Georg Cristoph Lichtenberg was, according to his biographer,
Olexa Bilaniuk, “the leading German expert in a number of fields, including
geodesy, geophysics, meteorology, astronomy, chemistry, statistics, and
geometry, in addition to his foremost field and prime interest – experimental
physics.”
Wow! That sounds pretty polymathic to me. Lichtenberg definitely meets the criteria for polymath status.
But, despite his scientific accomplishments, Lichtenberg is
most well known today as an aphorist; his witty maxims can be found in almost
any collection of aphorisms and sayings. Here's one:
"The American who first discovered Columbus made a bad
discovery."
Tomorrow we'll delve into Lichtenberg's background and intellectual accomplishments.
No comments:
Post a Comment