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Max Born

Max Born Books

Physicist

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“It is natural that a man should consider the work of his hands or his brain to be useful and important. Therefore nobody will object to an ardent experimentalist boasting of his measurements and rather looking down on the 'paper and ink' physics of his theoretical friend, who on his part is proud of his lofty ideas and despises the dirty fingers of the other. Experiment and Theory in Physics”

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“It is a fascinating fact that father and son have given the most striking evidence for the apparently contradictory properties of the electron: the father proving its character as a particle, the son its character as a wave... Thomson was extremely proud of his son's success and tried to assimilate the new results into his old convictions.”

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“If God has made the world a perfect mechanism, He has at least conceded so much to our imperfect intellect that in order to predict little parts of it, we need not solve innumerable differential equations, but can use dice with fair success.”

IfsWorldNeedsLittlesMadeUseOrderBornPerfectFairsSolveIntellectImperfectMechanismEquationsQuantum MechanicsDiceQuantum TheoryConcededDifferential EquationsLinear Equations
Book:Physics in My Generation
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“But in practical affairs, particularly in politics, men are needed who combine human experience and interest in human relations with a knowledge of science and technology. Moreover, they must be men of action and not contemplation. I have the impression that no method of education can produce people with all the qualities required. I am haunted by the idea that this break in human civilization, caused by the discovery of the scientific method, may be irreparable.”

PeopleMenHumansMayIdeasActionScienceInterestEducationQualityBreakTechnologyProduceNeededCivilizationDiscoveryRelationMethodAffairPracticalsImpressionContemplationHuman ExperienceBe A ManHuman RelationsScience And TechnologyScientific MethodHuman CivilizationIrreparable
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“I have tried to read philosophers of all ages and have found many illuminating ideas but no steady progress toward deeper knowledge and understanding. Science, however, gives me the feeling of steady progress: I am convinced that theoretical physics is actual philosophy. It has revolutionized fundamental concepts, e.g., about space and time (relativity), about causality (quantum theory), and about substance and matter (atomistics), and it has taught us new methods of thinking (complementarity) which are applicable far beyond physics.”

ThinkingGivingIdeasMatterPhilosophyFeelingsAgeScienceFoundUnderstandingSpaceKnowledgeProgressTaughtTheoryConceptsAccountsGive MeMethodFundamentalsPhilosopherDeeperConvincedPhysicsSubstanceSteadyQuantumTime And SpaceTheoreticalRelativityTaught UsIlluminatingQuantum TheoryCausalityKnowledge And UnderstandingTheoretical PhysicsSteady Progress
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“During my span of life science has become a matter of public concern and the l'art pour l'art standpoint of my youth is now obsolete. Science has become an integral and most important part of our civilization, and scientific work means contributing to its development. Science in our technical age has social, economic, and political functions, and however remote one's own work is from technical application it is a link in the chain of actions and decisions which determine the fate of the human race. I realized this aspect of science in its full impact only after Hiroshima.”

HumansMeanArtImportantMatterAgeActionSciencePoliticalSocialDecisionRaceFateEconomicYouthDevelopmentCivilizationConcernAspectAccountsFunctionImpactDetermineI RealizedChainsHuman RaceLinksApplicationStandpointObsoleteContributingHiroshima
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“His [Erwin Schrödinger's] private life seemed strange to bourgeois people like ourselves. But all this does not matter. He was a most lovable person, independent, amusing, temperamental, kind and generous, and he had a most perfect and efficient brain.”

PeopleKindPersonsDoeMatterSciencePerfectBrainStrangeIndependentGenerousEfficientBiographiesPrivate LifeAmusingBourgeoisLovableMost Lovable
Book:My Life: Recollections of a Nobel Laureate
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“I believe that ideas such as absolute certitude, absolute exactness, final truth, etc. are figments of the imagination which should not be admissible in any field of science... This loosening of thinking seems to me to be the greatest blessing which modern science has given to us. For the belief in a single truth and in being the possessor thereof is the root cause of all evil in the world.”

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“If alpha [the fine-structure constant] were bigger than it really is, we should not be able to distinguish matter from ether [the vacuum, nothingness], and our task to disentangle the natural laws would be hopelessly difficult. The fact however that alpha has just its value 1/137 is certainly no chance but itself a law of nature. It is clear that the explanation of this number must be the central problem of natural philosophy.”

IfsShouldMatterPhilosophyFactsProblemWould BeAbleLawValuesDifficultNaturalChanceNumbersClearFineTasksBiggerStructureConstantExplanationNothingnessLaws Of NatureVacuumsNatural LawAlphasNatural Philosophy
Author:Max Born
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“It is odd to think that there is a word for something which, strictly speaking, does not exist, namely, "rest." We distinguish between living and dead matter; between moving bodies and bodies at rest. This is a primitive point of view. What seems dead, a stone or the proverbial "door-nail," say, is actually forever in motion. We have merely become accustomed to judge by outward appearances; by the deceptive impressions we get through our senses.”

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Book:The Restless Universe
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