A couple of months in the laboratory can frequently save a couple of hours in the library.

Various forms, often credited as Westheimer’s Discovery – other forms include | A month in the laboratory can often save an hour in the library. | UCLA Library | Why spend a day in the library when you can learn the same thing by working in the laboratory for a month? | Frank H. Westheimer, major figure in 20th century chemistry, dies at 95, Harvard Gazette, April 19, 2007 | Some version perhaps found in 1979 interview, Frank H. Westheimer, Oral Histories, Chemical Heritage Foundation, in chapter “Research Projects and Philosophy”, p. 63, topic “Reading the literature.”