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Quote by Paul Dirac

“I consider that I understand an equation when I can predict the properties of its solutions, without actually solving it.”

Quote by Paul Dirac

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Paul Dirac
Paul Dirac

Paul Dirac, born on August 8, 1902 in Bristol, England, was an outstanding theoretical physicist. Known for his contributions to quantum mechanics and relativity, Dirac is particularly famous for his formulation of the Dirac equation, which provided a foundational description of electrons in quantum mechanics. His work has had a profound impact on the development of modern physics. more

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“I esteem his understanding and subtlety highly, but I consider that they have been put to ill use in the greater part of his work, where the author studies things of little use or when he builds on the improbable principle of attraction. Writing about Newton's Principia. Huygens had some time earlier indicated he did not believe the theory of universal gravitation, saying it 'appears to me absurd.'”

“Neither the naked hand nor the understanding left to itself can effect much. It is by instruments and helps that the work is done, which are as much wanted for the understanding as for the hand. And as the instruments of the hand either give motion or guide it, so the instruments of the mind supply either suggestions for the understanding or cautions.”

“There is no doubt but men of genius and leisure may carry our method to greater perfection, but, having had long experience, we have found none equal to it for the commodiousness it affords in working with the Understanding.”

“Are the atoms of the dextroacid (tartaric) grouped in the spirals of a right-hand helix or situated at the angles of an irregular tetrahedron, or arranged in such or such particular unsymmetrical fashion? We are unable to reply to these questions. But there can be no reason for doubting that the grouping of the atoms has an unsymmetrical arrangement with a non-superimposable image. It is not less certain that the atoms of the laevo-acid realize precisely an unsymmetrical arrangement of the inverse of the above.”