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: “Dangerous... to take shelter under a tree, during a thunder-gust. It has been fatal to many, both men and beasts.”
more quiz questions >>
Home > Category Index for Science Quotations > Category Index I > Category: Introduction

Introduction Quotes (37 quotes)

…it ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new.
The Prince (1532). W. K. Marriott (translator) and Rob McMahon (editor), The Prince (2008), 71.
Science quotes on:  |  Condition (362)  |  Conduct (70)  |  Defender (5)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Do (1905)  |  Enemy (86)  |  Innovation (49)  |  Lead (391)  |  Lukewarm (2)  |  More (2558)  |  New (1273)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Old (499)  |  Order (638)  |  Peril (9)  |  Remember (189)  |  Success (327)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Uncertain (45)

At every major step physics has required, and frequently stimulated, the introduction of new mathematical tools and concepts. Our present understanding of the laws of physics, with their extreme precision and universality, is only possible in mathematical terms.
In Book Review 'Pulling the Strings,' of Lawrence Krauss's Hiding in the Mirror: The Mysterious Lure of Extra Dimensions, from Plato to String Theory and Beyond in Nature (22 Dec 2005), 438, 1081.
Science quotes on:  |  Concept (242)  |  Extreme (78)  |  Law (913)  |  Major (88)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  New (1273)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Possible (560)  |  Precision (72)  |  Present (630)  |  Require (229)  |  Required (108)  |  Step (234)  |  Stimulate (21)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Tool (129)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Universal (198)  |  Universality (22)

At the beginning of its existence as a science, biology was forced to take cognizance of the seemingly boundless variety of living things, for no exact study of life phenomena was possible until the apparent chaos of the distinct kinds of organisms had been reduced to a rational system. Systematics and morphology, two predominantly descriptive and observational disciplines, took precedence among biological sciences during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. More recently physiology has come to the foreground, accompanied by the introduction of quantitative methods and by a shift from the observationalism of the past to a predominance of experimentation.
In Genetics and the Origin of Species (1937, 1982), 6.
Science quotes on:  |  18th Century (21)  |  19th Century (41)  |  Apparent (85)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Biological (137)  |  Biology (232)  |  Boundless (28)  |  Chaos (99)  |  Description (89)  |  Descriptive (18)  |  Discipline (85)  |  Distinct (98)  |  Existence (481)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Foreground (3)  |  Kind (564)  |  Life (1870)  |  Living (492)  |  Method (531)  |  More (2558)  |  Morphology (22)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observational (15)  |  Organism (231)  |  Past (355)  |  Physiology (101)  |  Possible (560)  |  Precedence (4)  |  Predominance (3)  |  Quantitative (31)  |  Rational (95)  |  Seemingly (28)  |  Shift (45)  |  Study (701)  |  System (545)  |  Systematic (58)  |  Systematics (4)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Two (936)  |  Variety (138)

Before the introduction of the Arabic notation, multiplication was difficult, and the division even of integers called into play the highest mathematical faculties. Probably nothing in the modern world could have more astonished a Greek mathematician than to learn that, under the influence of compulsory education, the whole population of Western Europe, from the highest to the lowest, could perform the operation of division for the largest numbers. This fact would have seemed to him a sheer impossibility. … Our modern power of easy reckoning with decimal fractions is the most miraculous result of a perfect notation.
In Introduction to Mathematics (1911), 59.
Science quotes on:  |  Arabic (4)  |  Astonish (39)  |  Astonished (10)  |  Call (781)  |  Compulsory (8)  |  Decimal (21)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Division (67)  |  Easy (213)  |  Education (423)  |  Europe (50)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fraction (16)  |  Greek (109)  |  Impossibility (60)  |  Influence (231)  |  Integer (12)  |  Largest (39)  |  Learn (672)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mathematics As A Language (20)  |  Miraculous (11)  |  Modern (402)  |  Modern World (5)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Multiplication (46)  |  Notation (28)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Number (710)  |  Operation (221)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Perform (123)  |  Population (115)  |  Power (771)  |  Probably (50)  |  Reckon (31)  |  Reckoning (19)  |  Result (700)  |  Western (45)  |  Whole (756)  |  World (1850)

But as my conclusions have lately been much misrepresented, and it has been stated that I attribute the modification of species exclusively to natural selection, I may be permitted to remark that in the first edition of this work, and subsequently, I placed in a most conspicuous position—namely, at the close of the Introduction—the following words: “I am convinced that natural selection has been the main but not the exclusive means of modification.” This has been of no avail. Great is the power of steady misrepresentation; but the history of science shows that fortunately this power does not long endure.
In The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection with additions and corrections from sixth and last English edition (1899), Vol. 2, 293.
Science quotes on:  |  Attribute (65)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Conspicuous (13)  |  Edition (5)  |  Endure (21)  |  Exclusive (29)  |  First (1302)  |  Great (1610)  |  History (716)  |  History Of Science (80)  |  Long (778)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Misrepresentation (5)  |  Modification (57)  |  Most (1728)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Selection (98)  |  Origin Of Species (42)  |  Power (771)  |  Remark (28)  |  Selection (130)  |  Show (353)  |  Species (435)  |  State (505)  |  Steady (45)  |  Word (650)  |  Work (1402)

Earth’s history, which it is the object of Geology to teach, is the true introduction to human history.
In 'Concluding Remarks', A Text-book of Geology: Designed for Schools and Academies (1863), 339.
Science quotes on:  |  Earth (1076)  |  Geology (240)  |  History (716)  |  Human History (7)  |  Object (438)  |  Teach (299)

