How Obvious Was Laplace’s Equations?

From our Humor Department:

Pierre Simon Laplace wrote an equation on the blackboard. He turned to the class and pronounced, “Now it is obvious that . . .” and he wrote another equation on the blackboard. He stared at this new equation for a long moment and then sat down at his desk and began to scribble furiously. The students sat rigid at their desks; the classroom was absolute silence; the young men sat in wonder and awe at the great man’s operating of his pen; and utter incomprehension at the equations on the blackboard. At length, Laplace stood up and pronounced, “Yes, I was correct. It is obvious that this equation follows from the first.

Above fictional story based on his five-volume Celestial Mechanics which completed Newtonian theory. He frustrated readers by habitually writing “from this it is easy to see . . .” followed by equations or concepts which were not easy to see at all. Generations of students have been mowed down by professors like this.

More on Laplace (1745-1827).