What does this quote by sir isaac newton means? as well as your reaction and comment in it...?

Question

"if i have seen farther than others, it is because i have stood on the shoulders of the giants that have gone before me"

thanks...

Answer 1

In modern terms you could say that he is acknowledging the work of people before him and accrediting them by saying that owing to them he could work ahead, using the already invented wheel, so to say.

Well, in this age of programming, high end software would never be possible if people kept on trying to write the basic code or in this age of modular design, people can't afford the time and effort of reinventing the wheel. So, it holds very true in this world of rapid development, especially in the field of science and engineering. One can also say that since so much of knowledge is avaiable to the world through the internet, none can claim that his work is his alone. Everyone needs to use someone else's knowledge to accomplish one's design/device/component/product.

However, in the field of arts, one can still claim to be original.

Interestingly, except for where mandatory to share credits, people like to claim originality. Other interesting thought about whether there was a practice of patenting in those times?

Answer 2

It means that although he is allowing for the possiblitly that he was a visionary, it was only made possible because he studied and learned from the great visionaries that came before him.

I think it's an excellent statement and it's a shame that no one now-a-days seems to want to give credit where credit is due. They'd rather claim it all for themselves than admit they needed help.

Answer 3

I think he is saying that he studied the work of the great minds before him, pondered on what they had discovered and took it that further step that led to his theories.This is indeed respectful and modest, however, although those thinkers before him may have cut  down on the amount of ratiocination necessary to reach his conclusions, I think it would have been an eventual thing for him anyway. I mean they never thought it out as far as he did, did they? And you just know he tested out their theories as many ways as he could to be sure they were sound.  Einstein worked on Newton's ideas and expanded them into the theory of relativity. This guy and Einstein have really put us where we are now.

Einstein gave a speech honoring Newton's 200 birthday anniversary.

this is what he said of newton's contribution :

Significance of Newton's achievement

The significance, however, of Newton's achievement lay not only in its provision of a serviceable and logically satisfactory basis for mechanics proper; up to the end of the 19th century it formed the program of all theoretical research. All physical phenomena were to be referred to as masses subject to Newton's law of motion. Only the law of force had to be amplified and adapted to the type of phenomena which were being considered. Newton himself tried to apply the program in optics, on the hypothesis that light consisted of inert corpuscles. The optics of the undulatory theory also made use of Newton's law of motion, the law being applied to continuously diffused masses. The kinetic theory of heat rested solely on Newton's formulae of motion; and this theory not only prepared people's minds for recognition of the law of the conservation of energy, but also supplied a theory of gases confirmed in its smallest details, and a deepened conception of the nature of the second law of thermodynamics. The theory of electricity and magnetism also developed down to modern times entirely under the guidance of Newton's basic ideas (electric and magnetic substance, forces at a distance). Even Faraday and Maxwell's revolution in electrodynamics and optics, which was the first great advance in the fundamental principles of theoretical physics since Newton, was still achieved entirely under the guidance of Newton's ideas. Maxwell, Boltzmann, and Lord Kelvin never tired of trying again and again to reduce electromagnetic fields and their dynamical reciprocal action to mechanical processes occurring in continuously distributed hypothetical masses. But owing to the barrenness, or at least the unfruitfulness, of these efforts there gradually occurred, after the end of the 19th century, a revulsion in fundamental conceptions; theoretical physics outgrew Newton's framework, which had for nearly two centuries provided fixity and intellectual guidance for science. (It was Albert Einstein who shook the foundations of physics with the introduction of his Special Theory of Relativity in 1905, and his General Theory of Relativity in 1915, of course, he did not mention that in his tribute, did he?)

ra·ti·oc·i·nate  (rsh-s-nt)

intr.v. ra·ti·oc·i·nat·ed, ra·ti·oc·i·nat·ing, ra·ti·oc·i·nates

To reason methodically and logically.

Answer 4

It means that Newton modestly sees the advances he had made would not have been possible without the work of others who had gone before him.

I think is is true.

