“Newton would have been laughed out of the country if Kepler hadn't done the measurement. … The facts speak for themselves. … History has shown that you need a little luck — and if you don't have the luck, you're out of luck.”

— Robert B. Laughlin

1:00:00 to 1:01:00 in video
SETI Talk 2013

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Newton would have been laughed out of the country if Kepler hadn't done the measurement. … The facts speak for themselv…" by Robert B. Laughlin?

Robert B. Laughlin 14

American physicist 1950

Related quotes

“To have success in science, you need some luck.
But to succeed in science, you need a lot more than luck.”

James D. Watson (1928) American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist.

Succeeding in Science: Some Rules of Thumb (1993)
Context: To have success in science, you need some luck.
But to succeed in science, you need a lot more than luck. And it's not enough to be smart — lots of people are very bright and get nowhere in life. In my view, you have to combine intelligence with a willingness not to follow conventions when they block your path forward.

“The author of The Prophet not only has the good luck to have talent, he has also the talent to have good luck.”

Hector Berlioz (1803–1869) French Romantic composer

L'auteur de ce Prophète a non seulement le bonheur d'avoir du talent, mais aussi le talent d'avoir du bonheur.
Les soirées de l'orchestre (1852), ch. 5 http://www.hberlioz.com/Writings/SO05.htm; Jacques Barzun (trans.) Evenings with the Orchestra (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999) p. 62.