It was also known to Galileo, who noted that Renaissance engineers who followed successful methods of building ships and moving obelisks were often surprised by the spontaneous failures when tried with larger ships and obelisks.
Vitrivius, un architecte romain auteur d'un traité sur le savoir-faire technologique des Grecs et des Romains, en avait déjà conscience il y a plus de 2000 ans.