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: “I was going to record talking... the foil was put on; I then shouted 'Mary had a little lamb',... and the machine reproduced it perfectly.”
more quiz questions >>
Home > Category Index for Science Quotations > Category Index V > Category: Variable

Variable Quotes (37 quotes)

[Experimental Physicist] Phys. I know that it is often a help to represent pressure and volume as height and width on paper; and so geometry may have applications to the theory of gases. But is it not going rather far to say that geometry can deal directly with these things and is not necessarily concerned with lengths in space?
[Mathematician] Math. No. Geometry is nowadays largely analytical, so that in form as well as in effect, it deals with variables of an unknown nature. …It is literally true that I do not want to know the significance of the variables x, y, z, t that I am discussing. …
Phys. Yours is a strange subject. You told us at the beginning that you are not concerned as to whether your propositions are true, and now you tell us you do not even care to know what you are talking about.
Math. That is an excellent description of Pure Mathematics, which has already been given by an eminent mathematician [Bertrand Russell].
In Space, Time and Gravitation: An Outline of the General Relativity Theory (1920, 1921), 14.
Science quotes on:  |  Already (226)  |  Application (257)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Care (203)  |  Concern (239)  |  Deal (192)  |  Do (1905)  |  Effect (414)  |  Experimental (193)  |  Experimental Physicist (11)  |  Form (976)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Know (1538)  |  Literally (30)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Paper (192)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Pressure (69)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Pure (299)  |  Pure Mathematics (72)  |  Represent (157)  |  Say (989)  |  Significance (114)  |  Space (523)  |  Strange (160)  |  Subject (543)  |  Talking (76)  |  Tell (344)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Want (504)

A casual glance at crystals may lead to the idea that they were pure sports of nature, but this is simply an elegant way of declaring one’s ignorance. With a thoughtful examination of them, we discover laws of arrangement. With the help of these, calculation portrays and links up the observed results. How variable and at the same time how precise and regular are these laws! How simple they are ordinarily, without losing anything of their significance! The theory which has served to develop these laws is based entirely on a fact, whose existence has hitherto been vaguely discerned rather than demonstrated. This fact is that in all minerals which belong to the same species, these little solids, which are the crystal elements and which I call their integrant molecules, have an invariable form, in which the faces lie in the direction of the natural fracture surfaces corresponding to the mechanical division of the crystals. Their angles and dimensions are derived from calculations combined with observation.
Traité de mineralogie … Publié par le conseil des mines (1801), Vol. 1, xiii-iv, trans. Albert V. and Marguerite Carozzi.
Science quotes on:  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Belong (168)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Call (781)  |  Crystal (71)  |  Develop (278)  |  Dimension (64)  |  Direction (185)  |  Discern (35)  |  Discover (571)  |  Division (67)  |  Elegant (37)  |  Element (322)  |  Examination (102)  |  Existence (481)  |  Face (214)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Form (976)  |  Fracture (7)  |  Glance (36)  |  Idea (881)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Law (913)  |  Lead (391)  |  Lie (370)  |  Little (717)  |  Mechanical (145)  |  Mineral (66)  |  Molecule (185)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observed (149)  |  Precise (71)  |  Pure (299)  |  Regular (48)  |  Result (700)  |  Significance (114)  |  Simple (426)  |  Solid (119)  |  Species (435)  |  Sport (23)  |  Surface (223)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thoughtful (16)  |  Time (1911)  |  Way (1214)

Algebra reverses the relative importance of the factors in ordinary language. It is essentially a written language, and it endeavors to exemplify in its written structures the patterns which it is its purpose to convey. The pattern of the marks on paper is a particular instance of the pattern to be conveyed to thought. The algebraic method is our best approach to the expression of necessity, by reason of its reduction of accident to the ghost-like character of the real variable.
In Science and Philosophy (1948), 116.
Science quotes on:  |  Accident (92)  |  Algebra (117)  |  Approach (112)  |  Best (467)  |  Character (259)  |  Convey (17)  |  Endeavor (74)  |  Essentially (15)  |  Exemplify (5)  |  Expression (181)  |  Factor (47)  |  Ghost (36)  |  Importance (299)  |  Instance (33)  |  Language (308)  |  Mark (47)  |  Method (531)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Paper (192)  |  Particular (80)  |  Pattern (116)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Real (159)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reduction (52)  |  Relative (42)  |  Reverse (33)  |  Structure (365)  |  Thought (995)  |  Write (250)

