Angat Pinoy - pinag-uusapan, pinagkakakitaan, usapang negosyo at iba pa... (Unbarred!)

Most of us had known Dr. Jose Rizal as our national hero.  Only few know him as a polymath and a polyglot.

Here's a list of some of the recognized polymaths:

  Aristotle (384–322 BC); "Aristotle was an extraordinary polymath..."

  Leone Battista Alberti (1404–1472), "often considered the archetype of the Renaissance polymath"

  Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) was a French mathematician, philosopher and theologian.

  Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), "The ultimate creole intellectual... A true polymath of the Enlightenment style, he distinguished himself on both sides of the Atlantic by researches in natural sciences as well as politics and literature."  He was a leading author, political theorist, politician, printer, scientist, inventor, civic activist, and diplomat.

  Mikhail Lomonosov (1711–1765), "Lomonosov was a true polymath—physicist, chemist, natural scientist, poet and linguist...."

  Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), some sources describe him as "polymath and President," putting "polymath" first;[90] John F. Kennedy famously commented, addressing a group of Nobel laureates, that it was "the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House—- with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."

  Mary Somerville (1780–1872), "Somerville was the most celebrated woman scientist of her time. A polymath, she wrote on astronomy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, mineralogy, and geology, among other subjects."

  Charles Peirce (1839–1914), was a mathematician, astronomer, chemist, geodesist, surveyor, cartographer, metrologist, spectroscopist, engineer, inventor; psychologist, philologist, lexicographer, historian, economist, lifelong student of medicine; book reviewer, dramatist, actor, short story writer; phenomenologist, semiotician, logician, rhetorician and metaphysician.

  Jose Rizal (1861-1896), a Filipino polygot, linguist, novelist, poet, journalist, opthalmologist, anthropologist, ethnologist, artist, sociologist and national hero. Rizal's 1896 military trial and execution made him a martyr of the Philippine Revolution. He is considered to be the "Pride of the Malay race".

  Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), an Indian Bengali polymath; "He was a polymath: a poet, fiction writer, dramatist, painter, educator, political thinker, philosopher of science."

  Edward Heron-Allen (1861–1943) "Heron-Allen is better described as a polymath..."  Not only was Heron-Allen a lawyer by trade, he also wrote, lectured on and created violins, was an expert on the art of chiromancy or palmistry, having read palms and analysed the handwriting of luminaries of the period. He wrote on musical, literary and scientific subjects ranging from foraminifera, marine zoology, meteorology, as a Persian scholar translated Classics such as the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and The Lament of Baba Tahir, also wrote on local geographic history, archeology, Buddhist philosophy, the cultivation, gourmet appreciation of and culture of the asparagus, as well as a number of novels and short stories of science fiction and horror written under his pseudonymn of "Christopher Blayre."

Click here to see the list of other polymaths.

yah, i do agree. even Spaniards knew how good Dr. Jose Rizal is. And a lot of non-filipino individuals idolize our national hero.