Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
Dr. Jonathan Southard, Dr. Ying Long, Dr. Andrew Kolbert, Dr. Shri Thanedar, and I coauthored a paper titled “Presence of L-canavanine in Hedysarum alpinum seeds and its potential role in the death of Chris McCandless,” which was published in the peer-reviewed journal Wilderness and Environmental Medicine in October 2014.
Jon Krakauer • Into the Wild
Others, including Priestley and both Darwins, used their commonplace books as a repository for a vast miscellany of hunches.
Steven Johnson • Where Good Ideas Come From
I have not as yet mentioned a circumstance which influenced my whole career more than any other. This was my friendship with Professor Henslow. Before coming up to Cambridge, I had heard of him from my brother as a man who knew every branch of science, and I was accordingly prepared to reverence him. He kept open house once every week when all unde
... See moreCharles Darwin • The Autobiography of Charles Darwin
He knew that difficulties already existed in reconciling these two approaches to the world – the scientific and the religious. But he hoped that those stumbling blocks would be overcome with further investigation – with no serious damage to either mode of philosophy, saying ‘neither will the ardour of science be discouraged, nor the full confidence
... See moreAlice Roberts • Ancestors
William Hawkins,
John Keay • The Honourable Company: History of the English East India Company
Next, he tried to confirm that Graunt was correct about the probability of a boy’s birth being larger than 50%. He was building the foundation of the modern theory of testing statistical hypotheses.
Sharon Bertsch McGrayne • The Theory That Would Not Die: How Bayes' Rule Cracked the Enigma Code, Hunted Down Russian Submarines, and Emerged Triumphant from Two Centuries of Controversy
Humboldt lived long enough to see most of his ideas become old hat, and he concluded toward the end that his chief contribution had been to influence younger men.
David McCullough • Brave Companions
glucose. Adams discovered that some of his E. coli were becoming more efficient at feeding on acetate than their ancestors were. The acetate feeders grow slowly, but they aren’t driven to extinction because they are taking advantage of a food that the faster-growing bacteria aren’t eating.
Carl Zimmer • Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life
He would be called the second Columbus. He had rediscovered America, it would be said. He was also seeing relationships and interrelationships between the Earth and life on Earth in a way that others before him had failed to do. So it would be perfectly fitting also to say that he was among the first ecologists.