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Physics Quotes

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Physics Quotes

“Three principles - the conformability of nature to herself, the applicability of the criterion of simplicity, and the utility of certain parts of mathematics in describing physical reality - are thus consequences of the underlying law of the elementary particles and their interactions. Those three principles need not be assumed as separate metaphysical postulates. Instead, they are emergent properties of the fundamental laws of physics.”

“We know from astronomy that the universe had a beginning, from physics that the future is both open and unpredictable, from geology and paleontology that the whole of life has been a process of change and transformation. From biology we know that our tissues are not impenetrable reservoirs of vital magic, but a stunning matrix of complex wonders, ultimately explicable in terms of biochemistry and molecular biology. With such knowledge we can see, perhaps for the first time, why a Creator would have allowed our species to be fashioned by the process of evolution.”

“Following Korzybski, I put things in probabilities, not absolutes... My only originality lies in applying this zetetic attitude outside the hardest of the hard sciences, physics, to softer sciences and then to non-sciences like politics, ideology, jury verdicts and, of course, conspiracy theory.”

Hard Lying Courses Attitude Theory Absolutes Following Physics Hardest Ideology Conspiracy Originality Probability Jury Conspiracy Theory Verdict Science Physics

Author:Robert Anton Wilson

“In mathematics, as in physics, so much depends on chance, on a propitious moment.”

Moments Chance Depends Mathematics Physics

Author:Stanislaw Ulam

“There may be such a thing as habitual luck. People who are said to be lucky at cards probably have certain hidden talents for those games in which skill plays a role. It is like hidden parameters in physics, this ability that does not surface and that I like to call "habitual luck".”

People May Doe Said Play Certain Games Ability Roles Talent Lucky Skills Luck Surface Physics Cards Habitual Parameters Hidden Talents

Author:Stanislaw Ulam

“Going to the moon is not a matter of physics but of economics.”

Matter Moon Economics Physics

Author:John R. Platt

“Twentieth-century developments in science support a new animism. Developments in physics have led to a world of energetic events which seem to be self-moving and to behave in unpredictable ways. And recent studies in biology seem to demonstrate that bacteria and macromolecules have elemental forms of perception, memory, choice, and self-motion.”

Source: God and Religion in the Postmodern World: Essays in Postmodern Theology

“When people think science and cooking, they have no idea that it's not correctly expressed. We're actually applying the scientific method. People think chemistry and physics are science, but the scientific method is something else.... It's the science that the world of cooking generates: science of butter; science of the croissant.”

People Thinking World Ideas Method Cooking Physics No Idea Chemistry Scientific Method Croissants

Author:Ferran Adria

“Physics has entered a remarkable era. Ideas that were once the realm of science fiction are now entering our theoretical and maybe even experimental grasp. Brand-new theoretical discoveries about extra dimensions have irreversibly changed how particle physicists, astrophysicists, and cosmologists now think about the world. The sheer number and pace of discoveries tells us that we've most likely only scratched the surface of the wondrous possibilities that lie in store. Ideas have taken on a life of their own.”

“It's amazing to me that not only can we put a probe around Saturn and get images of its moons, but our math and physics are so freaking accurate we can say, "Hey, you know what? On this date at this time if we turn Cassini that way we'll see a moon over 2 million kilometers away pass in front of another one nearly 3 million kilometers away." Every morning, I have a 50/50 chance of finding my keys. That kinda puts things in perspective.”

Ifs Knows Way Turns Chance Morning Millions Fronts Perspective Keys Moon Findings Math Physics Hey Accurate Every Morning Hey You Saturn

Author:Phil Plait

“I regard physics as that subset of magic that works fairly reliably. I regard magick, in the traditional sense, as a kind of physics that we strive to understand and render more reliable. So it all comes down to the same thing, a quest to understand and manipulate the world with a self-consistent and coherent theory .”

World Kind Self Magic Theory Regard Strive Physics Traditional Consistent Quests Manipulate

Author:Peter J. Carroll

“In thermodynamics as well as in other branches of molecular physics , the laws of phenomena have to a certain extent been anticipated, and their investigation facilitated, by the aid of hypotheses as to occult molecular structures and motions with which such phenomena are assumed to be connected. The hypothesis which has answered that purpose in the case of thermodynamics, is called that of "molecular vortices," or otherwise, the "centrifugal theory of elasticity.”

