TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY ®  •  TODAYINSCI ®
Celebrating 24 Years on the Web
Find science on or your birthday

Today in Science History - Quickie Quiz
Who said: “Genius is two percent inspiration, ninety-eight percent perspiration.”
more quiz questions >>
Home > Dictionary of Science Quotations > Scientist Names Index G > H. Bentley Glass Quotes

H. Bentley Glass
(17 Jan 1906 - 16 Jan 2005)

American geneticist, biologist and writer who studied mutations caused by high-energy radiation and was outspoken about nuclear weapons. He was often provocative but as a theorist could also make prescient predictions. He was outspoken about such topics as the dangers of nuclear weapons testing and the ethics of test-tube babies. He was a staunch advocate of academic freedom in science during the McCarthy anti-Communist era. Later, he studied what he called genetic drift, the exchange between the gene pools of neighboring populations.

Science Quotes by H. Bentley Glass (8 quotes)

The advances of biology during the past 20 years have been breathtaking, particularly in cracking the mystery of heredity. Nevertheless, the greatest and most difficult problems still lie ahead. The discoveries of the 1970‘s about the chemical roots of memory in nerve cells or the basis of learning, about the complex behavior of man and animals, the nature of growth, development, disease and aging will be at least as fundamental and spectacular as those of the recent past.
— H. Bentley Glass
As quoted in 'H. Bentley Glass', New York Times (12 Jan 1970), 96.
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Aging (9)  |  Animal (651)  |  Basis (180)  |  Behavior (95)  |  Behaviour (42)  |  Biology (232)  |  Breathtaking (4)  |  Cell (146)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Complex (202)  |  Complexity (121)  |  Decade (66)  |  Development (441)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Disease (340)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Future (467)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Growth (200)  |  Heredity (62)  |  Learning (291)  |  Lie (370)  |  Man (2252)  |  Man And Animals (7)  |  Memory (144)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nerve (82)  |  Nevertheless (90)  |  Past (355)  |  Problem (731)  |  Recent (78)  |  Root (121)  |  Spectacular (22)  |  Still (614)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

The next decade will perhaps raise us a step above despair to a cleaner, clearer wisdom and biology cannot fail to help in this. As we become increasingly aware of the ethical problems raised by science and technology, the frontiers between the biological and social sciences are clearly of critical importance—in population density and problems of hunger, psychological stress, pollution of the air and water and exhaustion of irreplaceable resources.
— H. Bentley Glass
As quoted in 'H. Bentley Glass', New York Times (12 Jan 1970), 96.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Air Pollution (13)  |  Awareness (42)  |  Become (821)  |  Biological (137)  |  Biology (232)  |  Cleaner (2)  |  Clearer (4)  |  Critical (73)  |  Decade (66)  |  Density (25)  |  Despair (40)  |  Environment (239)  |  Ethical (34)  |  Ethics (53)  |  Exhaustion (18)  |  Fail (191)  |  Frontier (41)  |  Help (116)  |  Hunger (23)  |  Importance (299)  |  Irreplaceable (3)  |  Next (238)  |  Pollution (53)  |  Population (115)  |  Problem (731)  |  Psychological (42)  |  Psychology (166)  |  Resource (74)  |  Science And Technology (46)  |  Social (261)  |  Social Science (37)  |  Step (234)  |  Stress (22)  |  Technology (281)  |  Water (503)  |  Water Pollution (17)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wisdom (235)

The races are in fact disappearing, although the process will require thousands of years at present rates
— H. Bentley Glass
Interview (1967) with The Times. As quoted in obituary by Douglas Martin, New York Times (20 Jan 2005).
Science quotes on:  |  Disappearance (28)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Present (630)  |  Process (439)  |  Race (278)  |  Rate (31)  |  Require (229)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

The right that must become paramount is not the right to procreate, but rather the right of every child to be born with a sound physical and mental constitution, based on a sound genotype. No parents will in that future time have the right to burden society with a malformed or mentally incompetent child. Just as every child must have the right to full educational opportunity and a sound nutrition, so every child has the inalienable right to a sound heritage.
— H. Bentley Glass
Expressing concern that in a coming overpopulated world, “sacred rights of man must alter.” Presidential Address (28 Dec 1970) to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 'Science: Endless Horizons or Golden Age?', Science (8 Jan 1971), 171, No. 3866, 24. As quoted in obituary by Douglas Martin, New York Times (20 Jan 2005).
Science quotes on:  |  Become (821)  |  Burden (30)  |  Child (333)  |  Constitution (78)  |  Future (467)  |  Genotype (8)  |  Heritage (22)  |  Incompetent (4)  |  Mental (179)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nutrition (25)  |  Opportunity (95)  |  Paramount (11)  |  Parent (80)  |  Physical (518)  |  Procreate (4)  |  Right (473)  |  Society (350)  |  Sound (187)  |  Time (1911)  |  Will (2350)

