Quote:
Originally Posted by bill_mchale
Yeah, the problem is, that more than one 'dumb' idea has turned out to be a good one in hindsight. The New York Times ridiculed the notion that Rockets would be able to accelerate in outer space (being one example).
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Bill
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i'll do you one better-
"Dear Mr. President: The canal system of this country is being threatened by a new form of transportation known as "railroads" ... As you may well know, Mr. President, "railroad" carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of 15 miles per hour by "engines" which, in addition to endangering life and limb of passengers, roar and snort their way through the countryside, setting fire to crops, scaring the livestock and frightening women and children. The Almighty certainly never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed."
Martin Van Buren, Governor of New York
"I watched his countenance closely, to see if he was not deranged ... and I was assured by other senators after he left the room that they had no confidence in it."
U.S. Senator Smith of Indiana, after witnessing a demonstration of Samuel Morse’s telegraph
"Louis Pasteur’s theory of germs is ridiculous fiction."
Pierre Pachet, professor of physiology at Toulouse