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Who said: “I have no satisfaction in formulas unless I feel their arithmetical magnitude.”
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Thumbnail of Robert Andrews Millikan (source)
Robert Andrews Millikan
(22 Mar 1868 - 19 Dec 1953)

American physicist whose famous oil-drop experiment determined the charge on the electron, which also showed the electron was a fundamental, discrete particle.


Robert Andrews Millikan
“The tendency to distort the facts”

Illustrated Quote - Medium (500 x 250 px)

Distorted letters spelling the word Facts
“[There are certain] persons who are unwilling to take the time and to make the effort required to find what the known facts are before they become the champions of unsupported opinions—people who take sides first and look up facts afterward when the tendency to distort the facts to conform to the opinions has become well-nigh irresistible.”
— Robert Andrews Millikan
In Christian Education (Apr 1927).

More Robert Andrews Millikan quotes on science >>


See also:
  • Science Quotes by Robert Andrews Millikan.
  • 22 Mar - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Millikan's birth.
  • Robert Andrews Millikan - context of quote “The purpose of science is to develop…a knowledge…of nature.” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
  • Robert Andrews Millikan - context of quote “The purpose of science is to develop…a knowledge…of nature.” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
  • Robert Andrews Millikan - context of quote “The tendency to distort the facts” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
  • Robert Andrews Millikan - context of quote “Science walks forward on two feet” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
  • Robert Andrews Millikan - context of quote “Science walks forward on two feet” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
  • The electron: Its isolation and measurement and the determination of some of its properties, by Robert Andrews Millikan. - book suggestion.
  • Booklist for Robert Millikan.

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 Thumbnail 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)
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Quotations about:Atomic  BombBiologyChemistryDeforestationEngineeringAnatomyAstronomyBacteriaBiochemistryBotanyConservationDinosaurEnvironmentFractalGeneticsGeologyHistory of ScienceInventionJupiterKnowledgeLoveMathematicsMeasurementMedicineNatural ResourceOrganic ChemistryPhysicsPhysicianQuantum TheoryResearchScience and ArtTeacherTechnologyUniverseVolcanoVirusWind PowerWomen ScientistsX-RaysYouthZoology  ... (more topics)

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