#1 painter

 In the 5 best painters in history there are 2 Aries: 

First is Leonardo Da Vinci and the third is Vincent Van Gogh

It perfectly explains why Saturn in Aries holders are painters as I mentioned previously (article Saturn in Aries)

I also found the list of the 15 best painters and 4 Scorpios there, Picasso - among the first 5. After Aries, I would put Scorpio second (Yan Vermeer, Claude Monet, Rene Magritte)

#1 in poetry

Among the first 10 best old-time poets (Selection edition) the leader is Taurus: William Shakespeare, Li Bo, Rabindranath Tagor are Taurus. The planet of Taurus is Venus - the planet of art and beauty.

Stephen Arroyo's brilliant idea that air signs have marked verbal ability made me think that there might be great poets under air signs. Among the first 10 best poets according to Selection (in total 30 best poets) ever existed there were Pushkin Gemini, Byron Aquarius and Libra Vergilius. Libra Lermontov was in the best 20. Among the famous ones, we know Gemini Conan Doyle, Libras Oscar Wilde and Coleridge, Gemini Garcia Lorca.

I will be more convincing with Russian poets. According to ranking of the first best 5 poets, 4 are of an air sign (2 Libras - Esenin and Lermontov): 

 Esenin Libra, Vysockiy Aquarius, Pushkin Gemini, Lermontov Libra

(https://www.100bestpoems.ru/names.php)

According to the survey by Levada Center, 58% believe Pushkin is the greatest poet, 41% - Esenin (Libra), 32% - Lermontov (Libra), Cvetaeva 9% (Libra)  https://www.the-village.ru/city/city/233505-pushkin

#1 Russian poet is Libra (why not Gemini Pushkin, because the sum of Esenin and Lermontov give higher weight)

Taurus and Libra Venusians are #1 in poetry.

Taurus (Li Bo, Shakespeare, Rabindranath Tagor): 

Libra: (Vergilius, Esenin, Lermontov)

#1 inventor and scientist

Aquarius is well-known in an astrological circle as the sign of inventors. Let's look deeper. Stephen Arroyo wrote that the majority of Nobel prize holders were born under air signs (Libra, Aquarius, Gemini). Alfred Nobel who invented the Nobel prize was Libra. Smart Scorpio, Saggitarius, and the earth element can excel in knowing facts, but not in inventions. 

 # 1 in this category is Aquarius (Galileo Galilei, Charles Darvin, Thomas Edison, Mendeleev). Next is Pisces (Copernicus, Einstein, Steve Jobs iPhone, GOAT Boby Fischer in chess - Fischer's method, Bell - first telephone inventor). I wrote in 2015 that found many too excellent students are among Pisces. All of my 4 years of university only Pisces sign was a Valedictorian all 4 years, only girls and the fifth one was a boy who got only one A - that did not let him become the best since there was another Pisces with 4.0 GPA. 

Among the first 6 scientists with the highest IQs there are 2 Aquarius (Galileo Galilei 185, Charles Darwin 165, Mendeleev - unknown) and 2 Pisces (Einstein 160, Copernicus 160)

                                     Galileo Galilei 

Charles Darvin

Dmitriy Mendeleev

Thomas Edison

#1 in Russian game "What, Where and When?"

"Что, где, когда?" - Russian game for knowing facts and details from the past events (checks erudition). 

I analyzed the owners of the crystal owl (given to best players) and found that leadership is spread among 3 signs: Scorpio (11), Taurus (10), Capricorn (9)

Further: Aries: 6, Virgo: 6, 

Libra 2, Aquarius 2, Leo 2

Scorpio: Fedor Dvinyatin (4 titles), Dmitriy Avdeenko (3), Valentina Golubeva (2), Talybov Elman (2) = 11

Taurus: Alexander Druz (6), Alexaner Rubin (2), Silantev (2)

Capriorn: Maksim Potashev (4), Andrei Kozlov (3), Alexei Blinov (2), Ovdeenko (2) 

Earth element leads (Taurus and Capricorn)

#1 in chess

Among the first 10 best chess players in history, the Scorpios were the first: Capablanca, Alekhine, Mikhail Tal. Scorpio is Ding Liren. Scorpio is a good strategist.

