Engineering & Science Notable Quote Archive #19

• "Would the unit of time equal to 30,589 Earth days (orbital period of the 7th planet) be called the Uranushertz?" - Kirt Blattenberger, RFCafe.com

  1/26/2011

• "We used to know how to do high-temp electronics when we had vacuum tubes." Sanjay Limaye, in discussing survival of the SAGE Venus lander

  1/26/2011

• "Of course not. But I understand it works even if you don't believe in it." - Niels Bhor, asked whether he believes in superstition with his "lucky" horseshoe

  1/19/2011

• "In astronomy, the only numbers are one, two, and infinity. So if you get two, there are probably lots more." - Philip Morrison, MIT physicist, in SciAm

  1/12/2011, 10/17/2019

• "You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great." - Anon

  1/5/2011

• "...Second, you need to pick a good partner. It's like picking a great wife: If you get that right, everything else is easier." - Bill Draper, venture capitalist

  12/29/2010

• "Electronics in general are pretty much magic, as long as you don't let the smoke out." - Joe Wolin, EEWeb

  12/22/2010

• "In the heat of battle my father wove a tapestry of obscenities that as far as we know is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan." – Ralphie, A Christmas Story(my 2nd favorite Christmas show, after A Charlie Brown Christmas)

  12/15/2010

• "It is quite impossible that the noble organs of human speech could be replaced by ignoble, senseless metal." - Jean Bouillaud, prior to witnessing Edison's phonograph

  12/8/2010

• "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; when he states that something is impossible, he is probably wrong." Arthur C. Clarke's 1st Law

  12/1/2010

• "Engineering is the art of organizing and directing men and controlling the forces and materials of nature for the benefit of the human race." - Henry G. Stott (1907)

  11/24/2010

• May her rest be long and placid,

  She added Water to the Acid,

  The other girl did as she oughter,

  She added Acid to the Water.

  Mnemonic that could save your eyes

  11/17/2010

• "In weightlessness, this is not an effective search strategy." - Don Petti, ISS astronaut, re looking down at your feet for dropped items.

  11/10/2010    3/3/2022

• "We're a rare company in the Web-based software business - we actually charge for things. We think free is a business cancer." - Jason Fried, 37signals

  11/3/2010

• "In 15 years, more electricity will be sold for electric vehicles than for light" - Thomas Edison

  10/27/2010, 12/13/2018

• "The Air Corps...does not, at this time, feel justified in obligating... funds for basic jet propulsion research and experimentation." - BGen. George Brett to Goddard, 1941

  10/20/2010

• "I can accept the theory of relativity as little as I can accept the existence of atoms and other such dogma." - Ernst Mach, 1913

  10/20/2010

• "Light crosses space with the prodigious velocity of 6,000 leagues per second." - La Science Populaire, April 28, 1881(actually 53,958 leagues/s)

  10/13/2010

• "Alcohol and calculus don't mix. Never drink and derive." - Anon

  10/6/2010

• "Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of." - Benjamin Franklin, 'Poor Richard's Almanack,'

  9/29/2010

• "The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing." - Walt Disney

  9/22/2010

• "I like to con people... and I like to insult people. If you combine con and insult, you get 'consult'." -- Dogbert

  9/15/2010

• "Software vendors can't release bug-free word processors; heaven help us if we let them develop kill-decision [drone] software." – David Sigetich, Discover reader

  9/8/2010

• "'Photo' wants it thick, but 'voltaic' wants it thin.” – Michael J. Naughton re efficiency of photo cells

  9/1/2010

• "You need to have lots of young researchers." – Ian Bird, LHC computing grid project leader

  8/25/2010