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Quote by John Charles Polanyi

“It is folly to use as one's guide in the selection of fundamental science the criterion of utility. Not because (scientists)... despise utility. But because. .. useful outcomes are best identified after the making of discoveries, rather than before.”

Quote by John Charles Polanyi

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John Charles Polanyi
John Charles Polanyi

John Charles Polanyi is a renowned chemist born in Canada in 1929. He made significant contributions to the field of chemistry, particularly in the study of chemical reaction dynamics and catalysis. Polanyi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1986 for his outstanding contributions to the field. more

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MenYearsMindPersonsMadeIdeasDifferentSeemsScienceSpeakCasesPlanetsLatePhotographyDiscoveryFlowElectricRivalsTheoreticalCalculationsRipeNotoriousNeptune
Author:Francis Galton
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“Just by studying mathematics we can hope to make a guess at the kind of mathematics that will come into the physics of the future... If someone can hit on the right lines along which to make this development, it may lead to a future advance in which people will first discover the equations and then, after examining them, gradually learn how to apply them... My own belief is that this is a more likely line of progress than trying to guess at physical pictures.”

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“Let us keep the discoveries and indisputable measurements of physics. But ... A more complete study of the movements of the world will oblige us, little by little, to turn it upside down; in other words, to discover that if things hold and hold together, it is only by reason of complexity, from above.”

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Book:The Phenomenon of Man
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Author:Freeman Dyson
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“Next came the Patent laws. These began in England in 1624; and, in this country, with the adoption of our constitution. Before then [these?], any man might instantly use what another had invented; so that the inventor had no special advantage from his own invention. The patent system changed this; secured to the inventor, for a limited time, the exclusive use of his invention; and thereby added the fuel of interest to the fire of genius, in the discovery and production of new and useful things.”

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Author:Abraham Lincoln
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