Wells Law Purpose Certain Cases Theory Structure Connected Aids Physics Branches Phenomenon Investigation Hypothesis Occult Thermodynamics Elasticity

Book:A Manual of the Steam Engine and Other Prime Movers by William John Macquorn Rankine

Source: A Manual of the Steam Engine and Other Prime Movers by William John Macquorn Rankine

“Certainly we do not need quantum mechanics for macroscopic objects, which are well described by classical physics - this is the reason why quantum mechanics seems so foreign to our everyday existence.”

Needs Wells Reason Seems Existence Objects Aspect Everyday Physics Reason Why Quantum Mechanic Quantum Mechanics

Author:Alain Aspect

“Quantum physics is no longer an abstract theory for specialists. We must now absolutely include it in our education and also in our culture.”

Culture Theory Physics Abstract Quantum Quantum Physics Specialists

Author:Claude Cohen-Tannoudji

“The primary consequence of the computational nature of the universe is that the universe naturally generates complex systems, such as life. Although the basic laws of physics are comparatively simple in form, they give rise, because they are computationally universal, to systems of enormous complexity.”

Giving Form Law Universe Simple Consequence Universal Complexes Physics Enormous Primaries Complexity Laws Of Physics Complex Systems

Author:Seth Lloyd

“Programmed by quanta, physics gave rise first to chemistry and then to life; programmed by mutations and recombination, life gave rise to Shakespeare; programmed by experience and imagination, Shakespeare gave rise to Hamlet.”

Firsts Imagination Physics Chemistry Quantum Quantum Physics Mutation

Author:Seth Lloyd

“I quite like the transitions of being an actor, because you get to explore these little pockets of life. So if you're playing a builder you get to know about building, if you're playing a scientist or a physician or something you get to know about physics. And similarly with this world I like exploring their culture, that very sort of upper middle class, addictive... that's part of the reason I love it.”

Ifs Knows World Littles Reason Culture Actors Class Middle This World Building Scientist Physics Middle Class Pockets Transition Physicians Exploring Builder Upper Middle Class

Author:Matt Smith

“If physics is too difficult for the physicists, the nonphysicist may wonder whether he should try at all to grasp its complexities and ambiguities. It is undeniably an effort, but probably one worth making, for the basic questions are important and the new experimental results are often fascinating. And if the layman runs into serious perplexities, he can be consoled with the thought that the points which baffle him are more than likely the ones for which the professionals have not found satisfactory answers.”

Ifs Should Trying May Important Running Found Difficult Answers Results Effort Wonder Serious Physics Complexity Fascinating Physicist Ambiguity Perplexity Layman

Author:Edward Condon

“Now these two questions Does there exist a material reality distinct from sensible appearances? and What is the nature of reality? do not have their source in experimental method, which is acquainted only with sensible appearances and can discover nothing beyond them. The resolution of these questions transcends the methods used by physics; it is the object of metaphysics. Therefore, if the aim of physical theories is to explain experimental laws, theoretical physics is not an autonomous science; it is subordinate to metaphysics.”

Ifs Doe Two Reality Law Used Objects Materials Theory Source Aim Method Appearance Physics Resolution Sensible Metaphysics Theoretical Subordinates Autonomous Theoretical Physics

Author:Pierre Duhem

“The formation in geological time of the human body by the laws of physics (or any other laws of similar nature), starting from a random distribution of elementary particles and the field is as unlikely as the separation of the atmosphere into its components. The complexity of the living things has to be present within the material, from which they are derived, or in the laws, governing their formation.”

“At present, when the prevailing forms of society have become hindrances to the free expression of human powers, it is precisely the abstract branches of science, mathematics and theoretical physics, which ... offer a less distorted form of knowledge than other branches of science which are interwoven with the pattern of daily life, and the practicality of which seemingly testifies to their realistic character.”

Source: Critical Theory: Selected Essays

“Pragmatism , in trying to turn experimental physics into a prototype of all science and to model all spheres of intellectual life after the techniques of the laboratory, is the counterpart of modern industrialism, for which the factory is the prototype of human existence, and which models all branches of culture after production on the conveyor belt.”

Source: EPZ Eclipse of Reason

“There are very few things that can be proved rigorously in condensed matter physics.”

Author:Anthony James Leggett

“One of the most beautiful papers in physics that I know of is yours in the American Journal of Physics.”

