The Nerds that Changed The World

When I was growing up my parents always reassured me that once I got out into the real world, the social status I had acquired in high school would soon dissolve into the night. We would all just be people. No longer would there be jocks, nerds and preps. Of course that’s not true at all, and as I grew older I became more comfortable with my nerdy habits, and have ultimately come to accept who I am. This list is a compilation of other people who have come to terms with who they are. Nerds are one of the most influential group of people in the world… I just wish someone would have told the girls I liked in high school that.

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Robert Crumb (also known as Art Crumb)

What he does: He’s an artist
What made him famous: The Cheap Thrills cover for Big Brother and the Holding Company

Crumb is most well known for his psychedelic comic books that he’s drawn from the sixties onward. These books are often perverse, politically incorrect and sexist, but they still fly off the shelves. Crumb is always found dressed in his simple suits wearing thick rimmed glasses and ill placed hats. Crumb best documents his hurdles of high school in the documentary titled Crumb, reflecting that no girls had any interest in him, that is until he became famous. But even after taking fame, Crumb does not make any qualms about his nerdy heritage, he still dresses the same, looks the same and leads the same moderate lifestyle that he did before his fame.

Mark Zuckerberg

What he does: Runs Facebook
What made him famous: Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg’s story is the type that makes you stop and wonder what you’ve been doing with your life. Zuckerberg is a Harvard dropout who started Facebook. In the beginning, Facebook was a small social network that was only open to college students. About two years later Zuckerberg made headlines when he turned down a billion dollar offer from Yahoo to acquire Facebook. This was after MySpace sold to Fox for $580 million. Zuckerberg continues to work at Facebook, despite the numerous other buyouts that have been put on the table before him.

George Lucas

What he does: Makes Films
What made him famous: Star Wars

George Lucas is a keystone member in the sci-fi community, in the same ranks of Roddenberry, Herbert, and Larson. Lucas spread his wings in the sci-fi realm for the first time with his college film THX-1138, then he wrote and directed American Graffiti. Finally with a small amount of money and the help of Phil Tippett he managed to bring the world of Star Wars to life, originally titled The Adventures of Luke Starkiller as Taken from the ‘Journal of the Whills’: Saga I. Lucas has not just stayed in the realm of film though, he created THX which has now become the standard for Cinema sound systems, founded Industrial Light and Magic which is one of the most renowned special effects studios in the world, and Skywalker Ranch has been where many movies have gone to have the sounds for their movies mixed. Lucas has created an everlasting empire of nerd-dom.

Gary Gygax

What he does: Nothing (deceased)
What made him famous: Dungeons and Dragons

Gary Gygax invented Dungeons and Dragons, a staple game for nerds growing up. He and his friends had a simple desire to create characters and explore Tolkein’s world of the Lord of the Rings. Of course the game would evolve over the years, and Gygax changed and added things that made it different from the original game. But ultimately the core of the game stayed the same, allowing people to play in a fantasy world slinging spells and fighting monstrous beings. Even after Dungeons and Dragons was sold to Wizards of the Coast, Gygax was an extremely strong supporter of D&D and in fact would attend conventions and lead campaigns sometimes serving as dungeon master, and other times just playing the game. Gygax was and is a true nerd and is greatly missed by nerds everywhere.

Bill Gates

What he does: Retired, Standing Chairman of Microsoft
What made him famous: The Microsoft Corporation

I don’t think a list of nerds could be made without including Bill Gates. Gates is one of the most revered nerds of all time. Gates dropped out of Harvard to create the Microsoft Corporation. Gates is known world wide as a master programmer, and up until the mid-nineties used to go to coding competitions to see who could write a functioning program the quickest (Gates most often won). Gates is also a master cribbage player as well as a train aficionado. He once had a Microsoft party held on a private train in a secluded section of the grand canyon. These tracks have been out of commission for years but they were willing to open up for the Microsoft train. Despite being in such a beautiful local, Gates held a 7-hour cribbage match with 4 other Microsoft employees, completely ignoring the picturesque grandeur outside the windows and concentrating on his cards. That’s quite a lot of dedication.

This list should not be viewed as an end all be all list of the great nerds, instead this is the beginning of a running tally. Because deep down don’t we (nerds) aspire to change the world?

photo by froggygyrl727