Earl Warren: Electricity Meter
on Tuesday, January 7, 2020Earl Warren Money Quote saying understanding electrical current is less valuable than the ability to measure it and monetize it. Earl Warren said:
“Ben Franklin may have discovered electricity- but it is the man who invented the meter who made the money” — Earl Warren
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In this quote, Earl Warren is drawing a comparison between scientific discovery and commercial application. While Benjamin Franklin’s discovery of electricity was hugely important scientifically, Warren notes that it was the inventor of the electricity meter (a device for measuring electric power consumption) who truly profited financially.
The best interpretation is that Warren believed the economic value and reward comes not from discovering natural phenomena, but from developing practical applications and systems that allow such discoveries to be harnessed and monetized commercially.
According to Warren’s view, the “money” lies not in making discoveries themselves but in inventing the means for industries and customers to practically utilize new innovations for mass use, measurement, billing and other real-world functions.