Famous people known for two totally unrelated accomplishments

[Hornbein]

There was a Bollywood actor who succeeded in getting elected to their legislature. Sono Bono and Al Franken, same in the USA. A porn actress in Italy, same. JD Vance was known for his book Hillbilly Elergy.

Hermann Goering gained fame as a fighter ace in WWI. Then there's OJ Simpson. The Scarsdale Diet doctor was murdered by the president of Barnard College.

 

[Hornbein]

I asked AI about this, and AI told me about Hedy Lamar. Hedy Lamar is definitely a good answer. Hedy Lamar was a famous movie star in the 1940s in America. She also co-patented the frequency hopping spread spectrum technology intended to stop torpedoes from being jammed, which later paved the way for modern Wifi, bluetooth, and GPS.

Yes a noteworthy accomplishment but she didn't get famous for that. The patent didn't have any effect and would not have brought anyone fame.

 

[Hornbein]

Please do not quote AI in PhysicsForums. I don't like its style. It bothers me. And it's against the rules.

 

[sevensages]

Yes a noteworthy accomplishment but she didn't get famous for that. The patent didn't have any effect and would not have brought anyone fame.

I think that Hedy Lamarr would have at least got onto wikipedia with her patent even if not for her career as an actress . I will leave her on the list.

By famous, I don't mean a household name that everyone knows. I just mean some media attention .

 

[sevensages]

This:

would seem to equally apply to these two:

if one were to be consistent.

Without their movie fame their political careers would not have existed.

Yeah I suppose that is arguable.

Arnold also achieved fame as a top notch bodybuilder. I suppose Arnold probably would not have been able to have his acting career without his bodybuilding. I think that Arnold was probably cast partly because of his muscles.

 

[sevensages]

I think that the best examples so far are Robert Leonard, John Wilkes Booth, Thomas Young, Benjamin Franklin, and Hedy Lamarr. Each of the two causes of fame for those five people are so extraordinarily unrelated to each other.

There are A LOT of famous people who are famous for two different things. We could probably name hundreds of such people, but almost all of our examples would be people whose first accomplishment resulting in fame enabled them to make their second accomplishment resulting in fame. I could probably name twenty professional athletes who acted in movies, but probably all of them would not have gotten cast in those movies if not for their athletic careers.

Famous people like Robert Leonard, John Wilkes Booth, Thomas Young, Benjamin Franklin, and Hedy Lamarr are rare.

 

[pines-demon]

Is philosophy and science two different fields? Because many did that.

 

[DaveC426913]

This:

"But for Sagan's science chops, there would be no book or movie."

would seem to equally apply to these two:

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ronald Reagan

if one were to be consistent.

Without their movie fame their political careers would not have existed.

I agree. There is a pretty clear cause-effect relationship between screen celebrity and subsequent political popularity. I would disqualify Bonzo and Arnie.


However, I think the case for Sagan's disqualifiais open and shut. He was a science popularizer. He became very well known for that through his TV show Cosmos. The book and film adaptation are merely a logical extension of his TV popularity about the same subject.

 

[Hornbein]

Yeah I suppose that is arguable.

Arnold also achieved fame as a top notch bodybuilder. I suppose Arnold probably would not have been able to have his acting career without his bodybuilding. I think that Arnold was probably cast partly because of his muscles.

He was. Originally they were going to dub in all his dialog.

 

[robphy]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Ventura (wrestler, governor)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Bradley (NBA champion, senator)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski (promising but not famous mathematician, terrorist)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Simons (mathematician, Hedge fund manager/billionaire)

 

[Bandersnatch]

Marcus Aurelius - Roman emperor, stoic philosopher
Xenophon - warrior/commander, historian
Caesar - emperor, writer, dagger attractor, salad

 

[Zaciekawiony]

Charles Dodgson – widely known as a writer, author of "Alice in Wonderland" under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. He was also a good mathematician, working in fields such as linear algebra, symbolic logic, and systems for converting votes into seats in Parliament. He wrote articles for the press on mathematical puzzles and invented the word ladder game, which is still famous today.

 

[sevensages]

Charles Dodgson – widely known as a writer, author of "Alice in Wonderland" under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. He was also a good mathematician, working in fields such as linear algebra, symbolic logic, and systems for converting votes into seats in Parliament. He wrote articles for the press on mathematical puzzles and invented the word ladder game, which is still famous today.

That's definitely worthy of inclusion in the list and my pressing the like icon on your post

 

[Klystron]

Already mentioned but worth repeating:

A few years ago I wrote about Hedy Lamarr's multiple talents in a similar context on PF. She was an accomplished stage and film actress, a professional fashion model when that profession was relatively new, and contributed to early RADAR designs when radar was also new. Famous now for contributions to naval torpedo designs she used that knowledge to help improve certain aspects of frequncy drift in cavity magnetrons central to Allied detection abilities during and after WWII.

According to family lore -- Hedy was my mother's cousin -- she sometimes taught math and science classes using her birth name folowing her film career. Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) a famous novelist also published popular poems and puzzle books, wrote papers on discrete mathematics and logic, was a popular teacher at Oxford. We probably do not honor our teachers enough.