First, as concerns the success of teaching mathematics. No instruction in the high schools is as difficult as that of mathematics, since the large majority of students are at first decidedly disinclined to be harnessed into the rigid framework of logical conclusions. The interest of young people is won much more easily, if sense-objects are made the starting point and the transition to abstract formulation is brought about gradually. For this reason it is psychologically quite correct to follow this course.
Not less to be recommended is this course if we inquire into the essential purpose of mathematical instruction. Formerly it was too exclusively held that this purpose is to sharpen the understanding. Surely another important end is to implant in the student the conviction that correct thinking based on true premises secures mastery over the outer world. To accomplish this the outer world must receive its share of attention from the very beginning.
Doubtless this is true but there is a danger which needs pointing out. It is as in the case of language teaching where the modern tendency is to secure in addition to grammar also an understanding of the authors. The danger lies in grammar being completely set aside leaving the subject without its indispensable solid basis. Just so in Teaching of Mathematics it is possible to accumulate interesting applications to such an extent as to stunt the essential logical development. This should in no wise be permitted, for thus the kernel of the whole matter is lost. Therefore: We do want throughout a quickening of mathematical instruction by the introduction of applications, but we do not want that the pendulum, which in former decades may have inclined too much toward the abstract side, should now swing to the other extreme; we would rather pursue the proper middle course.
In Ueber den Mathematischen Unterricht an den hoheren Schulen; Jahresbericht der Deutschen Mathematiker Vereinigung, Bd. 11, 131.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstract (141)  |  Accomplishment (102)  |  Accumulate (30)  |  Addition (70)  |  Application (257)  |  Attention (196)  |  Author (175)  |  Base (120)  |  Basis (180)  |  Begin (275)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Being (1276)  |  Bring (95)  |  Case (102)  |  Completely (137)  |  Concern (239)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Correct (95)  |  Course (413)  |  Danger (127)  |  Decade (66)  |  Development (441)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Do (1905)  |  End (603)  |  Essential (210)  |  Exclusive (29)  |  Extent (142)  |  Extreme (78)  |  First (1302)  |  Follow (389)  |  Former (138)  |  Formerly (5)  |  Formulation (37)  |  Framework (33)  |  Gradual (30)  |  Gradually (102)  |  Grammar (15)  |  Harness (25)  |  High (370)  |  High School (15)  |  Hold (96)  |  Implant (5)  |  Important (229)  |  Inclined (41)  |  Indispensable (31)  |  Inquire (26)  |  Instruction (101)  |  Interest (416)  |  Interesting (153)  |  Kernel (4)  |  Language (308)  |  Large (398)  |  Leave (138)  |  Lie (370)  |  Logic (311)  |  Lose (165)  |  Majority (68)  |  Mastery (36)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Matter (821)  |  Middle (19)  |  Modern (402)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Need (320)  |  Object (438)  |  Other (2233)  |  Outer (13)  |  Pendulum (17)  |  People (1031)  |  Permit (61)  |  Point (584)  |  Possible (560)  |  Premise (40)  |  Proper (150)  |  Psychological (42)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Pursue (63)  |  Quicken (7)  |  Quickening (4)  |  Reason (766)  |  Receive (117)  |  Recommend (27)  |  Rigid (24)  |  School (227)  |  Secure (23)  |  Sense (785)  |  Set (400)  |  Set Aside (4)  |  Share (82)  |  Sharpen (22)  |  Side (236)  |  Solid (119)  |  Starting Point (16)  |  Student (317)  |  Stunt (7)  |  Subject (543)  |  Success (327)  |  Surely (101)  |  Swing (12)  |  Teach (299)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Teaching of Mathematics (39)  |  Tendency (110)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Transition (28)  |  True (239)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Want (504)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wise (143)  |  World (1850)  |  Young (253)

Geology is rapidly taking its place as an introduction to the higher history of man. If the author has sought to exalt a favorite science, it has been with the desire that man—in whom geological history had its consummation, the prophecies of the successive ages their fulfilment—might better comprehend his own nobility and the true purpose of his existence.
Concluding remark in Preface (1 Nov 1862), in Manual of Geology, Treating of the Principles of the Science (1863), ix.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Author (175)  |  Better (493)  |  Comprehension (69)  |  Consummation (7)  |  Desire (212)  |  Exalt (29)  |  Existence (481)  |  Favorite (37)  |  Fulfillment (20)  |  Geology (240)  |  History (716)  |  Man (2252)  |  Nobility (5)  |  Prophecy (14)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Rapidly (67)  |  Successive (73)

I am now convinced that we have recently become possessed of experimental evidence of the discrete or grained nature of matter, which the atomic hypothesis sought in vain for hundreds and thousands of years. The isolation and counting of gaseous ions, on the one hand, which have crowned with success the long and brilliant researches of J.J. Thomson, and, on the other, agreement of the Brownian movement with the requirements of the kinetic hypothesis, established by many investigators and most conclusively by J. Perrin, justify the most cautious scientist in now speaking of the experimental proof of the atomic nature of matter, The atomic hypothesis is thus raised to the position of a scientifically well-founded theory, and can claim a place in a text-book intended for use as an introduction to the present state of our knowledge of General Chemistry.
In Grundriss der allgemeinen Chemie (4th ed., 1909), Preface, as cited by Erwin N. Hiebert and Hans-Gunther Korber in article on Ostwald in Charles Coulston Gillespie (ed.), Dictionary of Scientific Biography Supplement 1, Vol 15-16, 464.
Science quotes on:  |  Agreement (55)  |  Atom (381)  |  Become (821)  |  Book (413)  |  Brilliant (57)  |  Robert Brown (2)  |  Caution (24)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Claim (154)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Counting (26)  |  Crown (39)  |  Discrete (11)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Experimental (193)  |  Gas (89)  |  General (521)  |  Grain (50)  |  Granular (4)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Investigator (71)  |  Ion (21)  |  Isolation (32)  |  Kinetic (12)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Long (778)  |  Matter (821)  |  Most (1728)  |  Movement (162)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  Jean Perrin (2)  |  Possess (157)  |  Possession (68)  |  Present (630)  |  Proof (304)  |  Recent (78)  |  Requirement (66)  |  Research (753)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Seeking (31)  |  Speaking (118)  |  State (505)  |  Success (327)  |  Text-Book (5)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Sir J.J. Thomson (18)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Use (771)  |  Vain (86)  |  Year (963)

