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Pliny theYounger
(61 - c. 113)
Roman lawyer, administrator and writer , who was a prolific private letter writer. Selections of these he published in nine volumes between 100 and 109, collectively giving carefully written items on society, morality, literary or political issues, character sketches, domestic news and contemporary historical events. He was present at the eruption of Vesuvius in which his uncle, Pliny the Elder, perished.
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Science Quotes by Pliny theYounger (1 quote)
A fearful black cloud was rent by forked and quivering bursts of flame, and parted to reveal great tongues of fire, like flashes of lightning magnified in size. … You could hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men. … Many besought the aid of the gods, but still more imagined there were no gods left and that the universe was plunged into eternal darkness for evermore.
— Pliny theYounger
Describing the eruption of Vesuvius which destroyed Pompeii. From Letter, Book 6, No. 20, to Tacitus, collected in Betty Radice (trans.) The Letters of the Younger Pliny (2003).
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) -- 
