- Professsor Jefferds: My poor, benighted friend, it seems to me that there was once another Alexander who wept because there were no more worlds to conquer. And that's been the cry of youth ever since. But the true student of science accepts every new discovery as an unfinished rainbow. Glorious as they are; each new problem solved brings along new problems. And every new problem is a new opportunity. Now take this metal we've just been studying. We know today that it's the most common metal in the world. But less than 100 years ago, it was so expensive to produce that only royalty could afford it.