I presume that few who have paid any attention to the history of the Mathematical Analysis, will doubt that it has been developed in a certain order, or that that order has been, to a great extent, necessary—being determined, either by steps of logical deduction, or by the successive introduction of new ideas and conceptions, when the time for their evolution had arrived. And these are the causes that operate in perfect harmony. Each new scientific conception gives occasion to new applications of deductive reasoning; but those applications may be only possible through the methods and the processes which belong to an earlier stage.
Explaining his choice for the exposition in historical order of the topics in A Treatise on Differential Equations (1859), Preface, v-vi.
Science quotes on:  |  Analysis (244)  |  Application (257)  |  Attention (196)  |  Being (1276)  |  Belong (168)  |  Cause (561)  |  Certain (557)  |  Conception (160)  |  Deduction (90)  |  Develop (278)  |  Development (441)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Earlier (9)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Extent (142)  |  Great (1610)  |  Harmony (105)  |  History (716)  |  Idea (881)  |  Logic (311)  |  Mathematical Analysis (23)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Method (531)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Necessity (197)  |  New (1273)  |  Occasion (87)  |  Order (638)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Possible (560)  |  Process (439)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Stage (152)  |  Step (234)  |  Successive (73)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Will (2350)

If to be the Author of new things, be a crime; how will the first Civilizers of Men, and makers of Laws, and Founders of Governments escape? Whatever now delights us in the Works of Nature, that excells the rudeness of the first Creation, is New. Whatever we see in Cities, or Houses, above the first wildness of Fields, and meaness of Cottages, and nakedness of Men, had its time, when this imputation of Novelty, might as well have bin laid to its charge. It is not therefore an offence, to profess the introduction of New things, unless that which is introduc'd prove pernicious in itself; or cannot be brought in, without the extirpation of others, that are better.
The History of the Royal Society (1667), 322.
Science quotes on:  |  Author (175)  |  Better (493)  |  Charge (63)  |  City (87)  |  Cottage (4)  |  Creation (350)  |  Crime (39)  |  Delight (111)  |  Escape (85)  |  Excellence (40)  |  Extirpation (2)  |  Field (378)  |  First (1302)  |  Founder (26)  |  Government (116)  |  House (143)  |  Impunity (6)  |  Law (913)  |  Maker (34)  |  Nakedness (2)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Newness (2)  |  Novelty (31)  |  Offence (4)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pernicious (9)  |  Profess (21)  |  Prove (261)  |  Rudeness (5)  |  See (1094)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Wildness (6)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

In the world’s history certain inventions and discoveries occurred of peculiar value, on account of their great efficiency in facilitating all other inventions and discoveries. Of these were the art of writing and of printing, the discovery of America, and the introduction of patent laws. The date of the first … is unknown; but it certainly was as much as fifteen hundred years before the Christian era; the second—printing—came in 1436, or nearly three thousand years after the first. The others followed more rapidly—the discovery of America in 1492, and the first patent laws in 1624.
Lecture 'Discoveries, Inventions and Improvements' (22 Feb 1860) in John George Nicolay and John Hay (eds.), Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln (1894), Vol. 5, 109-10.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  America (143)  |  Art (680)  |  Certain (557)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Christian (44)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Efficiency (46)  |  Era (51)  |  First (1302)  |  Follow (389)  |  Great (1610)  |  History (716)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Invention (400)  |  Law (913)  |  More (2558)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Other (2233)  |  Patent (34)  |  Peculiar (115)  |  Printing (25)  |  Rapidly (67)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Value (393)  |  World (1850)  |  Writing (192)  |  Year (963)

Just as the introduction of the irrational numbers … is a convenient myth [which] simplifies the laws of arithmetic … so physical objects are postulated entities which round out and simplify our account of the flux of existence… The conceptional scheme of physical objects is [likewise] a convenient myth, simpler than the literal truth and yet containing that literal truth as a scattered part.
In J. Koenderink Solid Shape (1990.), 16.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Arithmetic (144)  |  Concept (242)  |  Contain (68)  |  Convenience (54)  |  Entity (37)  |  Existence (481)  |  Flux (21)  |  Irrational Number (4)  |  Law (913)  |  Literal (12)  |  Myth (58)  |  Number (710)  |  Object (438)  |  Physical (518)  |  Postulate (42)  |  Scattered (5)  |  Scheme (62)  |  Simpler (8)  |  Simplify (14)  |  Truth (1109)

