Predicting the Future
"Man will never reach the moon regardless of all
future scientific advances." — Dr. Lee DeForest,
Inventor of TV
"The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in
explosive." — Admiral William Leahy, U.S. Atomic Bomb
Project
"There is no likehood man can ever tap the power of
the atom." — Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize in Physics,
1923
"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5
tons." — Popular Mechanics, forecasting the
relentless march of science, 1949
"I think there is a world market for maybe five
computers." — Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
"640K ought to be enough for anybody." — Bill Gates,
1981
"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be
seriously considered as a means of communication. The
device is inherently of no value to us." — Western
Union internal memo, 1876.
"I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on
his face and not Gary Cooper." — Gary Cooper on his
decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With
The Wind."
"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the
way out." — Decca Recording Co. rejecting the
Beatles, 1962.
"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible." —
Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.
"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try
and find oil? You're crazy." — Drillers who Edwin L.
Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil
in 1859.
"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently
high plateau." — Irving Fisher, Professor of
Economics, Yale University, 1929.
"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military
value." — Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of
Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.
"Everything that can be invented has been invented."
— Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of
Patents, 1899.
"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous
fiction." — Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at
Toulouse, 1872
"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be
shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane
surgeon." — Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon,
appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria
1873.
and last but not least …
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in
their home."
— Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of
Digital, 1977