Knows Beautiful Paper Physics Journal Papers

Book:Boojums All the Way Through: Communicating Science in a Prosaic Age

Source: Boojums All the Way Through: Communicating Science in a Prosaic Age

“I think that physics is about escaping the prison of the received thoughts and searching for novel ways of thinking the world, about trying to clear a bit the misty lake of insubstantial dreams, which reflect reality like the lake reflects the mountains.”

Thinking World Way Trying Dream Reality Bits Novel Clear Mountain Prison Physics Lakes Way Of Thinking Escaping Misty

Book:Quantum Gravity

Source: Quantum Gravity

“The new coherent picture is not yet available. With all their immense empirical success, G(eneral)R(elativity) and Q(uantum)M(echanics) have left us with an understanding of the physical world which is unclear and badly fragmented. At the foundations of physics there is today confusion and incoherence.”

World Today Left Understanding Foundation Available Physics Confusion Immense Fragmented Unclear Incoherence

Author:Carlo Rovelli

“Is the purpose of theoretical physics to be no more than a cataloging of all the things that can happen when particles interact with each other and seperate? Or is it to be an understanding at a deeper level in which there are things that are not directly observable (as the underlying quantized fields are) but in terms of which we shall have a more fundamental understanding?”

Happens Purpose Understanding Term Levels Fields Fundamentals Deeper Physics Particles Theoretical Theoretical Physics

Book:Quantum Mechanics: Symbolism of Atomic Measurements

Source: Quantum Mechanics: Symbolism of Atomic Measurements

“The next grand extensions of mathematical physics will, in all likelihood, be furnished by quaternions.”

Next Physics Mathematical Extensions Likelihood

Author:Peter Tait

“Conferences with open attendance are very important for the stimulation of young people or other people who are new in the field. ... The field of high-energy physics is, as you know, very strongly in the hands of a clique and it is hard for an outsider to enter.”

People Knows Important Hard Hands Young Energy Fields Physics Very Strong Outsiders Conferences Stimulation Clique Attendance High Energy

Author:Victor Frederick Weisskopf

“The physics of motion provides one of the clearest examples of the counter-intuitive and unexpected nature of science.”

Example Physics Unexpected Intuitive

Author:Lewis Wolpert

“[Max Planck] was one of the finest people I have ever known... but he really didn't understand physics, [because] during the eclipse of 1919 he stayed up all night to see if it would confirm the bending of light by the gravitational field. If he had really understood [general relativity], he would have gone to bed the way I did”

People Ifs Way Light Night Known Gone Fields Bed Understood Physics Finest All Night Max Relativity Eclipse Bending Up All Night General Relativity

Author:Albert Einstein

“Technological civilization... rests fundamentally on power-driven machinery which transcends the physical limits of its human directors, multiplying indefinitely the capacity for the production of goods. Science in all its branches - physics, chemistry, biology, and psychology - is the servant and upholder of this system”

Humans Psychology Civilization Directors Limits Capacity Productions Driven Physics Servant Branches Biology Goods Chemistry Technological Machinery Multiplying

Author:Charles A. Beard

“It is difficult to make good scalable use of a CPU like you can of a graphics card. You certainly don't want 'better or worse' physics or AI in your game”

Want Use Games Difficult Like You Physics Cards

Author:John Carmack

“I'm into the law of attraction and quantum physics. Like cosmic ordering. It's all about thinking lovely things that you would like in life, and feeling good about them before they manifest, so that by the time they do, you don't want them because you're on to your next desire.”

Thinking Want Feelings Law Desire Next Attraction Physics Lovely Feel Good Law Of Attraction Manifest Cosmic Quantum Quantum Physics Lovely Things

Author:Julia Sawalha

“As you know, a theory in physics is not useful unless it is able to predict underlined effects which we would otherwise expect.”

Knows Able Atheism Effects Theory Positive Atheism Physics

Book:Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track: The Letters of Richard P. Feynman

Source: Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track: The Letters of Richard P. Feynman

“In A Brief History Of Time I used the word "God" like Einstein did as a shorthand for the laws of physics. However, this is not what most people mean by God, so I have decided not to use the term. The laws of physics can explain the universe without the need for a God.”

People Needs Mean Use Law Used Universe Term Decided Physics Laws Of Physics Shorthand

Author:Stephen Hawking

“At one point I wanted to work for NASA and be an astrophysicist, so I did physics, math, and chemistry before realizing I probably wasn't quite smart enough to do that. But I am still hugely interested in cosmology and astrophysics. That is my geeky subject area.”