Kids from all the local villages [on the slopes of Mount Gorongosa in Mozambique] showed up, and I had to be the expert for everything. … These kids went wild. They were listening to everything that I and others had to say about the creatures they were bringing in and the plants and so on. And I realized that anywhere a bioblitz could be a powerful instrument in introducing kids to science.
Describing a community bioblitz he helped lead in 2011, while serving as an adviser during the creation of the national park there. In two hours, he counted 60 species in 39 families and 13 orders of living things were brought in. From interview with National Geographic, in Andrew Revkin, 'Conservation Legend Has Big Plans For Future', on nationalgeographic.com website. Wilson added that the park, with the help of the American conservationist and philanthropist Greg Carr, has since become “a powerful force in helping the country of Mozambique recover from a very serious civil war, and in addition, create a better life for a great many people.”
Science quotes on:  |  Creature (242)  |  Education (423)  |  Kid (18)  |  Listen (81)  |  Mozambique (2)  |  Plant (320)  |  Village (13)

Medicine rests upon four pillars—philosophy, astronomy, alchemy, and ethics. The first pillar is the philosophical knowledge of earth and water; the second, astronomy, supplies its full understanding of that which is of fiery and airy nature; the third is an adequate explanation of the properties of all the four elements—that is to say, of the whole cosmos—and an introduction into the art of their transformations; and finally, the fourth shows the physician those virtues which must stay with him up until his death, and it should support and complete the three other pillars.
Vas Buch Paragranum (c.1529-30), in J. Jacobi (ed.), Paracelsus: Selected Writings (1951), 133-4.
Science quotes on:  |  Adequacy (10)  |  Adequate (50)  |  Air (366)  |  Alchemy (31)  |  Art (680)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Complete (209)  |  Completion (23)  |  Cosmos (64)  |  Death (406)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Element (322)  |  Ethic (39)  |  Ethics (53)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Fire (203)  |  First (1302)  |  Four (6)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Medicine (392)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Physician (284)  |  Pillar (10)  |  Property (177)  |  Rest (287)  |  Say (989)  |  Show (353)  |  Stay (26)  |  Supply (100)  |  Support (151)  |  Transformation (72)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Virtue (117)  |  Water (503)  |  Whole (756)

Much later, when I discussed the problem with Einstein, he remarked that the introduction of the cosmological term was the biggest blunder he ever made in his life. But this “blunder,” rejected by Einstein, is still sometimes used by cosmologists even today, and the cosmological constant denoted by the Greek letter Λ rears its ugly head again and again and again.
My World Line (1970). Cited in Edward Robert Harrison, Cosmology: the Science of the Universe (2000), 379, which adds: “The Λ force is referred to by various names, such as the cosmological constant, cosmological term, cosmical constant or cosmical term.”
Science quotes on:  |  Blunder (21)  |  Constant (148)  |  Cosmological (11)  |  Cosmologist (5)  |  Discussion (78)  |  Einstein (101)  |  Albert Einstein (624)  |  Greek (109)  |  Head (87)  |  Letter (117)  |  Life (1870)  |  Problem (731)  |  Rear (7)  |  Reject (67)  |  Rejected (26)  |  Rejection (36)  |  Remark (28)  |  Still (614)  |  Term (357)  |  Today (321)  |  Ugly (14)

My father’s collection of fossils was practically unnamed, but the appearance of Phillips’ book [Geology of the Yorkshire Coast], in which most of our specimens were figured, enabled us to remedy this defect. Every evening was devoted by us to accomplishing the work. This was my first introduction to true scientific study. … Phillips’ accurate volume initiated an entirely new order of things. Many a time did I mourn over the publication of this book, and the consequences immediately resulting from it. Instead of indulging in the games and idleness to which most lads are prone, my evenings throughout a long winter were devoted to the detested labour of naming these miserable stones. Such is the short-sightedness of boyhood. Pursuing this uncongenial work gave me in my thirteenth year a thorough practical familiarity with the palaeontological treasures of Eastern Yorkshire. This early acquisition happily moulded the entire course of my future life.
In Reminiscences of a Yorkshire naturalist (1896), 12.
Science quotes on:  |  Accomplishment (102)  |  Accurate (88)  |  Acquisition (46)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Autobiography (58)  |  Book (413)  |  Boyhood (4)  |  Coast (13)  |  Collection (68)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Course (413)  |  Defect (31)  |  Detest (5)  |  Devote (45)  |  Devoted (59)  |  Early (196)  |  Evening (12)  |  Familiarity (21)  |  Father (113)  |  First (1302)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Future (467)  |  Game (104)  |  Geology (240)  |  Idleness (15)  |  Immediately (115)  |  Indulge (15)  |  Labor (200)  |  Life (1870)  |  Long (778)  |  Miserable (8)  |  Mold (37)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mourn (3)  |  New (1273)  |  Order (638)  |  Paleontology (32)  |  John Phillips (2)  |  Practical (225)  |  Publication (102)  |  Pursuing (27)  |  Remedy (63)  |  Result (700)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Short (200)  |  Specimen (32)  |  Stone (168)  |  Study (701)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thorough (40)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Time (1911)  |  Treasure (59)  |  True (239)  |  Uncongenial (2)  |  Winter (46)  |  Work (1402)  |  Year (963)  |  Yorkshire (2)

My impression about the Panama Canal is that the great revolution it is going to introduce in the trade of the world is in the trade between the east and the west coast of the United States.
Speech at a banquet in San Francisco (5 Oct 1909). Collected in Presidential addresses and state papers, from March 4, 1909 to March 4, 1910 (1910), 330.
Science quotes on:  |  Canal (18)  |  Coast (13)  |  East (18)  |  Great (1610)  |  Impression (118)  |  Introduce (63)  |  Panama Canal (3)  |  Revolution (133)  |  State (505)  |  Trade (34)  |  United States (31)  |  West (21)  |  World (1850)

