“Polymathy is the optimal path to creativity because, by its very nature, it requires you to be diverse in your experience and your learning,” says Ahmed. This is also something that Ahmed observed in the biographies of history’s greatest polymaths. It is telling, for instance, that Antheil had previously worked on scores involving synchronised self-playing pianolas, and together he and Lamarr drew on the mechanism of those instruments to come up with their anti-jamming device. “Because we live in a society that tells us to specialise, and these are people who didn’t do that – they forged their own path.” Many people may lack the necessary self-possession to fight those norms. But she found that they also needed high emotional resilience to pursue their interests in the face of external expectations.
Like Ahmed, she found that traits like curiosity were essential. (Her criteria were slightly less stringent than Ahmed’s – the participants had to have had successful careers in at least two separate domains – one arts and one science – and self-identify as a polymath.) That idea tallies with the work of Angela Cotellessa, whose PhD at George Washington University involved interviewing modern polymaths about their experiences. So many more people may have the capacity to be polymaths, if only they are encouraged in the right way. Ahmed points out that many children are fascinated by many different areas – but our schools, universities and then employment tend to push us towards ever greater specialisation. Like any personality traits, these qualities will all have a certain genetic basis, but they will also be shaped by our environment. When examining the lives of historical polymaths, he only considered those who had made significant contributions to at least three fields, such as Leonardo da Vinci (the artist, inventor and anatomist), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (the great writer who also studied botany, physics and mineralogy) and Florence Nightingale (who, besides founding modern nursing, was also an accomplished statistician and theologian). “It is too esteemed an accolade for me to refer to myself as one,” he says.
POLYMATH ARTIST PROFESSIONAL
Today, he is pursuing his love of visual art as the artistic director of one of the world’s largest private art collections, while also working as a professional artist himself.ĭespite these achievements, Ahmed does not identify as a polymath. With an undergraduate degree in economics and post-graduate degrees in international relations and neuroscience, Ahmed has worked as a diplomatic journalist and personal trainer (which he learnt through the British Armed Forces).
The inspiration was partly personal: Ahmed has spanned multiple fields in his career to date. One of the most detailed examinations of the subject comes from Waqas Ahmed in his book The Polymath, published earlier this year. Most researchers argue that to be a true polymath you need some kind of formal acclaim in at least two apparently unrelated domains. The term has its roots in Ancient Greek and was first used in the early 17th Century to mean a person with “many learnings”, but there is no easy way to decide how advanced those learnings must be and in how many disciplines. It may seem a surprising origin for ground-breaking technology, but the story of Lamarr and Antheil fits perfectly with a growing understanding of the polymathic mind.Įven the definition of “polymath” is the subject of debate. The result was a method of signal transmission called ‘frequency-hopping spread spectrum’ ( patented under Lamarr’s married name, Markey) that is still used in much of today’s wireless technology. And when the pair realised that enemy forces were jamming the Allied radio signals, they set about looking for a solution. Lamarr met a kindred spirit in George Antheil, however – an avant-garde pianist, composer and novelist who also had an interest in engineering. (She had previously designed more streamlined aeroplanes for a lover, the aviation tycoon Howard Hughes.) Few of her contemporaries knew that her other great passion was inventing. In the late 1930s and early 40s, Hedy Lamarr was already the toast of Hollywood, famed for her portrayals of femme fatales. If it weren’t for an actress and a pianist, GPS and WiFi might not exist.
0 kommentar(er)
