“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.”
Isaac Newton
Being a researcher is not an easy work. You need to read a lot of references and doing lots of experimentations. All of those are based on previous researchers’ work. Their contributions are your stepping stones to push science forward. They are giants that you’re standing on.
I think this quote is not only available to research field only. All of our lives, are built upon previous generation’s contributions. Our founding fathers and heroes gave their lives to make sure our generation is in better state than theirs. To think that my generation will (or already) take up the torch to set foundation for next generation.