Richard Hamming

famous small problems scientist acorn oak tree sterilize

“When you are famous it is hard to work on small problems. This is what did Shannon in. After information theory, what do you do for an encore? The great scientists often make this error. They fail to continue to plant the little acorns from which the mighty oak trees grow. They try to get the big thing right off. And that isn't the way things go. So that is another reason why you find that when you get early recognition it seems to sterilize you.”

― Richard Hamming (1915-1998)

leard others follow yourself lead

“What you learn from others you can use to follow.

What you learn for yourself you can use to lead.”

― Richard Hamming (1915-1998)

purpose computation insight numbers

“The purpose of computation is insight, not numbers.”

― Richard Hamming (1915-1998)

Newton shoulders giants feet

“Newton said, 'If I have seen further than others, it is because I've stood on the shoulders of giants.' These days we stand on each other's feet!”

― Richard Hamming (1915-1998)

beware find looking for

“Beware of finding what you're looking for."

― Richard Hamming (1915-1998)

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“True greatness is when your name is like ampere, watt, and fourier—when it's spelled with a lower case letter.”

― Richard Hamming (1915-1998)

work important problem likely work

“If you don’t work on important problems, it’s not likely that you'll do important work.”

― Richard Hamming (1915-1998)

not easy hard educated person

“It is not easy to become an educated person.”

― Richard Hamming (1915-1998)

research know answer expected learned nothing confidence

"It may be said "In research, if you know what you are doing, then you shouldn't be doing it." In a sense, if the answer turns out to be exactly what you expected, then you have learned nothing new, although you may have had your confidence increased somewhat."

― Richard Hamming (1915-1998)

science engineering know doing

"In science, if you know what you are doing, you should not be doing it. In engineering, if you do not know what you are doing, you should not be doing it. Of course, you seldom, if ever, see either pure state."

― Richard Hamming (1915-1998)