Quotations by Simon Newcomb

Ten decimal places of π are sufficient to give the circumference of the earth to a fraction of an inch, and thirty decimal places would give the circumference of the visible universe to a quantity imperceptible to the most powerful microscope.
Quoted in D MacHale, Comic Sections (Dublin 1993)

Flight by machines heavier than air is unpractical and insignificant, if not utterly impossible.

JOC/EFR April 2011

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