TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY ®  •  TODAYINSCI ®
Celebrating 24 Years on the Web
Find science on or your birthday

Today in Science History - Quickie Quiz
Who said: “Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.”
more quiz questions >>
Home > Category Index for Science Quotations > Category Index P > Category: Point Out

Point Out Quotes (9 quotes)

Dust consisting of fine fibers of asbestos, which are insoluble and virtually indestructible, may become a public health problem in the near future. At a recent international conference on the biological effects of asbestos sponsored by the New York Academy of Sciences, participants pointed out on the one hand that workers exposed to asbestos dust are prone in later life to develop lung cancer, and on the other hand that the use of this family of fibrous silicate compounds has expanded enormously during the past few decades. A laboratory curiosity 100 years ago, asbestos today is a major component of building materials.
In Scientific American (Sep 1964). As cited in '50, 100 & 150 Years Ago', Scientific American (Dec 2014), 311, No. 6, 98.
Science quotes on:  |  Academy (37)  |  Asbestos (3)  |  Become (821)  |  Becoming (96)  |  Biological (137)  |  Biology (232)  |  Building (158)  |  Cancer (61)  |  Century (319)  |  Component (51)  |  Compound (117)  |  Conference (18)  |  Curiosity (138)  |  Decade (66)  |  Develop (278)  |  Development (441)  |  Dust (68)  |  Effect (414)  |  Expand (56)  |  Exposed (33)  |  Exposure (9)  |  Family (101)  |  Fiber (16)  |  Future (467)  |  Hand (149)  |  Health (210)  |  Indestructible (12)  |  Insoluble (15)  |  International (40)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Later (18)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lung (37)  |  Lung Cancer (7)  |  Major (88)  |  Material (366)  |  New (1273)  |  Other (2233)  |  Participant (6)  |  Past (355)  |  Point (584)  |  Problem (731)  |  Prone (7)  |  Public (100)  |  Public Health (12)  |  Recent (78)  |  Silicate (2)  |  Sponsor (5)  |  Today (321)  |  Use (771)  |  Virtually (6)  |  Worker (34)  |  Year (963)

For if medicine is really to accomplish its great task, it must intervene in political and social life. It must point out the hindrances that impede the normal social functioning of vital processes, and effect their removal.
In Die einheitsrebungen in der wissenschaftlichen medicin (1849), 48. As quoted and citefd in Paul Farmer, Pathologies of Power (2004), 323.
Science quotes on:  |  Accomplishment (102)  |  Effect (414)  |  Function (235)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hindrance (9)  |  Impede (4)  |  Intervene (8)  |  Life (1870)  |  Medicine (392)  |  Must (1525)  |  Normal (29)  |  Point (584)  |  Political (124)  |  Process (439)  |  Removal (12)  |  Social (261)  |  Social Life (8)  |  Task (152)  |  Vital (89)

It must be gently but firmly pointed out that analogy is the very corner-stone of scientific method. A root-and-branch condemnation would invalidate any attempt to explain the unknown in terms of the known, and thus prune away every hypothesis.
In 'On Analogy', The Cambridge Magazine (2 Mar 1918), 476. As quoted in Robert Scott Root-Bernstein and Michèle Root-Bernstein, Sparks of Genius: The Thirteen Thinking Tools of the World’s Most Creative (2001), 144.
Science quotes on:  |  Analogy (76)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Branch (155)  |  Condemnation (16)  |  Corner (59)  |  Cornerstone (8)  |  Explain (334)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Method (531)  |  Must (1525)  |  Point (584)  |  Prune (7)  |  Root (121)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Method (200)  |  Stone (168)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Unknown (195)

