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Edited 08 March 2013 - removed links where no longer valid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



How D.C. to A.C. Inverters Work

Traditionally generation of electricity has involved rotating machines to produce alternating sinusoidal voltage and current (a.c. systems). With the development...

Maxwell's Equations - Gauss's Electric Field Law

Gauss's Electrical law defines the relation between charge ("Positive" & "Negative") and electric field.  The law was initially formulated by Carl Friedrich...

Fault Calculation - Symmetrical Components

For unbalance conditions the calculation of fault currents is more complex. One method of dealing with this is symmetrical components. Using symmetrical...

Understanding LV Circuit Breaker Fault Ratings

I think this post is going to be helpful to several of our readers. While the IEC low voltage circuit breaker Standard [IEC 60947-2, Low voltage switchgear...

Equipment Verification (to IEC Standards)

One of the requirements to ensuring that everything works is to have equipment selected, manufactured and verified [tested] to IEC standards. Not all equipment...

Periodic Electrical Installation Inspection – What to Inspect?

This is the second post in a series of two on periodic electrical inspections. In the first post, I discussed how often inspections should be carried out...

Frame Leakage Protection

While not as popular as it once was, frame leakage protection does still have some use in some circumstances.  In essence frame leakage is an earth fault...

Fire Resistant and Fire Retardant Cables

Fire resistant and fire retardant cable sheaths are design to resist combustion and limit the propagation of flames. Low smokes cables have a sheath designed...

Restricted Earth Fault Protection

The windings of many medium and small sized transformers are protected by restricted earth fault (REF) systems. The illustration shows the principal of...

Fault Calculations - Typical Equipment Parameters

A frequent problem in fault calculations is the obtaining of equipment parameters.  While it is always preferable to use the actual parameters of the equipment...

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