Home / Quotes / Quote by I. Bernard Cohen

Quote by I. Bernard Cohen

“History without the history of science, to alter slightly an apothegm of Lord Bacon, resembles a statue of Polyphemus without his eye-that very feature being left out which most marks the spirit and life of the person. My own thesis is complementary: science taught ... without a sense of history is robbed of those very qualities that make it worth teaching to the student of the humanities and the social sciences.”

Quote by I. Bernard Cohen

Author

I. Bernard Cohen

I. Bernard Cohen was a prominent American historian of science and philosopher of science. His research focused on the Scientific Revolution and the history of science, particularly known for his work on Galileo. Cohen's contributions have had a profound impact on the fields of philosophy of science and the history of science. more

You May Also Like

“Originally a pupil of Liebig, I became a pupil of Dumas, Gerhardt and Williamson: I no longer belonged to any school.”

School Science Students Pupils

Author:August Kekule

“The concept of an independent system is a pure creation of the imagination. For no material system is or can ever be perfectly isolated from the rest of the world. Nevertheless it completes the mathematician's "blank form of a universe" without which his investigations are impossible. It enables him to introduce into his geometrical space, not only masses and configurations, but also physical structure and chemical composition. Just as Newton first conclusively showed that this is a world of masses, so Willard Gibbs first revealed it as a world of systems.”

“DOCTOR. Always preceded by 'The good'. Among men, in familiar conversation, 'Oh! balls, doctor!' Is a wizard when he enjoys your confidence, a jack-ass when you're no longer on terms. All are materialists: 'you can't probe for faith with a scalpel.'”

Men Science Enjoy Term Conversation Doctors Balls Familiar Ass Wizards Quip Scalpels

Book:Dictionary of Accepted Ideas

Source: Dictionary of Accepted Ideas

“I don't quite hear what you say, but I beg to differ entirely with you.”

Book:Memoir of Augustus De Morgan: With Selections from His Letters

Source: Memoir of Augustus De Morgan: With Selections from His Letters

“Newton said, "If I have seen further than others, it is because I've stood on the shoulders of giants." These days we stand on each other's feet!”

Ifs Said Science Feet Shoulders These Days Giants Newton Quip

Author:Richard Hamming

“When someone abuses me I can defend myself, but against praise I am defenceless.”

I Can Science Abuse Praise Quip

Author:Sigmund Freud

“[About the demand of the Board of Regents of the University of California that professors sign non-Communist loyalty oaths or lose their jobs within 65 days.] No conceivable damage to the university at the hands of hypothetical Communists among us could possibly have equaled the damage resulting from the unrest, ill-will and suspicion engendered by this series of events.”

Hands Jobs Science Loses Results Events Demand Series University Ill Loyalty California Boards Damage Communist Professors Suspicion Oath Unrest Hypothetical Ill Will

Author:Joel Henry Hildebrand

“When the elements are arranged in vertical columns according to increasing atomic weight, so that the horizontal lines contain analogous elements again according to increasing atomic weight, an arrangement results from which several general conclusions may be drawn.”

May Science Lines Results Elements Weight Conclusion Arrangements Columns Vertical Horizontal Horizontal Lines

Author:Dmitri Mendeleev

“[There is no shortage of scientific talent.] But [I am] much less optimistic about the managerial vision [of the pharmaceutical industry] to catalyse these talents to deliver the results we all want.”

Want Science Results Vision Talent Industry Optimistic Shortage Pharmaceutical Pharmaceutical Industry

Author:James Black

“That all men are alike is exactly what society would like to hear. It considers actual or imagined differences as stigmas indicating that not enough has yet been done; that something has still been left outside its machinery, not quite determined by its totality.”

Men Stills Done Enough Culture Left Differences Determined Machinery Stigma Totality Left Out

Book:Essays on Music

Source: Essays on Music