The 20 Worst Assumptions made by Experts  The greater the expert
the more wrong they can be; in their assumptions, their
predictions or their negative reactions to new ideas. Here are
some classic examples:    1. Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), the
celebrated English diarist, wrote the following comments on
seeing plays by Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet – ‘the worst play
I ever saw in my life’, A Midsummer Night’s Dream – ‘the most
insipid, ridiculous play’, Twelfth Night – ‘a silly play.’   2.
Dr. Dionysius Lardner (1793-1859), professor of natural history
and astronomy at London University, warned that railway trains
traveling at speed would asphyxiate their passengers through
lack of air. He also stated that no steamship would be able to
cross the Atlantic because it would need more coal than it could
carry without sinking.   3. Simon Newcomb (1835-1909), the
leading US astronomer of his time and a professor of astronomy
and mathematics, declared that flight by heavier-than-air
objects was completely impossible.