Today in Science History - Quickie Quiz
French Scientist Deaths by Guillotine
During the French Revolution
in order of execution
15 Sep 1736 - 12 Nov 1793
politician, astronomer
Philippe-Frédéric de Dietrich
14 Nov 1748 - 29 Dec 1793
politician, mineralogist
16 Jan 1730 - 20 Apr 1794
politician, astronomer
Chrétien Guillaume de Lamoignon de Malesherbes
6 Dec 1721 - 23 Apr 1794
lawyer, botanist
26 Aug 1743 - 8 May 1794
tax collector, chemist
Louis-Guillaume Le Veillard
1734 - 15 Jun 1794
politician, chemist, physician
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)