“There may be a soul of the world, there may be ... a psychical side, of which we are not aware, to every atom in the universe, and the psychical side, like the moon, may show us ever but the one face, the other forever in the shadow; but, at best, this is only a conjecture, it presents no solid foundation upon which to rest a theory.” WorldMaySoulShowsFacesUniverseSidesForeverTheoryMoonShadowFoundationAtomsConjectureSolid Foundation Author:John Grier Hibben
“The central idea of string theory is quite straightforward. If you examine any piece of matter ever more finely, at first you'll find molecules, atoms, sub-atomic particles. Probe the smaller particles, you'll find something else, a tiny vibrating filament of energy, a little tiny vibrating string.” IfsFirstsLittlesIdeasMatterEnergyPiecesTheoryTinyStringsAtomsParticlesStraightforwardMoleculesString Theory Author:Brian Greene
“One's own free unfettered choice, one's own caprice-however wild it may be, one's own fancy worked up at times to frenzy-is that very "most advantageous advantage" which we have overlooked, which comes under no classification and against which all systems and theories are continually being shattered to atoms... [an]will attain his object-that is, convince himself he is a man and not a piano-key!” MenMayChoicesObjectsTheoryKeysAdvantagePianoFancyConvinceAtomsShatteredOverlookedFrenzyClassificationCapricePiano KeysNotes From The Underground Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
“Some critics thought the ontology and theory of qualities absurd. No one had ever seen these little atoms, and furthermore, how could their mere arrangement produce a noisy, colourful, world in which day followed night and animals generated their own kind? Instead of a world created, cared, for and supervised by supernatural persons, the Epicureans appeared to the theologians to be assigning everything to chance. The latter were appalled by Lucretius's view of religion as cruel and oppressive and by the Epicurean insistence that death is the end of all experience.” WorldKindLittlesPersonsEndsNightChanceAnimalViewsQualityProduceTheoryMereCriticsAbsurdLatterAtomsArrangementsTheologianNoisyInsistenceOntologyColourfulEpicurean Author:Catherine Wilson
“Like most young physicists, when I was a kid enraptured with physics, I thought, "Everything can be explained by the theory of the atom!" But as I've gotten older, and I look at the world, I think there's a lot of ways in which that kind of building up from the smallest building blocks doesn't actually account for the world. As I've gotten older, I've also become sensitive to the ways - to all that is not amenable to explanation. Things that, even if you had an explanation, what good would it be?” IfsThinkingWorldWayLooksKindKidsYoungBuildingTheoryAccountsPhysicsBlockSensitiveExplanationAtomsSmallestPhysicistBuilding UpBuilding BlocksAmenable Author:Adam Frank