“You know that, according to quantum theory, if two particles collide with enough energy you can, in principle, with an infinitesimal probability, produce two grand pianos.” IfsKnowsTwoEnoughEnergyPrinciplesProduceTheoryPianoQuantumProbabilityParticlesQuantum TheoryCollide Author:Isidor Isaac Rabi
“Science itself is badly in need of integration and unification. The tendency is more and more the other way ... Only the graduate student, poor beast of burden that he is, can be expected to know a little of each. As the number of physicists increases, each specialty becomes more self-sustaining and self-contained. Such Balkanization carries physics, and indeed, every science further away, from natural philosophy, which, intellectually, is the meaning and goal of science.” KnowsWayNeedsLittlesSelfPhilosophyScienceGoalNaturalPoorNumbersKnowledgeStudentsAccountsIncreaseBurdenIntellectExpectedPhysicsTendenciesBeastCarrieGraduatesIntegrationPhysicistSustainingSpecialtyUnificationGraduate StudentsSelf ContainedNatural PhilosophyBeast Of Burden Author:Isidor Isaac Rabi
“Physics is an otherworld thing, it requires a taste for things unseen, even unheard of- a high degree of abstraction... These faculties die off somehow when you grow up... profound curiosity happens when children are young. I think physicists are the Peter Pans of the human race... Once you are sophisticated, you know too much- far too much. Pauli once said to me, "I know a great deal. I know too much. I am a quantum ancient.".” ThinkingKnowsHumansChildrenSaidHappensYoungDiesGrowsDealsRaceGrowing UpToo MuchTasteDegreesMathematicsProfoundCuriosityAncientPhysicsHuman RaceFacultyPeterQuantumSophisticatedUnseenAbstractionPhysicistUnheard Author:Isidor Isaac Rabi
