Magicians of Engineering 

By on

The other day I was reading the “Night of the New Magicians”  by Mary Pope Osborn with my son.  The story is about a young boy and girl who travel back in time to the 1889 World's Fair in Paris to find four  new magicians and learn their secrets.  The new magicians turn out to be Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas  Edison, Louis Pasteur and Gustave Eiffel and their secrets inspirational advice.  A search of Google produced some quotations by these famous engineers:

Alexander Graham Bell - (1847–1922) born in Edinburgh he was an eminent scientist, inventor and  innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone.

  • "When one door closes another door opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us."
  • "Before anything else, preparation is the key to success."

Thomas Alva Edison - (1847–1931) was an American inventor who developed many devices that greatly including the phonograph and the long-lasting, practical electric light bulb.

  • "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration."
  • "I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work."

Louis Pasteur (1822–1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist best known for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and prevention of disease and his experimental support of the germ theory of disease.

  • "In the field of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind."

Gustave Eiffel - (1832–1927) was a French structural engineer and architect famous for designing the Eiffel Tower, e 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris, France, the Basilica Minore de San Sebastian and armature for the Statue of Liberty.

  • "I ought to be jealous of the tower. She is more famous than I am." - not as inspirational as the other quotes, but a nice one anyhow.

Inspirational quotations are always good to look at.  I may even try to remember these (particularly Alexander Graham Bell's opening and closing doors).  Finally if you do if you have children of the right age then the book is pretty good.

External Links

Edited 08 March 2013 - removed links where no longer valid



Steven McFadyen's avatar Steven McFadyen

Steven has over twenty five years experience working on some of the largest construction projects. He has a deep technical understanding of electrical engineering and is keen to share this knowledge. About the author

myElectrical Engineering

comments powered by Disqus



Tech Topics/Application Notes - Siemens

There are a lot of interesting two page type notes on various medium voltage topics – switchgear, circuit breakers, bus systems etc. It is on the Siemens...

UPS Sizing - Rules of Thumb

It wasn't so long ago I was telling someone that I don't use rules of thumb as most things are easily calculated anyhow.   As it turns out I last week...

Large Hadron Collider

The 27 km, Euro 6 billion  Collider lies on the border between France and Switzerland, took nearly 30 years to complete.  Some of the lofty goals for the...

IEEE Winds of Change

IEEE TV has a part series of videos on wind power and it's implication. For a really good overview to the technologies and issues around wind power, these...

Electric Motors

Collection of links to various places with useful motor information. I’ll try and return to the page every now and again to update it with any motor notes...

Photovoltaic (PV) - Utility Power Grid Interface

Photovoltaic (PV) systems are typically more efficient when connected in parallel with a main power gird. During periods when the PV system generates energy...

Lightning Risk Assessment (IEC 62305)

IEC 62305 'Protection against lightning' requires a risk assessment be carried out to determine the characteristics of any lightning protection system...

The dc resistance of conductors

This is the first of two posts on the resistance of conductors. In the next post I will look at the ac resistance, including skin effect and we deal with...

Welcome back Bottle

‘Kept looking at a card, y’see? Kept looking at it. Welcome back Bottle. Gods below welcome home. The Crippled God A Tale of the Malazan Book of the...

DC Motor Operation

Coils of wire on the rotor carry a d.c. current which generates a magnetic field. A stator magnetic field is created using either permanent magnets or...

Have some knowledge to share

If you have some expert knowledge or experience, why not consider sharing this with our community.  

By writing an electrical note, you will be educating our users and at the same time promoting your expertise within the engineering community.

To get started and understand our policy, you can read our How to Write an Electrical Note