As for me ... I would much rather be a perfected ape than a degraded Adam. Yes, if it is shown to me that my humble ancestors were quadrupedal animals, arboreal herbivores, brothers or cousins of those who were also the ancestors of monkeys and apes, far from blushing in shame for my species because of its genealogy and parentage, I will be proud of all that evolution has accomplished, of the continuous improvement which takes us up to the highest order, of the successive triumphs that have made us superior to all of the other species ... the splendid work of progress.
I will conclude in saying: the fixity of species is almost impossible, it contradicts the mode of succession and of the distribution of species in the sequence of extant and extinct creatures. It is therefore extremely likely that species are variable and are subject to evolution. But the causes, the mechanisms of this evolution are still unknown.
'Discussion sur la Machoire Humaine de la Naulette (Belgique)', Bulletin de la Societé d'Anthropologie de Paris, 2nd Series, I (1866), 595. Trans. Erik Trinkaus and Pat Shipman, The Neanderthals: Changing the Image of Mankind (1993), 103-4.
Science quotes on:  |  Ancestor (63)  |  Animal (651)  |  Ape (54)  |  Arboreal (8)  |  Brother (47)  |  Cause (561)  |  Conclude (66)  |  Continuous (83)  |  Contradict (42)  |  Cousin (12)  |  Creature (242)  |  Distribution (51)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Extinct (25)  |  Humble (54)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Improvement (117)  |  Mechanism (102)  |  Monkey (57)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Progress (492)  |  Sequence (68)  |  Species (435)  |  Splendid (23)  |  Still (614)  |  Subject (543)  |  Succession (80)  |  Successive (73)  |  Superior (88)  |  Triumph (76)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

By destroying the biological character of phenomena, the use of averages in physiology and medicine usually gives only apparent accuracy to the results. From our point of view, we may distinguish between several kinds of averages: physical averages, chemical averages and physiological and pathological averages. If, for instance, we observe the number of pulsations and the degree of blood pressure by means of the oscillations of a manometer throughout one day, and if we take the average of all our figures to get the true or average blood pressure and to learn the true or average number of pulsations, we shall simply have wrong numbers. In fact, the pulse decreases in number and intensity when we are fasting and increases during digestion or under different influences of movement and rest; all the biological characteristics of the phenomenon disappear in the average. Chemical averages are also often used. If we collect a man's urine during twenty-four hours and mix all this urine to analyze the average, we get an analysis of a urine which simply does not exist; for urine, when fasting, is different from urine during digestion. A startling instance of this kind was invented by a physiologist who took urine from a railroad station urinal where people of all nations passed, and who believed he could thus present an analysis of average European urine! Aside from physical and chemical, there are physiological averages, or what we might call average descriptions of phenomena, which are even more false. Let me assume that a physician collects a great many individual observations of a disease and that he makes an average description of symptoms observed in the individual cases; he will thus have a description that will never be matched in nature. So in physiology, we must never make average descriptions of experiments, because the true relations of phenomena disappear in the average; when dealing with complex and variable experiments, we must study their various circumstances, and then present our most perfect experiment as a type, which, however, still stands for true facts. In the cases just considered, averages must therefore be rejected, because they confuse, while aiming to unify, and distort while aiming to simplify. Averages are applicable only to reducing very slightly varying numerical data about clearly defined and absolutely simple cases.
From An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine (1865), as translated by Henry Copley Greene (1957), 134-135.
Science quotes on:  |  Accuracy (81)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Apparent (85)  |  Applicable (31)  |  Average (89)  |  Biological (137)  |  Blood (144)  |  Call (781)  |  Character (259)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Circumstances (108)  |  Complex (202)  |  Consider (428)  |  Data (162)  |  Degree (277)  |  Different (595)  |  Digestion (29)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Disease (340)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Distort (22)  |  Exist (458)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Fasting (3)  |  Figure (162)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hour (192)  |  Increase (225)  |  Individual (420)  |  Influence (231)  |  Intensity (34)  |  Kind (564)  |  Learn (672)  |  Man (2252)  |  Match (30)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Medicine (392)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Movement (162)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nation (208)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Never (1089)  |  Number (710)  |  Numerical (39)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observe (179)  |  Observed (149)  |  Oscillation (13)  |  Pass (241)  |  Pathological (21)  |  People (1031)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physician (284)  |  Physiological (64)  |  Physiologist (31)  |  Physiology (101)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Present (630)  |  Pressure (69)  |  Pulse (22)  |  Railroad (36)  |  Reject (67)  |  Rejected (26)  |  Rest (287)  |  Result (700)  |  Simple (426)  |  Simplify (14)  |  Stand (284)  |  Startling (15)  |  Station (30)  |  Still (614)  |  Study (701)  |  Symptom (38)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Type (171)  |  Unify (7)  |  Urine (18)  |  Use (771)  |  Usually (176)  |  Various (205)  |  View (496)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wrong (246)

