In the 1870s it was assumed that, with the discovery of atoms, there was not much more to be discovered about the make-up of matter.
In 1871, in his speech during his nomination as the first Cavendish Professor at
"In a few years all the great physical constraints will have been approximately estimated, and the only occupation which will then be left to men of science will be to carry on those measurements to another place of decimals.
In 1897, his successor as Cavendish Professor, who used the same office and even the same chair as his predecessor, announced the discovery of electrons - particles so small that they could pass through the open spaces inside an atom.
MORAL: Nothing's certain.
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Comments (3)
Dave, you usually don't mention companies/persons by name in your other fable stories. What's with the physicists? Is it because these chaps have been dead for better part of a century? :)
Posted by Rohit Garg | October 29, 2009 3:27 PM
Posted on October 29, 2009 15:27
You're absolutely right, Rohit, but I didn't say their names - Maxwell and Thomson - merely their academic positions
Posted by David Manners
|
October 29, 2009 4:08 PM
Posted on October 29, 2009 16:08
Moral:
"science" is what we understand at the present...
and that is forever changing...
and should be viewed accordingly...
however there are some things that are certain...
some inspiring....
some sobering...
Posted by John | October 30, 2009 10:55 PM
Posted on October 30, 2009 22:55