Stills Enough Wanted Realizing Subjects Smart Areas Math Physics Chemistry Cosmology Nasa Astrophysics

Author:Gemma Chan

“Creativity is essential to particle physics, cosmology, and to mathematics, and to other fields of science, just as it is to its more widely acknowledged beneficiaries - the arts and humanities.”

Art Science Humanity Creativity Fields Essentials Mathematics Physics Physicist Particles Cosmology Creativeness Beneficiaries Smart Women Arts And Humanities Particle Physics

Book:Knocking On Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate our Universe

Source: Knocking On Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate our Universe

“A crumb is a great thing: If you break a crumb in half, you don't get two half-crumbs, you get two crumbs. Doesn't that violate some law of physics?”

Ifs Two Law Half Break Physics Great Things Laws Of Physics Crumbs

Author:George Carlin

“...paranormal phenomena such as apports, prediction, telepathy, dowsing and the like can be explained by an extended physics as potentially real effects.”

Real Effects Physics Paranormal Predictions Telepathy

Author:Ron Pearson

“In science, 'fact' can only mean 'confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent.' I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms.”

Mean Doe Facts Might Would Be Science Religion Possibility Evolution Tomorrow Equal Degrees Physics Merit Apples Classroom Scientific Facts Rotten Apples

Author:Stephen Jay Gould

“Peace is never long preserved by weight of metal or by an armament race. Peace can be made tranquil and secure only by understanding and agreement fortified by sanctions. We must embrace international cooperation or international disintegration. Science has taught us how to put the atom to work. But to make it work for good instead of for evil lies in the domain dealing with the principles of human dignity. We are now facing a problem more of ethics than of physics.”

“A humanist is anyone who rejects the attempt to describe or account for man wholly on the basis of physics, chemistry or animal behaviour.”

Men Humanity Animal Accounts Bases Physics Rejects Humanist Chemistry Behaviour

Author:Joseph Wood Krutch

“God does not play dice [with the universe]. [Ger., Gott wurfelt nicht.]”

“By late accounts from Rotterdam, that city seems to be in a high state of philosophical excitement. Indeed, phenomena have there occurred of a nature so completely unexpected--so entirely novel--so utterly at variance with preconceived opinions--as to leave no doubt on my mind that long ere this all Europe is in an uproar, all physics in a ferment, all reason and astronomy together by the ears.”

Source: The Complete Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (Illustrated Edition): Annabel Lee, Ligeia, The Sphinx, The Raven, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Tell-tale Heart, Berenice, Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Philosophy of Composition, The Poetic Principle, Eureka…

“Be assured that, although men of eminent genius have been guilty of all other vices, none worthy of more than a secondary name has ever been a gamester. Either an excess of avarice or a deficiency of what, in physics, is called excitability, is the cause of it; neither of which can exist in the same bosom with genius, with patriotism, or with virtue.”

Men Has Beens Names Causes Virtue Genius Vices Worthy Physics Guilty Gambling Excess Assured Bosoms Avarice Deficiency

Book:The works of Walter Savage Landor [ed. by J. Forster].

Source: The works of Walter Savage Landor [ed. by J. Forster].

“To talk intelligibly about modern physics, we have to admit the possibility of uncaused events.”

Religion Modern Events Possibility Physics Modern Physics

Author:Taner Edis

“Eternal life does not violate the laws of physics. After all, we only die because of one word: "error." The longer we live, the more errors there are that are made by our bodies when they read our genes. That means cells get sluggish. The body doesn't function as well as it could, which is why the skin ages. Then organs eventually fail, so that's why we die.”

Wells Mean Doe Made Body Age Law Dies Failing Eternal Skins Function Errors Physics Cells Genes Organs One Word Eternal Life Laws Of Physics Sluggish

Author:Michio Kaku

“Think of all the nonsense you had to learn in psychology courses. None of which was testable. None of which was measurable. We had behaviorism, Freudian psychology, all of these theories that you learn in psychology. Totally untestable. Now, we can test it, because physics allows us to calculate energy flows in the brain.”

Thinking Courses Energy Brain Psychology Theory Flow Tests Physics Nonsense Behaviorism Energy Flow

Author:Michio Kaku

“The chief difficulty of modern theoretical physics resides not in the fact that it expresses itself almost exclusively in mathematical symbols, but in the psychological difficulty of supposing that complete nonsense can be seriously promulgated and transmitted by persons who have sufficient intelligence of some kind to perform operations in differential and integral calculus.”

Source: The decline and fall of science