Thinking like a Scientist

"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

During the first freshmen sem lesson, Dr Roland introduces us to this quote by Sir Isaac Newton. When asked our opinion as to the meaning of the quote, some gave remarks that he was humble, he credited those who helped him and others. But generally we thought that Newton was a fine gentleman who contributed a lot to Science.

But we were definitely wrong.. so wrong it turned out to be.

You see.. back in his days, Robert Hooke accused Newton of 'stealing' his intellectual property pertaining laws of gravity. This got Newton fed up (who wouldn't be) apparently and it turned out Newton was witty too.

Well, where does the quote come in? What people don't know, is that Robert Hooke was a short man. 'Vertically challenged' as one might say. So yeah, Newton's remark was the ultimate sarcasm hurled at Hooke.

So lesson learnt today is never take a quote by face-value.. as seen above. Haha.. I think Freshman Seminar module is going to be fun.. 3 reports, 3 presentations..