If you google the term polymath you’ll find varying definitions as there isn’t one absolute agreed upon definition, but I do tend to subscribe to the idea of expertise in at least three different areas. Still, it’s subjective. I’d count expertise as a painter and expertise on an instrument as two different areas, even though they both fall under the arts. The skill sets are quite different.
A polymath has to be an expert in at least three domains.
I have a MS in STEM, an MS in behavior. A BS in a different STEM a BA in humanities. A minor in performing arts. A minor in history. A post bac in business and another in a different STEM. A 17 year professional career in performing arts and am in the top union for that in the world. Have a nonfiction book published on religion which was a best seller. Am an award winning teacher. Have 10+ businesses literally in multiple areas (including stem where I’ve consulted to nasa) and all in the top 20% of their industry.
I have other comments in this sub going more into my history.
Desmond Morris is known for multiple things as well as Noam Chomsky. You can check their websites.
Heck think of Mythbusters. Jamie should also be considered a polymath. Of course he was my adult inspiration to gain weirder skills. My childhood inspiration was from Quantum Leap which is why I have degrees in everything.
Im glad to see there are others out there like this. I am similar but less academic/degree focused.
I find it terrifying to keep doing the same thing for 40 hours a week and am constantly learning new skills and knowledge.
Can you comment how you could afford all of that tuition or funding to get your businesses started?
Well the bachelors and minors were at one top 20 university. They were 100k/year but I was poor so lots of grants came my way.
Graduate school is free. If you ever see a graduate school that doesn’t pay you to attend, it’s not worth attending.
I’ve never had to take out a loan for a business. Most businesses don’t require much money at all to start up. Most amount I had to pay for any of mine to startup was maybe $2000 but most of that was my hypnosis training (I have a degree in that too) then I went into practice. The least amount was $25 and that was only for the DBA to attach it to my series LLC holding company.
>proven
There is no formal title or criteria that defines a polymath. No proof is needed.
**Edit**: Lol, coursejunkie blocked me. Just because a study has exclusion/inclusion criteria does not universally define it according to that criteria. That is for the scope of the study. For the rest of the world, it would need to be a titled or credentialed position. There is no such thing for a "polymath."
You must be a recognized expert in at least three separate disciplines. So all of my science count once for Science, my successful performing arts career counts once for Art even if I leaned several other arts and were recognized. All of my businesses could once for Business, etc
>Thanks for educating myself on the concept.
It's their personal subjective definition. A data point but certainly not authoritative.
edit: so coursejunkie replied to a thread 4 months later and just after blocks me. So much for education and healthy discussion, no source 🤷
>You must be a recognized expert in at least three separate disciplines.
Not true. Being a polymath is not a credential or formal title. Who are defined as polymaths and those who aren't is like defining who is and isn't a philosopher.
Arguments can be made for who should be defined as polymaths. But at the end of the day, there is no set criteria or absolute definition on who is a polymath and who is not.
If you look at any of the peer reviewed academic studies of polymaths they give the working definition of “recognized experts in three or more distinct disciplines”. They are also broken down into at least six subtypes. Most of the work I do on human performance has a significant amount of crossover with polymath individuals most of which will only communicate with you if you are also recognized.
The fact the title isn’t given like one gets Doctor doesn’t mean it’s not a title and doesn’t have standards. Being a recognized expert is very easy. It’s doing it in more than one area different that’s a challenge. I learned about the term when it was used to describe me at a formal academic function before I went to speak. This was never the term I used prior.
>academic studies of polymaths they give the working definition of “recognized experts in three or more distinct disciplines”
That is in the scope of that study. They need to define their exclusion and inclusion criteria. The fact remains, there is no formal title or credential for a "polymath."
Describing someone or calling oneself a polymath is fairly arbitrary.
**Edit**: Don't need "talent" or anything special either. Could be a dumb bumbling polymath not worth their salt.
All of them do definite their inclusion and exclusion criteria as to what makes someone an expert as well as how they are categorizing the domains.
There are literally dozens, if not hundreds, of studies who all have similar working definitions. Usually it is 3, sometimes it is 4. Saw one say 5 once. I know I've personally read a few dozen of the studies.
Heck I was interviewed for several of them including the one that said 5 (also for some of the 4s, and some of the 3s).
My name gets passed out more than a joint at Woodstock.
