Quotes From the 'Experts' of The Time

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances."​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]-- Dr. Lee DeForest, father of radio and grandfather of television, in 1957.​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives."​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]- - Admiral William Leahy, about the US atomic bomb project[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom."​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]-- Robert Millikan, Nobel laureate in physics,1923[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]-- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]-- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year."​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]--[FONT=arial, sans-serif]The editor in charge of business books for Prentice-Hall,1957[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"But what is it good for?"​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]-- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, commenting on the microchip,1968.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"640K [of computer memory] ought to be enough for anybody."​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]-- Bill Gates, 1981[/FONT]​

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us,"​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]-- Western Union internal memo, 1876.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?"​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]-- David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"The concept is interesting and well-formed but, in order to earn better than a 'C' [grade], the idea must be feasible."​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]-- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.[/FONT]
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"I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper,"
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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]--[FONT=arial, sans-serif]Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With The Wind."[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make,"​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]-- Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out,"​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]-- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible,"​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]-- Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment.​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this,"[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, sans-serif]- - Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads[FONT=arial, sans-serif].[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy,"​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]-- Drillers whom Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist for his project to drill for oil in 1859.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau."​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]-- Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value,"​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]-- Marshall Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre, France .[/FONT]​

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"Man will not fly for 50 years."[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, sans-serif]-- Wilbur Wright to his brother Orville in 1901[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"No flying machine will ever fly from New York to Paris."​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]Orville Wright, in 1908[/FONT]​

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"Everything that can be invented has been invented,"​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]-- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899.​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"The super computer is technologically impossible. It would take all of the water that flows over Niagara Falls to cool the heat generated by the number of vacuum tubes required."​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]-- Professor of Electrical Engineering, New York University[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"I don't know what use any one could find for a machine that would make copies of documents. It certainly couldn't be a feasible business by itself."​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]-- Thomas Watson, head of IBM, refusing to back the idea, forcing the inventor to found Xerox.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction."​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]-- Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872[/FONT]



[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon,"[/FONT]​

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]-- Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria, 1873.​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"There is no hope for the fanciful idea of reaching the moon, because of insurmountable barriers to escaping the earth's gravity."​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]University of Chicago astronomer F. R. Moulton in 1932​

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[FONT=arial, sans-serif]And last but not least ...

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]-- Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977[/FONT]​

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]oooOOOooo[/FONT]​