Not one of them [formulae] can be shown to have any existence, so that the formula of one of the simplest of organic bodies is confused by the introduction of unexplained symbols for imaginary differences in the mode of combination of its elements… It would be just as reasonable to describe an oak tree as composed of blocks and chips and shavings to which it may be reduced by the hatchet, as by Dr Kolbe’s formula to describe acetic acid as containing the products which may be obtained from it by destructive influences. A Kolbe botanist would say that half the chips are united with some of the blocks by the force parenthesis; the other half joined to this group in a different way, described by a buckle; shavings stuck on to these in a third manner, comma; and finally, a compound of shavings and blocks united together by a fourth force, juxtaposition, is joined to the main body by a fifth force, full stop.
'On Dr. Kolbe's Additive Formulae', Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society (1855), 7, 133-4.
Science quotes on:  |  Acetic Acid (2)  |  Acid (83)  |  Body (557)  |  Botanist (25)  |  Combination (150)  |  Compound (117)  |  Describe (132)  |  Difference (355)  |  Different (595)  |  Element (322)  |  Existence (481)  |  Force (497)  |  Formula (102)  |  Influence (231)  |  Hermann Kolbe (4)  |  Oak (16)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Organic (161)  |  Other (2233)  |  Product (166)  |  Say (989)  |  Symbol (100)  |  Together (392)  |  Tree (269)  |  Unexplained (8)  |  Way (1214)

Quite distinct from the theoretical question of the manner in which mathematics will rescue itself from the perils to which it is exposed by its own prolific nature is the practical problem of finding means of rendering available for the student the results which have been already accumulated, and making it possible for the learner to obtain some idea of the present state of the various departments of mathematics. … The great mass of mathematical literature will be always contained in Journals and Transactions, but there is no reason why it should not be rendered far more useful and accessible than at present by means of treatises or higher text-books. The whole science suffers from want of avenues of approach, and many beautiful branches of mathematics are regarded as difficult and technical merely because they are not easily accessible. … I feel very strongly that any introduction to a new subject written by a competent person confers a real benefit on the whole science. The number of excellent text-books of an elementary kind that are published in this country makes it all the more to be regretted that we have so few that are intended for the advanced student. As an example of the higher kind of text-book, the want of which is so badly felt in many subjects, I may mention the second part of Prof. Chrystal’s Algebra published last year, which in a small compass gives a great mass of valuable and fundamental knowledge that has hitherto been beyond the reach of an ordinary student, though in reality lying so close at hand. I may add that in any treatise or higher text-book it is always desirable that references to the original memoirs should be given, and, if possible, short historic notices also. I am sure that no subject loses more than mathematics by any attempt to dissociate it from its history.
In Presidential Address British Association for the Advancement of Science, Section A (1890), Nature, 42, 466.
Science quotes on:  |  Accessible (27)  |  Accumulate (30)  |  Add (42)  |  Advance (298)  |  Algebra (117)  |  Already (226)  |  Approach (112)  |  At Hand (7)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Available (80)  |  Avenue (14)  |  Badly (32)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Book (413)  |  Branch (155)  |  George Chrystal (8)  |  Close (77)  |  Compass (37)  |  Competent (20)  |  Confer (11)  |  Contain (68)  |  Country (269)  |  Department (93)  |  Desirable (33)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Dissociate (2)  |  Distinct (98)  |  Easily (36)  |  Elementary (98)  |  Example (98)  |  Excellent (29)  |  Expose (28)  |  Exposed (33)  |  Far (158)  |  Feel (371)  |  Find (1014)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Give (208)  |  Great (1610)  |  High (370)  |  Historic (7)  |  History (716)  |  Hitherto (6)  |  Idea (881)  |  Intend (18)  |  Journal (31)  |  Kind (564)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Last (425)  |  Learner (10)  |  Lie (370)  |  Literature (116)  |  Lose (165)  |  Lying (55)  |  Making (300)  |  Manner (62)  |  Mass (160)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Memoir (13)  |  Mention (84)  |  Merely (315)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Notice (81)  |  Number (710)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Original (61)  |  Part (235)  |  Peril (9)  |  Person (366)  |  Possible (560)  |  Practical (225)  |  Present (630)  |  Problem (731)  |  Prof (2)  |  Prolific (5)  |  Publish (42)  |  Question (649)  |  Reach (286)  |  Real (159)  |  Reality (274)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reference (33)  |  Regard (312)  |  Regret (31)  |  Render (96)  |  Rescue (14)  |  Result (700)  |  Second (66)  |  Short (200)  |  Small (489)  |  State (505)  |  Strongly (9)  |  Student (317)  |  Study And Research In Mathematics (61)  |  Subject (543)  |  Suffer (43)  |  Technical (53)  |  Textbook (39)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Transaction (13)  |  Treatise (46)  |  Useful (260)  |  Value (393)  |  Various (205)  |  Want (504)  |  Whole (756)  |  Why (491)  |  Will (2350)  |  Write (250)  |  Year (963)

Science is a human activity, and the best way to understand it is to understand the individual human beings who practise it. Science is an art form and not a philosophical method. The great advances in science usually result from new tools rather than from new doctrines. ... Every time we introduce a new tool, it always leads to new and unexpected discoveries, because Nature's imagination is richer than ours.
Concluding remark from 'The Scientist As Rebel' American Mathemtical Monthly (1996), 103, 805. Reprinted in The Scientist as Rebel (2006), 17-18, identified as originally written for a lecture (1992), then published as an essay in the New York Review.
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Advance (298)  |  Art (680)  |  Being (1276)  |  Best (467)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Doctrine (81)  |  Form (976)  |  Great (1610)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Individual (420)  |  Introduce (63)  |  Lead (391)  |  Method (531)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Practise (7)  |  Result (700)  |  Rich (66)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Time (1911)  |  Tool (129)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Unexpected (55)  |  Usually (176)  |  Way (1214)