Answer 5

To me it means that if he has made great progress and success, it is only because he built on the progress and success of others. It's just like the present with technology, science, etc, and the massive progress that's been made. We were only able to progress this far because of the people before us and the progress and discoveries that they made.

Answer 6

VERY famous quote meaning:

Even though everyone considered Newton a visionary and a brilliant mind, his statement means that he only considered his work to build upon the vision and brillance of others before him.

It is easy to see the solution to the problem if another has done half of the work already. Newton was brilliant, but he was giving credit to those who worked before his time. Very respectful. =]

38 minutes ago

1 Rating: Good Answer 0 Rating: Bad Answer Report Abuse Sorry, you must be Level 2 to rate

by TaureanA...

Member since:

November 14, 2006

Total points:

2670 (Level 4)

Badge Image:



Contributing In:

Video & Online Games

Add to My Contacts



Block User



he is referring to the great philosophers, scientists, etc, before his time...he followed in their footsteps..

37 minutes ago

0 Rating: Good Answer 0 Rating: Bad Answer Report Abuse Sorry, you must be Level 2 to rate

by guinness... Member since:

December 20, 2007

Total points:

512 (Level 2)

Add to My Contacts



Block User



It means that although he is allowing for the possiblitly that he was a visionary, it was only made possible because he studied and learned from the great visionaries that came before him.

I think it's an excellent statement and it's a shame that no one now-a-days seems to want to give credit where credit is due. They'd rather claim it all for themselves than admit they needed help.

36 minutes ago

0 Rating: Good Answer 0 Rating: Bad Answer Report Abuse Sorry, you must be Level 2 to rate

by origamim... Member since:

September 04, 2006

Total points:

26231 (Level 7)

Add to My Contacts



Block User



It means that Newton modestly sees the advances he had made would not have been possible without the work of others who had gone before him.

I think is is true.

35 minutes ago

0 Rating: Good Answer 0 Rating: Bad Answer Report Abuse Sorry, you must be Level 2 to rate

by sweet_pe... Member since:

May 09, 2006

Total points:

986 (Level 2)

Add to My Contacts



Block User



To me it means that if he has made great progress and success, it is only because he built on the progress and success of others. It's just like the present with technology, science, etc, and the massive progress that's been made. We were only able to progress this far because of the people before us and the progress and discoveries that they made.

35 minutes ago

0 Rating: Good Answer 0 Rating: Bad Answer Report Abuse Sorry, you must be Level 2 to rate

by Caroline Member since:

July 09, 2008

Total points:

548 (Level 2)

Add to My Contacts



Block User



Sir Isaac was being humble. He means, for all the wonderful things that he has done, he did not start from scratch. He started first by learning from others.

Maybe he also meant that you can never say that you know it all. Because as soon as you start thinking that, you are blocking your own learning.

My comment? I am grateful for all the teachers who willingly let me read all their books and listen to their lectures to learn what I wanted to learn. And for my fellow students because their questions and answers helped me greatly to put book learning into real life perspective.

27 minutes ago

0 Rating: Good Answer 0 Rating: Bad Answer Report Abuse Sorry, you must be Level 2 to rate

Answer 7

VERY famous quote meaning:

Even though everyone considered Newton a visionary and a brilliant mind, his statement means that he only considered his work to build upon the vision and brillance of others before him.

It is easy to see the solution to the problem if another has done half of the work already.  Newton was brilliant, but he was giving credit to those who worked before his time.  Very respectful.  =]

Answer 8

Sir Isaac was being humble. He means, for all the wonderful things that he has done, he did not start from scratch. He started first by learning from others.

Maybe he also meant that you can never say that you know it all. Because as soon as you start thinking that, you are blocking your own learning.

My comment? I am grateful for all the teachers who willingly let me read all their books and listen to their lectures to learn what I wanted to learn. And for my fellow students because their questions and answers helped me greatly to put book learning into real life perspective.

Answer 9

he is referring to the great philosophers, scientists, etc, before his time...he followed in their footsteps..