This book is dedicated to people who were not only ahead of their time, but also managed to influence the lives and worldview of entire generations with their achievements in science or social thought. It is impossible to talk about all those thanks to whom the world (or our idea of it) has radically changed; we will talk about ten brilliant scientists and philosophers who forced civilization to develop in a new, sometimes unexpected way. Their names are Descartes, Darwin, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Tsiolkovsky, Morgan, Sklodowska-Curie, Wiener, Fermi. They were united by boundless dedication to their work, an unconventional view of things, and an enormous capacity for work. You will learn about how the lives of these amazing people developed, how their ideas were formed, from the book you are holding in your hands, and you will certainly agree with Voltaire’s statement: “Almost nothing great has ever been done in the world without the participation of geniuses.”