There is a finite number of species of plants and animals—even of insects—upon the earth. … Moreover, the universality of the genetic code, the common character of proteins in different species, the generality of cellular structure and cellular reproduction, the basic similarity of energy metabolism in all species and of photosynthesis in green plants and bacteria, and the universal evolution of living forms through mutation and natural selection all lead inescapably to a conclusion that, although diversity may be great, the laws of life, based on similarities, are finite in number and comprehensible to us in the main even now.
— H. Bentley Glass
Presidential Address (28 Dec 1970) to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 'Science: Endless Horizons or Golden Age?', Science (8 Jan 1971), 171, No. 3866, 24.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Bacteria (50)  |  Bacterium (6)  |  Basic (144)  |  Cell (146)  |  Character (259)  |  Code (31)  |  Common (447)  |  Comprehension (69)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Difference (355)  |  Different (595)  |  Diversity (75)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Energy (373)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Finite (60)  |  Form (976)  |  General (521)  |  Generality (45)  |  Genetic (110)  |  Genetics (105)  |  Great (1610)  |  Green (65)  |  Inescapable (7)  |  Insect (89)  |  Law (913)  |  Lead (391)  |  Life (1870)  |  Life Form (6)  |  Living (492)  |  Metabolism (15)  |  Mutation (40)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Law (46)  |  Natural Selection (98)  |  Number (710)  |  Photosynthesis (21)  |  Plant (320)  |  Protein (56)  |  Reproduction (74)  |  Selection (130)  |  Similar (36)  |  Similarity (32)  |  Species (435)  |  Structure (365)  |  Through (846)  |  Universal (198)  |  Universality (22)

We are like the explorers of a great continent, who have penetrated its margins in most points of the compass and have mapped the major mountain chains and rivers. There are still innumerable details to fill in, but the endless horizons no longer exist.
— H. Bentley Glass
Stating his belief that within a generation or two, scientific progress was likely to halt. In Presidential Address (28 Dec 1970) to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 'Science: Endless Horizons or Golden Age?', Science (8 Jan 1971), 171, No. 3866, 24. Quoted in obituary by Douglas Martin, New York Times (20 Jan 2005).
Science quotes on:  |  Compass (37)  |  Continent (79)  |  Detail (150)  |  Endless (60)  |  Exist (458)  |  Existence (481)  |  Explorer (30)  |  Fill (67)  |  Great (1610)  |  Halt (10)  |  Horizon (47)  |  Innumerable (56)  |  Major (88)  |  Map (50)  |  Margin (6)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Penetration (18)  |  Point (584)  |  River (140)  |  Scientific Progress (14)  |  Still (614)

What remains to be learned may indeed dwarf imagination. Nevertheless, the universe itself is closed and finite. … The uniformity of nature and the general applicability of natural laws set limits to knowledge. If there are just 100, or 105, or 110 ways in which atoms may form, then when one has identified the full range of properties of these, singly and in combination, chemical knowledge will be complete.
— H. Bentley Glass
Presidential Address (28 Dec 1970) to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 'Science: Endless Horizons or Golden Age?', Science (8 Jan 1971), 171, No. 3866, 24.
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Closed (38)  |  Combination (150)  |  Complete (209)  |  Dwarf (7)  |  Finite (60)  |  Form (976)  |  General (521)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Law (913)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Limit (294)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Law (46)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nevertheless (90)  |  Range (104)  |  Remain (355)  |  Set (400)  |  Uniformity (38)  |  Universe (900)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)

