Greatness

Today is Galileo's (G-Nerd) birthday. I've always thought it odd that the same year Galileo died was the same year Isaac Newton was born (1642); as if it was some cosmological handing-off of successive genius. Thinking about it just now I decided to see what would happen if I extended this "great men who die the same year another great man is born, therein becoming their torch-bearer of genius" idea a bit, and this is what we've got:

Galileo
1642
Newton
1737
Thomas Paine
1809
Charles Darwin
1882
James Joyce
1941
Tony Ray-Jones
1972
Xmastime

WHAT the - I mean, fuck...I think I just freaked myself out. Jesus.