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James Burke
(22 Dec 1936 - )
Science historian best known for his 1979 TV series, Connections, and real-time reporting on the Apollo space program in the 1960s and 70s.
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Science Quotes by James Burke (8 quotes)
All that can accurately be said about a man who thinks he is a poached egg is that he is in the minority.
— James Burke
In Day the Universe Changed (1985), 310.
Nature is disordered, powerful and chaotic, and through fear of the chaos we impose system on it. We abhor complexity, and seek to simplify things whenever we can by whatever means we have at hand. We need to have an overall explanation of what the universe is and how it functions. In order to achieve this overall view we develop explanatory theories which will give structure to natural phenomena: we classify nature into a coherent system which appears to do what we say it does.
— James Burke
In Day the Universe Changed (1985), 11.
Scientists are the true driving force of civilization.
— James Burke
As stated in Cosmic Search (Fall 1981), 3 No. 4, 18, which cites James Burke, Connections. It seems to be a paraphrase. Compare narration in TV program 'Yesterday, Tomorrow and You', episode 10 of Connections (1979): “The scientists and the technologists … are the true driving force of humanity.” If you know a primary source for the short form, please contact webmaster.
Somebody once observed to the eminent philosopher Wittgenstein how stupid medieval Europeans living before the time of Copernicus must have been that they could have looked at the sky and thought that the sun was circling the earth. Surely a modicum of astronomical good sense would have told them that the reverse was true. Wittgenstein is said to have replied: “I agree. But I wonder what it would have looked like if the sun had been circling the earth.”
— James Burke
In Day the Universe Changed (1985), 11.
The moment man first picked up a stone or a branch to use as a tool, he altered irrevocably the balance between him and his environment. From this point on, the way in which the world around him changed was different. It was no longer regular or predictable. New objects appeared that were not recognizable as a mutation of something that existed before, and as each one merged it altered the environment not for one season, but for ever.
— James Burke
from Introduction to Connections by James Burke, Macmillan (1978)
We in the modern world expect that tomorrow will be better than today.
— James Burke
In Day the Universe Changed (1985), 19.
When you read a book, you hold another’s mind in your hands.
— James Burke
Appears, without citation, in Helen Grenat, Wisdom Through the Ages (1998), 28.
Why should we look to the past in order to prepare for the future? Because there is nowhere else to look.
— James Burke
In Connections (1978, 1979), 287.
See also:
- 22 Dec - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Burke's birth.
- James Burke - context of quote “Scientists are the true driving force of civilization” - Medium image (500 x 350 px)
- James Burke - context of quote “Scientists are the true driving force of civilization” - Large image (800 x 600 px)
- Connections, by James Burke. - book suggestion.