IMS John Wilkes Booth also taught stage acting with his brother. Robert Oppenheimer taught an entire generation of physicists at UC Berkeley before and after being tapped to manage the Manhattan Engineering Project principle lab at Los Alamos and later the Atomic Energy Commision. Oppie was also an accomplished piano player, often entertaining isolated STEM professionals at Los Alamos during WWII.

 

[WWGD]

I always find it mighty interesting (and impressive) when people are famous for two or more totally unrelated things, especially when one didn't lead to another.

Here are some examples of people who are famous for two or more totally unrelated things:

Robert Leonard ---- He was an original member of the rock band Sha Na Na, and he played at the original Woodstock in 1969. And Robert Leonard is a highly distinguished forensic linguist. He has appeared on the television episode Words Matter on Forensic Files II. Leonard testified as an expert witness in the murder trial of Christopher Coleman in 2011. Either one of these things got Robert Leonard media attention.

Arnold Schwarzenegger----Arnold was famous as a bodybuilder, winning the Mr. Universe total once and winning the Mr. Olympia title seven times. Plus Arnold Schwarzenegger was a famous movie star. Furthermore, Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor of California.

Ronald Reagan---- Ronald Reagan was a famous movie star first. Then later Ronald Reagan became President of the United States.

John Wilkes Booth----John Wilkes Booth was a famous actor throughout America BEFORE he assassinated Abraham Lincoln. And John Wilkes Booth is also famous for assassinating Abraham Lincoln.

There are two things that I would like to exclude from these lists: Athletes who played in two or more sports like Bo Jackson, Michael Jordan, Deion Sanders, etc. I would like to exclude athletes who played in two sports from this list for two reasons: 1# The athletic ability that helps one succeed in one sport would help an athlete succeed in another sports and 2# there are too many examples of athletes who played in two or more sports.

The other thing that I would like to exclude is Generals who later held political office like George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, Eisenhower, etc. because there are too many, and I think that the fame that the generals received helped them win political office.

What famous people are famous for two or more totally unrelated things?

I am interested in famous people who are famous for two totally unrelated things in which the second unrelated thing that the famous person did would get media attention EVEN IF THE FAMOUS PERSON DID NOT DO THE FIRST THING THAT GOT THEM MEDIA ATTENTION. Let me give an example:

Worthy of including in this thread: A famous male scientist won the Nobel Prize in Physics AND made a world bench press record:

Unworthy of including in this thread: A famous male scientist won the Nobel Prize in Physics and could bench press more than 300 pounds.

While a 300 pound bench press would put a person in the top 1% of men in the bench press, a 300 pound bench press is not something that would get any media attention if a regular man who is not a famous scientist did it. A world record bench press would get media attention no matter who broke the world record.

My favorite examples are Robert Leonard and John Wilkes Booth because I see their two famous things as being totally unrelated. I think when most famous people are famous for two different things, the first thing that the famous person did kind of ENABLED him or her to be selected to do the second famous things. For example, the famous football player Lyle Alzado used to be an actor in movies. I don't think that Lyle Alzado would have been cast in those movies if he was not a famous football player. I think that Robert Leonard would have became a forensic linguist even if he was never in the rock band the Sha Na Na.

Even if John Wilkes Booth was not a famous actor, John Wilkes Booth would have been famous for assassinating Abraham Lincoln. I will contrast John Wilkes Booth with another famous murderer: OJ Simpson. The only reason that OJ Simpson's murdering Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman got national media attention is that OJ Simpson was a famous former football player. John Wilkes Booth's murdering President Lincoln would have got national media attention even if John Wilkes Booth was not a famous person before the assassination.

So, again, what famous people are famous for two or more totally unrelated things?

(Several edits)General advice: Try reading David Epstein, who studies success and performance. He addresses these types of issues. He writes about polymaths vs specialists and claims polymaths are more likely to succeed over the long run than (over?) specialized types, who are more likely to burn out over the long run. Polymaths may transfer skills, perspectives, from one area into others. This other guy's case doesn't fall on your list, but seems like an interesting one , a football player , who played in the NFL, who switched into studying math at the PhD program in MIT. I think he temporarily did both simultaneously, which seems impressive.

 

[A.T.]

Arnold Schwarzenegger----Arnold was famous as a bodybuilder, winning the Mr. Universe total once and winning the Mr. Olympia title seven times. Plus Arnold Schwarzenegger was a famous movie star. Furthermore, Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor of California.

You think that those are unrelated? Would he, barely speaking English back then, have become a Hollywood star without his muscles? Would he become governor without his movie career?

 

[sevensages]

You think that those are unrelated? Would he, barely speaking English back then, have become a Hollywood star without his muscles? Would he become governor without his movie career?

You're right. Arnold is not a good example.

Tell me why Robert Leonard , Hedy Lamarr, and John Wilkes Booth are not good examples.

 

[WWGD]

How about Isaac Newton, both Physicist , Mathematician and administrator of the Royal Mint, very good at those two?

 

[A.T.]

Tell me why Robert Leonard , Hedy Lamarr, and John Wilkes Booth are not good examples.

Your criteria are rather vauge:

Nobody gets famous just for getting a PhD.

What exactly does "famous" mean here? Hedy Lamarr had a patent registered. Is everybody who has a patent registered "famous"?

 

[Hornbein]

I recall a professor at Harvard Medical School who quit to become conductor of a symphony orchestra. His colleagues were displeased.

Isaac Asimov was a professor at Boston University Medical school.