I845 - US Newspaper.
A man about 46 years of age, giving the name of Joshua Coppersmith, has been arrested in New York for attempting to extort funds from ignorant and superstitious people by exhibiting a device which he says will convey the human voice any distance over metallic wires so that it will be heard by the listener at the other end.

He calls the instrument a 'telephone' which is obviously intended to imitate the word 'telegraph' and win the confidence of  those who know of the success of the latter instruments, without understanding the principles on which it is based.

Well informed people know it is impossible to transmit the human voice over wires as may be done with dots and dashes and signals of the Morse Code, and that, were it possible to do so, the thing would be of no practical use.

The authorities who apprehended the criminal are to be congratulated and it is to be hoped that his punishment will be prompt and fitting that it may serve as an example to other schemers who enrich themselves at the expense of their fellow creatures.

Samuel F.B. Morse.
A few years earlier Samuel Morse inventor of the electric telegraph was also accused of being a 'quack'. His first appeal to the Congress for aid was flatly refused and he spent his fortune and 4 heartbreaking years before his invention was approved.

Thomas Edison of USA
It took him 13 years to over come prejudice and get them to install electric lights.

William Roentgen of Germany.
He invented X-Rays and was criticized as a quack because he might invade the privacy of the boudoir with his X-Rays.

Galileo of Italy.
He was thrown into prison for heresy and was tortured until he renounced his scientific beliefs

Charles GoodYear
He gave the world vulcanized rubber but was called a fool and imbecile. Without funds he almost starved to death before his last successful experiment.

The Wright Bros

They were classed as fools and frauds and when they offered the US Army the full rights to their 'flying machine' they were called idiots and sent away.

Every newspaper told their reporters to keep away from their experiments as it was impossible to fly. It wasn't until one of them hid in the bushes and watched it himself, that his editor decided to write the story. The rest is history.

Tomatoes
Another quack actually suggested that tomatoes could be eaten as foods.

Winston Churchill said..
Men occasionally stumble over the Truth but they usually pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened'

Igor Sikorsky
He arrived in New York or March 30, 1919 full of dreams and aspirations for a new life and career in aviation sadly this was not forthcoming. His passport revealed he entered America to "construct aircraft" he made several attempts to re-enter aviation without success. Airplanes and motors built for World War I were available at extremely low prices and aviation was described to him as a "dying industry". Soon his money was running out and he resorted to teaching Russian immigrants mathematics, later astronomy and aviation lessons were included. He also started to lecture to various groups which brought him in contact with people who shared his enthusiasm for aviation and convinced Igor Sikorsky to start his own aeronautical enterprise. An aviation company was formed and dedicated to building the S-29A (Sikorsky type 29, America) and was based at Lieutenant Victor Utgoff's farm near Roosevelt Field on Long Island. The name of this company was Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation which was founded on March 5, 1923. Sikorsky Aircraft has a proud and rich history spanning 75 years of aircraft construction, perhaps making it the oldest aviation company in existence.

Famous Quotes..
"Man has always fought fiercely to preserve his ignorance".

"There is a principle which is proof against all argument and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance. That principle is condemnation before investigation."

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