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Question:

invu
invu
Student
High School - 12th Grade

"In Science the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurred." - Sir William Osler

Do you agree or disagree and why? This is talking about in general science.

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Posted by invu on Tuesday November 3, 2009 at 6:32 PM and tagged with credit, idea, science.

Answers:


  1. pohnpei397 Teacher
    Community / Jr. College

    eNotes Editor

    This makes a lot of sense to me. After all, there's no point in having an idea if no one else hears of or agrees with that idea. It's sort of like arguing over which European first "found" America. So what? The first one that matters is Columbus because that actually had an impact on the world. People before Darwin had thought of the idea of evolution, but only he managed to popularize the idea. Therefore he's the one who actually had an impact on the world and on science.

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    Posted by pohnpei397 on Tuesday November 3, 2009 at 6:40 PM

  2. krishna-agrawala
    krishna-agrawala Teacher
    Graduate School

    eNotes Editor

    Best answer as selected by question asker.

    I believe the statement of Sir William Osler Quoted above, refers to the reality as it is rather than as individuals would prefer to have it. Sir Osler, it appears, is talking about "who gets the credit in real world", rather than "who deserves to get the credit".

    It would be nice if the the person who first gets a new idea is also able to spread the idea and convince the world about its validity. This way the first person to get the idea and the one to get credit for it will be the same. This will also insure that ideas are spread, developed and used faster. But this is not possible in all the cases.

    When the first person getting a new Idea is not able to spread it, but someone getting the same idea independently, is able to do so, I believe that this other person is equally deserving the credit. In this march of progress of science which has taken place over span of thousands of year, and is likely to continue for many more thousands if year, ad difference of a few years earlier or later is not significant.

    The situation is different when the person popularising an  idea has borrowed it from someone else. In this case the person spreading the Idea must also receive some credit for his efforts and contribution. But when the contribution of others to the idea is not accepted and acknowledged, it is dishonesty. When the idea like this is used to obtain a patent, it is also illegal. An idea or a design cannot be patented by a person other than the originator unless explicitly assigned by the original inventor.

    Unfortunately, in this world there are many cases of not just questionable ethics but also of downright frauds and manipulation of to get credit when it is not due and to profit from it financially and in other material ways.

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    Posted by krishna-agrawala on Tuesday November 3, 2009 at 7:01 PM