“We became astronomers thinking we were studying the universe, and now we learn that we are just studying the 5 or 10 percent that is luminous.” ThinkingUniverseStudyPercentLuminousAstronomers Author:Vera Rubin
“In the popular mind, if Hoyle is remembered it is as the prime mover of the discredited Steady State theory of the universe. "Everybody knows" that the rival Big Bang theory won the battle of the cosmologies, but few (not even astronomers) appreciate that the mathematical formalism of the now-favoured version of Big Bang, called inflation, is identical to Hoyle's version of the Steady State model.” IfsKnowsMindStatesBigsUniverseTheoryBattleModelsAppreciateVersionsMathematicalRememberedPrimeSteadyInflationBangsRivalsIdenticalCosmologyAstronomers Author:Fred Hoyle
“It must be a very dour and pessimistic astronomer indeed who seriously doubts that there must be countless numbers of intelligent civilizations scattered throughout the universe on other planets which are orbiting around other stars. An attitude which asserts that man is the only intelligent life form in the universe is intolerably arrogant today ... anyone who holds such an opinion today is, fortunately for those who like to see some progress in human conceptions, something of an intellectual freak equivalent to a believer in the Flat Earth Theory.” MenHumansTodayEarthFormUniverseStarsNumbersAttitudeOpinionDoubtProgressPlanetsTheoryCivilizationIntellectualIntelligentBelieverFlatsConceptionFreakArrogantPessimisticAstronomersIntelligent Life Author:Robert K. G. Temple
“I've got a telescope in my garden and one of the things I love to do is go out and let the sky, the night sky, the galaxies, the Orion nebula, have an impact on my mind. I find that awe inspiring. And just to contemplate on what the astronomers have revealed to us about the immense size and so on of the universe. I find that very healthy. And it's a good thing to do.” MindNightUniverseSkyHealthyGardenImpactGood ThingsSizeThings To DoAweContemplatingImmenseGalaxyNight SkyTelescopesThings I LoveAstronomersAwe InspiringOrionNebula Author:John Lennox
“The astronomer who catalogues the stars cannot add one atom to the universe; the poet can call an universe from the atom.” UniverseStarsPoetAddAtomsAstronomersCatalogues Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton