{"id":656,"date":"2010-10-13T10:27:21","date_gmt":"2010-10-13T00:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=656"},"modified":"2010-10-25T14:55:40","modified_gmt":"2010-10-25T04:55:40","slug":"stiglers-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=656","title":{"rendered":"Stigler’s law"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stiglers Law<\/a> states “No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer<\/strong>“. Naturally, Stigler’s law was discovered by sociologist<\/a> Robert K. Merton<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

I delighted in looking through the Health and Safety Executive archive<\/strong>s (then at the Health and Safety Laboratory at Sheffield) and the archives of the University of Michigan<\/strong> during a sabbatical in 2003. I hope to post some snippets as I photographed thousands of pages, particularly on industrial ventilation.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,17,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-historical","category-myths","category-occupational-hygiene","czr-hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t