Editing Polymath (section)

== Examples ==
{{Further|List of Renaissance figures}}
Polymaths include the scholars and thinkers of the [[Renaissance]] and [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], who excelled at several fields in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and the arts. In the [[Italian Renaissance]], the idea of the polymath was allegedly expressed by [[Leon Battista Alberti]] (1404–1472), a polymath himself, in the statement that "a man can do all things if he will".<ref>{{cite web |title=Renaissance man – Definition, Characteristics, & Examples |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/497891/Renaissance-man |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503093146/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/497891/Renaissance-man |archive-date=3 May 2015 |access-date=25 April 2012}}</ref> [[Leonardo da Vinci]] is often used as the [[Archetype|archetypal example]] of a polymath.<ref name="HG" /> 

Many polymaths didn't identify as such, since the term was first coined in the 17th century; they were instead described as polymaths by later historians.<ref name="auto" /> This includes several philosophers of [[Ancient Greek philosophy|Ancient Greece]] and the [[Islamic Golden Age]]. Whether or not a person is a polymath is often a subject of debate because of the term's broad definition by nature.

Well-known polymaths include:

* [[Archimedes]] - Ancient Greek mathematician and physicist (c. 287-212 BC)
* [[Aristotle]] - Ancient Greek philosopher and scientist (384-322 BC)
* [[Eratosthenes]] - Ancient Greek mathematician and geographer (276-195 BC)
* [[Avicenna]] - Persian physician and philosopher (c. 980-1037)
* [[Averroes]] - Andalusian jurist and philosopher (1126-1198)
* [[Nicolaus Copernicus]] - Polish mathematician and astronomer (1473-1543)
* [[Leonardo da Vinci]] - Italian polymath (1452-1519) 
* [[René Descartes]] - French philosopher and mathematician (1596-1650)
* [[Thomas Edison]] - American inventor and businessman (1847-1931)
* [[Leonhard Euler]] - Swiss mathematician and scientist (1707-1783)
* [[Benjamin Franklin]] - American Founding Father and statesman (1706-1790)
* [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]] - Holy Roman Emperor and scholar (1194-1250)
* [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]] - German author and scientist (1749-1832)
* [[Hemchandra]] - Indian scholar, poet, mathematician, philosopher (1088-1172)
* [[Hildegard of Bingen]] - German composer, writer, and nun (c. 1098-1179)
* [[Robert Hooke]] - English scientist and architect (1635-1703)
* [[Alexander von Humboldt]] - German geographer, naturalist, and explorer (1769-1859)
* [[Hypatia]] - Alexandrian philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician (c. 350/370 - 415)
* [[Ibn al-Haytham]] - Arab physicist, mathematician, and astronomer (c. 965-c. 1040)
* [[Thomas Jefferson]] - American Founding Father and president (1743-1826)
* [[Omar Khayyam]] - Persian mathematician and poet (1048-1131)
* [[Pierre-Simon Laplace]] - French physicist, astronomer, and philosopher (1749-1827)
* [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz]] - German philosopher, scientist, and diplomat (1645-1716)
* [[Mikhail Lomonosov]] - Russian scientist and writer (1711-1765)
* [[Blaise Pascal]] - French mathematician, inventor, and writer (1623-1662)
* [[Henri Poincaré]] - French mathematician, physicist, and engineer (1854-1912)
* [[John von Neumann]] - Hungarian-American mathematician and physicist (1903-1957)
* [[Isaac Newton]] - English mathematician, physicist, and alchemist (1643-1727)
* [[Sequoyah]] - Cherokee neographer and diplomat (c. 1770-1843)
* [[Mary Somerville]] - Scottish mathematician, writer, and astronomer (1780-1872)
* [[Rabindranath Tagore]] - Indian poet, philosopher, and novelist (1861-1941)
* [[Nikola Tesla]] - Serbian-American engineer and inventor (1856-1943)
* [[Alan Turing]] - English computer scientist and philosopher (1912-1954)
* [[William Whewell]] - English poet and mathematician (1794-1866)
* [[Thomas Young (scientist)|Thomas Young]] - British physicist, linguist, and Egyptologist (1773-1829)