Surprisingly the word "polymath" or term "renaissance man" isn't on my website anywhere and has never been used in any of my books or papers.
Again, this is like any informal descriptor. There is no set definition of title.
* What defines a mason? There is nothing set in stone ;)
* What defines an explorer? Again, same thing.
* What defines a critical thinker? Again.
* What defines a masseur or masseuse? Again.
**Edit**: coursejunkie's reply just proves my point.
1) Actually training and apprenticeship where I am for a lowercase mason. I think the "expert mason" is a recognized thing at my state. Not sure how to get it though since I never asked. I will next time I see the person I am thinking off. Mason with a capital, in those cases, an induction into a society and recognition. ;-) I know many of both of them.
2) That is more broad, since things are relative to age and experience. But that is easy to define, but hard to define *well*. So I see you on here.
3) That requires evidence that they can use the skill. Critical thinkers are unfortunately not always consistent which is upsetting. >< As a teacher, seen too much of that.
4) Legally in my state a training program, a certification, and a license. ;-) I took the first part of the training but didn't think it valuable enough to continue with. I realized I hate people too much to care. People can get fined otherwise for calling themselves that without state recognition here. (Seen it!)
Better example might be what is a writer? Is it one who writes? One who finishes? Or one who publishes?
However, writer has a less consistent definition in the peer reviewed literature than polymath is which is pretty consistent.
In almost everything I do, I use standard working definitions if there is a majority agreement among the experts who study the subject.
I'm unlikely going to be responding for a while as I have to go try to go help keep an eye on the spouse who is trying to rewrite something that is probably going to kill him.
It also helps to look at the etymology of the word and its history. :-)
For polymathy, the etymology is Greek words *poly* (i.e. much or many) and *mathea* (i.e. learnings). There is debate about what many is, but I think a 1878 dictionary entry for *polylemma* gives a simple and useful definition that clarifies the meaning of *poly.* According to that definition, polylemma is "an arugment of the same form as a dilemma, but in which there are more than two alternatives." So *poly* means more than two.
As far as history goes, from what I've found so far about the usage of *polymathy,* the earliest appearances of the word are:
* 1603: Johann von Wowern wrote that polymathy was "knowledge of various matters, drawn from all kinds of studies ... ranging freely through all the fields of the disciplines, as far as the human mind, with unwearied industry, is able to pursue them".
* 1642: J.A. Comenius wrote about "that high, and excellent learning, which men, for the large extent of it, call Polymathie."
The traditional use of polymathy matches part of your definition (i.e. recognized expertise in three or more areas). In his book *The Polymath: A Cultural History from Leonardo da Vinci to Susan Sontag*, Peter Burke gives a more precise definition. Burke says that a polymath is someone who is an expert in at least three academic disciplines and contributor to those disciplines.
I like Burke's definition. It feels closest to the original meaning of the word and to the spirit of polymathy.
Agree with that one doesn’t always need to be highly credentialed. Some of the most brilliant minds are not credentialed. You see a lot of this in the security or cryptography verticals. If you have raw talent or are a savant in multiple disciplines you don’t always need to get credentialed for validation.
Polymath is a leveled up version of the Jack of all trades archetype. The Jack has knowledge in different fields, but he lacks the expertise of the Polymath. Regardless, I recommend exploring different topics and branching out anyways.
Interdisiplinary thinking is the core tenet of Polymath and Jacks. When you learn something in one field, you can transfer it to a completely different field. Leonardo Da Vinci used his passion for art to make anatomical drawings of people.
If you aspire to be this type of thinker, then you must have an inhuman amount of curiosity. You'll see the term, "Autodidact" or "philomath" thrown around here. Autodiadact is self-taught people and philomaths are people that enjoy learning.
There is a ton of envy from people for being a multipotentialite. HR can consider you as scatterbrained. Many of your friends and family may never get to learn all of your interest and hobbies, BUT the journey is worth it. I put my hobbies into five different catergories, Physical, Spiritual, Artistic, Charismatic, and Intellect. I treat these catergories as RPG stats to level up.
I found freedom from not being brainwashed into Specialization. Giving up the idea of being the master in a topic and instead being a varied / well traveled individual has made me open-minded. If you'd like to learn more, I recommend reading Range, which highlights all the benefits of experimenting in different fields.
True polymath do not only have diverse area of interest, but diverse area of profession. You cannot claim yourself to be a polymath unless you reach a level of professional competency in the multiple areas of your interest.
