Smithsonian.com

Franklin D. Roosevelt. He led the country through two major crises, the Great Depression and World War II, and in so doing thoroughly revolutionized America’s sense of itself, its purpose and its place in the world. FDR’s New Deal not only introduced the welfare state to America and radically changed the scope of government; it also reconfigured American politics, sparking 60 years of debate between those who sought to expand it and those who sought to roll it back.

Who was the most influential American of the 20th century?

Our next innovator is Kevin Kruse, an associate professor of history at Princeton University. Learn more about Kevin.

There are a lot of things I’d like to see. To take one in particular, I’d like to have computers be able to answer my questions—in a real sense, the way people can. With search tools like Google, you get an experience that is both more and less than what you get from talking to a person. True, no human being has instant access to billions of facts—but unlike Google, people can summarize, paraphrase, and draw inferences from what they know; they can tailor their answer to what they think you know; and they can engage in a dialogue when your question is hard to formulate precisely. (more…)

Despite amazing technological advances, there are many respects in which computing and the Internet are still in their early stages of development. What would you most like computers to be able to do for you that they can’t currently do today?

Our next innovator is Jon Kleinberg, professor of computer science at Cornell. Learn more about Jon.

What is the difference between religion and faith?

Our next innovator will be Reza Aslan, a religious historian who calls for a return to Islamic tolerance. Learn more about Reza.