The 24 Most Impressive People Of 2014 Angela Merkel is the most powerful woman in the world. In her third term as chancellor of Germany, Merkel continues to impress. She’s been chancellor for longer than anyone in modern history and remains overwhelmingly popular. Germans want her to run for a fourth term. She’s got power both at home and abroad. She’s one of the most formidable people to stand up to Putin and she’s famously defended German interests during the euro zone debt crisis. She’s managed to maintain record low unemployment levels and keep the economy afloat. Nothing important in Europe gets done without her say-so, whether that’s a good thing or not, and she’s often called the most powerful woman in the world. Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan was a leader in the fight against Ebola. Called a “national hero” by Sierra Leone’s health minister, Dr. Khan headed up Kenema Government Hospital’s Lassa fever program. Lassa fever is caused by a lethal, Level 4 pathogen much like Ebola, which made Dr. Khan, as a Lassa virus expert, ideal for leading the fight against Ebola. Even though Dr. Khan admitted fearing for his life, he spent countless hours treating patients, sometimes by himself, and contributed to a crucial study on the origin of this particular Ebola outbreak, which opened new doors for understanding and developing treatments for the disease. Dr. Khan ultimately contracted and, shortly thereafter, died of Ebola — one of hundreds of healthcare workers who have died fighting the disease. Dr. Khan and his fellow Ebola fighters were named Time magazine’s 2014 “Person of the Year.” Jeff Koons cemented his status as the most commercially successful artist alive today. Koons broke a tremendous record this year when his “Balloon Dog (Orange)” sold for $58 million, making it the most expensive piece ever sold by a living artist. He broke another record this summer when the Whitney Museum in New York City opened “Jeff Koons: A Retrospective,” the largest exhibit ever held in an American art museum. The exhibit, which filled all four floors of the Whitney, featured 150 pieces spanning the artist’s entire career, from his classic mirror-finish pieces such as “Elephant” and “Balloon Dog (Yellow),” to “Play-Doh,” a new sculpture he’s spent 20 years working on. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the show became one of the most visited in the Whitney’s history. Palmer Luckey is changing the world with his virtual reality device that will revolutionize the way we consume media. This year Palmer Luckey, a 21-year-old college dropout, sold his virtual-reality startup Oculus VR to Facebook for $2 billion. The Oculus Rift headset is poised to revolutionize online “hangouts”; change the way we consume video games, music, movies, TV, and sports; and address larger societal issues (there’s talk of the device being used as a treatment for soldiers with PTSD). Oculus eventually sees virtual reality taking over internet and mobile platforms, transforming how people relax, learn, and interact. Jack Ma became the richest man in China. This year, Ma’s e-commerce company Alibaba went public, garnering the largest IPO in history at $25 billion. Despite humble beginnings as an English teacher, Ma is now the richest man in China thanks to the IPO. After becoming captivated by the internet during a visit to the US in 1995, Ma saw several business opportunities in it, and eventually founded his e-commerce site in 1999. Maryam Mirzakhani is the first woman to win the Fields Medal for mathematics.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 14:35:40 +0000
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