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Elihu Thomson
(29 Mar 1853 - 13 Mar 1937)
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Science Quotes by Elihu Thomson (3 quotes)
Elihu Thomson
If the question were, “What ought to be the next objective in science?” my answer would be the teaching of science to the young, so that when the whole population grew up there would be a far more general background of common sense, based on a knowledge of the real meaning of the scientific method of discovering truth.
— Elihu Thomson
Shall an invention be patented or donated to the public freely? I have known some well-meaning scientific men to look askance at the patenting of inventions, as if it were a rather selfish and ungracious act, essentially unworthy. The answer is very simple. Publish an invention freely, and it will almost surely die from lack of interest in its development. It will not be developed and the world will not be benefited. Patent it, and if valuable, it will be taken up and developed into a business.
— Elihu Thomson
The so-called ‘crank’ may be quite original in his ideas. … Invention, however, in the engineering sense involves originality; but not that alone, if the results are to be of value. There is imagination more or less fertile, but with it a knowledge of what has been done before, carried perhaps by the memory, together with a sense of the present or prospective needs in art or industry. Necessity is not always the mother of invention. It may be prevision.
— Elihu Thomson
See also:
- 29 Mar - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Thomson's birth.
- Elihu Thomson - Development of Electric Railways (1888)
- Charles Van Depoele - Biography from The Mechanical News (1892).
- 27 Apr - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Charles Van Depoele's birth.
- Innovation as a Social Process: Elihu Thomson and the Rise of General Electric, by W. Bernard Carlson. - book suggestion.