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Great Scientist Quotes

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Great Scientist Quotes

“Each worldview was a cultural product, but evolution is true and separate creation is not. [...] Worldviews are social constructions, and they channel the search for facts. But facts are found and knowledge progresses, however fitfully. Fact and theory are intertwined, and all great scientists understand the interaction.”

FactsFoundSocialProgressCreationProductsTheoryEvolutionScientistConstructionInteractionWorldviewIntertwinedGreat ScientistSocial Construction
Book:Eight little piggies: reflections in natural history
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“When Arthur Ashe plays tennis, his purpose each day is to play the game in a way he has never played it before. It may be a backhand he uses, one that he may never have used before in that circumstance. His play is a fresh integration of his world at the instant of action. A really great scientist has the whole past at his disposal. At any instant he is rebuilding the world, molecule by molecule, in his subconscious. That is what you want in an athlete or a scientist.”

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Author:Edwin Land
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“When we just saw that man, I think it was Mr. Myers, talking about how great scientists were, I was thinking to myself the last time any of my relatives saw scientists telling them what to do they were telling them to go to the showers to get gassed. That was horrifying beyond words, and that's where science - in my opinion, this is just an opinion - that's where science leads you.”

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Author:Ben Stein
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“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”

ThinkingLifeWisdomScienceKnowledgeTechnologyWiseSadnessSocietyWise WordsRight NowAspectScientistClimate ChangeFasterThings In LifeBeing WiseMake You ThinkSaddestScience And TechnologyThis SocietyKnowledge WisdomLife WisdomScientific DiscoveryAspects Of LifeKnowledge And WisdomMathematics And ScienceEmoGreat ScienceGreat ScientistComputer TechnologyKnowledge And ExperienceScience TechnologyWise WisdomScience EducationAge And WisdomWisdom And ExperienceScience LifeAge WisdomInspirational ScienceScientist LifeWisdom ExperienceScience And SocietyGreat TechnologyGrowing Knowledge
Author:Isaac Asimov
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“Even the great scientists have reported that their creative break-throughs came at a time of mental quietude. The surprising result of a nationwide inquiry among America's most eminent mathematicians, including Einstein, to find out their working methods, was that thinking 'plays only a subordinate part in the brief, decisive phase of the creative act itself'.”

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Book:The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
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“In spite of the fact that religion looks backward to revealed truth while science looks forward to new vistas and discoveries, both activities produce a sense of awe and a curious mixture of humility and arrogance in their practitioners. All great scientists are inspired by the subtlety and beauty of the natural world that they are seeking to understand. Each new subatomic particle, every unexpected object, produces delight and wonderment. In constructing their theories, physicists are frequently guided by arcane concepts of elegance in the belief that the universe is intrinsically beautiful.”

WorldLooksFactsBeautifulScienceReligionUniverseBeliefNaturalObjectsProduceHumilityTheoryActivityConceptsDiscoveryScientistInspiredDelightSeekingCuriousArroganceAweSpiteUnexpectedPhysicistEleganceMixturesParticlesNatural WorldSubtletyVistasGreat ScientistArcaneSubatomic Particles
Author:Paul Davies
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“I don't think you can pump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere indefinitely and not have a reaction. But there are great scientists such as Freeman Dyson, one of the greatest physicists of the last hundred years, who has studied the question, who believes quite the opposite. The reason transnational action is so difficult is because the major problem with climate change is, A, that there is no consensus, and, B, that the economic cost is simply staggering. Reversing it completely might mean undoing the modern industrial economy.”

ThinkingYearsBelieveMeanReasonProblemMightActionLastsDifficultEconomyEconomicModernCostMajorsHundredOppositesScientistClimateClimate ChangeReactionsAtmosphereCarbonPhysicistConsensusPumpsStaggeringCarbon DioxideFreemanUndoingGreat ScientistMajor Problems
Author:Charles Krauthammer
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“When it was suggested to Pasteur that many of his great achievements depended on luck, he replied - I'm sure with more than a little irritation - 'In the field of observation in science, fortune only favours the prepared mind.' It is not by chance that it is always the great scientists who have the luck.”

