1917–1995 · Canadian-American chemist, inventor and aphorist
Orlando Aloysius Battista (June 20, 1917 – October 3, 1995) was a Canadian-American chemist and author, born in Cornwall, Ontario, and best known in his own field for pioneering work on microcrystalline cellulose — the controlled hydrolysis process he developed at the Textile Research Institute in Princeton opened the door to its commercial use. Away from the lab he was a compulsive maker of one-line sayings, which he trademarked as “Quotoons” and pushed out through a syndicated newspaper column and a run of collections beginning with A Dictionary of Quotoons in 1966. His most-repeated line is probably “An error doesn’t become a mistake until you refuse to correct it” — another aphorism that circulates far more widely than his name does.