What is known is that by the ninth century Arab authors such as Jaber bin Hayyan, an Iraqi polymath best known for elaborating al-jabr or algebra, were describing "flammable vapours" at the mouths of heated wine vessels.His contemporary, the legendary poet and lush Abu Nawas (who died in 815AD), was less prim.
Isn't that great?No, says Jaron Lanier, a technologist, musician and polymath who is best known for his pioneering work in the field of virtual reality.
A prominent yet mysterious polymath, he is best known for his Photo Realist mirror paintings and for helping to lay the cornerstones of Arte Povera, the polyglot Italian precursor to Post Minimalism.
A polymath indeed.He is best known for his work on the behavioural theory of organisations, working at one time with Herbert Simon (see article), the definer of the idea of satisficing, with whom he wrote a classic book, "Organisations".
Mark Mothersbaugh -- the polymath musician and artist, best known for the band Devo -- will be the subject of a retrospective that will launch at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver in October and will tour the country, with a planned stop at the Santa Monica Museum of Art in 2016.
Cocteau was one of the great polymaths of the 20th century, and is best known for his films, which include La Belle et la Bête and Orphée.
Some discrepancy between a public figure's professional persona and private self is normal, but James turns out to be even more like Clive James than the one we have known for nearly 40 years - humorist, critic, poet, presenter, polyglot and prolific polymath.
A polymath and polyglot (the languages in which he was fluent included Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and those were merely the ancient ones), Mr. Bruckner was known for his stylistic prowess.
Joshua Foer: When the Royal Society was founded in 1660, it was still possible for an educated person, a polymath, actually to know something about everything.
Hildegard was a known polymath.
