Charles Proteus Steinmetz

Charles Proteus Steinmetz (April 9, 1865 – October 26, 1923) was a German-American mathematician and electrical engineer. He proposed the development of alternating current that made possible the expansion of the electric power industry in the United States, formulating mathematical theories for engineers.

New York Times interview (1911)

 * Electricity will keep the world from freezing up; noted expert, Dr. C.P. Steinmetz, talks of the future wonders of scientific discovery and ridicules many prophecies in The New York Times (11 November 1911)


 * In this country all a man need to do is to attain a little eminence and immediately he begins to talk. … But the American people are willing to listen to any one who has attained prominence. The main fact is that we've heard a man's name a great many times; that makes us ready to accept whatever he says.


 * When it comes to scientific matters the ready talkers simply run riot. There are a lot of pseudo-scientists who with a little technical jargon to spatter through their talk are always getting in the limelight by making startling predictions of what the future has in store, using as their text the most recent discovery or invention.


 * We don't know the why of anything. On that matter we are no further advanced than was the cavedweller. The scientist is contented if he can contribute something toward the knowledge of what is and how it is.


 * In a mathematical sense, space is manifoldness, or combination of numbers. Physical space is known as the 3-dimension system. There is the 4-dimension system, there is the 10-dimension system.


 * Scientific theories need reconstruction every now and then. If they didn't need reconstruction they would be facts, not theories.

Attributed

 * There are no foolish questions and no man becomes a fool until he has stopped asking questions.
 * Money is a stupid measure of achievement, but unfortunately it is the only universal measure we have.
 * Money is a stupid measure of achievement, but unfortunately it is the only universal measure we have.

Quotes about Steinmetz

 * At the People's College in Fort Scott, Kansas, my mother met Arthur Le Sueur, who with Helen Keller, Eugene Debs, and Charles Steinmetz had founded the greatest workers' school in the country. Thousands of farmers and hillbilly men, miners, and other workers took correspondence courses in workers' law and workers' English and workers' history.
 * Meridel Le Sueur "The Ancient People and the Newly Come" (1976)


 * He doesn't believe a trumpet and a megaphone are part of a scientist's equipment.
 * As reported in Electricity will keep the world from freezing up; noted expert, Dr. C.P. Steinmetz, talks of the future wonders of scientific discovery and ridicules many prophecies, New York Times (November 11, 1911).