1922: Engineer George W. Goethals

From a 1922 issue of The American Magazine:

Don’t Fear to Attempt a Thing Just Because It Looks Big

Nothing is hard if you know what you are doing. A big job is often simply made up of many little jobs; if you know how to multiply one by ten, you can multiply it by one hundred

An interview with Major General George W. Goethals, Builder of the Panama Canal

Reported by Samuel Crowther

“I find,” said General Goethals, “that a great many people are afraid to try to do a big job, of any kind, simply because it is big. They let themselves be frightened by mere size; and this fear keeps them from accomplishing what they are perfectly able to do.

1917: Engineer Olaf Hoff

We have two entries for Olaf Hoff, a pioneer in the creation of pre-fabricated sections that were sunk and connected to create underwater tunnels.

The first is from a 1917 issue of The American Magazine:

A Great Engineer Perfects A Good Plan

SCENE I

Time: A certain winter’s night, about twelve years ago.
Place: A bathroom in a cottage at Tarrytown, New York.

Kneeling on the floor before a tubful of water is a middle-aged man toying with a queer floating object. You may think he is trying to sail a boat and wonder that a man of his years should be so engaged. But you are mistaken; he is studying rather how to sink a boat.

Ada Lovelace: Free Comic!

Not from Google Books, but still.

Go here to read the comic. And if you have an iPad, it’s a free app too!