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Quote by Alfred North Whitehead

“To come very near to a true theory, and to grasp its precise application, are two different things, as the history of science teaches us. Everything of importance has been said before by someone who did not discover it.”

Author

Alfred North Whitehead

Alfred North Whitehead was a British mathematician, philosopher, born on February 15, 1861, and died on December 30, 1947. He is known for his contributions to mathematics, logic, philosophy, and the philosophy of science, particularly for his co-authorship of 'Principia Mathematica' with Bertrand Russell. more

“To turn Karl [Popper]'s view on its head, it is precisely the abandonment of critical discourse that marks the transition of science. Once a field has made the transition, critical discourse recurs only at moments of crisis when the bases of the field are again in jeopardy. Only when they must choose between competing theories do scientists behave like philosophers.”

Source: The Essential Tension: Selected Studies in Scientific Tradition and Change

“Understanding a theory has, indeed, much in common with understanding a human personality. We may know or understand a man's system of dispositions pretty well; that is to say, we may be able to predict how he would act in a number of different situations. But since there are infinitely many possible situations, of infinite variety, a full understanding of a man's dispositions does not seem to be possible.”

Knows Men Humans Wells May Doe Different Seems Able Science Understanding Common Numbers Situation Theory Personality Infinite Variety Disposition Human Personality

Author:Karl Popper

“We can invent as many theories we like, and any one of them can be made to fit the facts. But that theory is always preferred which makes the fewest number of assumptions.”

Made Facts Science Numbers Theory Fit Invention Assumption

Author:Albert Einstein

“We may affirm of Mr. Buffon, that which has been said of the chemists of old; though he may have failed in attaining his principal aim, of establishing a theory, yet he has brought together such a multitude of facts relative to the history of the earth, and the nature of its fossil productions, that curiosity finds ample compensation, even while it feels the want of conviction.”

Source: A history of the earth and animated nature, with an intr. view of the animal kingdom tr. from the Fr. of baron Cuvier, notes [and] a life of the author by W. Irving

“We must alter theory to adapt it to nature, but not nature to adapt it to theory.‎”

Science Nature Natural Theory

Book:An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine

Source: An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine

“What I remember most clearly was that when I put down a suggestion that seemed to me cogent and reasonable, Einstein did not in the least contest this, but he only said, 'Oh, how ugly.' As soon as an equation seemed to him to be ugly, he really rather lost interest in it and could not understand why somebody else was willing to spend much time on it. He was quite convinced that beauty was a guiding principle in the search for important results in theoretical physics.”