Without birds to feed on them, the insects would multiply catastrophically. ... The insects, not man or other proud species, are really the only ones fitted for survival in the nuclear age. ... The cockroach, a venerable and hardy species, will take over the habitats of the foolish humans, and compete only with other insects or bacteria.
— H. Bentley Glass
As quoted in obituary by Douglas Martin, New York Times (20 Jan 2005).
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Atomic Bomb (115)  |  Bacteria (50)  |  Bird (163)  |  Cockroach (6)  |  Compete (6)  |  Feed (31)  |  Fit (139)  |  Fool (121)  |  Foolish (41)  |  Habitat (17)  |  Hardy (3)  |  Human (1512)  |  Insect (89)  |  Man (2252)  |  Multiply (40)  |  Nuclear (110)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pride (84)  |  Species (435)  |  Survival (105)  |  Venerable (7)  |  Will (2350)


Carl Sagan Thumbnail In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion. (1987) -- Carl Sagan
Quotations by:Albert EinsteinIsaac NewtonLord KelvinCharles DarwinSrinivasa RamanujanCarl SaganFlorence NightingaleThomas EdisonAristotleMarie CurieBenjamin FranklinWinston ChurchillGalileo GalileiSigmund FreudRobert BunsenLouis PasteurTheodore RooseveltAbraham LincolnRonald ReaganLeonardo DaVinciMichio KakuKarl PopperJohann GoetheRobert OppenheimerCharles Kettering  ... (more people)

Quotations about:Atomic  BombBiologyChemistryDeforestationEngineeringAnatomyAstronomyBacteriaBiochemistryBotanyConservationDinosaurEnvironmentFractalGeneticsGeologyHistory of ScienceInventionJupiterKnowledgeLoveMathematicsMeasurementMedicineNatural ResourceOrganic ChemistryPhysicsPhysicianQuantum TheoryResearchScience and ArtTeacherTechnologyUniverseVolcanoVirusWind PowerWomen ScientistsX-RaysYouthZoology  ... (more topics)
Sitewide search within all Today In Science History pages:
Visit our Science and Scientist Quotations index for more Science Quotes from archaeologists, biologists, chemists, geologists, inventors and inventions, mathematicians, physicists, pioneers in medicine, science events and technology.

Names index: | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |

Categories index: | 1 | 2 | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
Thank you for sharing.
- 100 -
Sophie Germain
Gertrude Elion
Ernest Rutherford
James Chadwick
Marcel Proust
William Harvey
Johann Goethe
John Keynes
Carl Gauss
Paul Feyerabend
- 90 -
Antoine Lavoisier
Lise Meitner
Charles Babbage
Ibn Khaldun
Euclid
Ralph Emerson
Robert Bunsen
Frederick Banting
Andre Ampere
Winston Churchill
- 80 -
John Locke
Bronislaw Malinowski
Bible
Thomas Huxley
Alessandro Volta
Erwin Schrodinger
Wilhelm Roentgen
Louis Pasteur
Bertrand Russell
Jean Lamarck
- 70 -
Samuel Morse
John Wheeler
Nicolaus Copernicus
Robert Fulton
Pierre Laplace
Humphry Davy
Thomas Edison
Lord Kelvin
Theodore Roosevelt
Carolus Linnaeus
- 60 -
Francis Galton
Linus Pauling
Immanuel Kant
Martin Fischer
Robert Boyle
Karl Popper
Paul Dirac
Avicenna
James Watson
William Shakespeare
- 50 -
Stephen Hawking
Niels Bohr
Nikola Tesla
Rachel Carson
Max Planck
Henry Adams
Richard Dawkins
Werner Heisenberg
Alfred Wegener
John Dalton
- 40 -
Pierre Fermat
Edward Wilson
Johannes Kepler
Gustave Eiffel
Giordano Bruno
JJ Thomson
Thomas Kuhn
Leonardo DaVinci
Archimedes
David Hume
- 30 -
Andreas Vesalius
Rudolf Virchow
Richard Feynman
James Hutton
Alexander Fleming
Emile Durkheim
Benjamin Franklin
Robert Oppenheimer
Robert Hooke
Charles Kettering
- 20 -
Carl Sagan
James Maxwell
Marie Curie
Rene Descartes
Francis Crick
Hippocrates
Michael Faraday
Srinivasa Ramanujan
Francis Bacon
Galileo Galilei
- 10 -
Aristotle
John Watson
Rosalind Franklin
Michio Kaku
Isaac Asimov
Charles Darwin
Sigmund Freud
Albert Einstein
Florence Nightingale
Isaac Newton


by Ian Ellis
who invites your feedback
Thank you for sharing.
Today in Science History
Sign up for Newsletter
with quiz, quotes and more.