Not too many years later, "Lee DeForest
has said in many newspapers and over his signature that it would be
possible to transmit the human voice across the Atlantic before many
years. Based on these absurd and deliberately misleading statements, the
misguided public ... has been persuaded to purchase stock in his company
..." - a U.S. District Attorney, prosecuting American inventor Lee
DeForest for selling stock fraudulently through the mail for his Radio
Telephone Company (1913)
The Wright Brothers were derided as frauds for years after they were
regularly doing flying demonstrations. The reporters, scholars and critics
refused to attend the demonstrations, since they knew heavier than air
flight was impossible. One of the better biographies of the Wright
Brothers was written by Fred C. Kelly as an apology for calling them
frauds and refusing to attend the demonstrations.
“Scientists always scoff at new ideas, and claim that they are
'impossible.' Mainstream scientists of the day always miss the boat for
new technology. You might think people would have learned this by now. The
case of the Wright brothers among many others, proves to be highly
enlightening. They were debunked by Scientific American as frauds. The
fact that the Wright brothers had given public demonstrations to
thousands, did not change the minds of anyone at Scientific American
magazine. Because they all knew for a fact, that heavier than air travel
was against all the known laws of physics, and would not be possible for
5000 years. After all, 'if it sounds too good to be true, __ ____ __
____’ (Fill in the blanks, if you know the lyrics.). So heavier than air
travel must be impossible.
Historically, the government prosecuted Tucker (See the movie with Jeff
Bridges on video.), who tried to introduce a new and better car, with
safety glass, disc brakes, seat belts and other innovations. In the
courtroom scene, the Judge forbid anyone to look out the windows to see
the cars the government said did not exist.
Moving on, Edison of all people suffered a similar fate at the hands of
the 'experts,' with the newfangled electric light bulb idea of his which
was also impossible and against all the known laws of physics. That he had
lit up his local neighborhood with his electric lamps was not enough
proof, and he was 'debunked,' by many leading scientists and periodicals
of his day. For example, from the New York Times, January 16, 1880, 'after
a few more flashes in the pan, we shall hear very little more of Edison or
his electric lamp. Every claim he makes has been tested and proved
impracticable.'
Or read any decent book on the history of jet engines. Sir Frank Whittle
was ridiculed as a dreamy young man when he said not only might jet
engines work (gasp), but that they might even be faster and better than
conventional prop planes (wow).
When reading up on any innovation, you might want to keep some of this
scientific history in mind, and wonder if there are some new chapters to
books on scientific blunders and narrow-mindedness waiting to be written.
Arthur C. Clarke characterized the four successive stages of response to
any new and revolutionary innovation as follows:
1.It's crazy!
2.It may be possible -- so what?
3.I said it was a good idea all along.
4.I thought of it first.
The Aharonov-Bohm effect, predicted in 1959, required nearly 30 years
after its 1960 demonstration by Chambers until it was begrudgingly
accepted. Mayer, who discovered the modern thermodynamic notion of
conservation of energy related to work, was hounded and chastised so
severely that he suffered a breakdown. Years later, he was lionized for
the same effort!
Wegener, a German meteorologist, was made a laughing stock and his name
became a pseudonym for "utter fool," because he advanced the
concept of continental drift in 1912. In the 1960s the evidence for
continental drift became overwhelming, and today it is widely taught and
part of the standard science curriculum. Gauss, the great mathematician,
worked out nonlinear geometry but kept it firmly hidden for 30 years,
because he knew that if he published it, his peers would destroy him. In
the 1930s Goddard was ridiculed and called "moon-mad Goddard"
because he predicted his rocketry would carry men to the moon.
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