Wrong-Expert Predictions:
Charles H. Duell, Office of Patents, 1899
Everything that can be invented has been invented.
A Boeing engineer, after the first flight of the 247, a twin engine
plane that carried ten people.
There will never be a bigger plane built.
Lt. Joseph Ives after visiting the
Ours has been the first, and doubtless to be the last, to visit this
profitless locality.
Albert Einstein, 1932
There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever
be
obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at
will.
Decca executive, 1962, after turning down the Beatles.
We don't like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out.
Margaret Thatcher, 1974
It will be years--not in my time--before a woman will become Prime
Minister.
Business Week, August 2, 1968
With over 50 foreign cars already on sale here, the Japanese auto
industry isn't likely to carve out a big slice of the
Popular Mechanics, 1949
Computers may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.
Ken Olson, president of Digital Equipment Corp. 1977
There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.
This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered
as a means of communication.
David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urging investment in
the
radio in the 1920's.
No imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to
nobody in particular?
H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.
Who wants to hear actors talk?
Gary Cooper, after turning down the lead role in Gone With The Wind.
I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not
Gary Cooper.
Response to Debbi Fields' idea of Mrs. Fields' Cookies
Market research reports say
and
chewy cookies like you make.
Hewlett Packard excuse to Steve Jobs, who founded Apple Computers
instead.
We don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.
Thomas J. Watson, chairman of the board of
IBM.
I think there's a world market for about five computers.
Admiral William Leahy,
The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives.
Marechal Ferdinand Fock, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de
Guerre
Airplanes are interesting toys, but they are of no military value
whatsoever.
Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics,
Stocks have reached a permanently high plateau.
U.S. Secretary of Navy, December 4, 1941
No matter what happens, the U.S. Navy is not going to be caught
napping.
Lee DeForest, inventor
While theoretically and technically television may be feasible,
commercially and financially it is an impossibility.
William Thomson, Lord Kelvin English scientist, 1899
Radio has no future. Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.
X-rays will prove to be a hoax.