(source)

Isaac Asimov (2 Jan 1920 - 6 Apr 1992) Russian-American writer and biochemist who was a prolific author and editor of science fiction and non-fiction. Short biography of Isaac Asimov >>

Isaac Asimov
“It’s the bees and the flowers.”

Illustrated Quote - Medium (500 x 350 px)

Macro photo of bee by Forest Wander (cc by-sa 2.0) (source)

Photo by Andreas
(cc by-sa 2.0) (source)

“I’m tired of that stupid phrase, “the birds and the bees” … IT’S THE BEES AND THE FLOWERS. Will you get that through your head?”

— Isaac Asimov

From Isaac Asimov’s letter in 'Hue and Cry' letter column in magazine, James L. Quinn (ed.), IF: Worlds of Science Fiction (Dec 1957), 7, No. 6, 119.

More Isaac Asimov quotes on science >>

Excerpt from Isaac Asimov’s Letter to
IF: Worlds of Science Fiction magazine (Dec 1957)

I’m tired of that stupid phrase, “the birds and the bees” which is supposed to represent “the facts of life” or the beginnings of the sex instruction of the young. There was a picture of the same title recently starring George Gobel and there are constant references to the birds and bees on TV and in print.

Well for heaven’s sake, has anyone ever tried to explain sex by talking about the birds and the bees? What have the birds and the bees to do with it?

IT’S THE BEES AND THE FLOWERS. Will you get that through your head? IT’S THE BEES AND THE FLOWERS.

The bee travels to one flower and picks up pollen from the stamens. The pollen contains the male sex cells of the plant. The bee then travels to another flower (of the same species) and the pollen brushes off onto the pistil, which contains the female sex cells of the plant. The pollen particle sends a process down the length of the pistil and eventually the male sex cell and the female sex cell unite to form a fertilized cell which developes into a seed and, eventually, into a new plant (of the same species).

Now in the human being the male cells must also be brought into contact with the female sex cell, but we don’t rely on bees to do it for us. However, I will leave out the gory details….

(source)

Background: Trinity College Library, Dublin by Irish Welcome Tours CC BY 2.0 (source)

Background photo copyright Thomas Nugent (cc-by-sa/2.0) (source)

Nature bears long with those who wrong her. She is patient under abuse. But when abuse has gone too far, when the time of reckoning finally comes, she is equally slow to be appeased and to turn away her wrath. (1882) -- Nathaniel Egleston, who was writing then about deforestation, but speaks equally well about the danger of climate change today.

Carl Sagan: 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) ...(more by Sagan)

Albert Einstein: I used to wonder how it comes about that the electron is negative. Negative-positive—these are perfectly symmetric in physics. There is no reason whatever to prefer one to the other. Then why is the electron negative? I thought about this for a long time and at last all I could think was “It won the fight!” ...(more by Einstein)

Richard Feynman: It is the facts that matter, not the proofs. Physics can progress without the proofs, but we can't go on without the facts ... if the facts are right, then the proofs are a matter of playing around with the algebra correctly. ...(more by Feynman)

Quotations by: • Albert Einstein • Isaac Newton • Lord Kelvin • Charles Darwin • Srinivasa Ramanujan • Carl Sagan • Florence Nightingale • Thomas Edison • Aristotle • Marie Curie • Benjamin Franklin • Winston Churchill • Galileo Galilei • Sigmund Freud • Robert Bunsen • Louis Pasteur • Theodore Roosevelt • Abraham Lincoln • Ronald Reagan • Leonardo DaVinci • Michio Kaku • Karl Popper • Johann Goethe • Robert Oppenheimer • Charles Kettering  ... (more people)

Quotations about: • Atomic  Bomb • Biology • Chemistry • Deforestation • Engineering • Anatomy • Astronomy • Bacteria • Biochemistry • Botany • Conservation • Dinosaur • Environment • Fractal • Genetics • Geology • History of Science • Invention • Jupiter • Knowledge • Love • Mathematics • Measurement • Medicine • Natural Resource • Organic Chemistry • Physics • Physician • Quantum Theory • Research • Science and Art • Teacher • Technology • Universe • Volcano • Virus • Wind Power • Women Scientists • X-Rays • Youth • Zoology  ... (more topics)