Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Manfred Eigen

Quote by Manfred Eigen

“A theory has only the alternative of being right or wrong. A model has a third possibility: it may be right, but irrelevant.”

Quote by Manfred Eigen

Create image

Author

Manfred Eigen
Manfred Eigen

Manfred Eigen is a German chemist renowned for his research in quantum chemistry and molecular biology. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1957 for his discovery of the catalytic mechanism of enzymes. Eigen's research has had a profound impact on modern science. more

You May Also Like

“With all reserve we advance the view that a supernova represents the transition of an ordinary star into a neutron star consisting mainly of neutrons. Such a star may possess a very small radius and an extremely high density. As neutrons can be packed much more closely than ordinary nuclei and electrons, the gravitational packing energy in a cold neutron star may become very large, and under certain conditions may far exceed the ordinary nuclear packing fractions.”

MayScienceCertainEnergyStarsViewsConditionsTheoryColdOrdinaryNuclearTransitionReservesExceedFractionsElectronsPackingDensityNucleusRadiusSupernovaNeutrons
Author:Fritz Zwicky
Create image

“In the field one has to face a chaos of facts, some of which are so small that they seem insignificant; others loom so large that they are hard to encompass with one synthetic glance. But in this crude form they are not scientific facts at all; they are absolutely elusive, and can be fixed only by interpretation, by seeing them sub specie aeternitatis, by grasping what is essential in them and fixing this. Only laws and generalizations are scientific facts, and field work consists only and exclusively in the interpretation of the chaotic social reality, in subordinating it to general rules.”

HardFactsRealitySeemsFacesFormLawScienceSocialSeeingFieldsEssentialsChaosFixedInterpretationGlancesInsignificantChaoticElusiveCrudeFixingGraspingGeneralizationSyntheticScientific Facts
Author:Bronislaw Malinowski
Create image

“There are several kinds of truths, and it is customary to place in the first order mathematical truths, which are, however, only truths of definition. These definitions rest upon simple, but abstract, suppositions, and all truths in this category are only constructed, but abstract, consequences of these definitions ... Physical truths, to the contrary, are in no way arbitrary, and do not depend on us.”

WayFirstsKindTruthOrderSimpleDependsConsequenceMathematicsDefinitionsContraryMathematicalAbstractCategoriesArbitrarySupposition
Author:Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
Create image

“And yet in a funny way our lack of success led to our breakthrough; because, since we could not get a cell line off the shelf doing what we wanted, we were forced to construct it. And the original experiment ... developed into a method for the production of hybridomas ... [which] was of more importance than our original purpose.”

WayWantedSuccessSciencePurposeLinesDevelopmentImportanceOriginalsMethodProductionsExperimentsCellsShelvesConstructsBreakthrough
Author:Cesar Milstein
Create image

“In the dog two conditions were found to produce pathological disturbances by functional interference, namely, an unusually acute clashing of the excitatory and inhibitory processes, and the influence of strong and extraordinary stimuli. In man precisely similar conditions constitute the usual causes of nervous and psychic disturbances. Different conditions productive of extreme excitation, such as intense grief or bitter insults, often lead, when the natural reactions are inhibited by the necessary restraint, to profound and prolonged loss of balance in nervous and psychic activity.”

MenTwoDifferentScienceFoundStrongCausesProcessNaturalLossGriefPsychologyInfluenceConditionsDogProduceBalanceActivityProfoundExtraordinaryExtremesExperimentsReactionsIntenseBitterNervousInsultProductiveUsualRestraintPsychicsStimulusInterferenceDisturbance
Author:Ivan Pavlov
Create image