"The ill-success of the projects of misdirected ingenuity has very naturally the effect of driving those men of practical skill, who, though without scientific knowledge, possess prudence and common sense, to the opposite extreme of caution, and of inducing them to avoid all experiments, and to confine themselves to the careful copying of successful existing structures and machines; a course which, although it avoids risk, would, if generally followed, stop the progress of all improvement. A similar course has sometimes... been adopted by men possessed of scientific as well as practical skill: such men having, in certain cases, from deference to popular prejudice, or from a dread of being reputed us theorists, considered it advisable to adopt the worse and customary design for a work in preference to a better but unusual design."
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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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