> What do you call someone who knows a lot about many different subjects?And the answer: a polymath.The phrase "Renaissance man" is synonymous with "polymath." As Vocabulary.com explains [https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/polymath]: A polymath is aperson who knows a lot about a lot of subjects. If your friend is not only abrilliant physics student, but has also published a poetry collection and wonprizes at political debates, you can describe her as a polymath.Photo credit: public domain.Though you may not be familiar with thisnot-particularly-mathematical phrase, it's played an influential role in theWestern world since the 15th century. A work by Johann von Wowern, a Hamburgphilosopher, was the first to use and define the phrase, stating it to be:> "knowledge of various matters, drawn from all kinds of studies ... rangingfreely through all the fields of the disciplines, as far as the human mind, withunwearied industry, is able to pursue them"Though the word is of a relatively more modern conception, its notions have beenexpressed throughout history. During the Renaissance, the idea of the polymathwas expressed by Leon Battista Alberti in the statement that "a man can do allthings if he will." Many Enlightenment and Renaissance thinkers are thoughttoday to have been polymaths, due to their wide-ranging skills and interests.What's more: the concept of a polymath relies largely on Renaissance ideals ofhumanism – that humans are limitless in their capacity for development and thatpeople should embrace all knowledge and develop their capacities as fully aspossible.Today, the term is most prominently circulated in academic environments;however, modern access to boundless informational resources suggests that justanyone possesses the ability to be a polymath. You, for one, are reading thisQuestion of the Day article – perhaps trivia-lovers are indeed the polymaths ofthe modern day. Cheers!Learn more about polymaths here [https://insandouts.org/the-modern-polymath/].