Euclidean mathematics assumes the completeness and invariability of mathematical forms; these forms it describes with appropriate accuracy and enumerates their inherent and related properties with perfect clearness, order, and completeness, that is, Euclidean mathematics operates on forms after the manner that anatomy operates on the dead body and its members. On the other hand, the mathematics of variable magnitudes—function theory or analysis—considers mathematical forms in their genesis. By writing the equation of the parabola, we express its law of generation, the law according to which the variable point moves. The path, produced before the eyes of the student by a point moving in accordance to this law, is the parabola.
If, then, Euclidean mathematics treats space and number forms after the manner in which anatomy treats the dead body, modern mathematics deals, as it were, with the living body, with growing and changing forms, and thus furnishes an insight, not only into nature as she is and appears, but also into nature as she generates and creates,—reveals her transition steps and in so doing creates a mind for and understanding of the laws of becoming. Thus modern mathematics bears the same relation to Euclidean mathematics that physiology or biology … bears to anatomy.
In Die Mathematik die Fackelträgerin einer neuen Zeit (1889), 38. As translated in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-book (1914), 112-113.
Science quotes on:  |  Accord (36)  |  Accordance (10)  |  According (236)  |  Accuracy (81)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Anatomy (75)  |  Appear (122)  |  Appropriate (61)  |  Bear (162)  |  Become (821)  |  Becoming (96)  |  Biology (232)  |  Body (557)  |  Change (639)  |  Clearness (11)  |  Completeness (19)  |  Consider (428)  |  Create (245)  |  Dead (65)  |  Deal (192)  |  Describe (132)  |  Doing (277)  |  Enumerate (3)  |  Equation (138)  |  Euclid (60)  |  Express (192)  |  Eye (440)  |  Form (976)  |  Function (235)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Generate (16)  |  Generation (256)  |   Genesis (26)  |  Grow (247)  |  Growing (99)  |  Inherent (43)  |  Insight (107)  |  Invariability (6)  |  Law (913)  |  Living (492)  |  Living Body (3)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Manner (62)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Member (42)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Modern (402)  |  Modern Mathematics (50)  |  Move (223)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Number (710)  |  On The Other Hand (40)  |  Operate (19)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Parabola (2)  |  Path (159)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Physiology (101)  |  Point (584)  |  Produce (117)  |  Produced (187)  |  Property (177)  |  Relate (26)  |  Relation (166)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Same (166)  |  Space (523)  |  Step (234)  |  Student (317)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Transition (28)  |  Treat (38)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Write (250)  |  Writing (192)

Harvard Law: Under the most rigorously controlled conditions of pressure, temperature, humidity, and other variables, the organism will do as it damn well pleases.
Anonymous
The Coevolution Quarterly, Nos. 8-12 (1975), 138.
Science quotes on:  |  Condition (362)  |  Control (182)  |  Do (1905)  |  Harvard (7)  |  Humidity (3)  |  Law (913)  |  Most (1728)  |  Murphy�s Law (4)  |  Organism (231)  |  Other (2233)  |  Please (68)  |  Pressure (69)  |  Rigour (21)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Will (2350)

