Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Robert Henry Thurston

Quote by Robert Henry Thurston

“Great inventions are never, and great discoveries are seldom, the work of any one mind. Every great invention is really an aggregation of minor inventions, or the final step of a progression. It is not usually a creation, but a growth, as truly so as is the growth of the trees in the forest.”

Quote by Robert Henry Thurston

Create image

Author

Robert Henry Thurston
Robert Henry Thurston

Robert Henry Thurston was an accomplished mechanical engineer, born on October 25, 1839, and died on October 25, 1903. He made significant contributions to the field of mechanical engineering, particularly in the areas of steam engines and thermodynamics. more

You May Also Like

“If a mathematician wishes to disparage the work of one of his colleagues, say, A, the most effective method he finds for doing this is to ask where the results can be applied. The hard pressed man, with his back against the wall, finally unearths the researches of another mathematician B as the locus of the application of his own results. If next B is plagued with a similar question, he will refer to another mathematician C. After a few steps of this kind we find ourselves referred back to the researches of A, and in this way the chain closes.”

IfsMenWayKindHardScienceNextAsksWishResultsStepsHard WorkWallResearchMethodChainsApplicationMathematicianColleaguesBack Against The Wall
Author:Alfred Tarski
Create image

“In 1945 J.A. Ratcliffe ... suggested that I [join his group at Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge] to start an investigation of the radio emission from the Sun, which had recently been discovered accidentally with radar equipment. ... [B]oth Ratcliffe and Sir Lawrence Bragg, then Cavendish Professor, gave enormous support and encouragement to me. Bragg's own work on X-ray crystallography involved techniques very similar to those we were developing for "aperture synthesis", and he always showed a delighted interest in the way our work progressed.”

WayScienceInterestSupportSunGroupsHard WorkInvolvedDiscoveryEncouragementRadioTechniqueEnormousDevelopingProfessorsRaysInvestigationEquipmentLaboratoryDelightedEmissionsRadarSynthesisCambridgeSupport And EncouragementAperture
Author:Martin Ryle
Create image

“In the discovery of lemmas the best aid is a mental aptitude for it. For we may see many who are quick at solutions and yet do not work by method ; thus Cratistus in our time was able to obtain the required result from first principles, and those the fewest possible, but it was his natural gift which helped him to the discovery.”

FirstsMayAbleScienceNaturalAbilityResultsPrinciplesHard WorkSolutionsDiscoveryMethodAidsOur TimeAptitudeNatural Gifts
Author:Proclus
Create image