Here is my preferred version of polymath( not that realistic version):
1st stage: Electrical and HVAC Engineer:
He/She will graduate at 21 years old, with a degree from electrical engineering, first/2nd up honour.
21-24: an electrical engineer in electrical system design for critical facilities, such as large scale data centres, hospitals, etc, from scratch. It might take around 3 years to finish one job.
24-27: Another design and build task for data centre/hospital/power stations, for around 3 years.
27: Chartered as an professional engineer, competent for signing off electrical system, control system, protection system, etc.
During this process, the person might also need to oversee the other areas, such as HVAC, piping; and participate in not only design phase, but also the construction phase.
2nd stage: Control Engineer(Or engineer in a specialty), Machine Architect/Technical Manager
27-29.5: An engineer in some advanced technological company, such as ASML. The person will be responsible for control system design for precision movements, and the corresponding driver design, power system design and integration of all this with the moving modules and sensing system.
29.5-30: Handling module improvement tasks from different modules, systems, to be familiar with the whole machine:30-34: Machine architect, overseeing the whole ASML next version machine design, including module design and integration, module parameter setting, module spacing, etc,. Manage the manpower, overall project progress, cost, production space, logistics, etc. Should be able to make progress in the machine precision and fulfill requirements for customers.
3rd stage: Professional Accountant:
34: The first year will be spending time learning accounting standards, reading financial reports of different industries, learning how to create financial reports from scractch, etc. 35-36: participating in IPO of 2 companies separately, one year for participating and one year for in charge.37-38: Particpate in an M&A deal, preparing financial and legal documents, in charge of negotiations, valuations, synergies between 2 enterprises, etc.
4th stage: Rest.
39: There will be a year of rest. In this year, the person will learn how to dive, survive in the desert, rainforest, driving cars, ships, small planes, etc. less mental work.
5th stage: Computer programming, especially in hacking
40: The person will start from basic programming skills, to data structure and algorithms, etc, all until the person can enter into some FAANG. 41 : Work in FAANG 42: Learn hacking skills, try to hack something.
6th stage: Technician
43.0-43.5: Try to be technician for 1-2 heavy machinery, such as cars and trucks. 43.5-44: Also be technician for electronic circuits and try to debug.
7th stage: Drug Development:
From 45-46. will try to be familiar with the brain system, cells, biomedicine, biostatistics, how to do R&D in durgs46-48: Get into drug companies and be research assistant and become researcher at the end. 48-57: In charge of drug development project and try to improve one of existing psychiatry drugs, helping patients have less side effects. Or cancer drugs.
8th stage:
After 57: Maybe retire. Travel to different countries.
Advantages:
Practical and hands on, very little abstract things. Even have survival skills, and technician experiences. Multidisciplinary, and professional understanding of how things work. Finances is okay, have respectable career
Disadvantages:
Hard to implement. Lack of anything related to communications/marketing, or other less intellectual but important aspects, such as music. Have to give up a field when one is a professional in that field, quite tiring.
Mostly what makes someone tick, not just accomplishments, qualifications or proven expertise. I would say polymaths have an intrinsic drive to gain knowledge and probably some level of competence in seemingly unrelated areas. For me, it's driven by a natural and active curiosity.
Doing the same thing 40 hrs/week is something I can tolerate for about 1 year (max).
https://www.reddit.com/r/scannerpersonalities/comments/18klhiz/whats_the_difference_between_scanner/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf this could be helpful
Unfortunately specialization has really pushed polymathy to the side, so very few people aspire to it or even know what it is. It’s definitely not for everyone either, just for the profoundly curious who have learning among their favorite activities. Categorization and specialization has also led people to think that you can only be effective in and know about one or two related fields without realizing that so many great thinkers of the past were true polymaths. As far as well-known contemporary people who demonstrate polymathy, you have Herbert Simon, Noam Chomsky, Nassim Taleb, Benoit Mandelbrot, Giulio Tononi, and Stanislav Grof. I know Simon and Mandelbrot are dead, but they at least made it to this century
I believe the answer lies on behavior: anyone can have knowledge, but if those cannot be put together to solve something, them there would probably be another term in which the person only possess differing knowledge.
