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Robert H. Thurston
(25 Oct 1839 - 25 Oct 1903)
American engineer and inventor , who established the first mechanical laboratory in 1875, at Stevens Institute of Technology. In 1885, he moved to Cornell University, where he set up what would be, for a while, America's leading engineering school. He helped to found (1880) the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
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Science Quotes by Robert H. Thurston (1 quote)
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.
— Robert H. Thurston
In 'The Growth of the Steam-Engine', The Popular Science Monthly (Nov 1877), 17.
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) --
Carl Sagan
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