Science is organized knowledge; and before knowledge can be organized, some of it must first be possessed. Every study, therefore, should have a purely experimental introduction; and only after an ample fund of observations has been accumulated, should reasoning begin.
In essay 'The Art of Education', The North British Review (May 1854), 137.
Science quotes on:  |  Accumulate (30)  |  Ample (4)  |  Begin (275)  |  Experimental (193)  |  First (1302)  |  Fund (19)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Must (1525)  |  Observation (593)  |  Organized (9)  |  Possess (157)  |  Purely (111)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Study (701)

Search the scriptures of human achievement and you cannot find any to equal in beneficence the introduction of Anæsthesia, Sanitation, with ail that it includes, and Asepsis—a short half century’s contribution towards the practical solution of the problems of human suffering, regarded as eternal and insoluble.
Address to the Canadian Medical association, Montreal (1902). Collected in 'Chavinism in Medicine', Aequanimitas (1904), 283.
Science quotes on:  |  Achievement (187)  |  Anaesthesia (4)  |  Asepsis (2)  |  Beneficence (3)  |  Century (319)  |  Contribution (93)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Find (1014)  |  Human (1512)  |  Include (93)  |  Insoluble (15)  |  Practical (225)  |  Problem (731)  |  Regard (312)  |  Sanitation (6)  |  Scripture (14)  |  Search (175)  |  Short (200)  |  Solution (282)  |  Suffering (68)  |  Toward (45)

The advancement of agriculture, commerce and manufactures, by all proper means, will not, I trust, need recommendation. But I cannot forbear intimating to you the expediency of giving effectual encouragement as well to the introduction of new and useful inventions from abroad, as to the exertions of skill and genius in producing them at home.
Early suggestion for awarding patent protection. In First Annual Message to Congress on the State of the Union (8 Jan 1790).
Science quotes on:  |  Abroad (19)  |  Advancement (63)  |  Agriculture (78)  |  Commerce (23)  |  Encouragement (27)  |  Exertion (17)  |  Expediency (4)  |  Genius (301)  |  Home (184)  |  Invention (400)  |  Manufacture (30)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  New (1273)  |  Patent (34)  |  Producing (6)  |  Proper (150)  |  Recommendation (12)  |  Skill (116)  |  Trust (72)  |  Useful (260)  |  Will (2350)

The history of the knowledge of the phenomena of life and of the organized world can be divided into two main periods. For a long time anatomy, and particularly the anatomy of the human body, was the α and ω of scientific knowledge. Further progress only became possible with the discovery of the microscope. A long time had yet to pass until through Schwann the cell was established as the final biological unit. It would mean bringing coals to Newcastle were I to describe here the immeasurable progress which biology in all its branches owes to the introduction of this concept of the cell concept. For this concept is the axis around which the whole of the modern science of life revolves.
Nobel Lecture (11 Dec 1908) 'Partial Cell Functions.' Collected in Nobel Lectures: Physiology or Medicine 1901-1921 (1967), 304.
Science quotes on:  |  Anatomy (75)  |  Biological (137)  |  Biology (232)  |  Body (557)  |  Cell (146)  |  Coal (64)  |  Concept (242)  |  Describe (132)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Divided (50)  |  Final (121)  |  History (716)  |  Human (1512)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  Long (778)  |  Mean (810)  |  Microscope (85)  |  Modern (402)  |  Modern Science (55)  |  Owe (71)  |  Pass (241)  |  Period (200)  |  Possible (560)  |  Progress (492)  |  Revolve (26)  |  Theodor Schwann (12)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Two (936)  |  Whole (756)  |  World (1850)

The introduction of men into the lying in chamber in place of female attendants, has increased the suffering and dangers of childbearing women, and brought multiplied injuries and fatalities upon mothers and children; it violates the sensitive feelings of husbands and wives and causes an untold amount of domestic misery. The unlimited intimacy between a male profession and the female population silently and effectually wears away female delicacy and professional morality, and tends probably more than any other cause in existence, to undermine the foundation of public virtue.
Man-midwifery Exposed and Corrected (1848) quoted in The Male Midwife and the Female Doctor: The Gynecology Controversy in Nineteenth Century America Charles Rosenburg and Carroll Rovenberg Smith (Editors) publ. Arno, 1974.
Science quotes on:  |  Amount (153)  |  Birth (154)  |  Cause (561)  |  Children (201)  |  Danger (127)  |  Delicacy (8)  |  Doctor (191)  |  Domestic (27)  |  Existence (481)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Feelings (52)  |  Female (50)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Lying (55)  |  Misery (31)  |  Morality (55)  |  More (2558)  |  Mother (116)  |  Other (2233)  |  Population (115)  |  Profession (108)  |  Professional (77)  |  Suffering (68)  |  Tend (124)  |  Unlimited (24)  |  Virtue (117)

The most consequential change in man's view of the world, of living nature and of himself came with the introduction, over a period of some 100 years beginning only in the 18th century, of the idea of change itself, of change over periods of time: in a word, of evolution.
'Evolution', Scientific American (Jul 1978), 239:1, 47.
Science quotes on:  |  18th Century (21)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Century (319)  |  Change (639)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Himself (461)  |  Idea (881)  |  Living (492)  |  Man (2252)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Period (200)  |  Time (1911)  |  View (496)  |  Word (650)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

