ON DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS.
In this talk, we shall consider discoveries and inventions.
In order to make the lecture easier to follow, I shall divide it into three short parts: in the first one, I shall describe the nature of discoveries and inventions and their importance to people; in the second one, I shall describe more or less how inventions and discoveries come about; lastly, in the third part, I shall consider what we need to do in order to take part in the general scientific and industrial movement of the civilized peoples.
Let us begin by defining "discovery" and "invention".
Discovery is the finding out of a thing that has existed and exists in nature, but which was previously unknown to people. Example: Until 400 years ago, people thought that the Earth comprised just three parts: Europe, Asia, and Africa; it was only in 1492 that the Genoese, Christopher Columbus, sailed out from Europe into the Atlantic Ocean and, proceeding ever westward, after a voyage of several dozen days, reached a part of the world that Europeans had never known. In that new land, he found copper-colored people who went about naked, and he found plants and animals different
