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Martin Gardner

Martin Gardner Quotes

Science writer

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Famous Martin Gardner Quotes

“If God creates a world of particles and waves, dancing in obedience to mathematical and physical laws, who are we to say that he cannot make use of those laws to cover the surface of a small planet with living creatures?”

IfsWorldUseLawReligionPlanetsCreaturesDancingWaveSurfaceMathematicalObedienceParticlesLiving Creatures
Book:The New Ambidextrous Universe: Symmetry and Asymmetry from Mirror Reflections to Superstrings
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“If all sentient beings in the universe disappeared, there would remain a sense in which mathematical objects and theorems would continue to exist even though there would be no one around to write or talk about them. Huge prime numbers would continue to be prime, even if no one had proved them prime.”

IfsWritingWould BeScienceUniverseNumbersExistenceObjectsHugeMathematicalPrimeTheoremsSentient BeingsPrime Numbers
Book:When You Were a Tadpole and I Was a Fish: And Other Speculations About This and That
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“If present trends continue, our country may soon find itself far behind many other nations in both science and technology nations where, if you inform strangers that you are a mathematician, they respond with admiration and not by telling you how much they hated math in school, and how they sure could use you to balance their checkbooks.”

IfsMayCountryUseSchoolNationsBehindsTechnologyTeachingBalanceStrangerMathOur CountryHatedAdmirationTrendsMathematicianScience And Technology
Author:Martin Gardner
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“Biographical history, as taught in our public schools, is still largely a history of boneheads; ridiculous kings and queens, paranoid political leaders, compulsive voyagers, ignorant general the flotsam and jetsam of historical currents. The men who radically altered history, the great scientists and mathematicians, are seldom mentioned, if at all.”

IfsMenStillsSchoolPoliticalLeaderTeachingTaughtHe ManKingsScientistHistoricalCurrentsMathRidiculousIgnorantMathematicalQueensMathematicianPublic SchoolAlteredParanoidPolitical LeadersGreat ScientistMathematics By MathematiciansKings And QueensGreat MathFlotsam
Author:Martin Gardner
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“Speaking about symmetry, look out our window, and you may see a cardinal attacking its reflection in the window. The cardinal is the only bird we have who often does this. If it has a nest nearby, the cardinal thinks there is another cardinal trying to invade its territory. It never realizes it is attacking its own reflection. Cardinals don't know much about mirror symmetry!”

IfsThinkingKnowsTryingLooksMayDoeRealizingBirdReflectionWindowMirrorsTerritoryAttackingNestsCardinalsSymmetry
Author:Martin Gardner
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“Wouldn't the sentence 'I want to put a hyphen between the words Fish and And and And and Chips in my Fish-and-Chips sign' have been clearer if quotation marks had been placed before Fish, and between Fish and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and Chips, as well as after Chips?”

IfsWantWellsHas BeensMarkFishesSentencesQuotationsChipsQuotation MarksFish And ChipsHyphens
Book:Aha! A Two Volume Collection: Aha! Gotcha Aha! Insight
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