Six degrees of separation through history

As You Know, six degrees of seperation refers to the idea that any one person is only seperated from any other person on Earth by six or less potential steps.

But what about historical figures within a certain number of generations? I realised with a jolt that, thanks to my now-deceased grandfather, I'm actually less that six steps away from Hitler! This is all because in a chance encounter back in the 50s (I'm pretty sure it was 1956) my grandfather met then-Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev when he visited Britain.

So, myself -> my grandfather (1 step), my grandfather -> Khrushchev (2 steps), Khrushchev -> Molotov (3 steps), Molotov -> Hitler (4 steps).

And that's just Hitler. Between Molotov and Khrushchev, I'm no more than 3 or 4 steps from pretty much every important world leader of the 30s-60s.

Anyone else have similar historical connections?

I'm two steps from Margaret Thatcher.

Me -> Grandfather -> met Margaret Thatcher, got to speak to her, tried to tell how how to run England in a very accusatory tone, the cheeky old bastard!

I'm five degrees away from Hitler, then, because my father once met Yuri Gagarin, who talked to Khrushchev.

I'm two steps from Wernher von Braun, so if he ever met Hitler I have you beat. If not, then he met lots of people who did meet Hitler, so 4 steps.

EDIT: Yes, Hitler met von Braun during an early test of von Braun's rocket engine, so I have the lowest Hitler number here. Not sure if I should be proud of that...

edited 4th Oct '11 7:16:25 AM by EdwardsGrizzly

Two steps to Clarence "Kelly" Johnson of Lockheed Skunk Works.

Met Colonel Richard Graham, a former USAF pilot who flew Lockheed's SR-71 and wrote several books about it. He, like other pilots at the time, was personally introduced by Johnson to some of the peculiarities of the '71 way back when it was introduced into service.

Those folks who provide lots of connections in one step are called "nodes". Most people have one or two within two steps, if they can find their own connection to them.

I know about enough nodes in my web of connections to be able to claim the following people within four degrees: Teddy Roosevelt (3), (My Greatuncle Adam -> General Black Jack Pershing -> Teddy Roosevelt); Eisenhower (2) (My cousin -> Ike); Nixon (two paths, both of 3 steps, but with no overlap (Cousin -> Ike -> Nixon and Mr Maddy -> G Gordon Liddy -> Nixon); and various Israeli leaders without going through an American President at all (Solly is the node there, at one; he knew Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan). Besides that, I'm one step removed from many of the big Hollywood stars like Jimmy Stewart, Bette Davis, John Wayne, and Paul Newman, because I met George Kennedy and Ernest Borgnine.

It's all in finding your nodes, if you're looking for short paths to famous people. The problem is finding a short path to not-famous people.

And now I wish I knew anything about my family history.

Pity all my grandparents are dead, I know my grandparents on my dad's side lived briefly in the ottoman empire, and that on my mom's side, we had great-something or others that once fended off the mafia.

Now I am trying to calculate my degree of separation from Julius Caesar. I think my best bet is probably to go through von Braun to the Kaisers, and from them to the Roman Emperors (possibly hitting a few popes on the way), but I'm having a hard time confirming who definitely met who in the 1800s.

I think I have two, three degrees of separation from Arnold Schwarzenegger, the bassist from GWAR, and the guitarist in Ministry.

As for anyone actually fucking historically significant? Uh...

Closest I can get is that I once dated someone who may or may not have been a descendant of Commodore Matthew Perry, but that's still a ways off.

Edwards, in that case, you're looking for long-lived people. I can get back to the 1850s or so because Greatuncle Adam was born in the late 1880s and lived over 90 years. So adults that he met as a child could connect back to people who lived in the late 1790's. You can make three- or four-generation long jumps. To get back to Julius, though, you'll still need to cover 2050 years — that's a lot of connections, even at 90 years each — at least 23, even if every single one covers 90 years.

edited 4th Oct '11 9:49:08 AM by Madrugada

Well, I'm two steps from Robert Mugabe, since my old school principal used to be a colleague of his. Other than that, no idea.

The thing is, they have to not only be long lived but also have well-documented childhoods, so you can find some very old person who they met at a young age.

