Monday, August 20, 2007

Thought for the week

"Discovery is seeing what everyone else has seen, and thinking what no-one else has thought."

Albert Szent-Györgyi de Nagyrápolt (1893-1986)

A very good line, but I can't recall who is supposed to have said it, and don't seem to be able to find it on the Internet. It is one of the quotations posted above the the box office at the Edinburgh Assembly Rooms during this summer's Fringe Festival - so I am hoping that one of my friends there will be able to check it out for me and let me know.


Update:
Thanks to the omnipresent Tulsa, I have learned that this quotation is from a distinguished Hungarian physiologist, Nobel Laureate in 1937.

In similar vein, he also once said:

"A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind."

I'd be curious to know what language he originally said these things in. The quotation websites all seem to be unforthcoming on this point.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

from 1937 Nobel laureate in physiology and medicine -- Albert Szent-Gyorgi

it's a good one. thanks for posting it. perhaps you are here 5yrs+ because you saw something that all the 18-monthers didn't see??

Froog said...

Gosh, well done! How did you find that? Or did you already know it? I tried searching several quotations sites and couldn't dig it up.

Anonymous said...

It sounded familiar, but I had to search it to be sure. And, alas, I have no clue whether Albert originally said that in English or not. He did live, study, work in the USA for much of his life, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was originally in English...

Maybe some Edinburgh friends can pipe in with an answer? I feel like we need a visit to a brick&mortar library to figure out that question.

Anonymous said...

What a great quote. Thanks for sharing that one!

Anonymous said...

As an American in Edinburgh, I can tell you that I've found many pubs, many theater spaces,even the Guilford ARms today (thought of you Froog)but no Libraries that I've bothered to notice. Sorry.