I contend that the continued racial classification of Homo sapiens represents an outmoded approach to the general problem of differentiation within a species. In other words, I reject a racial classification of humans for the same reasons that I prefer not to divide into subspecies the prodigiously variable West Indian land snails that form the subject of my own research.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Approach (112)  |  Classification (102)  |  Contend (8)  |  Continue (179)  |  Differentiation (28)  |  Divide (77)  |  Form (976)  |  General (521)  |  Homo Sapiens (23)  |  Human (1512)  |  In Other Words (9)  |  Indian (32)  |  Land (131)  |  Other (2233)  |  Outmoded (2)  |  Prefer (27)  |  Problem (731)  |  Racial (2)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reject (67)  |  Represent (157)  |  Research (753)  |  Same (166)  |  Snail (11)  |  Species (435)  |  Subject (543)  |  Subspecies (2)  |  West (21)  |  Word (650)

I think each individual is never a plane but a polyhedron. Naturally, whenever a ray of light falls on a face, a vertex, an edge of this polyhedron; the arc that it reflects is undoubtedly variable, very complex and single or multicoloured. I don’t believe in plane men, I think we’re all multiple. We don’t have a double life, we have a multiple life. However, it is no less true that we’re thought to have a common denominator. I think I am or I aspire to be an honest man that tries not to bother too many people in this valley of tears.
From Cela Foundation biography webpage.
Science quotes on:  |  Arc (14)  |  Aspire (15)  |  Belief (615)  |  Bother (8)  |  Complex (202)  |  Double (18)  |  Edge (51)  |  Face (214)  |  Fall (243)  |  Honest (53)  |  Individual (420)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Multiple (19)  |  People (1031)  |  Plane (22)  |  Ray (115)  |  Reflect (39)  |  Single (365)  |  Tear (48)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thought (995)  |  True (239)  |  Valley (37)  |  Vortex (10)

If we survey the mathematical works of Sylvester, we recognize indeed a considerable abundance, but in contradistinction to Cayley—not a versatility toward separate fields, but, with few exceptions—a confinement to arithmetic-algebraic branches. …
The concept of Function of a continuous variable, the fundamental concept of modern mathematics, plays no role, is indeed scarcely mentioned in the entire work of Sylvester—Sylvester was combinatorist [combinatoriker].
In Mathematische Annalen (1898), Bd.50, 134-135. As quoted and cited in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-book (1914), 173.
Science quotes on:  |  Abundance (26)  |  Algebra (117)  |  Arithmetic (144)  |  Branch (155)  |  Arthur Cayley (17)  |  Concept (242)  |  Confinement (4)  |  Considerable (75)  |  Continuous (83)  |  Distinction (72)  |  Entire (50)  |  Exception (74)  |  Field (378)  |  Function (235)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Mathematicians and Anecdotes (141)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mention (84)  |  Modern (402)  |  Modern Mathematics (50)  |  Play (116)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Role (86)  |  Scarcely (75)  |  Separate (151)  |  Survey (36)  |  James Joseph Sylvester (58)  |  Versatility (5)  |  Work (1402)

In a training period I continue to believe that the best start is with the experimentally prepared situation. Principally because it is in this that it is easiest to illustrate controlled variability, but there is no compelling reason why all experiments should be shaped to the conventional forms of the psychophysical methods. In any case the psychologist must refuse to be limited by those formalised statements of scientific experiment, which grew up with the logical methodologists of the mid-19th century. There are no psychological experiments in which the conditions are all under control; in which one condition can be varied independently of the rest, or even in which the concomitant variation of two specified conditions alone can be arranged and considered.
From archive recording (3 Jun 1959) with to John C. Kenna, giving his recollection of his farewell speech to Cambridge Psychological Society (4 Mar 1952), in which he gave a summary of points he considered to be basic requirements for a good experimental psychologist. Part of point 3 of 7, from transcription of recording held at British Psychological Society History of Psychology Centre, London, as abridged on thepsychologist.bps.org.uk website.
Science quotes on:  |  19th Century (41)  |  Control (182)  |  Convention (16)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Formal (37)  |  Logic (311)  |  Methodology (14)  |  Psychology (166)

