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Quote by Carl Sagan

“Chlorine is a deadly poison gas employed on European battlefields in World War I. Sodium is a corrosive metal which burns upon contact with water. Together they make a placid and unpoisonous material, table salt. Why each of these substances has the properties it does is a subject called chemistry.”

Quote by Carl Sagan

Book:Broca's brain: reflections on the romance of science

Work

Broca's brain: reflections on the romance of science

This book delves into the fascinating world of neuroscience, examining the evolution of scientific understanding of the brain and its intricate workings. The author combines historical accounts with personal reflections, offering a unique perspective on the romance and challenges of scientific discovery. more

Author

Carl Sagan was an American astronomer, cosmologist, author, and science communicator, born on November 9, 1934, in Brooklyn, New York. He is renowned for his profound research into the cosmos and his dedication to popularizing science. Sagan proposed numerous theories about the origin of the universe and life, and he made complex scientific knowledge accessible to the public with his unique perspective and clear, engaging writing style. more

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“Dr. Johnson ... sometimes employed himself in chymistry, sometimes in watering and pruning a vine, and sometimes in small experiments, at which those who may smile, should recollect that there are moments which admit of being soothed only by trifles.”

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Book:Boswell's Life of Johnson: Easyread Super Large 18pt Edition

Source: Boswell's Life of Johnson: Easyread Super Large 18pt Edition

“Even mistaken hypotheses and theories are of use in leading to discoveries. This remark is true in all the sciences. The alchemists founded chemistry by pursuing chimerical problems and theories which are false. In physical science, which is more advanced than biology, we might still cite men of science who make great discoveries by relying on false theories.”

“For chemistry is no science form'd à priori; 'tis no production of the human mind, framed by reasoning and deduction: it took its rise from a number of experiments casually made, without any expectation of what follow'd; and was only reduced into an art or system, by collecting and comparing the effects of such unpremeditated experiments, and observing the uniform tendency thereof. So far, then, as a number of experimenters agree to establish any undoubted truth; so far they may be consider'd as constituting the theory of chemistry.”

“For example, there are numbers of chemists who occupy themselves exclusively with the study of dyestuffs. They discover facts that are useful to scientific chemistry; but they do not rank as genuine scientific men. The genuine scientific chemist cares just as much to learn about erbium-the extreme rarity of which renders it commercially unimportant-as he does about iron. He is more eager to learn about erbium if the knowledge of it would do more to complete his conception of the Periodic Law, which expresses the mutual relations of the elements.”

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Author:Charles Sanders Peirce

“He [William Harvey] did not care for chymistrey, and was wont to speake against them with an undervalue.”

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Author:John Aubrey

“I do not know whether you are fond of chemical reading. There are some things in this science worth reading.”

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Book:Memoirs, Correspondence, and Private Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Late President of the United States

Source: Memoirs, Correspondence, and Private Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Late President of the United States

“I have wished to see chemistry applied to domestic objects, to malting, for instance, brewing, making cider, to fermentation and distillation generally, to the making of bread, butter, cheese, soap, to the incubation of eggs, &c.”

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Book:The writings of Thomas Jefferson

Source: The writings of Thomas Jefferson

“I think chemistry is being frittered away by the hairsplitting of the organic chemists; we have new compounds discovered, which scarcely differ from the known ones and when discovered are valueless-very illustrations perhaps of their refinements in analysis, but very little aiding the progress of true science.”

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Book:The letters of Faraday and Schoenbein 1836-1862: With notes, comments and references to contemporary letters

Source: The letters of Faraday and Schoenbein 1836-1862: With notes, comments and references to contemporary letters

“If materialism is true, it seems to me that we cannot know that it is true. If my opinions are the result of the chemical processes going on in my brain, they are determined by the laws of chemistry, not those of logic.”

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“In all our academies we attempt far too much. ... In earlier times lectures were delivered upon chemistry and botany as branches of medicine, and the medical student learned enough of them. Now, however, chemistry and botany are become sciences of themselves, incapable of comprehension by a hasty survey, and each demanding the study of a whole life, yet we expect the medical student to understand them. He who is prudent, accordingly declines all distracting claims upon his time, and limits himself to a single branch and becomes expert in one thing.”