contemporaries.
We've narrowed it down to 10 choices, and we'd love to see who you think is the greatest living genius – so get voting here. But equally, if you feel aggrieved by our inclusions/ommissions, we'd love to hear your suggestions below...
Our top 10 living geniuses: who's the greatest?
Stephen Hawking
Everyone's favourite theoretical physicist
Steve Jobs
Co-founder and chief executive officer of the extremely influential Apple
Anish Kapoor
Yes, other art-world heavyweights Bruce Nauman and Richard Serra were contenders, but the Indian-born sculptor's work is more often than not awe-inspiring
Germaine Greer
Controversial, possibly, but the huge cultural impact of her feminist writings, such as The Female Eunuch, cannot be underestimated
Tim Berners-Lee
Invented the world wide web. Pretty smart chap
Emily Oster
Heavyweight US economist
Paul McCartney
One the one hand he was half of the greatest popular song-writing partnership in history; on the other he wrote the Frog Chorus. Admittedly, it's in the balance
Flossie Wong-Staal
The Chinese-American virologist and molecular biologist was among the first people to map HIV
Daniel Barenboim
One of the greatest pianists of the 20th and 21st centuries, and now world-renowned conductor
Stephen Fry
The people's genius? Or a dilettante who just happens to be very bright? It's up to you...
