So AT, who's the brightest person you ever met in real life?

[Hayabusa Rider]

For me probably Ed Witten.

 

[minendo]

Doug Wheelock

He was my neighbor for years and just an all around genius.

 

[HN]

one of my professors at ucsd

http://casswww.ucsd.edu/archive/personal/sride.html

 

[MongGrel]

Dean Kamen, perhaps ?

Sally Ride might have been, have ran into a few people over the years.

Jeb Bush is much brighter than his brother I'd say, have met him too.

Have met a lot of Senior Mechanical/Electrical Engineers over time.

It's all a bit relative I guess, have met a few others in passing.

 

[malbojah]

Does the OP count?

Met him 13 years ago for a ride

If not him, then a Sony VP at the SMPTE conference back in 92-93 (?)

 

[brianmanahan]

my linear algebra/diff eq professor

came from a rich family in hungary - lost everything during WW2. escaped hungary and came to america.

spoke perfect english, and fluent in 5 other languages. had such a knack at explaining things that even the most advanced topics made sense the first time when he taught them.

even at the age of 80, he was solving a random mathematical problem every day to keep his mind sharp.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Does the OP count?

Met him 13 years ago for a ride

If not him, then a Sony VP at the SMPTE conference back in 92-93 (?)

Whoa, long time no see!

How have you been?

 

[Away]

Richard Epstein.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

http://commstudies.ucla.edu/marde-gregory

By far one of the craziest people you will ever meet in your life but there is a method to her madness. About 1/3 of her class drops out after the first day. It's a test and she does it on purpose. I am extremely glad I didn't and learned so much from her.

http://commstudies.ucla.edu/content/barry-sanders

Another amazing professor that I am glad to have been able to learn under. He also happens to be the President of LA's Parks and Rec too.

Damn I wish I could go back and major in Communication Studies. My main regret of my undergrad.

 

[malbojah]

Whoa, long time no see!

How have you been?

Still riding like a mofo, but had to pack up early this year for shoulder surgery (last week)

 

[MongGrel]

I need to have my right knee meniscus fixed, had the left done a few years ago getting old is a PITA

 

[Crusty]

I would have to say Paul Graham.

 

[iGas]

A Cambodian girl.

She didn't have any formal training during the war in Cambodia, and she learn how to read and write at the age of 19 when she immigrated to Canada. By the age of 22 she graduated with an undergrad in math, and ended up with a double PhD of physics and math at the age of 25.

 

[lxskllr]

No one famous, but I worked with a kid that was at our company as summer help. He was sharp as a tack, and understood what he was being taught quickly, and could apply what he learned to similar, but not exact scenarios. He was also simple, and funny :^D He's now an engineer.

Might not sound like a big deal, but it's amazing how dense some people can be. I've had to (attempt to) train people that made me want to just step in front of a car, and end it all.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Still riding like a mofo, but had to pack up early this year for shoulder surgery (last week)

Alas I haven't had many miles in a few years. I'm considering another machine but it won't be for a few more. As I get older I have to admit one of the more nimble BMW touring bikes has appeal. That way the wife and myself could take a cross country ride, but I can't see myself on a lumbering Gold Wing or the like. That's fine for those who like them and they are plush, but they aren't for me. What I'd really like is to take a 'busa and outrageously turbocharge the thing

 

[glenn1]

Intelligence comes in different varieties. I work with people who have PhDs and the occasional Nobel laureate and outside their narrow area of expertise you'd wonder how they can tie their own shoes without help. Conversely you have guys who barely graduated high school who own multimillion dollar contracting firms and can do engineering calculations in their heads quicker than you could with an electronic tool.

 

[massmedia]

too many to narrow it down to just one:

• molecular biology professor at unnamed university
• structural genetics professor at different unnamed university
• organic chemistry professor at another different unnamed university
• friend who only needs half the explanation to fill in the remainder and who doesn't need hand-holding to understand a complex point that's being made.

 

[Imp]

Raging, cynical redhead who was a younger, slightly more social adept version of me. Probably would have found more faults if I knew her longer, but she still wins.

Others have proven to be smart in some areas, complete messes in others.

 

[Gillbot]

Bill Nye, talked to him for a bit at an airport we were both passing through.

 

[rudeguy]

Bill Nye, talked to him for a bit at an airport we were both passing through.

I disagree with nearly everything that guys says. However I would not turn down the chance to have coffee with him.

As for me: Dan Akroyd

 

[waggy]

that would be my goods friend who was a Prof at NIU then went to Wisconsin.

OR his son who majored in math and physics. works in err forgot the country on some big science thing.

 

[uclaLabrat]

I've worked with people who have PhDs from MIT, Harvard, everywhere you can think of. I've had a meeting with a nobel laureate, and I've met with some ridiculously smart undergrads even. Picking one would be difficult.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Probably one of my brothers (a specific one). Very smart guy, had a proclivity for all things math-related since he was in preschool, independently-minded and can teach himself anything.

EDIT: Or a friend/rival that I had in 5th and 6th grade. Ridiculously smart in many ways; I remember the next-door teacher paying him $50 to write a love poem as part of a proposal to his girlfriend. Had an appreciation for art and writing unlike most kids his age, but was still top in the class when it came to math studies as well. One of my proudest moments was in beating him in the geography bee. :$ I lost contact with him when I moved states, but doing some e-stalking he unsurprisingly ended up valedictorian from a great high school, and then went to Oxford to study literature or something.

 

[MongGrel]

Intelligence comes in different varieties. I work with people who have PhDs and the occasional Nobel laureate and outside their narrow area of expertise you'd wonder how they can tie their own shoes without help. Conversely you have guys who barely graduated high school who own multimillion dollar contracting firms and can do engineering calculations in their heads quicker than you could with an electronic tool.

I've met a few Post Hole Diggers in the past I would have liked to have knocked up side the head myself.

Irrelevant though I guess.

 

[atheistpally]

Noam Chomsky