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A wing of the archive

Unmarked Graves

Popular quotations the evidence cannot support.

Technology

Attributed claim: the world market would need only about five computers.

Thomas J. Watson Sr. / Thomas J. Watson Jr.
United States

Made Not establishedProvenance examined

Unscored / disputedRead entry

Original explanatory diagram · CC BY 4.0 credit

Technology

Attributed claim: 640 kilobytes of memory would be enough for anybody indefinitely.

Bill Gates
United States

Made Not establishedProvenance examined

Unscored / disputedRead entry

Original explanatory diagram · CC BY 4.0 credit

Technology

Attributed claim: everything inventable had already been invented, so the Patent Office should close.

Charles H. Duell
United States

Made Not establishedProvenance examined

Unscored / disputedRead entry

Original explanatory diagram · CC BY 4.0 credit

Culture and media

Attributed claim: television would lose its audience after six months as viewers tired of the set.

Darryl F. Zanuck
United States

Made Not establishedProvenance examined

Unscored / disputedRead entry

Original explanatory diagram · CC BY 4.0 credit

Technology

Attributed memo: the telephone had no practical communication value for Western Union.

Western Union / William Orton / Chauncey Depew
United States

Made Not establishedProvenance examined

Unscored / disputedRead entry

Original explanatory diagram · CC BY 4.0 credit

Transport

Attributed claim: rapid rail travel would suffocate passengers.

Dionysius Lardner
Ireland / United Kingdom

Made Not establishedProvenance examined

Unscored / disputedRead entry

Original explanatory diagram · CC BY 4.0 credit

Science

Attributed claim: physics had no new discoveries left, only more precise measurements.

Lord Kelvin
United Kingdom

Made Not establishedProvenance examined

Unscored / disputedRead entry

Original explanatory diagram · CC BY 4.0 credit

Transport

Attributed claim: heavier-than-air flying machines were impossible.

Lord Kelvin
United Kingdom

Made Not establishedProvenance examined

Unscored / disputedRead entry

Original explanatory diagram · CC BY 4.0 credit

Environment

Attributed claim: humanity would disappear within four years if bees vanished.

Albert Einstein
Germany / United States

Made Not establishedProvenance examined

Unscored / disputedRead entry

Original explanatory diagram · CC BY 4.0 credit

Technology

Reported claim: there was no reason for an individual to have a computer at home.

Ken Olsen
United States

Made 1977Provenance examined

Unscored / disputedRead entry

Original explanatory diagram · CC BY 4.0 credit