• Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances. -- Dr. Lee DeForest, father of radio and grandfather of television, in 1957. • The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives. - - Admiral William Leahy, about the US atomic bomb project • There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom. -- Robert Millikan, Nobel laureate in physics,1923 • Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons. -- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949 • I think there is a world market for maybe five computers. -- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943 • I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that wont last out the year. -- The editor in charge of business books for Prentice-Hall,1957 • But what is it good for? -- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, commenting on themicrochip,1968. • 640K [of computer memory] ought to be enough for anybody. -- Bill Gates, 1981 • This telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us, -- Western Union internal memo, 1876. • The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular? -- David Sarnoffs associates in response to his urge for investment in the radio in the 1920s. • The concept is interesting and well-formed but, in order to earn better than a C [grade], the idea must be feasible. -- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smiths paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp. (FedEX) • Im just glad itll be Clarke Gable whos falling on his face and not Gary Cooper, -- Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in Gone With The Wind. • A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make, -- Response to Debbi Fields idea of starting Mrs. Fields Cookies. • We dont like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out, -- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962. • Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible, -- Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895. • If I had thought about it, I wouldnt have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you cant do this, - - Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M Post-It Notepads . • Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? Youre crazy. -- Drillers whom Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist for his project to drill for oil in 1859. • Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau. -- Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University , 1929. • Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value, -- Marshall Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre , France . • Man will not fly for 50 years. -- Wilbur Wright to his brother Orville in 1901 • No flying machine will ever fly from New York to Paris . Orville Wright, in 1908 .Everything that can be invented has been invented, -- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899. • The super computer is technologically impossible. It would take all of the water that flows over Niagara Falls to cool the heat generated by the number of vacuum tubes required. -- Professor of Electrical Engineering, New York University • I dont know what use any one could find for a machine that would make copies of documents. It certainly couldnt be a feasible business by itself. -- Thomas Watson, head of IBM, refusing to back the idea, forcing the inventor to found Xerox. • Louis Pasteurs theory of germs is ridiculous fiction. -- Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse , 1872 • There is no hope for the fanciful idea of reaching the moon, because of insurmountable barriers to escaping the earths gravity. -- University of Chicago astronomer F. R. Moulton in 1932 And last but not least ... • There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home. -- Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 01:14:09 +0000
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