Robert Koch: Medical Path of Gold
on Tuesday, December 11, 2018Robert Koch Money Quote saying that his wealth was gained by discovering things that were in plain sight to the German physician and bacteriologist. Robert Koch said:
“During my wanderings in the field of medicine, I have strayed onto paths where the gold was still lying by the wayside. It takes a little luck to be able to distinguish gold from dross, but that is all” — Robert Koch
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In this quote, Robert Koch seems to be reflecting on his career discoveries in medical research and microbiology. Some key points:
- He refers to his work as involving “wanderings in the field of medicine”, implying an exploratory, curious approach to scientific inquiry.
- Koch notes that during these explorations, he stumbled upon “paths where the gold was still lying by the wayside”, meaning important findings that had not yet been made or recognized by others.
- He acknowledges it takes some degree of “luck” or intuition to be able to distinguish genuinely valuable discoveries (“gold”) from unimportant findings (“dross”) among many avenues of research.
- However, Koch considers this ability to recognize significant revelations mainly as just being perceptive, implying anyone with insight could have similar success.
Overall, the quote conveys Koch’s perspective that serendipitous breakthroughs in science sometimes arise from open-minded, curious wandering without predetermined goals, and the key is having discernment to realize which exploratory leads might yield profoundly impactful discoveries worth further pursuing. For him, luck and perception played greater roles than singular genius.
Birthday December 11, 1843 – Died May 27, 1910