“If it is possible to have a linear unit that depends on no other quantity, it would seem natural to prefer it. Moreover, a mensural unit taken from the earth itself offers another advantage, that of being perfectly analogous to all the real measurements that in ordinary usage are also made upon the earth, such as the distance between two places or the area of some tract, for example. It is far more natural in practice to refer geographical distances to a quadrant of a great circle than to the length of a pendulum.” IfsMadeTwoRealSeemsEarthScienceNaturalPracticeTakenExampleDependsOffersOrdinaryAdvantageAreasDistanceDefinitionsCirclesLengthQuantityUnitsMeasurementLinearUsagePendulums Author:Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet
“The scientist knows that the ultimate of everything is unknowable. No matter What subject you take, the current theory of it if carried to the ultimate becomes ridiculous. Time and space are excellent examples of this.” IfsKnowsMatterScienceSpaceKnowledgeSubjectsExampleTheoryUltimateScientistNo Matter WhatCurrentsRidiculousExcellentTime And Space Author:Charles Proteus Steinmetz
“Coolidge is a better example of evolution than either Bryan or Darrow, for he knows when not to talk, which is the biggest asset the monkey possesses over the human.” KnowsHumansScienceTeachingExampleEvolutionAssetsMonkeysBryanHuman Evolution Author:Will Rogers
“When I began my physical studies [in Munich in 1874] and sought advice from my venerable teacher Philipp von Jolly...he portrayed to me physics as a highly developed, almost fully matured science...Possibly in one or another nook there would perhaps be a dust particle or a small bubble to be examined and classified, but the system as a whole stood there fairly secured, and theoretical physics approached visibly that degree of perfection which, for example, geometry has had already for centuries.” WholeScienceStudyTeacherAdviceCenturyExampleDegreesPerfectionPhysicsDustBubblesParticlesTheoreticalGeometrySecuredJollyMaturedMunichTheoretical Physics Author:Max Planck
“My work on prime gaps lead to lots of media coverage, some good, some bad, some ugly, and some merely ridiculous. For example, a reporter of our university newspaper, who admitted that he is still learning English, wrote that "Prof. Goldston solved one of the most controversial problems in the prime number theory last month with support from his Turkish partner."” StillsProblemLastsScienceNumbersSupportMediaExampleTheoryMonthsMathematicsUniversityUglyPartnersRidiculousNewspapersGapsPrimeReportersControversialCoverageTurkishLearning EnglishPrime NumbersMedia Coverage Author:Daniel Goldston
“Certain functions appear so often that it is convenient to give them names. These are collectively called special functions. There are many examples and no single way of looking at them can illuminate all examples or even all the important properties of a single example of a special function.” WayGivingImportantScienceCertainNamesSpecialExampleFunctionMathematicsPropertyConvenient Author:Richard Askey
“In a mathematical proposition, for example, the objectivity is given, but therefore its truth is also an indifferent truth.” ScienceGivenExampleTruth IsMathematicsMathematicalIndifferentPropositionsObjectivity Author:Soren Kierkegaard
“Computers and rocket ships are examples of invention, not of understanding. ... All that is needed to build machines is the knowledge that when one thing happens, another thing happens as a result. It's an accumulation of simple patterns. A dog can learn patterns. There is no "why&rdqo"; in those examples. We don't understand why electricity travels. We don't know why light travels at a constant speed forever. All we can do is observe and record patterns.” KnowsLightHappensScienceUnderstandingCan DoSimpleResultsKnowledgeForeverRecordsOne ThingDogExampleNeededComputerMachinesConstantPatternsSpeedThings HappenInventionShipsElectricityRocketsAccumulation Author:Scott Adams
“The second [argument about motion] is the so-called Achilles, and it amounts to this, that in a race the quickest runner can never overtake the slowest, since the pursuer must first reach the point whence the pursued started, so that the slower must always hold a lead. Statement of the Achilles and the Tortoise paradox in the relation of the discrete to the continuous.; perhaps the earliest example of the reductio ad absurdum method of proof.” FirstsScienceRaceExampleAmountArgumentRelationMathematicsMethodProofStatementsParadoxAdsRunnersPursuedAchillesTortoisesDiscrete Author:Zeno of Elea
“[Freud's] great strength, though sometimes also his weakness, was the quite extraordinary respect he had for the singular fact... When he got hold of a simple but significant fact he would feel, and know, that it was an example of something general or universal, and the idea of collecting statistics on the matter was quite alien to him.” KnowsFeelsIdeasSometimesMatterFactsScienceSimpleExampleWeaknessUniversalExtraordinarySignificantAliensStatisticsBiographiesCollecting Book:The life and work of Sigmund Freud Source: The life and work of Sigmund Freud