Al-Kindi

Every so often, a person comes along who seems to be an expert at a bunch of different things. Sometimes, this person ends up being like Cliff Clavin from Cheers—unsung heroes with a wide range of knowledge, but destined to fade into the background of history.

Then there’s a person like Al-Kindi.

This is when the Cliff Clavin type, the know-it-all, is at the perfect place and time so that their contributions are amplified and widespread. Al-Kindi was perfectly positioned to bring the knowledge of the classical world into the modern era (“modern” being the 9th century), and his contributions to understanding the world have few rivals in all of human history.

Also: Al-Kindi was way, way smarter than Cliff Clavin. Let’s talk about him a bit today.

Know-It-Alls

Clavin, the iconic Cheers character, is a know-it-all. He insists on showing off his knowledge every day at the bar, and it seems to give him a sense of self-worth.

Al-Kindi seems to have been a little bit like this, but with a cruc…