Quote:
Originally Posted by CraigS
I think its a little more complex than this, though.
If I tried to register a company name or trademark as "E=mc^2", I'd have to request permission from the owners for the 'right to use' .. and they might well be within their right to deny me this. And if the variable letters were different, it wouldn't convey the same meaning which E=mc^2 now clearly has.
It seems amusing that if one can show that the equation was not originally part of 'Einstein's estate', then one could become quite rich … with very little effort.
Mind you, I think the point of the OP was more about setting the historical record straight .. which would seem to be a somewhat more minor issue, in comparison .. I mean Galileo didn't discover the telescope, did he?
Cheers
|
No...and it's a curious matter this. Take another device, for instance. The battery. Neither Galvani or Volta were the originators of the battery, yet they're credited with its discovery. They'd been using batteries running on exactly the same principles in the Middle East (specifically Mesopotamia) for more than 3500 years. And the computer...how about a little box found in a ship at the bottom of the Med'...the Antikythera Mechanism. It's at least 2200 years old. Or even automatic doors....a Greek scientist named Hero built an automatic door in 600BC.
Makes you wonder where the intellectual property rights actually stand, doesn't it