Now, it may be stretching an analogy to compare epidemics of cholera—caused by a known agent—with that epidemic of violent crime which is destroying our cities. It is unlikely that our social problems can be traced to a single, clearly defined cause in the sense that a bacterial disease is ‘caused’ by a microbe. But, I daresay, social science is about as advanced in the late twentieth century as bacteriological science was in the mid nineteenth century. Our forerunners knew something about cholera; they sensed that its spread was associated with misdirected sewage, filth, and the influx of alien poor into crowded, urban tenements. And we know something about street crime; nowhere has it been reported that a member of the New York Stock Exchange has robbed ... at the point of a gun. Indeed, I am naively confident that an enlightened social scientist of the next century will be able to point out that we had available to us at least some of the clues to the cause of urban crime.
'Cholera at the Harvey,' Woods Hole Cantata: Essays on Science and Society (1985).
Science quotes on:  |  19th Century (41)  |  20th Century (40)  |  Advance (298)  |  Agent (73)  |  Alien (35)  |  Analogy (76)  |  Associate (25)  |  Available (80)  |  Bacteria (50)  |  Cause (561)  |  Century (319)  |  Cholera (7)  |  City (87)  |  Clearly (45)  |  Clue (20)  |  Compare (76)  |  Confident (25)  |  Crime (39)  |  Crowd (25)  |  Define (53)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Disease (340)  |  Enlighten (32)  |  Enlightened (25)  |  Epidemic (8)  |  Exchange (38)  |  Filth (5)  |  Forerunner (4)  |  Gun (10)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Influx (2)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Late (119)  |  Member (42)  |  Microbe (30)  |  Misdirect (2)  |  New (1273)  |  New York (17)  |  Next (238)  |  Nowhere (28)  |  Point (584)  |  Poor (139)  |  Problem (731)  |  Report (42)  |  Rob (6)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Sense (785)  |  Sewage (9)  |  Single (365)  |  Social (261)  |  Social Science (37)  |  Social Scientist (5)  |  Something (718)  |  Spread (86)  |  Stock Exchange (2)  |  Street (25)  |  Stretch (39)  |  Teenager (6)  |  Trace (109)  |  Unlikely (15)  |  Urban (12)  |  Violent (17)  |  Will (2350)

Science can point out dangers, but science cannot turn the direction of minds and hearts. That is the province of spiritual powers within and without our very beings—powers that are the mysteries of life itself.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Danger (127)  |  Direction (185)  |  Heart (243)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Power (771)  |  Province (37)  |  Spiritual (94)

The history of mathematics may be instructive as well as agreeable; it may not only remind us of what we have, but may also teach us to increase our store. Says De Morgan, “The early history of the mind of men with regards to mathematics leads us to point out our own errors; and in this respect it is well to pay attention to the history of mathematics.” It warns us against hasty conclusions; it points out the importance of a good notation upon the progress of the science; it discourages excessive specialization on the part of the investigator, by showing how apparently distinct branches have been found to possess unexpected connecting links; it saves the student from wasting time and energy upon problems which were, perhaps, solved long since; it discourages him from attacking an unsolved problem by the same method which has led other mathematicians to failure; it teaches that fortifications can be taken by other ways than by direct attack, that when repulsed from a direct assault it is well to reconnoiter and occupy the surrounding ground and to discover the secret paths by which the apparently unconquerable position can be taken.
In History of Mathematics (1897), 1-2.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Agreeable (20)  |  Apparently (22)  |  Assault (12)  |  Attack (86)  |  Attention (196)  |  Branch (155)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Connect (126)  |  Augustus De Morgan (45)  |  Direct (228)  |  Discourage (14)  |  Discover (571)  |  Distinct (98)  |  Early (196)  |  Energy (373)  |  Error (339)  |  Excessive (24)  |  Failure (176)  |  Find (1014)  |  Fortification (6)  |  Good (906)  |  Ground (222)  |  Hasty (7)  |  History (716)  |  History Of Mathematics (7)  |  Importance (299)  |  Increase (225)  |  Instruction (101)  |  Investigator (71)  |  Lead (391)  |  Link (48)  |  Long (778)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Method (531)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Notation (28)  |  Occupy (27)  |  Other (2233)  |  Part (235)  |  Path (159)  |  Pay (45)  |  Point (584)  |  Position (83)  |  Possess (157)  |  Problem (731)  |  Progress (492)  |  Reconnoitre (2)  |  Regard (312)  |  Remind (16)  |  Repulse (2)  |  Respect (212)  |  Save (126)  |  Say (989)  |  Secret (216)  |  Show (353)  |  Solve (145)  |  Specialization (24)  |  Store (49)  |  Student (317)  |  Study And Research In Mathematics (61)  |  Surround (33)  |  Teach (299)  |  Time (1911)  |  Unconquerable (3)  |  Unexpected (55)  |  Unsolved (15)  |  Warn (7)  |  Waste (109)  |  Way (1214)

