The importance of attribution

I can't help but notice that many people are in the habit of quoting another's thoughts, without attribution. Though most of these people seem to be unaware of it, such a practice is a form of theft, for it deprives the originator of the thought, idea, proposal etc. of the credit for having conceived it.

Part of the education of us all, is coming to understand what others have thought before us, and perhaps understanding why they thought in such a way. It is always enlightening to consider the wisdom of those who were known for their genius.

A few days ago, I was listening to the radio in Singapore, when I heard something that made me most uncomfortable. It appeared to be a slogan for the radio channel that I was listening to. It went like this:

"Imagination is more important than knowledge, so use your imagination..." Listeners were then urged to listen to Lush Radio.

The cheek of what they had done stilled me. Many of you will probably know where their slogan came from: it was a thought of Albert Einstein's that they had corrupted to sell their radio channel to the public. There is a deep irony in claiming that listening to their channel was an act of the imagination - when they had, in fact, shown no imagination themselves, in plagiarizing the famous words of a great man, to promote themselves.

What is so wrong with this? Well, many listeners will not know whence those words came. They will not make the connection to Einstein. This deprives them of a full understanding of what the words mean - for they cannot know the perspective of the first mind to have conceived them. Only through knowing that Einstein coined them, can we have a chance to understand both their import and their meaning. Not that alone, but knowledge of what great minds have thought, is part of human culture - to have the words of such minds, turned into commercial slogans for commercial end, cheapens that culture and makes of it something vacuous. Truly, what they did was morally - and legally wrong. For it is a breach of the moral rights of an author not to attribute a quote - and a breach of copyright to do so. Yet, this was done by an institution in a position of influence and respect: a radio station.

Einstein's remark was made originally in Berlin, in 1929 to the journalist and poet, George Sylvester Viereck who had somehow coaxed an interview from the most reluctant world-famous physicist.

"How," George began, "do you account for your discoveries? Through intuition or inspiration?"

"Both," replied Albert Einstein. "I sometimes feel I am right, but do not know it. When two expeditions of scientists went to test my theory, I was convinced they would confirm my theory. I wasn't surprised when the results confirmed my intuition, but I would have been surprised had I been wrong. I'm enough of an artist to draw freely on imagination, which I think is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world, and all there ever will be to know and understand."

Few Singaporean listeners know whence that quote comes - and that is what allows the radio station to imitate, as it did. That is a pity, for Einstein's words were spoken on a matter of some importance: what leads a genius like him to think and create as he had?

It is saddening to see a radio station trivialize such a man's words. I hope they change their slogan - and perhaps announce who they were quoting.

(If you would like to read about Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and six months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted children and gifted adults, in general. Thanks.)

Do geniuses get the credit for their work?

Often, no.

Why do I say this? Well, history is littered with examples of brilliant people whose creative work is either misappropriated or just wrongly credited to someone else. This does no-one any good (apart from the person receiving credit for work they didn't do).

I will give you an example. Have you heard of Peter Desaga? Think hard. Nope? Well, I am not surprised, but I am fairly sure that almost all readers will know of his invention. If you have ever been in a chemistry lab it is something you will have used. Any wiser? No? Well, think of the name Robert Wilhelm Bunsen. Is that familiar in some way? Yes? I bet you remembered then, the "Bunsen" Burner. I say "Bunsen" deliberately, because Bunsen didn't invent the Bunsen Burner, at all. His assistant, Peter Desaga did, by modifying an earlier design of Michael Faraday's.

Now, I think it is rather wrong that Robert Bunsen got the credit for this invention when it was actually his assistant who did the work and created the product. But, the tale gets worse. You see Bunsen did something rather magnanimous with his assistant's idea: he gave it away for free! That's right, Peter Desaga wasn't even rewarded for his invention - and Bunsen looked very generous in giving away, for nothing, something that was not his to give.

Only a few specialists in Chemistry would have heard of Bunsen were it not for the odd fact that the Bunsen Burner - which he didn't invent - is named after him. Bunsen is now an immortal - in name, at least - but Peter Desaga, the man who actually invented it, is an unknown. That is terribly wrong. In writing this article I have just increased Desaga's fame many times - and this is just a blog. How sad that is.

So, no, geniuses don't always get the credit - and often the ones who do are simply socially more important and therefore in a position to leverage credit towards themselves - it is not right and is not good for the health of science, culture or the arts - or wherever this phenomenon occurs. So, Mr. Bunsen, I am going to start calling it a Desaga Burner, from now on. (Or maybe the Desaga-Faraday Burner.) Perhaps you should too. It would only be right.

Oh, by the way, it was Ainan, my seven year old son, who tipped me off about Bunsen's undeserved credit: he didn't like it either.

(If you would like to read about Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and four months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, three, and Tiarnan, fourteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of child prodigy, IQ, intelligence, gifted education, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted children and gifted adults in general. Thanks.)