Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to re: you should read TFA before you post it as support for what you have said.

re: you should read TFA before you post it as support for what you have said.
EnergyExpert — (archived)

Gee, some researcher. You just read the one article he wrote for a popular magazine I linked to without looking for other information or even to put it in context.

Some more on Simon Newcomb and aviation

http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/essays/v3p155y1977-78.pdf

http://invention.psychology.msstate.edu/library/Magazines/Airship_Coming.html

Newcomb was one of the poster kids for Clarke’s first law

"When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is
possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something
is impossible, he is very probably wrong."

Profiles of The Future, 1962 page 2-3

Actually Clarke spends the whole chapter on examples of scientists “proving” rockets, flying machines and nuclear power is impossible. I imagine a future generation, driving hydrogen cars, will include Zubrin’s article as an example as well.

Simon Newcomb also stated in 1888 in one of his books we had learned just about everything there was to learn about astronomy, but we are talking about his views on airplanes here, not his general ability to predict the future.

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