Abraham Flexner
Abraham Flexner (November 13, 1866 – September 21, 1959) was an American educator, best known for his role in the 20th century reform of medical and higher education in the United States and Canada.
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After founding and directing a college-preparatory school in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, Flexner published a critical assessment of the state of the American educational system in 1908 titled The American College: A Criticism. His work attracted the Carnegie Foundation to commission an in-depth evaluation into 155 medical schools in the US and Canada. It was his resultant self-titled Flexner Report, published in 1910, that sparked the reform of medical education in the United States and Canada. Flexner was also a founder of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, which brought together some of the greatest minds in modern times to collaborate on intellectual discovery and research.
Quotes
edit- Curiosity, which may or may not eventuate in something useful, is probably the outstanding characteristic of modern thinking.
- Flexner, Abraham, The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge. Harper’s Magazine. Issue 179, June / November 1939, p. 545.
- In the face of the history of the human race what can be more silly or ridiculous than likes or dislikes founded upon race or religion?
- Flexner, Abraham, The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge. Harper’s Magazine. Issue 179, June / November 1939, p. 550.
- A poem, a symphony, a painting, a mathematical truth, a new scientific fact, all bear in themselves all the justification that universities, colleges, and institutes of research need or require.
- Flexner, Abraham, The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge. Harper’s Magazine. Issue 179, June / November 1939, p. 550.
- Science, like the Mississippi, begins in a tiny rivulet in the distant forest. Gradually other streams swell its volume. And the roaring river that bursts the dikes is formed from countless sources.
- Flexner, Abraham, The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge. Harper’s Magazine. Issue 179, June / November 1939, p. 549.
- Thus it becomes obvious that one must be wary in attributing scientific discovery wholly to any one person. Almost every discovery has a long and precarious history. Someone finds a bit here, another a bit there. A third step succeeds later and thus onward till a genius pieces the bits together and makes the decisive contribution.
- Flexner, Abraham, The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge. Harper’s Magazine. Issue 179, June / November 1939, p. 549.
See also
edit- Institute for Advanced Study
- Abraham Flexner quote about War
External links
edit- Wikimedia Commons category
- "The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge", courtesy of the Institute for Advanced Study.