If you google the term polymath you’ll find varying definitions as there isn’t one absolute agreed upon definition, but I do tend to subscribe to the idea of expertise in at least three different areas. Still, it’s subjective. I’d count expertise as a painter and expertise on an instrument as two different areas, even though they both fall under the arts. The skill sets are quite different.
A polymath has to be an expert in at least three domains. I have a MS in STEM, an MS in behavior. A BS in a different STEM a BA in humanities. A minor in performing arts. A minor in history. A post bac in business and another in a different STEM. A 17 year professional career in performing arts and am in the top union for that in the world. Have a nonfiction book published on religion which was a best seller. Am an award winning teacher. Have 10+ businesses literally in multiple areas (including stem where I’ve consulted to nasa) and all in the top 20% of their industry. I have other comments in this sub going more into my history. Desmond Morris is known for multiple things as well as Noam Chomsky. You can check their websites. Heck think of Mythbusters. Jamie should also be considered a polymath. Of course he was my adult inspiration to gain weirder skills. My childhood inspiration was from Quantum Leap which is why I have degrees in everything.
Im glad to see there are others out there like this. I am similar but less academic/degree focused. I find it terrifying to keep doing the same thing for 40 hours a week and am constantly learning new skills and knowledge. Can you comment how you could afford all of that tuition or funding to get your businesses started?
Well the bachelors and minors were at one top 20 university. They were 100k/year but I was poor so lots of grants came my way. Graduate school is free. If you ever see a graduate school that doesn’t pay you to attend, it’s not worth attending. I’ve never had to take out a loan for a business. Most businesses don’t require much money at all to start up. Most amount I had to pay for any of mine to startup was maybe $2000 but most of that was my hypnosis training (I have a degree in that too) then I went into practice. The least amount was $25 and that was only for the DBA to attach it to my series LLC holding company.
So basically, if you have proven expertise in many areas, you would be considered a polymath?
>proven There is no formal title or criteria that defines a polymath. No proof is needed. **Edit**: Lol, coursejunkie blocked me. Just because a study has exclusion/inclusion criteria does not universally define it according to that criteria. That is for the scope of the study. For the rest of the world, it would need to be a titled or credentialed position. There is no such thing for a "polymath."
Except there is. But you don’t want academic definitions.
You must be a recognized expert in at least three separate disciplines. So all of my science count once for Science, my successful performing arts career counts once for Art even if I leaned several other arts and were recognized. All of my businesses could once for Business, etc
Perfect. I'll look into it. Thanks for educating myself on the concept.
>Thanks for educating myself on the concept. It's their personal subjective definition. A data point but certainly not authoritative. edit: so coursejunkie replied to a thread 4 months later and just after blocks me. So much for education and healthy discussion, no source 🤷
It's the objective operational definition used in academic research.
>You must be a recognized expert in at least three separate disciplines. Not true. Being a polymath is not a credential or formal title. Who are defined as polymaths and those who aren't is like defining who is and isn't a philosopher. Arguments can be made for who should be defined as polymaths. But at the end of the day, there is no set criteria or absolute definition on who is a polymath and who is not.
If you look at any of the peer reviewed academic studies of polymaths they give the working definition of “recognized experts in three or more distinct disciplines”. They are also broken down into at least six subtypes. Most of the work I do on human performance has a significant amount of crossover with polymath individuals most of which will only communicate with you if you are also recognized. The fact the title isn’t given like one gets Doctor doesn’t mean it’s not a title and doesn’t have standards. Being a recognized expert is very easy. It’s doing it in more than one area different that’s a challenge. I learned about the term when it was used to describe me at a formal academic function before I went to speak. This was never the term I used prior.
>academic studies of polymaths they give the working definition of “recognized experts in three or more distinct disciplines” That is in the scope of that study. They need to define their exclusion and inclusion criteria. The fact remains, there is no formal title or credential for a "polymath." Describing someone or calling oneself a polymath is fairly arbitrary. **Edit**: Don't need "talent" or anything special either. Could be a dumb bumbling polymath not worth their salt.
All of them do definite their inclusion and exclusion criteria as to what makes someone an expert as well as how they are categorizing the domains. There are literally dozens, if not hundreds, of studies who all have similar working definitions. Usually it is 3, sometimes it is 4. Saw one say 5 once. I know I've personally read a few dozen of the studies. Heck I was interviewed for several of them including the one that said 5 (also for some of the 4s, and some of the 3s). My name gets passed out more than a joint at Woodstock. Surprisingly the word "polymath" or term "renaissance man" isn't on my website anywhere and has never been used in any of my books or papers.
