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Who said: “As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.”
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Home > Dictionary of Science Quotations > Scientist Names Index W > Emil Wiechert Quotes

Thumbnail of Emil Wiechert (source)
Emil Wiechert
(26 Dec 1861 - 19 Mar 1928)

German seismologist and physicist.


Science Quotes by Emil Wiechert (1 quote)

Photo of Emil Wiechert, behind table showing upper body. He holds a screwdriver over a seismograph on the table.
Emil Wiechert with Seismograph (source)
So far as modern science is concerned, we have to abandon completely the idea that by going into the realm of the small we shall reach the ultimate foundations of the universe. I believe we can abandon this idea without any regret. The universe is infinite in all directions, not only above us in the large but also below us in the small. If we start from our human scale of existence and explore the content of the universe further and further, we finally arrive, both in the large and in the small, at misty distances where first our senses and then even our concepts fail us.
— Emil Wiechert
To the German Society of Scientists and Physicists, Braunschweig, Germany (Sep 1896). As quoted in Anton Z. Capri, Quips, Quotes, and Quanta: An Anecdotal History of Physics (2011), 20. Wiechert was reporting his measurement of the mass of the moving particles in a cathode ray beam (electrons).
Science quotes on:  |  Abandon (73)  |  Belief (615)  |  Below (26)  |  Both (496)  |  Completely (137)  |  Concept (242)  |  Concern (239)  |  Direction (185)  |  Distance (171)  |  Existence (481)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Fail (191)  |  First (1302)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Human (1512)  |  Idea (881)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Large (398)  |  Misty (6)  |  Modern (402)  |  Modern Science (55)  |  Reach (286)  |  Realm (87)  |  Regret (31)  |  Scale (122)  |  Sense (785)  |  Small (489)  |  Start (237)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Universe (900)


See also:
  • 26 Dec - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Wiechert's birth.

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