The science of legislation, is like that of medicine; in one respect, that it is far more easy to point out what will do harm, than what will do good.
Reflection 529, in Lacon: or Many things in Few Words; Addressed to Those Who Think (1820), 219.
Science quotes on:  |  Do (1905)  |  Easy (213)  |  Good (906)  |  Harm (43)  |  Legislation (10)  |  Medicine (392)  |  More (2558)  |  Point (584)  |  Respect (212)  |  Will (2350)

To ask what qualities distinguish good from routine scientific research is to address a question that should be of central concern to every scientist. We can make the question more tractable by rephrasing it, “What attributes are shared by the scientific works which have contributed importantly to our understanding of the physical world—in this case the world of living things?” Two of the most widely accepted characteristics of good scientific work are generality of application and originality of conception. . These qualities are easy to point out in the works of others and, of course extremely difficult to achieve in one’s own research. At first hearing novelty and generality appear to be mutually exclusive, but they really are not. They just have different frames of reference. Novelty has a human frame of reference; generality has a biological frame of reference. Consider, for example, Darwinian Natural Selection. It offers a mechanism so widely applicable as to be almost coexistent with reproduction, so universal as to be almost axiomatic, and so innovative that it shook, and continues to shake, man’s perception of causality.
In 'Scientific innovation and creativity: a zoologist’s point of view', American Zoologist (1982), 22, 230.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Achieve (75)  |  Address (13)  |  Appear (122)  |  Applicable (31)  |  Application (257)  |  Ask (420)  |  Attribute (65)  |  Axiomatic (2)  |  Biological (137)  |  Case (102)  |  Causality (11)  |  Central (81)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Conception (160)  |  Concern (239)  |  Consider (428)  |  Continue (179)  |  Contribute (30)  |  Course (413)  |  Darwinian (10)  |  Different (595)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Easy (213)  |  Example (98)  |  Exclusive (29)  |  Extremely (17)  |  First (1302)  |  Frame (26)  |  Frame of Reference (5)  |  Generality (45)  |  Good (906)  |  Hear (144)  |  Hearing (50)  |  Human (1512)  |  Importantly (3)  |  Innovative (3)  |  Living (492)  |  Living Things (8)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mechanism (102)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mutually (7)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Selection (98)  |  Novelty (31)  |  Of Course (22)  |  Offer (142)  |  Originality (21)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perception (97)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physical World (30)  |  Point (584)  |  Quality (139)  |  Question (649)  |  Really (77)  |  Reference (33)  |  Rephrase (2)  |  Rephrasing (2)  |  Reproduction (74)  |  Research (753)  |  Routine (26)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Selection (130)  |  Shake (43)  |  Share (82)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Two (936)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Universal (198)  |  Widely (9)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

With the extension of mathematical knowledge will it not finally become impossible for the single investigator to embrace all departments of this knowledge? In answer let me point out how thoroughly it is ingrained in mathematical science that every real advance goes hand in hand with the invention of sharper tools and simpler methods which, at the same time, assist in understanding earlier theories and in casting aside some more complicated developments.
In 'Mathematical Problems', Lecture at the International Congress of Mathematics, Paris, (8 Aug 1900). Translated by Dr. Maby Winton Newson in Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society (1902), 8, 479. As quoted and cited in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath's Quotation-book (1914), 94-95. It is reprinted in Jeremy Gray, The Hilbert Challenge (2000), 282.
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Answer (389)  |  Assist (9)  |  Become (821)  |  Branch (155)  |  Cast (69)  |  Casting (10)  |  Complicated (117)  |  Department (93)  |  Development (441)  |  Early (196)  |  Easily (36)  |  Embrace (47)  |  Extension (60)  |  Finally (26)  |  Find (1014)  |  Hand In Hand (5)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Individual (420)  |  Ingrained (5)  |  Invention (400)  |  Investigator (71)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Let (64)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Method (531)  |  More (2558)  |  Point (584)  |  Possible (560)  |  Real (159)  |  Same (166)  |  Sharp (17)  |  Simple (426)  |  Simpler (8)  |  Single (365)  |  Study And Research In Mathematics (61)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thoroughly (67)  |  Time (1911)  |  Tool (129)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Various (205)  |  Will (2350)


