Quotessence
Home / Books / A Really Short History of Nearly Everything

A Really Short History of Nearly Everything

Book by Bill Bryson · 2 quotes · Science, Atoms, Omnipresent

Filter quotes by topic

A Really Short History of Nearly Everything Quotes

“Because they are so long-lived, atoms really get around. Every atom you possess has almost certainly passed through several stars and been part of millions of organisms on its way to becoming you. We are each so atomically numerous and so vigorously recycled at death that a significant number of our atoms—up to a billion for each of us, it has been suggested—probably once belonged to Shakespeare. A billion more each came from Buddha and Genghis Khan and Beethoven, and any other historical figure you care to name. (The personages have to be historical, apparently, as it takes the atoms some decades to become thoroughly redistributed; however much you may wish it, you are not yet one with Elvis Presley.) So we are all reincarnations—though short-lived ones. When we die our atoms will disassemble and move off to find new uses elsewhere—as part of a leaf or other human being or drop of dew. Atoms, however, go on practically forever.”

“Tal vez merezca la pena indicar que en la época en que Leavitt y Cannon estaban deduciendo las propiedades fundamentales del cosmos de tenues manchas de estrellas lejanas en placas fotográficas, el astrónomo de Harvard William H. Pickering, que podía mirar cuantas veces quisiera por un telescopio de primera, estaba elaborando su 《trascendental teoría 》, según la cual, las manchas oscuras de la Luna estaban causadas por enjambres de insectos en su migración estacional.”