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Aerial flight is one of that class of problems with which man will never be able to cope.

Simon Newcomb

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Simon Newcomb
Age: 74 †
Born: 1835
Born: March 12
Died: 1909
Died: July 11
Astronomer
Economist
Mathematician
Novelist
Science Fiction Writer
Teacher
University Teacher
province of Nova Scotia
Problems
Class
Science
Problem
Able
Never
Aerial
Men
Cope
Flight

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I finally reached the conclusion that mathematics was the study I was best fitted to follow, though I did not clearly see in what way I should turn the subject to account.
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The time was not yet ripe for the growth of mathematical science among us, and any development that might have taken place in that direction was rudely stopped by the civil war.
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In 1860 a total eclipse of the sun was visible in British America.
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When about fifteen I once made a great scandal by taking out my knife in prayer meeting and assaulting a young man who, while I was kneeling down during the prayer, stood above me and squeezed my neck.
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James Edward Oliver might have been one of the great mathematicians of his time had he not been absolutely wanting in the power of continuous work.
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Whenever a total eclipse of the sun was visible in an accessible region parties were sent out to observe it.
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Quite likely the twentieth century is destined to see the natural forces which will enable us to fly from continent to continent with a speed far exceeding that of a bird.
Simon Newcomb
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In 1858 I received the degree of D. S. from the Lawrence Scientific School, and thereafter remained on the rolls of the university as a resident graduate.
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The reports of the eclipse parties not only described the scientific observations in great detail, but also the travels and experiences, and were sometimes marked by a piquancy not common in official documents.
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I had not yet gotten into the world of light. But I felt as one who, standing outside, could knock against the wall and hear an answering knock from within.
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One of the most beautiful hypotheses ever propounded in physics is ... the Dynamical Theory of Gases
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Aerial flight is one of that class of problems with which man will never be able to cope. . . . The example of the bird does not prove that man can fly. Imagine the proud possessor of the aeroplane darting through the air at a speed of several hundred feet per second. It is the speed alone that sustains him. How is he ever going to stop?
Simon Newcomb
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Ten decimal places of π are sufficient to give the circumference of the earth to a fraction of an inch, and thirty decimal places would give the circumference of the visible universe to a quantity imperceptible to the most powerful microscope.
Simon Newcomb
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If my impressions are correct, our educational planing mill cuts down all the knots of genius, and reduces the best of the men who go through it to much the same standard.
Simon Newcomb
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I was taught the alphabet by my aunts before I was four years old, and I was reading the Bible in class and beginning geography when I was six.
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As the existence of a corps of professors of mathematics is peculiar to our navy, as well as an apparent, perhaps a real, anomaly, some account of it may be of interest.
Simon Newcomb
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So far as the economic condition of society and the general mode of living and thinking were concerned, I might claim to have lived in the time of the American Revolution.
Simon Newcomb
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Flight by machines heavier than air is unpractical and insignificant, if not utterly impossible.
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Construction of an aerial vehicle which can carry even a single man . . . requires the discovery of some new metal or force. Even with such a discovery, we could not expect one to do more than carry its owner.
Simon Newcomb