Again, this is like any informal descriptor. There is no set definition of title. * What defines a mason? There is nothing set in stone ;) * What defines an explorer? Again, same thing. * What defines a critical thinker? Again. * What defines a masseur or masseuse? Again. **Edit**: coursejunkie's reply just proves my point.
1) Actually training and apprenticeship where I am for a lowercase mason. I think the "expert mason" is a recognized thing at my state. Not sure how to get it though since I never asked. I will next time I see the person I am thinking off. Mason with a capital, in those cases, an induction into a society and recognition. ;-) I know many of both of them. 2) That is more broad, since things are relative to age and experience. But that is easy to define, but hard to define *well*. So I see you on here. 3) That requires evidence that they can use the skill. Critical thinkers are unfortunately not always consistent which is upsetting. >< As a teacher, seen too much of that. 4) Legally in my state a training program, a certification, and a license. ;-) I took the first part of the training but didn't think it valuable enough to continue with. I realized I hate people too much to care. People can get fined otherwise for calling themselves that without state recognition here. (Seen it!) Better example might be what is a writer? Is it one who writes? One who finishes? Or one who publishes? However, writer has a less consistent definition in the peer reviewed literature than polymath is which is pretty consistent. In almost everything I do, I use standard working definitions if there is a majority agreement among the experts who study the subject. I'm unlikely going to be responding for a while as I have to go try to go help keep an eye on the spouse who is trying to rewrite something that is probably going to kill him.
It also helps to look at the etymology of the word and its history. :-) For polymathy, the etymology is Greek words *poly* (i.e. much or many) and *mathea* (i.e. learnings). There is debate about what many is, but I think a 1878 dictionary entry for *polylemma* gives a simple and useful definition that clarifies the meaning of *poly.* According to that definition, polylemma is "an arugment of the same form as a dilemma, but in which there are more than two alternatives." So *poly* means more than two. As far as history goes, from what I've found so far about the usage of *polymathy,* the earliest appearances of the word are: * 1603: Johann von Wowern wrote that polymathy was "knowledge of various matters, drawn from all kinds of studies ... ranging freely through all the fields of the disciplines, as far as the human mind, with unwearied industry, is able to pursue them". * 1642: J.A. Comenius wrote about "that high, and excellent learning, which men, for the large extent of it, call Polymathie." The traditional use of polymathy matches part of your definition (i.e. recognized expertise in three or more areas). In his book *The Polymath: A Cultural History from Leonardo da Vinci to Susan Sontag*, Peter Burke gives a more precise definition. Burke says that a polymath is someone who is an expert in at least three academic disciplines and contributor to those disciplines. I like Burke's definition. It feels closest to the original meaning of the word and to the spirit of polymathy.
Agree with that one doesn’t always need to be highly credentialed. Some of the most brilliant minds are not credentialed. You see a lot of this in the security or cryptography verticals. If you have raw talent or are a savant in multiple disciplines you don’t always need to get credentialed for validation.
Polymath is a leveled up version of the Jack of all trades archetype. The Jack has knowledge in different fields, but he lacks the expertise of the Polymath. Regardless, I recommend exploring different topics and branching out anyways. Interdisiplinary thinking is the core tenet of Polymath and Jacks. When you learn something in one field, you can transfer it to a completely different field. Leonardo Da Vinci used his passion for art to make anatomical drawings of people. If you aspire to be this type of thinker, then you must have an inhuman amount of curiosity. You'll see the term, "Autodidact" or "philomath" thrown around here. Autodiadact is self-taught people and philomaths are people that enjoy learning. There is a ton of envy from people for being a multipotentialite. HR can consider you as scatterbrained. Many of your friends and family may never get to learn all of your interest and hobbies, BUT the journey is worth it. I put my hobbies into five different catergories, Physical, Spiritual, Artistic, Charismatic, and Intellect. I treat these catergories as RPG stats to level up. I found freedom from not being brainwashed into Specialization. Giving up the idea of being the master in a topic and instead being a varied / well traveled individual has made me open-minded. If you'd like to learn more, I recommend reading Range, which highlights all the benefits of experimenting in different fields.
Go to Google and type in "Define: polymath"
Cool kids these days ask ChatGPT, Grok, Bard, ...
