Aerial flight is one of that class of problems with which man will never be able to cope. . . . The example of the bird does not prove that man can f…

- Simon Newcomb

Ten decimal places of π are sufficient to give the circumference of the earth to a fraction of an inch, and thirty decimal places would give the circ…

- Simon Newcomb

All attempts at artificial aviation are not only dangerous to human life, but foredoomed to failure from the engineering standpoint.

- Simon Newcomb

If my impressions are correct, our educational planing mill cuts down all the knots of genius, and reduces the best of the men who go through it to m…

- Simon Newcomb

Whenever a total eclipse of the sun was visible in an accessible region parties were sent out to observe it.

- Simon Newcomb

Construction of an aerial vehicle which can carry even a single man . . . requires the discovery of some new metal or force. Even with such a discove…

- Simon Newcomb

I had not yet gotten into the world of light. But I felt as one who, standing outside, could knock against the wall and hear an answering knock from …

- Simon Newcomb

The time was not yet ripe for the growth of mathematical science among us, and any development that might have taken place in that direction was rude…

- Simon Newcomb

Flight by machines heavier than air is unpractical and insignificant, if not utterly impossible.

- Simon Newcomb