In the history of physics, there have been three great revolutions in thought that first seemed absurd yet proved to be true. The first proposed that the earth, instead of being stationary, was moving around at a great and variable speed in a universe that is much bigger than it appears to our immediate perception. That proposal, I believe, was first made by Aristarchos two millenia ago ... Remarkably enough, the name Aristarchos in Greek means best beginning.
[The next two revolutions occurred ... in the early part of the twentieth century: the theory of relativity and the science of quantum mechanics...]
Edward Teller with Judith L. Shoolery, Memoirs: A Twentieth-Century Journey in Science and Politics (2001), 562.
Science quotes on:  |  Absurd (60)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Being (1276)  |  Best (467)  |  Century (319)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Early (196)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Enough (341)  |  First (1302)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greek (109)  |  History (716)  |  Immediate (98)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Mechanic (120)  |  Mechanics (137)  |  Name (359)  |  Next (238)  |  Perception (97)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Proposal (21)  |  Quantum (118)  |  Quantum Mechanics (47)  |  Quantum Theory (67)  |  Relativity (91)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Speed (66)  |  Stationary (11)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Theory Of Relativity (33)  |  Thought (995)  |  Two (936)  |  Universe (900)

It is fair to say that astronomy is still just about the only science in which the amateur can make valuable contributions today, and in which the work is welcomed by professionals. For example, amateurs search for new comets and ‘new stars’ or novae, and since they generally know the sky much better than their professional colleagues they have a fine record of success. Routinely, they keep watch on objects such as variable stars, and they monitor the surfaces of the planets in a way that professionals have neither the time nor the inclination to do.
From 'Introduction', The Amateur Astronomer (11th Ed., 1990), 1-2.
Science quotes on:  |  Amateur (22)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Better (493)  |  Colleague (51)  |  Comet (65)  |  Contribution (93)  |  Inclination (36)  |  Know (1538)  |  Monitor (10)  |  New (1273)  |  Nova (7)  |  Object (438)  |  Planet (402)  |  Professional (77)  |  Record (161)  |  Science (39)  |  Search (175)  |  Sky (174)  |  Star (460)  |  Success (327)  |  Surface (223)  |  Time (1911)  |  Today (321)  |  Value (393)  |  Watch (118)  |  Welcome (20)  |  Work (1402)

It is not only a decided preference for synthesis and a complete denial of general methods which characterizes the ancient mathematics as against our newer Science [modern mathematics]: besides this extemal formal difference there is another real, more deeply seated, contrast, which arises from the different attitudes which the two assumed relative to the use of the concept of variability. For while the ancients, on account of considerations which had been transmitted to them from the Philosophie school of the Eleatics, never employed the concept of motion, the spatial expression for variability, in their rigorous system, and made incidental use of it only in the treatment of phonoromically generated curves, modern geometry dates from the instant that Descartes left the purely algebraic treatment of equations and proceeded to investigate the variations which an algebraic expression undergoes when one of its variables assumes a continuous succession of values.
In 'Untersuchungen über die unendlich oft oszillierenden und unstetigen Functionen', Ostwald’s Klassiker der exacten Wissenschaften (1905), No. 153, 44-45. As translated in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-book (1914), 115. From the original German, “Nicht allein entschiedene Vorliebe für die Synthese und gänzliche Verleugnung allgemeiner Methoden charakterisiert die antike Mathematik gegenüber unserer neueren Wissenschaft; es gibt neben diesem mehr äußeren, formalen, noch einen tiefliegenden realen Gegensatz, welcher aus der verschiedenen Stellung entspringt, in welche sich beide zu der wissenschaftlichen Verwendung des Begriffes der Veränderlichkeit gesetzt haben. Denn während die Alten den Begriff der Bewegung, des räumlichen Ausdruckes der Veränderlichkeit, aus Bedenken, die aus der philosophischen Schule der Eleaten auf sie übergegangen waren, in ihrem strengen Systeme niemals und auch in der Behandlung phoronomisch erzeugter Kurven nur vorübergehend verwenden, so datiert die neuere Mathematik von dem Augenblicke, als Descartes von der rein algebraischen Behandlung der Gleichungen dazu fortschritt, die Größenveränderungen zu untersuchen, welche ein algebraischer Ausdruck erleidet, indem eine in ihm allgemein bezeichnete Größe eine stetige Folge von Werten durchläuft.”
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Against (332)  |  Algebra (117)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Arise (162)  |  Attitude (84)  |  Complete (209)  |  Concept (242)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Continuous (83)  |  Contrast (45)  |  Curve (49)  |  Denial (20)  |  René Descartes (83)  |  Difference (355)  |  Different (595)  |  Employ (115)  |  Equation (138)  |  Expression (181)  |  General (521)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Incidental (15)  |  Instant (46)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Method (531)  |  Modern (402)  |  Modern Mathematics (50)  |  More (2558)  |  Motion (320)  |  Never (1089)  |  Preference (28)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Purely (111)  |  Rigorous (50)  |  School (227)  |  Succession (80)  |  Synthesis (58)  |  System (545)  |  Treatment (135)  |  Two (936)  |  Use (771)  |  Value (393)  |  Variation (93)

