[Ads-l] Quote Origin: If We Knew What We Were Doing, It Would Not Be Called Research (Attributed to Albert Einstein)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The saying in the subject line has been attributed to Albert Einstein,
and I was asked to investigate.

There is no substantive evidence that Einstein wrote or spoke this
statement. It is not listed in the comprehensive reference “The
Ultimate Quotable Einstein” from Princeton University Press.

This notion can be expressed in many ways; hence, it is difficult to
trace. Here is an evolutionary overview with dates and attributions:

1923: Research wouldn't be research if we didn't try everything but
the right thing. The only time it's disgraceful to fail on a research
is the last time. (Charles F. Kettering, President of the General
Motors Research Corporation)

1946: If I knew in advance what the results will be, the work wouldn't
be research. (Luis de Florez, Rear Admiral in the United States Navy)

1954: If you knew for sure you were going to get the answer you wanted
to get it would not be research. You would have passed that stage. It
would be in the engineering application stage. (Charles Erwin Wilson,
U.S. Secretary of Defense)

1958: If everything you started was bound to be successful, it
wouldn't be research and it wouldn't be development. It would be just
straight engineering. (Charles Erwin Wilson, Former U.S. Secretary of
Defense)

1959: We don't know really for sure what is going to come out of these
programs—they wouldn't be research programs, of course if we knew
ahead of time what we were going to do. (Harold W. Ritchey, Vice
President, Rocket Divisions, Thiokol Chemical Corp.)

1965: If research and development didn't have its failures as well as
its successes, it wouldn't be called research and development. (Remark
in anonymous editorial in "Army" magazine)

1967: If we knew what it was we would learn, it just wouldn't be
research, would it? (Attributed to David C. Hazen, Professor of
Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University)

1986: If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research.
(Anonymous epigraph in PhD thesis by John Stewart Denker)

1989: If we knew how it worked, it wouldn't be called research. (No
attribution given in a message posted to Usenet newsgroup
comp.sys.mac)

1991: If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research.
(Attributed to Argonne ATLAS in a message posted to Usenet newsgroup
comp.os.vms)

1992: If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research.
(Attributed to Wernher von Braun in a message posted to Usenet
newsgroup rec.music.makers)

1994: If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called
research, would it? (Attributed to Albert Einstein in a message posted
to Usenet newsgroup alt.usage.english)

Here is a link to the Quote Investigator article.
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2026/04/10/doing-research/

Feedback welcome
Garson O'Toole

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