The number of travellers by gigs, the outside of coaches, and on horseback, have, since the introduction of railways, been prodigiously diminished; and as, in addition, the members of the medical faculty having lent their aid to run down the use of water-proof (apparently having found it decided enemy against their best friends colds and catarrhs), the use of the article [the Macintosh] in the form of cloaks, etc., has of late become comparatively extinct.
A Biographical Memoir of the late Charles Macintosh Esq FRS (1847), 89.
Science quotes on:  |  Addition (70)  |  Against (332)  |  Aid (101)  |  Become (821)  |  Best (467)  |  Best Friend (4)  |  Catarrh (2)  |  Cloak (5)  |  Coach (5)  |  Cold (115)  |  Diminish (17)  |  Down (455)  |  Enemy (86)  |  Extinct (25)  |  Form (976)  |  Friend (180)  |  Horseback (3)  |  Late (119)  |  Macintosh (3)  |  Number (710)  |  Outside (141)  |  Physician (284)  |  Proof (304)  |  Railroad (36)  |  Railway (19)  |  Run (158)  |  Traveler (33)  |  Use (771)  |  Water (503)

The study of mathematics is apt to commence in disappointment. The important applications of the science, the theoretical interest of its ideas, and the logical rigour of its methods all generate the expectation of a speedy introduction to processes of interest. We are told that by its aid the stars are weighed and the billions of molecules in a drop of water are counted. Yet, like the ghost of Hamlet's father, this great science eludes the efforts of our mental weapons to grasp it.
Opening to An Introduction to Mathematics (1911), 7.
Science quotes on:  |  Aid (101)  |  Application (257)  |  Billion (104)  |  Commencement (14)  |  Count (107)  |  Disappointment (18)  |  Drop (77)  |  Effort (243)  |  Elude (11)  |  Eluding (2)  |  Expectation (67)  |  Father (113)  |  Ghost (36)  |  Grasping (2)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hamlet (10)  |  Idea (881)  |  Importance (299)  |  Interest (416)  |  Logic (311)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mental (179)  |  Method (531)  |  Molecule (185)  |  Process (439)  |  Rigour (21)  |  Speedy (2)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Study (701)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Water (503)  |  Weapon (98)  |  Weapons (57)  |  Weigh (51)

This is all very fine, but it won’t do—Anatomy—botany—Nonsense! Sir, I know an old woman in Covent Garden, who understands botany better, and as for anatomy, my butcher can dissect a joint full as well; no, young man, all that is stuff; you must go to the bedside, it is there alone you can learn disease!
Comment to Hans Sloane on Robert Boyle’s letter of introduction describing Sloane as a “ripe scholar, a good botanist, a skilful anatomist”.
Quoted in John D. Comrie, 'Life of Thomas Sydenham, M. D.', in Comrie (ed.), Selected Works of Thomas Sydenham (1922), 2.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Anatomist (24)  |  Anatomy (75)  |  Bedside (3)  |  Better (493)  |  Botanist (25)  |  Botany (63)  |  Butcher (9)  |  Disease (340)  |  Dissection (35)  |  Do (1905)  |  Garden (64)  |  Good (906)  |  Joint (31)  |  Know (1538)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learning (291)  |  Letter (117)  |  Man (2252)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nonsense (48)  |  Old (499)  |  Scholar (52)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Woman (160)  |  Young (253)

Those who would legislate against the teaching of evolution should also legislate against gravity, electricity and the unreasonable velocity of light, and also should introduce a clause to prevent the use of the telescope, the microscope and the spectroscope or any other instrument of precision which may in the future be invented, constructed or used for the discovery of truth.
In 'Science and Civilization', Prescott Evening Courier (3 Nov 1925), 6.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Construct (129)  |  Construction (114)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Future (467)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Introduce (63)  |  Invention (400)  |  Legislation (10)  |  Light (635)  |  Microscope (85)  |  Other (2233)  |  Precision (72)  |  Prevent (98)  |  Prevention (37)  |  Spectroscope (3)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Unreasonable (5)  |  Use (771)  |  Velocity (51)

Thus there is everywhere testimony of the same mind, [there is] no place in creation for the introduction of laws varying from the original design. All is one grand unity.
Sermon (c. 13 Jan. 1895), Mukwonago, Wisconsin, published in Olympia Brown and Gwendolen B. Willis (ed.), Olympia Brown, An Autobiography (1960). Reprinted in Annual Journal of the Universalist Historical Society (1963), vol. 4, 103.
Science quotes on:  |  Creation (350)  |  Design (203)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Grand (29)  |  Law (913)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Original (61)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Testimony (21)  |  Unity (81)

To most ... of us, Russia was as mysterious and remote as the other side of the moon and not much more productive when it came to really new ideas or inventions. A common joke of the time [mid 1940s] said that the Russians could not surreptitiously introduce nuclear bombs in suitcases into the United States because they had not yet been able to perfect a suitcase.
In Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb (1986), 760.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Common (447)  |  Idea (881)  |  Introduce (63)  |  Invention (400)  |  Joke (90)  |  Moon (252)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mysterious (83)  |  Mystery (188)  |  New (1273)  |  Nuclear (110)  |  Nuclear Bomb (6)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Perfection (131)  |  Production (190)  |  Productive (37)  |  Really (77)  |  Remote (86)  |  Russia (14)  |  Side (236)  |  State (505)  |  Suitcase (3)  |  Surreptitious (2)  |  Time (1911)  |  United States (31)

