Gen. George S. Patton for 1.

I think you're misunderstanding the point of this thread.  It's the 10 greatest figures, not the 10 most influential figures on our time.  I'd argue that the developments within one of the largest empires of all time are plenty relevant, even if their influence isn't entirely felt during our time. 

Even if we are talking about influece during our time, Eastern history plays a profound role in over 4 billion people's lives today.  Plus, as I pointed out, China is responsible for many of the world's inventions, inventions that weren't usually also invented by Westerns, but instead taken from the East to the West.

Thats true.  Perhaps a combination of Darwin and other naturalists at the time would be best, though I still think the development of the theory of evolution is one of the top moments in human history.

I don't see the difference.  Greatness I would think would be measured by effect on the world.

Funny, to me greatness is seeking truth and making discoveries that will assist our species in the long term, hence my focus on Eisstein, etc.  Hitler had huge effect on the world, but I wouldn't see that as a positive influence nor great nor infact anything significant long term.

Also, long term, say 10,000 years in the future, figures like Hitler, etc. will be very vague in history, just another major conflict of many as will many figures I think it's tempting to see as important now.  Of crouse, it's human nature to think focused to our own time and knowledge, we only live around 80 years if lucky and in the right country.

BTW I liked your points earlier on East vs West.  I think it's quite correct that overall Eastern influence was limited due to aspects of their society and expansion policies vs say the West which, emerged massively influential on the back of an almost perfect storm marrying thoery with technological capability in a way never seen before in history.

I'm not sure we (that's the Royal We of course) made the best of the opportunity to radically change the world for the better, but it did ensure the influence was massive and pervasive.

That would be considered effect on the world... like I said, Einstein I understand, most other scientists didn't so much make a difference, as make a discovery slightly before someone else.

For example Darwin, if Darwin wasn't around... there were plenty of natural scientists who already knew this stuff... Darwin was almost outpublished... and in truth, he really was outpublished, as a scottish scientist had published a paper on natural selection based on herding or something similar... natural selection quite honestly was something a lot of folks already knew about who weren't connected to sience.

Also, while Hitler's actual memory will be vauge... the way he shaped the world will still have effected it.  The UN and all that came from it.  The cold war and all that came from that, getting out of the depression, Hitler's change in the western worlds view on anti-semitism... (Europe and the US used to be very anti-semtitic themselves.)

The future may not remember this stuff, but it'll be in the legacy of the world pretty much forever, without hitler there probably isn't a WW2... who knows what the world looks like today, let alone hundreds and thousands of years from now.

For most scientists... if they weren't around... their discoveries would of been found a few months later.

This is not to downplay scientists either... but when comparing the greatest events of all time, i'm not sure if someone that was inevitable over a short period of time deserves to be in the discussion.

Well, I'd have to disagree - but politely!  I think we're seeing the use of 'Greatness' itself in different ways, and I think it's too easy to say 'someone' would have though of it - when in most cases it takes an exceptional mind to make some of the least intuitive scientific leaps.

Combat and conflict have been constants in Human history, and the most recent and largest simply seem to have the most importance.  But in the long run it evens out.  Scientific truths are essentially outside of short term changes.  They remain fixed with the nature of the Universe.

The cold war is a short period of time, ditto the second world war, and most of their changes haven't really changed anything in the long run, they jsut re-wrote some of the imaginery lines of the world for a while and inflicted a lot of short term suffering that didn't actually have to happen.  But without wanting to sound callous what real impact does that have?

The greatest people for me are those behind truth, who almost always have had to labour in the face of popular opinion and particularly religious persecution or hinderance.  That truth was there waiting to be found isn't the issue, that so few have the character to see it, and more to fight for its recognition, is what's important I believe.  Even today, we have supposedly advanced Western countries like US with many people seriously wanting to put forward Intellegent Design in schools.  That's incredible to me, and a sure indication that as a species we are in no way out of the woods of facing the world as it is vs imposed dogma and docterines that put flawed concepts that support an established order over the truth and change.

I guess, rather like Kubrick with his cut from the bone to the spaceship, and the question of whether we'd actually really advanced or changed much in any meaningful way as a species, I'm not too convinced we have.  Our population's got bigger, the ways in we can fight for territory are larger, the options for entertainment are broader, but in the end we still eat, sleep, drink and pass the time without any clear goal or reason to apart from existing for the sake of it.

Anyway, this is getting wayyyy to phlisophical for a lazy Sunday, so let's just agree to disagree on what really constitues long term greatness in history.

I assume you mean "today's world" when you say "world."  While I agree that's one way for a person to be great, it's certainly not the only way.  You don't think coming up with the founding system of beliefs for one of the most if not the most impressive empires in history is great?  Confucianism and Taoism impacted and continue to impact (though to a lesser degree) the lives of billions.  It led to some of the most important inventions in history.  You don't think those achievements are comparable in greatness to Martin Luther's effects on the Western World or Gutenburg by himself?

I'd also like to point out that for the 4 billion Asians, Eastern history is an essential part of their history and lives today.  That's a majority of the people in the world who are probably more affected by Eastern history up until 1800 than Western history.  4 billion people for whom only the last 600 years, especially the last 200 years of Western history even matter.