Stiglers Law states “No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer“. Naturally, Stigler’s law was discovered by sociologist Robert K. Merton.
I have certainly found that when you have a good idea, then someone else has probably thought of it first, but occasionally weeks or months later. That’s why a study of history and reading old records is so important in the professional practice of occupational hygiene.
I delighted in looking through the Health and Safety Executive archives (then at the Health and Safety Laboratory at Sheffield) and the archives of the University of Michigan during a sabbatical in 2003. I hope to post some snippets as I photographed thousands of pages, particularly on industrial ventilation.
I wonder how many ideas in Occupational Hygiene have been re-invented many times. It is sometimes said (another law?) that professionals invent the same thing every generation (only to have it fail for some technical reason), only to be re-invented the next generation when the people who said “tried that, didn’t work” have moved on.