Following the path I took to Hitler, I have me->family friend whose dad was a rocket scientist->Wernher von Braun->Adolf Hitler->Paul von Hindenburg, 4 steps to the early 1800s. Unfortunately I am not sure where to go from there. I feel if I knew which way to go I ought to be able to reach Martin Luther or a contemporary in just a few hops, and from there get into the line of Popes/Roman Emperors without losing many steps going sideways.

Two degrees from Tito, since my grandfather, a former politician and judge of the Supreme Court, had a personal lunch with him. There has to be more, but I can't remember anything now.

edited 4th Oct '11 10:53:19 AM by MilosStefanovic

Well, yes, when you get back to the early 1800s or so, you're going to be making assumptions about who each person could have met. Looks like you'd have to trace the von Hindenburg lineage back to Martin Luther through Margarethe Luther ("Hindenburg was also a direct descendant of Martin Luther and wife Katharina von Bora, through their daughter Margareta Luther." from The Other Wiki)

edited 4th Oct '11 10:58:27 AM by Madrugada

I'm having trouble finding nodes. Does having seen a musician live constitute meeting them, or do you have to have spoken to them?

In terms of having actually met people, I'm three steps away from Andrew Eldritch and three steps from Lily Allen. Those are probably my best bets, I guess? Wait, actually, my dad's met Anaïs Mitchell, so that's probably my best bet, I think.

Wait, no, I forgot about regular MPs. They're a better bet.

This is hard.

edited 4th Oct '11 11:49:04 AM by BobbyG

Politicians are great nodes. So are journalists, which most people don't think of.

This is someone's name?

Oh! I met Marty Friedman once. He was in Megadeth. So I'm two steps from Dave Mustaine, and therefore three from James Hetfield. Whee!

Aha! I'm three steps away from Rupert Murdoch. He's gotta be a node. Also three steps from Elizabeth II, who, ditto.

^ He's the lead of the Sisters of Mercy. Real name is Andrew William Harvey Taylor, sadly.

edited 4th Oct '11 12:04:15 PM by BobbyG

I have a rather unfortunate three-step connection to John Lennon. See, my dad went to high school, and had at least one conversation that he can remember, with a guy named Mark Chapman.

On a less gruesome note, my grandfather once met Jimmy Carter when he was running for governor in the late 60s. So that alone probably puts me three or for degrees from most world leaders from the mid-70s to the present, and probably less than six degrees from most leaders of the 20th century. I know off the top of my head I'm four degrees from Mao (Grandfather->Carter->Nixon->Mao) and at most five degrees from Stalin through that route, probably closer. No idea about Hitler.

Rupert Murdoch would be a huge node.

For my Hitler number, I don't think I can make it in less than five or six. Making the jump to the German connection is the stumbling block.

Hmm. My grandfather on my father's side was a member of Hitler Youth. I wonder if he met Hitler directly? If so, I could trace Hitler to three separations.

^ That would be two, not three. You -> grandfather -> Hitler. You don't count yourself.

Thassright. Do'h.

Man! Pretty close. Can anyone here do better and claim to have met Hitler personally?

Still not very good at this. What's the best way to go about this? Do you start with a node and work back?

I've managed 5 steps from Robert Anton Wilson. My brother —> Rodney Orpheus —> Phil Hine —> Peter J. Carroll —> Robert Anton Wilson. But I don't think 5 steps is very impressive.

Though in this instance, I suppose it's rather apt.

edited 4th Oct '11 12:43:56 PM by BobbyG

My mom's the big connector; she went to high school with the band The Tea Party, she interviewed Roméo Dallaire for her old radio show, she met Dougie Gilmore's parents in the supermarket when I was eight, and she's really active in the Kingston political community so she's kind of friendly with the former Speaker of the House of Commons, who was her MP for a long time.

My little sister has played soccer with Rob Baker from The Tragically Hip, and met Hilary Duff on her vacation to Disneyland. Played it totally cool, too; my ex stepdad didn't even think anything big was going on until her NHL boyfriend came over.

And I once ran headlong into Margaret Atwood when I was little because it was raining and my hood was in my eyes. If I had known then what I know now, I would've done it on purpose. >:3

edited 4th Oct '11 12:46:02 PM by FurikoMaru