May every young scientist remember … and not fail to keep his eyes open for the possibility that an irritating failure of his apparatus to give consistent results may once or twice in a lifetime conceal an important discovery.
Commenting on the discovery of thoron gas because one of Rutherford’s students had found his measurements of the ionizing property of thorium were variable. His results even seemed to relate to whether the laboratory door was closed or open. After considering the problem, Rutherford realized a radioactive gas was emitted by thorium, which hovered close to the metal sample, adding to its radioactivity—unless it was dissipated by air drafts from an open door. (Thoron was later found to be argon.)
In Barbara Lovett Cline, Men Who Made a New Physics (1987), 21.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Apparatus (70)  |  Argon (3)  |  Closed (38)  |  Consistency (31)  |  Consistent (50)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Door (94)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fail (191)  |  Failure (176)  |  Gas (89)  |  Hover (8)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Metal (88)  |  Open (277)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Problem (731)  |  Property (177)  |  Radioactive (24)  |  Radioactivity (33)  |  Remember (189)  |  Result (700)  |  Sample (19)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Student (317)  |  Thorium (5)  |  Young (253)

Measurement has too often been the leitmotif of many investigations rather than the experimental examination of hypotheses. Mounds of data are collected, which are statistically decorous and methodologically unimpeachable, but conclusions are often trivial and rarely useful in decision making. This results from an overly rigorous control of an insignificant variable and a widespread deficiency in the framing of pertinent questions. Investigators seem to have settled for what is measurable instead of measuring what they would really like to know.
'Patient Care—Mystical Research or Researchable Mystique/', Clinical Research (1964), 12, no. 4, 422.
Science quotes on:  |  Collection (68)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Control (182)  |  Data (162)  |  Decision (98)  |  Deficiency (15)  |  Examination (102)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Experimental (193)  |  Framing (2)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Insignificance (12)  |  Insignificant (33)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Investigator (71)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Like (23)  |  Making (300)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Methodology (14)  |  Pertinent (4)  |  Question (649)  |  Rare (94)  |  Result (700)  |  Rigor (29)  |  Rigorous (50)  |  Settle (23)  |  Settled (34)  |  Statistics (170)  |  Trivial (59)  |  Useful (260)  |  Usefulness (92)  |  Widespread (23)

Modern music, headstrong, wayward, tragically confused as to what to say and how to say it, has mounted its horse, as the joke goes, and ridden off in all directions. If we require of an art that it be unified as a whole and expressed in a universal language known to all, if it must be a consistent symbolization of the era, then modern music is a disastrous failure. It has many voices, many symbolizations. It it known to one, unknown to another. But if an art may be as variable and polyvocal as the different individuals and emotional regions from which it comes in this heterogeneous modern world, then the diversity and contradiction of modern music may be acceptable.
In Art Is Action: A Discussion of Nine Arts in a Modern World (1939), 81.
Science quotes on:  |  Acceptable (14)  |  Art (680)  |  Confused (13)  |  Consistent (50)  |  Contradiction (69)  |  Different (595)  |  Direction (185)  |  Disastrous (3)  |  Diversity (75)  |  Emotion (106)  |  Era (51)  |  Express (192)  |  Failure (176)  |  Horse (78)  |  Individual (420)  |  Joke (90)  |  Known (453)  |  Language (308)  |  Modern (402)  |  Mount (43)  |  Music (133)  |  Must (1525)  |  Require (229)  |  Say (989)  |  Symbol (100)  |  Tragic (19)  |  Unified (10)  |  Universal (198)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Wayward (3)  |  Whole (756)  |  World (1850)

