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Quote by John Timbs

“The mighty steam-engine has its germ in the simple boiler in which the peasant prepares his food. The huge ship is but the expansion of the floating leaf freighted with its cargo of atmospheric dust; and the flying balloon is but the infant's soap-bubble lightly laden and overgrown. But the Telescope, even in its most elementary form, embodies a novel and gigantic idea, without an analogue in nature, and without a prototype in experience”

Quote by John Timbs

Work

Stories of Inventors and Discoverers in Science and the Useful Arts

This volume offers detailed accounts of the individuals who have made significant contributions to the development of science and the practical applications of their discoveries, showcasing their innovative spirit and the impact of their work on society. more

Author

John Timbs
John Timbs

John Timbs was a British author born on August 17, 1801, and died on March 6, 1875. He was known for his extensive research and writing, covering a wide range of subjects including history, literature, and science. more

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“To most ... of us, Russia was as mysterious and remote as the other side of the moon and not much more productive when it came to really new ideas or inventions. A common joke of the time [mid 1940s] said that the Russians could not surreptitiously introduce nuclear bombs in suitcases into the United States because they had not yet been able to perfect a suitcase.”

“We are apt to consider that invention is the result of spontaneous action of some heavenborn genius, whose advent we must patiently wait for, but cannot artificially produce. It is unquestionable, however, that education, legal enactments, and general social conditions have a stupendous influence on the development of the originative faculty present in a nation and determine whether it shall be a fountain of new ideas or become simply a purchaser from others of ready-made inventions.”