What has been learned in physics stays learned. People talk about scientific revolutions. The social and political connotations of revolution evoke a picture of a body of doctrine being rejected, to be replaced by another equally vulnerable to refutation. It is not like that at all. The history of physics has seen profound changes indeed in the way that physicists have thought about fundamental questions. But each change was a widening of vision, an accession of insight and understanding. The introduction, one might say the recognition, by man (led by Einstein) of relativity in the first decade of this century and the formulation of quantum mechanics in the third decade are such landmarks. The only intellectual casualty attending the discovery of quantum mechanics was the unmourned demise of the patchwork quantum theory with which certain experimental facts had been stubbornly refusing to agree. As a scientist, or as any thinking person with curiosity about the basic workings of nature, the reaction to quantum mechanics would have to be: “Ah! So that’s the way it really is!” There is no good analogy to the advent of quantum mechanics, but if a political-social analogy is to be made, it is not a revolution but the discovery of the New World.
From Physics Survey Committee, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council, 'The Nature of Physics', in report Physics in Perspective (1973), 61-62. As cited in I. Bernard Cohen, Revolution in Science (1985), 554-555.
Science quotes on:  |  Analogy (76)  |  Basic (144)  |  Being (1276)  |  Body (557)  |  Century (319)  |  Certain (557)  |  Change (639)  |  Curiosity (138)  |  Decade (66)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Doctrine (81)  |  Einstein (101)  |  Albert Einstein (624)  |  Equally (129)  |  Evoke (13)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Experimental (193)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  First (1302)  |  Formulation (37)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Good (906)  |  History (716)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Insight (107)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Landmark (9)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mechanic (120)  |  Mechanics (137)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  New World (6)  |  People (1031)  |  Person (366)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Physics (564)  |  Picture (148)  |  Political (124)  |  Profound (105)  |  Quantum (118)  |  Quantum Mechanics (47)  |  Quantum Theory (67)  |  Question (649)  |  Reaction (106)  |  Recognition (93)  |  Reject (67)  |  Rejected (26)  |  Relativity (91)  |  Replace (32)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Say (989)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Revolution (13)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Social (261)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Thought (995)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Vision (127)  |  Way (1214)  |  World (1850)

What is peculiar and new to the [19th] century, differentiating it from all its predecessors, is its technology. It was not merely the introduction of some great isolated inventions. It is impossible not to feel that something more than that was involved. … The process of change was slow, unconscious, and unexpected. In the nineteeth century, the process became quick, conscious, and expected. … The whole change has arisen from the new scientific information. Science, conceived not so much in its principles as in its results, is an obvious storehouse of ideas for utilisation. … Also, it is a great mistake to think that the bare scientific idea is the required invention, so that it has only to be picked up and used. An intense period of imaginative design lies between. One element in the new method is just the discovery of how to set about bridging the gap between the scientific ideas, and the ultimate product. It is a process of disciplined attack upon one difficulty after another This discipline of knowledge applies beyond technology to pure science, and beyond science to general scholarship. It represents the change from amateurs to professionals. … But the full self-conscious realisation of the power of professionalism in knowledge in all its departments, and of the way to produce the professionals, and of the importance of knowledge to the advance of technology, and of the methods by which abstract knowledge can be connected with technology, and of the boundless possibilities of technological advance,—the realisation of all these things was first completely attained in the nineteeth century.
In Science and the Modern World (1925, 1997), 96.
Science quotes on:  |  19th Century (41)  |  Abstract (141)  |  Advance (298)  |  Amateur (22)  |  Attack (86)  |  Attain (126)  |  Bare (33)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Boundless (28)  |  Century (319)  |  Change (639)  |  Completely (137)  |  Connect (126)  |  Conscious (46)  |  Department (93)  |  Design (203)  |  Differentiate (19)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Discipline (85)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Element (322)  |  Expect (203)  |  Expected (5)  |  Feel (371)  |  First (1302)  |  Gap (36)  |  General (521)  |  Great (1610)  |  Idea (881)  |  Ideal (110)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Importance (299)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Information (173)  |  Invention (400)  |  Involved (90)  |  Isolated (15)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lie (370)  |  Merely (315)  |  Method (531)  |  Mistake (180)  |  More (2558)  |  New (1273)  |  Obvious (128)  |  Peculiar (115)  |  Period (200)  |  Power (771)  |  Predecessor (29)  |  Principle (530)  |  Process (439)  |  Product (166)  |  Professional (77)  |  Pure (299)  |  Pure Science (30)  |  Realisation (4)  |  Represent (157)  |  Required (108)  |  Result (700)  |  Scholarship (22)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Self (268)  |  Set (400)  |  Slow (108)  |  Something (718)  |  Storehouse (6)  |  Technological (62)  |  Technology (281)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Unconscious (24)  |  Unexpected (55)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whole (756)

When there are too many deer in the forest or too many cats in the barn, nature restores the balance by the introduction of a communicable disease or virus.
Science quotes on:  |  Balance (82)  |  Cat (52)  |  Deer (11)  |  Disease (340)  |  Environment (239)  |  Forest (161)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Virus (32)

With the introduction of agriculture mankind entered upon a long period of meanness, misery, and madness, from which they are only now being freed by the beneficent operation of the machine.
In The Conquest of Happiness (1930), 152.
Science quotes on:  |  Agriculture (78)  |  Being (1276)  |  Beneficent (9)  |  Enter (145)  |  Free (239)  |  Long (778)  |  Machine (271)  |  Madness (33)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Meanness (5)  |  Misery (31)  |  Operation (221)  |  Period (200)


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.