MindLittlesChanceFieldsAchievementScientistLuckFortunePreparedObservationFavourIrritationGreat AchievementGreat ScientistPasteur
Book:The Unnatural Nature of Science
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“The great tragedy of science - the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.”

FactsBeautifulScienceEducationBeautyScientistTragedyUglyPhysicsHypothesisScience And ReligionQuantum PhysicsScientific ResearchQuantum TheoryScience ReligionScientific TheoryGreat ScienceGreat ScientistScientific FactsScience PhysicsGreat TragedySlayingTheory And PracticeScience EducationFunny ScienceBest ScienceScience ResearchScience LifeInformation ScienceScientist Life
Author:Thomas Huxley
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“The great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”

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Author:Isaac Newton
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“I think that we're making a mistake if we don't see that there is a cultural basis to many illnesses, not just psychiatric ones. Breast cancer would be one prevalent example right now, different kind of cultures surrounding it. If you don't understand the cultural meaning of an illness like that you're going to miss the boat even if you're a great scientist.”

IfsThinkingKindDifferentWould BeCultureMistakeMissingExampleRight NowScientistBasesCancerIllnessBoatBreastsMaking MistakesDifferent KindsBreast CancerPsychiatricGreat Scientist
Author:Jonathan Michel Metzl
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“Science will always raise philosophical questions like, is any scientific theory or model correct? How do we know? Are unobserved things real? etc. and it seems to me of great importance that these questions are not just left to scientists, but that there are thinkers who make it their business to think as clearly and slowly about these questions as it is possible to. Great scientists do not always make the best philosophers.”

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Author:Tim Crane
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“This is the most important joke I've ever heard. Niels Bohr, the founder of Quantum Physics, had a friend to dinner. As the friend left, he noticed a horseshoe nailed above Bohr's front door. He said to Bohr, accusingly, "Niels, you're a great scientist. You can't believe in superstitions." Bohr answered, "I don't, but apparently it works anyway."As with confirmation bias, we tend to lean toward superstitions that benefit us.”

BelieveImportantJokesScientistPhysicsFoundersBiasQuantum PhysicsConfirmationGreat Scientist
Author:John Cleese
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“How did scientists get money in the past? They were either lucky and independently wealthy, like Darwin, or they had patrons, like Galileo. Universities or governments have become patrons only in the last few generations. Many of the great scientists of the past were in debt to their patrons in the same sense that modern scientists are influenced by what their granting agencies want.”

PastModernLuckyScientistWealthyGet MoneyPatronGreat Scientist
Author:Stephen Jay Gould
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“I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”

KnowsWorldInspirationalMayHas BeensSeemsTruthSuccessScienceFunNatureBoysKnowledgeSeaTrustTruth IsOceanFindingsOrdinaryScientistLaysPhysicsUpliftingNow And ThenShellsMiscellaneousPebblesTruth And LiesMath And ScienceMathematics And ScienceChildren PlayingGreat ScienceGreat ScientistScience PhysicsOcean SeaLike A BoyOceans And SeasSeashoreBeach And OceanBeach OceanBest ScienceKnowing The TruthSea And BeachCool BeachDiscovery And InventionDiscovering The TruthI Know The TruthPebble BeachSea ShellBefore And Now
Author:Isaac Newton
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“I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success ... Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything.”

ThinkingMenHumansHeartMotivationalSuccessJoyFeltSleepForgetEmotionBrainSacrificeHuman NatureCreationEmotionalInventionExcitementEngineeringThrillHuman HeartInventorOutstandingGoing To SleepUnfoldingInventingFriend LoveElationGreat ScientistHuman InventionsInventions And InventorsBrain ScienceInventing ThingsCreating New Things
Author:Nikola Tesla
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“All the greatest men are maniacs. They are possessed by a mania which drives them forward towards thier goal. The great scientists, the philosophers, the religious leaders - all maniacs. What else but a blind singlenee of purpose could have given focus to thier genius, would have kept them in the groove of purpose. Mania... is as priceless as genius.”

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Author:Ian Fleming
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“If a given scientist had not made a given discovery, someone else would have done so a little later. Johann Mendel dies unknown after having discovered the laws of heredity: thirty-five years later, three men rediscover them. But the book that is not written will never be written. The premature death of a great scientist delays humanity; that of a great writer deprives it.”

