which they had not followed up

English translation: work that other people have done but have failed to fully develop

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

English term or phrase:	the work of others which they had not followed up
Selected answer:	work that other people have done but have failed to fully develop
Entered by:	Fuad Yahya

10:39 Dec 30, 2002

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Science

English term or phrase: which they had not followed up

In 1857 Pasteur published a paper on lactic fermentation which secured him the appointment in Paris as Director of Scientific Studies at the Ecole Normale. His diligence and enthusiasm were paying off - and the wide reading of the work of others which **they had not followed up**. ‘In the fields of observation’, he believed, ‘chance only favours those who are prepared’.

I'm not sure about how to read this. Does it mean that no attention was paid generally to the work of these people?

Rubén de la Fuente KudoZ activity Questions: 212 (none open) (2 without valid answers) Answers: 144
Local time: 23:42

One would assume that "they" refers to "others".

Explanation:
Therefore, it would be reasonable to think that Pasteur found it profitable to read about experimental work that was promising but rather tentative. Its conclusions had not been exploited to the fullest. That gave Pasteur an opening to follow it up and carry it further. That is how I read the passage, unless "they" refers to something else that is not in this portion of the text.

Fuad

Selected response from:

Fuad Yahya

Grading comment

thanks again, Fuad.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

5 +4

One would assume that "they" refers to "others".

Fuad Yahya

They : the decision makers at the Ecole normale

Maya Jurt

on which they didn't do further studies

Elisabeth Ghysels

Answers

6 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +4

One would assume that "they" refers to "others".

Fuad Yahya
Native speaker of:

Arabic,

English
PRO pts in pair: 893

Grading comment

thanks again, Fuad.

6 mins confidence:

on which they didn't do further studies

Explanation:
I rather think that "which they had not followed up" is an attribute to "work" than to "others". So, those others had done interesting work, but they hadn't done the work that should have followed from the results of their initial work.

Greetings,

Nikolaus

Elisabeth Ghysels
Local time: 23:42
PRO pts in pair: 28

10 mins confidence:

They : the decision makers at the Ecole normale

Explanation:
Pasteur believed that his wide reading of the work of others (reflected in his paper) was paying off.

Maya Jurt
Switzerland
Local time: 23:42
Native speaker of:

German,

French
PRO pts in pair: 19

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