Most variables can show either an upward or downward trend, depending on the base year chosen.
'Penetrating the Rhetoric', The Vision of the Anointed (1996), 102.
Science quotes on:  |  Base (120)  |  Chosen (48)  |  Most (1728)  |  Show (353)  |  Statistics (170)  |  Trend (23)  |  Upward (44)  |  Year (963)

On our planet, all objects are subject to continual and inevitable changes which arise from the essential order of things. These changes take place at a variable rate according to the nature, condition, or situation of the objects involved, but are nevertheless accomplished within a certain period of time. Time is insignificant and never a difficulty for Nature. It is always at her disposal and represents an unlimited power with which she accomplishes her greatest and smallest tasks.
Hydrogéologie (1802), trans. A. V. Carozzi (1964), 61.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Arise (162)  |  Certain (557)  |  Change (639)  |  Condition (362)  |  Continual (44)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Essential (210)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Inevitable (53)  |  Insignificant (33)  |  Involved (90)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Never (1089)  |  Nevertheless (90)  |  Object (438)  |  Order (638)  |  Period (200)  |  Planet (402)  |  Power (771)  |  Represent (157)  |  Situation (117)  |  Subject (543)  |  Task (152)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Unlimited (24)

Once I dipt into the future far as human eye could see,
And I saw the Chief Forecaster, dead as any one can be-
Dead and damned and shut in Hades as a liar from his birth,
With a record of unreason seldom paralleled on earth.
While I looked he reared him solemnly, that incandescent youth,
From the coals that he’s preferred to the advantages of truth.
He cast his eyes about him and above him; then he wrote
On a slab of thin asbestos what I venture here to quote-
For I read it in the rose-light of the everlasting glow:
Cloudy; variable winds, with local showers; cooler; snow.
Science quotes on:  |  Advantage (144)  |  Asbestos (3)  |  Birth (154)  |  Cast (69)  |  Chief (99)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Coal (64)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Eye (440)  |  Future (467)  |  Hades (4)  |  Human (1512)  |  Incandescent (7)  |  Liar (8)  |  Light (635)  |  Look (584)  |  Meteorology (36)  |  Parallel (46)  |  Quote (46)  |  Read (308)  |  Record (161)  |  Rose (36)  |  Saw (160)  |  See (1094)  |  Seldom (68)  |  Shower (7)  |  Shut (41)  |  Snow (39)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Wind (141)  |  Youth (109)

One in ten plant species contains anticancer substances of variable potency, but relatively few have been bioassayed.
In 'Edward O. Wilson: The Biological Diversity Crisis: A Challenge to Science', Issues in Science and Technology (Fall 1985), 2, No. 1, 25.
Science quotes on:  |  Botany (63)  |  Cancer (61)  |  Contain (68)  |  Medicine (392)  |  Pharmaceutical (4)  |  Plant (320)  |  Potency (10)  |  Species (435)  |  Substance (253)

Picture yourself during the early 1920's inside the dome of the [Mount Wilson Observatory]. … [Milton] Humason is showing [Harlow] Shapley stars he had found in the Andromeda Nebula that appeared and disappeared on photographs of that object. The famous astronomer very patiently explains that these objects could not be stars because the Nebula was a nearby gaseous cloud within our own Milky Way system. Shapley takes his handkerchief from his pocket and wipes the identifying marks off the back of the photographic plate.
Of course, Hubble came along in 1924 and showed that it was just these Cepheid variable stars in the Andromeda Nebula which proved it was a separate galaxy system.
In Quasars, Redshifts and Controversies (1998), 168. Arp writes that this was “a piece of real history which I happen to know because it was told to me by one of the participants. It dramatically illustrate the critical role of discordant evidence.”
Science quotes on:  |  Andromeda (2)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Back (395)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Course (413)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Disappearance (28)  |  Dome (9)  |  Early (196)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Explain (334)  |  Galaxy (53)  |  Handkerchief (2)  |  Edwin Powell Hubble (29)  |  Identification (20)  |  Mark (47)  |  Milky Way (29)  |  Mount (43)  |  Mount Wilson (2)  |  Nebula (16)  |  Object (438)  |  Observatory (18)  |  Photograph (23)  |  Picture (148)  |  Selection Effect (2)  |  Separate (151)  |  Harlow Shapley (13)  |  Show (353)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  System (545)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wipe (6)

