He was to invent the achromatic lens and to become a Fellow of the Royal Society. If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this. Nothing is more important than to see the sources of invention which are, in my opinion more interesting than the inventions themselves. MIT Press, 1990.
All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous, unpremeditated act without benefit of experience.
Henry Miller, 1891-1980 Periods of tranquility are seldom prolific of creative achievement. Mankind has to be stirred up. Alexander Graham Bell, american inventor Creative thought, the precursor to invention, requires an act of faith. Although we modern persons tend to take our electric lights, radios, mixers, etc., for granted, hundreds of years ago people did not have any of these things, which is just as well because there was no place to plug them in. Then along came the first Electrical Pioneer, Benjamin Franklin, who flew a kite in a lighting storm and received a serious electrical shock.