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It is a curious property of research activity that after the problem has been solved the solution seems obvious. This is true not only for those who have not previously been acquainted with the problem, but also for those who have worked over it for years.

Edwin Land

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Edwin Land
Age: 81 †
Born: 1909
Born: May 7
Died: 1991
Died: March 1
Entrepreneur
Inventor
Photographer
Physicist
Bridgeport
Connecticut
Edwin Land
Edwin Herbert Land
E.H. Land
Activity
Solved
Science
Solution
True
Curious
Also
Solutions
Seems
Obvious
Problem
Property
Years
Worked
Acquainted
Research
Previously

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An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.
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[A Polaroid camera] places before you a thing that is more of the thing than the thing was.
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Marketing is what you do when your product is no good.
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You cannot separate the composition from the life of the moment. It is all one thing, to be decided in a split second while you're living through it.
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The world belongs to the articulate.
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A significant inventionmust be startling, unexpected. It must come to a world that is not prepared for it.
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In a few wretched buildings, we created a whole new industry with international significance.
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Over the years, I have learned that every significant invention has several characteristics. By definition it must be startling, unexpected, and must come into a world that is not prepared for it. If the world were prepared for it, it would not be much of an invention.
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Aladdin in his most intoxicated moments would never have dreamed of asking his [djinn] for [a polaroid] ... It's utterly new in concept and appearance, utilizing an utterly revolutionary flash system, an utterly revolutionary viewing system, utterly revolutionary electronics, and utterly revolutionary film structure.
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Science is a method to keep yourself from kidding yourself.
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Colour is always a consequence, never a cause.
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Fifty years after we undertook to make the first synthetic polarizers we find them the essential layer in digital liquid-crystal. And thirty four years after we undertook to make the first instant camera and film, our kind of photography has become ubiquitous.
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Profundity and originality are attributes of single, if not singular, minds.
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I don't mind conducting the orchestra if I can play the violin.
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Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess.
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It is a curious property of research activity that after the problem has been solved the solution seems obvious.
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I submit to you that when in each man the dream of personal greatness dies, democracy loses the real source of its future strength.
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I believe each incoming freshman [in college] must be started at once on his own research project if we are to preserve his secret dream of greatness and make it come true.
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Work only on problems that are manifestly important and seem to be nearly impossible to solve. That way you will have a natural market for your product and no competition.
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Politeness is the poison of collaboration.
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