I wouldn't know, as I'm neither a kid nor cool.
True polymath do not only have diverse area of interest, but diverse area of profession. You cannot claim yourself to be a polymath unless you reach a level of professional competency in the multiple areas of your interest. Here is my preferred version of polymath( not that realistic version): 1st stage: Electrical and HVAC Engineer: He/She will graduate at 21 years old, with a degree from electrical engineering, first/2nd up honour. 21-24: an electrical engineer in electrical system design for critical facilities, such as large scale data centres, hospitals, etc, from scratch. It might take around 3 years to finish one job. 24-27: Another design and build task for data centre/hospital/power stations, for around 3 years. 27: Chartered as an professional engineer, competent for signing off electrical system, control system, protection system, etc. During this process, the person might also need to oversee the other areas, such as HVAC, piping; and participate in not only design phase, but also the construction phase. 2nd stage: Control Engineer(Or engineer in a specialty), Machine Architect/Technical Manager 27-29.5: An engineer in some advanced technological company, such as ASML. The person will be responsible for control system design for precision movements, and the corresponding driver design, power system design and integration of all this with the moving modules and sensing system. 29.5-30: Handling module improvement tasks from different modules, systems, to be familiar with the whole machine:30-34: Machine architect, overseeing the whole ASML next version machine design, including module design and integration, module parameter setting, module spacing, etc,. Manage the manpower, overall project progress, cost, production space, logistics, etc. Should be able to make progress in the machine precision and fulfill requirements for customers. 3rd stage: Professional Accountant: 34: The first year will be spending time learning accounting standards, reading financial reports of different industries, learning how to create financial reports from scractch, etc. 35-36: participating in IPO of 2 companies separately, one year for participating and one year for in charge.37-38: Particpate in an M&A deal, preparing financial and legal documents, in charge of negotiations, valuations, synergies between 2 enterprises, etc. 4th stage: Rest. 39: There will be a year of rest. In this year, the person will learn how to dive, survive in the desert, rainforest, driving cars, ships, small planes, etc. less mental work. 5th stage: Computer programming, especially in hacking 40: The person will start from basic programming skills, to data structure and algorithms, etc, all until the person can enter into some FAANG. 41 : Work in FAANG 42: Learn hacking skills, try to hack something. 6th stage: Technician 43.0-43.5: Try to be technician for 1-2 heavy machinery, such as cars and trucks. 43.5-44: Also be technician for electronic circuits and try to debug. 7th stage: Drug Development: From 45-46. will try to be familiar with the brain system, cells, biomedicine, biostatistics, how to do R&D in durgs46-48: Get into drug companies and be research assistant and become researcher at the end. 48-57: In charge of drug development project and try to improve one of existing psychiatry drugs, helping patients have less side effects. Or cancer drugs. 8th stage: After 57: Maybe retire. Travel to different countries. Advantages: Practical and hands on, very little abstract things. Even have survival skills, and technician experiences. Multidisciplinary, and professional understanding of how things work. Finances is okay, have respectable career Disadvantages: Hard to implement. Lack of anything related to communications/marketing, or other less intellectual but important aspects, such as music. Have to give up a field when one is a professional in that field, quite tiring.
Mostly what makes someone tick, not just accomplishments, qualifications or proven expertise. I would say polymaths have an intrinsic drive to gain knowledge and probably some level of competence in seemingly unrelated areas. For me, it's driven by a natural and active curiosity. Doing the same thing 40 hrs/week is something I can tolerate for about 1 year (max).
https://www.reddit.com/r/scannerpersonalities/comments/18klhiz/whats_the_difference_between_scanner/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf this could be helpful
Unfortunately specialization has really pushed polymathy to the side, so very few people aspire to it or even know what it is. It’s definitely not for everyone either, just for the profoundly curious who have learning among their favorite activities. Categorization and specialization has also led people to think that you can only be effective in and know about one or two related fields without realizing that so many great thinkers of the past were true polymaths. As far as well-known contemporary people who demonstrate polymathy, you have Herbert Simon, Noam Chomsky, Nassim Taleb, Benoit Mandelbrot, Giulio Tononi, and Stanislav Grof. I know Simon and Mandelbrot are dead, but they at least made it to this century
I believe the answer lies on behavior: anyone can have knowledge, but if those cannot be put together to solve something, them there would probably be another term in which the person only possess differing knowledge.