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June
Issue |
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Standing
on the shoulders of giants
Isaac Newton is a famous scientist and mathematician who lived from
1642 to 1727.
Newton was taking tea under an apple tree one sunny afternoon when
an apple dropped on his head. He asked himself, “Why must the
apple drop straight down?” He decided there must be a Law of
Gravity.
This may be just a story, but it may well have been true.
Anyway, the point is that Newton saw that gravity is not limited
to the earth; he decided that the force of gravity extends even as
high as the stars. It explains the earth’s revolution around
the sun, the moon going round the earth, the tides, and why a person
at the North
Pole and another person at the South Pole can both be standing up
without one falling off the earth.
Those who have studied physics in school will know that Newton discovered
the Three Laws of Motion. He worked on calculus, discovered the binomial
theorem, studied white light passing through a prism, observed what
is now known as Newton’s Rings, wrote rules for scientific
reasoning, etc. etc. Newton did a lot for modern science.
Robert Hooke was another scientist who lived at the same time as
Newton.
Newton wrote Hooke a letter in 1676 in which he said, “If I
have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the
shoulders of giants.”
What Newton meant was that he was able to make all the various scientific
and mathematical discoveries because he took advantage of all the
knowledge and discoveries that had been made by others before him.
If we imagine one person standing on another person’s shoulders,
we will understand the point Newton was making. He is of course able
to see further because he is higher up.
There is at least one very important lesson we can learn from this.
If we share with each other our knowledge and experience, and allow
others to build upon our ideas, we will together be able to make
more ideas and better ideas.
Just as importantly, if we are humble enough to learn from others
and start from what they already know, each of us will be able to
do more and make much faster progress.
Building upon each other’s knowledge is exactly what Newton
meant when he said he can see further because he stands on the shoulders
of giants.
But we do not need to look for giants before we can benefit. So long
as we stand on another person’s shoulders, no matter how short
or how tall he is, we will be able to see further. And if we allow
others to stand on our shoulders, they will also be able to see further.
Working together this way, everyone can do more, and everyone can
benefit. Some people call this “synergy”. We can simply
call it “teamwork”.
Lim
Siong Guan Head, Civil Service |
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