Next is an interesting fact. The first 5 best chess players have a planet in Gemini. Kasparov Saturn in Gemini, Bobby Fischer Saturn in Gemini, Fabiano Caruana has Mars in Gemini and Magnus Carlsen is also with Mars in Gemini (by the way, he will lose in 2023), Karpov Gemini by zodiac sign and he also has Mars in Gemini, Capablanca with the Moon in Gemini. #2 in the world ranking after Magnus is Alizera Firouzja, zodiac sign Gemini. Addition:

Gemini Gukesh Domaraju won the pretendent’s tournament in 2024 to play with the world champion for 2025 World’s. Age of 17! So unexpected!!! Since he is Gemini it’s very expected.

More… Kramnik Mercury in Gemini, Paul Morphy with Mercury in Gemini (almost in tenth) Tigran Petrosyan (almost in 10th) - Gemini zodiac sign.

Gemini and Scorpio are the best at chess!

Gemini chess players

Saturn in Gemini

Mars in Gemini

#1 in the Russian show "The smartest"

The Russian show "The smartest" existed between 2002-2012. Schoolboys and girls have to answer questions on different subjects per minute. There was one superfinal twice a year (two seasons) among winners. 9 championship superfinal titles belong to Saggitarius, 5 - to Capricorn, 4 -to Aquarius, 4-Taurus, Leo -2, Pisces -2, Virgo, Aries and Scorpio -1. (about 20 superfinals)

Speed was very important in the game (within 1 minute they had to give as many correct answers as possible) and the fire sign again is first. 

Saggitarius: 

Alexander Vetchinov won 4 times (the most titled player). "I am Saggitarius, therefore I can be hot-tempered and scream at everyone"

Stanislav Shipachev - 3 times champion 

Boris Belozerov - champion (according to topspeaker.ru the brightest player, absolute record - 46 correct answers for 2 rounds)

Marina Mincikovskaya - champion

Capricorns:

Andrey Ovsyannikov - 3 times champion

Andrey Boev - 2 times champion

Aquarius: 

Anton Okorokov (2 times), Ivan Sidorov (2 times)

Taurus: 

Moloshanov (2 times) , Ruslan Samoilov, Andrei Voronov

Pisces: 

Arseniy Lamenko, Dmitriy Chumakov 

Leos: Valeriya Lazarenko, Nikita Torzhevski

#1 in sailing/navigation

 Among the 5 best sailors according to one article, I found 3 Scorpios (water sign)

Christopher Columbus (discovered America)

Fernand Magellan (first trip around the world)

James Cook is the most famous British sailor. 3 trips around the world and exploration of the world ocean. 

Dirk Hurtog (Holland sea traveler, explored the west coast of Australia) Scorpio, Krusenstern (first Russian trip around the world) Scorpio. 

Amerigo Vespucci Pisces, Pizarro y Gonzalez Pisces (conquered Peru), Matthew Flinders Pisces (Explored Australia), Semyon Dezhnev Pisces, Heinrich Pisces, Amundsen Cancer, Miklouho-Maclay Cancer, Drake (Drake Strait) Cancer

The best are Scorpios, Cancers and Pisces that comprise the majority of other signs. Water (Scorpio, Cancer, Pisces) elements are 50% of all famous sailors.

After water, there are some Libras and Virgos.

Amerigo Vespucci (America was named after him) Pisces

Krusenstern - Scorpio

Micluho-Maclay (southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania, New Guinea) Cancer

Amundsen Rual Cancer (Norway polar explorer)

Pissaro y Gonsalez  (Pisces)

Heinrich - Portuguese sea traveler - Atlantic ocean and the coast of Africa (Pisces)

Dirck Hartogh - Holland sea traveler Scorpio

Matthew Flinders Pisces - British explorer of Australia, he gave the contemporary name to Australia

Francis Drake was second after Magellan who made trip around the world  - Cancer

Dezhnev Pisces - The first who went through Bering strait, sea traveler