Bill Gates

OK... some people would seriously cringe at having Bill Gates on the same page as intellectual giants like Nikola Tesla and Albert Einstein, but here's why he's here. No one can doubt his influence on the birth and life (thus far) of the computer. But perhaps more important to humanity will be the impact of his charitable organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

As of last year, the foundation had an endowment of $34 billion dollars, making it the largest transparently operated charity in the world. To maintain it's classification as a charity, it must give away at least 5% of its assets every year. It focuses its efforts on the eradication of disease and reaction to disasters on a global scale.

Say what you want about Bill G. and Microsoft Windows, but history will probably recognize him as the most important philanthropist that ever lived.