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Marston Bates

(23 Jul 1906 - 3 Apr 1974)

American zoologist and writer who studied mosquitoes and tropical diseases. He was also an environmental activist.

Short biography of Marston Bates >>

Marston Bates
“Research is the process of going up alleys”

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Marston Bates quote Research is the process of going up alleys

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Alley formed by two lines of closely spaced vertical transparent cylinders each containing DNA helix

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“Research is the process of going up alleys to see if they are blind.”

— Marston Bates

More Marston Bates quotes on science >>

This is an elusive quote to trace to its source. It appears on numerous webpages and in books, mostly without citation. The earliest example Webmaster has found is as an epigraph (a quote with a chapter heading) in The World of Physics (1986), Vol. 2. But again, without citation. Webmaster has seen cites to The Nature of Natural History (1950), but thus far has not found the quote therein. For now, it is snappy, and can have the benefit of the doubt. It may be in a paper he wrote, newspaper or magazine article, or as part of a speech he gave. So, if you know the primary source, please contact Webmaster.

Epigraph, without citation, in Jefferson Hane Weaver, The World of Physics (1986), Vol. 2, 63.

Marston Bates quote The commonest forms of amateur natural history

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Marston Bates quote if…curiosity were less easily satisfied by dogma,

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See also:

Science Quotes by Marston Bates.
23 Jul - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Bates's birth.
Marston Bates - context of quote “Research is the process of going up alleys” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
Marston Bates - context of quote “The commonest forms of amateur natural history” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
Marston Bates - context of quote “The commonest forms of amateur natural history” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
Marston Bates - context of quote “if…curiosity were less easily satisfied by dogma” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
Marston Bates - context of quote “if…curiosity were less easily satisfied by dogma” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
The Nature of Natural History, by Marston Bates. - book suggestion.
Booklist for author Marston Bates.

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)