Re: Living in the Past

"Victor S. Miller" <victor@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:m3vf1bn1qp.fsf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >>>>> "Mark" == Mark Cipra <cipramark@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
>
> Jesse> If we see further than our ancestors it is because we stand on
> Jesse> their shoulders - who said that? I associate it with T.S. Elliot.
>
> Mark> (usually credited to Sir Issac Newton, although I think he
> Mark> actually borrowed it from someone else.)
>
> Actually, it is:
>
> "If I have seen farther than others it is because I have stood on the
> shoulders of giants"

I remember reading the story below in a Stephen Jay Gould book, but I don't
see an essay with a plausible title in the books on my shelves. In that
essay, he was amused by the fact that in using a previously existing
metaphor, Newton was verablly standing on the shoulders of giants, as well.

>
> Newton was a genius, but not the nicest of people. See below (I guess
> that the Royal Society was something like RATM BFS).
>
> Victor
>
> From wikipedia:
>
> Robert Hooke and Isaac Newton entertained a considerable mutual
> dislike for each other. They fell out in 1672 when Hooke criticized
> Newton's presentation showing that prisms split white light rather
> than modifying it. Newton expressed fury that Hooke seemed unable to
> grasp his ground-breaking discovery, and threatened to leave the Royal
> Society.
>
> Relations between the men grew worse as time progressed. In 1679,
> Hooke wrote to Newton advocating an inverse square law of gravitation,
> though he lacked the mathematical ability to formally prove it. When
> Newton published his Principia Mathematica in 1687, including a proof
> of an inverse square law, he failed to credit Hooke at all.
>
> The famous Newton quote, "If I have seen further, it is by standing on
> the shoulders of giants", appeared originally in a letter to Hooke,
> and Newton presumably intended it as a sarcastic remark directed
> against Hooke, who had a remarkably short stature.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Living in the Past
    ... Jesse> If we see further than our ancestors it is because we stand on ... Jesse> their shoulders - who said that? ... Newton was a genius, but not the nicest of people. ... Robert Hooke and Isaac Newton entertained a considerable mutual ...
    (rec.arts.theatre.musicals)
  • Re: @@Challenge to poly-choss@@
    ... Newton famously acknowledged the contributions of his predecessors to his own work, when he said that he had seen further because he was standing on the shoulders of giants. ... The Newton who engaged in vituperative feuds with his peers and rivals particularly Hooke and had to be practically caressed before he let his work be published? ... Goo goo ga joob. ...
    (talk.religion.bahai)
  • Letter, Physics Today: Hooke, Newton, and the Trials of Historical Examination
    ... Hooke, Newton, and the Trials of Historical Examination ... planets of a direct motion by the tangent & an attractive motion ... Nauenberg argues that "Hooke ...
    (sci.physics)
  • Re: asm
    ... > They build up each others strength. ... Newton seriously attempted to erase Hooke from history ... the "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants" comment Newton made to Hooke ... This isn't actually a reference to HLA, ...
    (alt.lang.asm)
  • Re: To the Maestri: Whats it like?
    ... I've heard this "shoulders" phrase before, ... Some historians are of the opinion that Newton originally meant the ... to borrowing from the greats. ...
    (rec.music.classical.guitar)