It is quite clear to me that success must await progress of a
different kind from that which the inventors of flying-machines
are aiming at. We want a great discovery, not a great invention.
It is an unfortunate fact that we do not always appreciate the
distinction between progress in scientific discovery and ingenious
application of discovery to the wants of civilization. The name of
Marconi is familiar to every ear; the names of Maxwell and Herz,
who made the discoveries which rendered wireless telegraphy
possible, are rarely recalled. Modern progress is the result of
two factors: Discoveries of the laws of nature and of actions or
possibilities in nature, and the application of such discoveries
to practical purposes. The first is the work of the scientific
investigator, the second that of the inventor.
In view of the scientific discoveries of the past ten years,
which, after bringing about results that would have seemed
chimerical if predicted, leading on to the extraction of a
substance which seems to set the laws and limits of nature at
defiance by radiating a flood of heat, even when cooled to the
lowest point that science can reach--a substance, a few specks of
which contain power enough to start a railway train, and embody
perpetual motion itself, almost--he would be a bold prophet who
would set any limit to possible discoveries in the realm of
nature.
Pages:
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442