
“You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.”
“You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.”
November 1957 - Told to Joseph G. Martin, then Aide-de-Camp to Maj. Gen. Daniel E. Hooks, as Lt. Martin escorted Dr. von Kármán from New York City to lead a secret symposium on space flight in Cloudcroft, NM. Sputnik had been launched a month before and every branch of the US military had a separate space program and were desperately trying to get off a successful launch.
The Life and Times of Joe Gordon (To the Best of My Recollection) by Joseph G. Martin (self published, 2007)
“The bearing of a child takes nine months, no matter how many women are assigned.”
Page 17, cf. Theodore von Kármán (1957): "Everyone knows it takes a woman nine months to have a baby. But you Americans think if you get nine women pregnant, you can have a baby in a month."
The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering (1975, 1995)
On the Pilgrims, in a speech at a New England Society Dinner (22 December 1880).
1880s
“If you don’t produce, you won’t thrive—no matter how skilled or talented you are.”
Source: Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
Source: Man Plus (1976), Chapter 5, “Monster Becoming Mortal Again” (p. 50)