Leading the Way: Famous Kansans

Fame is an elusive quality. Many people know what it means but few experience it. Fame is not new to the twentieth century. Its history is the story of achievements, events, and people. Fame is the past itself. Fame is the story of how people view their world.

Fame is based in community and grounded in time. It needs public recognition for its birth and survival.

People become well known within a community. Sometimes the community is small and local, and other times the community is large and expansive. Today television and the Internet provide instant access to millions greatly expanding the size of communities.

Fame
	It [the media] has a very influential effect, perhaps too influential. There are many who deserve "fame" who never have the support of the media. Kerry Livgren 1998
Famous is any person who has done something, favorable or not, which affects a large number of people or affects their lives. Ron Harbaugh 1998
	To be famous is to be selected by the popular media, especially TV and photographs, for attention and coverage. Teresa Cuevas 1998
. . .You are "Famous" if you are known by complete strangers. . .people with no connection to your family or extended circle of friends and acquaintances. James Reynolds 1998

A personal achievement can be widely known but the personality may only be recognized within a smaller community.

Jack Kilby became interested in electronics while a student in Great Bend. He invented the integrated circuit in 1958. He is one of the most important men of the twentiety century. The National Inventors Hall of Fame placed his name next to the names of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and the Wright Brothers. Although well known within his field, forty years after his invention began to revolutionize the world most people do not know his name.

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