--- title: "3 Derek J. de Solla Price Quotes - Famous Historian (Little science, big science)" description: "Derek John de Solla Price was a British physicist, historian of science, and information scientist. Browse 3 Derek J. de Solla Price quotes." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b008/author-derek-j-de-solla-price-28842.jpg" --- ![Portrait of Derek J. de Solla Price](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b008/author-derek-j-de-solla-price-28842.jpg) # Derek J. de Solla Price (1922–1983) Historian United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland **3** quotes in **42** categories Rate this collection: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet Derek J. de Solla Price was a historian from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, best known for *Little science, big science*. ## Quick Facts About Derek J. de Solla Price Born January 22, 1922 Died September 3, 1983 Nationality United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Profession Historian Notable works Little science, big science Known for Q28526234 ## About Derek J. de Solla Price Derek John de Solla Price was a British physicist, historian of science, and information scientist. He was known for his investigation of the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient Greek planetary computer, and for quantitative studies on scientific publications, which led to his being described as the "Herald of scientometrics". ## Awards & Honors Guggenheim Fellowship Leonardo da Vinci Medal John Desmond Bernal Prize ## Quotes by Derek J. de Solla Price > [Using any reasonable definition of a scientist, we can say that 80 to 90 percent of all the scientists that have ever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-j-de-solla-price/using-any-reasonable-definition-of-a-scientist-we-can-say-that-80-to/) [Derek J. de Solla Price](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-j-de-solla-price/) [Alive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alive/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/165/derek-j-de-solla-price-77682_alive_using-any-reasonable-definition-of-a-sci_1608677.jpg) > [Scientists have a strong urge to write papers but only a relatively mild one to read them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-j-de-solla-price/scientists-have-a-strong-urge-to-write-papers-but-only-a-relatively/) [Derek J. de Solla Price](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-j-de-solla-price/) [Paper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/paper/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d66/derek-j-de-solla-price-77682_paper_scientists-have-a-strong-urge-to-write-p_2727061.jpg) > [It is clear that we cannot go up another two orders of magnitude as we have climbed the last five. If we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-j-de-solla-price/it-is-clear-that-we-cannot-go-up-another-two-orders-of-magnitude-as/) [Derek J. de Solla Price](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-j-de-solla-price/) [Century](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/century/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/160/derek-j-de-solla-price-77682_century_it-is-clear-that-we-cannot-go-up-another_3040731.jpg) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-j-de-solla-price/#itemlist", "name": "Derek J. de Solla Price Quotes", "numberOfItems": 3, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Using any reasonable definition of a scientist, we can say that 80 to 90 percent of all the scientists that have ever lived are alive now. Alternatively, any young scientist, starting now and looking back at the end of his career upon a normal life span, will find that 80 to 90 percent of all scientific work achieved by the end of the period will have taken place before his very eyes, and that only 10 to 20 percent will antedate his experience.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Derek J. de Solla Price" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-j-de-solla-price/using-any-reasonable-definition-of-a-scientist-we-can-say-that-80-to/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/165/derek-j-de-solla-price-77682_alive_using-any-reasonable-definition-of-a-sci_1608677.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/165/derek-j-de-solla-price-77682_alive_using-any-reasonable-definition-of-a-sci_1608677.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/165/derek-j-de-solla-price-77682_alive_using-any-reasonable-definition-of-a-sci_1608677.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Using any reasonable definition of a scientist, we can say that 80 to 90 percent of all the scientists that…” — Derek J. de Solla Price", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Scientists have a strong urge to write papers but only a relatively mild one to read them.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Derek J. de Solla Price" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-j-de-solla-price/scientists-have-a-strong-urge-to-write-papers-but-only-a-relatively/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d66/derek-j-de-solla-price-77682_paper_scientists-have-a-strong-urge-to-write-p_2727061.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d66/derek-j-de-solla-price-77682_paper_scientists-have-a-strong-urge-to-write-p_2727061.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d66/derek-j-de-solla-price-77682_paper_scientists-have-a-strong-urge-to-write-p_2727061.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Scientists have a strong urge to write papers but only a relatively mild one to read them.” — Derek J. de Solla Price", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is clear that we cannot go up another two orders of magnitude as we have climbed the last five. If we did, we should have two scientists for every man, woman, child, and dog in the population, and we should spend on them twice as much money as we had. Scientific doomsday is therefore less than a century distant.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Derek J. de Solla Price" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-j-de-solla-price/it-is-clear-that-we-cannot-go-up-another-two-orders-of-magnitude-as/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/160/derek-j-de-solla-price-77682_century_it-is-clear-that-we-cannot-go-up-another_3040731.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/160/derek-j-de-solla-price-77682_century_it-is-clear-that-we-cannot-go-up-another_3040731.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/160/derek-j-de-solla-price-77682_century_it-is-clear-that-we-cannot-go-up-another_3040731.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is clear that we cannot go up another two orders of magnitude as we have climbed the last five. 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