Carl Sagan Thumbnail 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) -- Carl Sagan
Quotations by:Albert EinsteinIsaac NewtonLord KelvinCharles DarwinSrinivasa RamanujanCarl SaganFlorence NightingaleThomas EdisonAristotleMarie CurieBenjamin FranklinWinston ChurchillGalileo GalileiSigmund FreudRobert BunsenLouis PasteurTheodore RooseveltAbraham LincolnRonald ReaganLeonardo DaVinciMichio KakuKarl PopperJohann GoetheRobert OppenheimerCharles Kettering  ... (more people)

Quotations about:Atomic  BombBiologyChemistryDeforestationEngineeringAnatomyAstronomyBacteriaBiochemistryBotanyConservationDinosaurEnvironmentFractalGeneticsGeologyHistory of ScienceInventionJupiterKnowledgeLoveMathematicsMeasurementMedicineNatural ResourceOrganic ChemistryPhysicsPhysicianQuantum TheoryResearchScience and ArtTeacherTechnologyUniverseVolcanoVirusWind PowerWomen ScientistsX-RaysYouthZoology  ... (more topics)
Sitewide search within all Today In Science History pages:
Visit our Science and Scientist Quotations index for more Science Quotes from archaeologists, biologists, chemists, geologists, inventors and inventions, mathematicians, physicists, pioneers in medicine, science events and technology.

Names index: | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |

Categories index: | 1 | 2 | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
Thank you for sharing.
- 100 -
Sophie Germain
Gertrude Elion
Ernest Rutherford
James Chadwick
Marcel Proust
William Harvey
Johann Goethe
John Keynes
Carl Gauss
Paul Feyerabend
- 90 -
Antoine Lavoisier
Lise Meitner
Charles Babbage
Ibn Khaldun
Euclid
Ralph Emerson
Robert Bunsen
Frederick Banting
Andre Ampere
Winston Churchill
- 80 -
John Locke
Bronislaw Malinowski
Bible
Thomas Huxley
Alessandro Volta
Erwin Schrodinger
Wilhelm Roentgen
Louis Pasteur
Bertrand Russell
Jean Lamarck
- 70 -
Samuel Morse
John Wheeler
Nicolaus Copernicus
Robert Fulton
Pierre Laplace
Humphry Davy
Thomas Edison
Lord Kelvin
Theodore Roosevelt
Carolus Linnaeus
- 60 -
Francis Galton
Linus Pauling
Immanuel Kant
Martin Fischer
Robert Boyle
Karl Popper
Paul Dirac
Avicenna
James Watson
William Shakespeare
- 50 -
Stephen Hawking
Niels Bohr
Nikola Tesla
Rachel Carson
Max Planck
Henry Adams
Richard Dawkins
Werner Heisenberg
Alfred Wegener
John Dalton
- 40 -
Pierre Fermat
Edward Wilson
Johannes Kepler
Gustave Eiffel
Giordano Bruno
JJ Thomson
Thomas Kuhn
Leonardo DaVinci
Archimedes
David Hume
- 30 -
Andreas Vesalius
Rudolf Virchow
Richard Feynman
James Hutton
Alexander Fleming
Emile Durkheim
Benjamin Franklin
Robert Oppenheimer
Robert Hooke
Charles Kettering
- 20 -
Carl Sagan
James Maxwell
Marie Curie
Rene Descartes
Francis Crick
Hippocrates
Michael Faraday
Srinivasa Ramanujan
Francis Bacon
Galileo Galilei
- 10 -
Aristotle
John Watson
Rosalind Franklin
Michio Kaku
Isaac Asimov
Charles Darwin
Sigmund Freud
Albert Einstein
Florence Nightingale
Isaac Newton


by Ian Ellis
who invites your feedback
Thank you for sharing.
Today in Science History
Sign up for Newsletter
with quiz, quotes and more.