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in reply to Re: Second rate programmers and my confession
in thread Second rate programmers and my confession

That quote is actually attributed to Isaac Newton and may, in fact, have been an insult. Apparently, some of Newton's work was discovered independantly by another individual, named Hooke (I forget his first name). Apparently, in a polite email feud, Newton made his comment. Hooke, however, was apparently rather short and Newton's comments may have been a nasty reference to Hooke's height and, presumably, his intellectual capacity.

Cheers,
Ovid

Update: ROTFLMAO :) Of course Newton didn't have email. I meant "mail". Heh ...

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  • Comment on Re: Re: Second rate programmers and my confession

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Re: Second rate programmers and my confession
by Abigail-II (Bishop) on Jun 06, 2002 at 14:20 UTC
    Newton was not a nice person. He had a big ego, always tried to make him look better than his peers. He got real nasty in his long standing argument with Leibnitz, (Newton's "fluxions" vs Leibnitz' derivates), dividing the Western scientists into two camps. Newton also made his Principae (spelling?) hard to read, on purpose. He didn't want to be bothered by remarks and questions from "lesser scientists".

    Does that mean Newton didn't understand his stuff? Or that he wasn't a first class scientists? I don't think so.

    Abigail

[reply]
      Does that mean Newton didn't understand his stuff? Or that he wasn't a first class scientists? I don't think so.

      Yes, I think it's indicative of not being a first-class scientist. I don't think anyone would say that Newton wasn't brilliant, but part of being a scientist is making Knowledge available to the world. The pursuit of science is (or should be) ultimately altruistic, and if Newton deliberately made his writings harder to read than they could have been, then he was a second-rate scientist. He allowed his ego to get in the way of the real purpose of scientific exploration.

[reply]
        Well, that's just your opinion, and I'm convinced that your belief Newton wasn't a first class scientist isn't shared by many.

        Abigail, who prefers peer review over popular vote.

[reply]
Re: Re: Re: Second rate programmers and my confession
by Anonymous Monk on Jun 05, 2002 at 20:16 UTC
    Newton had email?
[reply]

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