IfsMenYearsLittlesMadeBookDoneLawScienceHumanityDiesThreeGivenFiveWrittenDiscoveryScientistThirtyFive YearsDelayGreat WritersPrematureHeredityGreat ScientistPremature DeathMendel
Book:The substance of man
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“The books of the great scientists are gathering dust on the shelves of learned libraries. And rightly so. The scientist addresses an infinitesimal audience of fellow composers. His message is not devoid of universality but its universality is disembodied and anonymous. While the artist's communication is linked forever with its original form, that of the scientist is modified, amplified, fused with the ideas and results of others and melts into the stream of knowledge and ideas which forms our culture. The scientist has in common with the artist only this: that he can find no better retreat from the world than his work and also no stronger link with the world than his work.”

WorldBookIdeasFormScienceArtistCultureResultsCommonKnowledgeForeverHard WorkCommunicationScientistStrongerOriginalsLibraryDustStreamsLinksShelvesRetreatLinkedGatheringGreat Scientist
Author:Max Delbruck
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“Most people like to believe something is or is not true. Great scientists tolerate ambiguity very well. They believe the theory enough to go ahead; they doubt it enough to notice the errors and faults so they can step forward and create the new replacement theory. If you believe too much you'll never notice the flaws; if you doubt too much you won't get started. It requires a lovely balance.”

PeopleIfsBelieveWellsEnoughScienceStepsDoubtToo MuchGreatnessTheoryBalanceScientistErrorsFaultsLovelyFlawsTolerateIf You BelieveAmbiguitySteps ForwardReplacementsGreat Scientist
Author:Richard Hamming
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“Walking the streets of Tokyo with Hawking in his wheelchair ... I felt as if I were taking a walk through Galilee with Jesus Christ [as] crowds of Japanese silently streamed after us, stretching out their hands to touch Hawking's wheelchair. ... The crowds had streamed after Einstein [on Einstein's visit to Japan in 1922] as they streamed after Hawking seventy years later. ... They showed exquisite choice in their heroes. ... Somehow they understood that Einstein and Hawking were not just great scientists, but great human beings.”

IfsYearsHumansHandsScienceChoicesJesusFeltChristHuman BeingsWalksStreetsHeroWalkingUnderstoodJesus ChristScientistCrowdsJapanSeventiesExquisiteStretchingTokyoWheelchairsGreat Scientist
Author:Freeman Dyson
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“It is not enough to say that we cannot know or judge because all the information is not in. The process of gathering knowledge does not lead to knowing. A child's world spreads only a little beyond his understanding while that of a great scientist thrusts outward immeasurably. An answer is invariably the parent of a great family of new questions. So we draw worlds and fit them like tracings against the world about us, and crumple them when we find they do not fit and draw new ones.”

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Book:Steinbeck
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“All interpretations made by a scientist are hypotheses, and all hypotheses are tentative. They must forever be tested and they must be revised if found to be unsatisfactory. Hence, a change of mind in a scientist, and particularly in a great scientist, is not only not a sign of weakness but rather evidence for continuing attention to the respective problem and an ability to test the hypothesis again and again.”

IfsMindMadeProblemScienceFoundAbilityAttentionForeverWeaknessEvidenceTestsScientistInterpretationAgain And AgainContinuingTestedHypothesisGreat ScientistMind Changing
Author:Ernst Mayr
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“When you are famous it is hard to work on small problems. This is what did [Claude Elwood] Shannon in. After information theory, what do you do for an encore? The great scientists often make this error. They fail to continue to plant the little acorns from which the mighty oak trees grow. They try to get the big thing right off. And that isn't the way things go. So that is another reason why you find that when you get early recognition it seems to sterilize you.”

WayTryingLittlesHardReasonProblemBigsSeemsGrowsFailingTreeInformationTheoryFameScientistPlantErrorsRecognitionReason WhyBig ThingsOaksAcornsOak TreeGreat ScientistEncoresShannonSmall ProblemsMighty Oaks
Author:Richard Hamming
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