"The evil influence of the supposed inconsistency of theory and practice upon speculative science, although much less conspicuous than it was in the ancient and middle ages, is still occasionally to be traced. This it is which opposes the mutual communication of ideas between men of science and men of practice, and which leads scientific men sometimes to employ, on problems that can only be regarded as ingenious mathematical exercises, much time and mental exertion that would be better bestowed on questions having some connection with the arts, and sometimes to state the results of really important investigations on practical subjects in a form too abstruse for ordinary use; so that the benefit which might be derived from their application is for years lost to the public; and valuable practical principles which might have been anticipated by reasoning, are left to be discovered by slow and costly experience."
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Mechanical engineersPeople from EdinburghInventorsPhysicists from ScotlandUniversity of Edinburgh alumni
Original Language: English
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William John Macquorn Rankine
William John Macquorn Rankine (5 July 1820 – 24 December 1872) was a Scottish engineer and physicist.
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