Tue, 2 Apr 1996 21:14:22 -0500
|
Sounds like "publish or perish" personified where you come from.
Not-publishing doesn't deminish the man's creativity.
Gregory Scheib ~ ~
The George Washington University (<O> <O>)
[log in to unmask] ( ^ )
/ | \
(_____)
___
On Tue, 2 Apr 1996, kevin mccartney wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> Eric Seagel has commented that Leonardo di Vinci is "exceptionalism
> personified"; I would strongly argue that he is history's most overrated
> person.
>
> To begin, he was not a scientist. A scientist seeks to increase mankind's
> knowledge. Di Vinci did no such thing. Scientists PUBLISH their discovies;
> Di Vinci did not. All the discovies attributed to Di Vinci were actually
> discovered by someone else who published these findings and thus contributed
> to the development of those ideas. Many years afterwards, Di Vinci's notes
> (which he had kept secret) were found and it was learned that Di Vinci had
> previously had that idea. But by the time that Di Vinci's notes were
> discovered, the idea had already been well developed and Di Vinci did not
> contribute to that development. Di Vinci cannot, as far as I can tell, be
> credited with the discovery of anything; credit goes to the person who
> publishes and thus gets the ball rolling.
>
> For "exceptionalism personified", try one of Di Vinci's near
> contemporaries: Galileo. Here was a man who was not afraid to tell the
> world what he had learned.
>
>
> Kevin McCartney, Ph.D.
> Associate Prof., Geology
> Director, Northern Maine Museum
> of Science (opens October 5)
> University of Maine at Presque Isle
> Presque Isle, ME 04769
>
|
|
|