Famous Predictions - What A Hoot!

• "Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances." - Dr. Lee DeForest, 'Father of Radio and Grandfather of Television'.
• "The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives." - Admiral William Leahy, US.
• There is no likelihood 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, 1933.
• "I have travelled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year." - The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957.
• "But what ... is it good for?" - Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
• "640 K 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.
• "The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" - David Sarnoff's Associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920's.
• "The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C', the idea must be feasible." - A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)
• "I am 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."
• "A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make," - Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.
• "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.
• "If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this." - Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads.
• "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, 1029.
• "Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." - Aarechal Ferdinand Foch, professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre, France.
• "Everything that can be invented has been invented." - Charles H. Duell. Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899.
• "The super computer is technologically impossible. It would take all of the water that flows over Niagara Falls to cool the heat generated by the number of vacuum tubes required." - Professor of Electrical Engineering, New York University.
• "I don't know what use any one could find for a machine that would make copies of documents. It certainly couldn't be a feasible business by itself." - The head of IBM, refusing to back the idea, forcing the inventor to found Xerox.
• "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 Equipment Corp., 1977.

Tag:Predictions

• Current Mood: amused