Thumbnail of Georg von Békésy
Georg von Békésy
(3 Jun 1899 - 13 Jun 1972)

Hungarian-American physicist.


Science Quotes by Georg von Békésy (1)

One way of dealing with errors is to have friends who are willing to spend the time necessary to carry out a critical examination of the experimental design beforehand and the results after the experiments have been completed. An even better way is to have an enemy. An enemy is willing to devote a vast amount of time and brain power to ferreting out errors both large and small, and this without any compensation. The trouble is that really capable enemies are scarce; most of them are only ordinary. Another trouble with enemies is that they sometimes develop into friends and lose a great deal of their zeal. It was in this way the writer lost his three best enemies. Everyone, not just scientists, needs a good few enemies.
— Georg von Békésy
Quoted in George A. Olah, A Life of Magic Chemistry (2001), 146.
See also:  |  Error (41)  |  Experiment (88)


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