Pure Mathematics is the class of all propositions of the form “p implies q,” where p and q are propositions containing one or more variables, the same in the two propositions, and neither p nor q contains any constants except logical constants. And logical constants are all notions definable in terms of the following: Implication, the relation of a term to a class of which it is a member, the notion of such that, the notion of relation, and such further notions as may be involved in the general notion of propositions of the above form. In addition to these, mathematics uses a notion which is not a constituent of the propositions which it considers, namely the notion of truth.
In 'Definition of Pure Mathematics', Principles of Mathematics (1903), 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Addition (70)  |  Class (168)  |  Consider (428)  |  Constant (148)  |  Constituent (47)  |  Definition (238)  |  Definitions and Objects of Mathematics (33)  |  Form (976)  |  General (521)  |  Implication (25)  |  Involved (90)  |  Logic (311)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  More (2558)  |  Notion (120)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Pure (299)  |  Pure Mathematics (72)  |  Relation (166)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Two (936)  |  Use (771)

Sand is a substance that is beautiful, mysterious, and infinitely variable; each grain on a beach is the result of processes that go back into the shadowy beginnings of life, or of the earth itself.
In The Edge of the Sea (1955), 125.
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Beach (23)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Beginnings (5)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Go Back (4)  |  Grain (50)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mysterious (83)  |  Process (439)  |  Result (700)  |  Sand (63)  |  Shadow (73)  |  Substance (253)

Science is feasible when the variables are few and can be enumerated; when their combinations are distinct and clear. We are tending toward the condition of science and aspiring to do it. The artist works out his own formulas; the interest of science lies in the art of making science.
In Moralités (1932). Reprinted in J. Matthews (ed.), Collected Works (1970). As cited in Robert Andrews (ed.), The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations (1993), 810.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Artist (97)  |  Aspiration (35)  |  Clear (111)  |  Combination (150)  |  Condition (362)  |  Distinct (98)  |  Distinction (72)  |  Do (1905)  |  Enumerated (3)  |  Feasibility (4)  |  Formula (102)  |  Interest (416)  |  Lie (370)  |  Making (300)  |  Tendency (110)  |  Work (1402)

Since, then, there is no objection to the mobility of the Earth, I think it must now be considered whether several motions are appropriate for it, so that it can be regarded as one of the wandering stars. For the fact that it is not the centre of all revolutions is made clear by the apparent irregular motion of the wandering stars, and their variable distances from the Earth, which cannot be understood in a circle having the same centre as the Earth.
'Book One. Chapter IX. Whether several motions can be attributed to the Earth, and on the centre of the universe', in Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543), trans. A. M. Duncan (1976), 46.
Science quotes on:  |  Apparent (85)  |  Appropriate (61)  |  Circle (117)  |  Consider (428)  |  Distance (171)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Mobility (11)  |  Motion (320)  |  Must (1525)  |  Objection (34)  |  Regard (312)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Think (1122)  |  Understood (155)

The belief that mathematics, because it is abstract, because it is static and cold and gray, is detached from life, is a mistaken belief. Mathematics, even in its purest and most abstract estate, is not detached from life. It is just the ideal handling of the problems of life, as sculpture may idealize a human figure or as poetry or painting may idealize a figure or a scene. Mathematics is precisely the ideal handling of the problems of life, and the central ideas of the science, the great concepts about which its stately doctrines have been built up, are precisely the chief ideas with which life must always deal and which, as it tumbles and rolls about them through time and space, give it its interests and problems, and its order and rationality. That such is the case a few indications will suffice to show. The mathematical concepts of constant and variable are represented familiarly in life by the notions of fixedness and change. The concept of equation or that of an equational system, imposing restriction upon variability, is matched in life by the concept of natural and spiritual law, giving order to what were else chaotic change and providing partial freedom in lieu of none at all. What is known in mathematics under the name of limit is everywhere present in life in the guise of some ideal, some excellence high-dwelling among the rocks, an “ever flying perfect” as Emerson calls it, unto which we may approximate nearer and nearer, but which we can never quite attain, save in aspiration. The supreme concept of functionality finds its correlate in life in the all-pervasive sense of interdependence and mutual determination among the elements of the world. What is known in mathematics as transformation—that is, lawful transfer of attention, serving to match in orderly fashion the things of one system with those of another—is conceived in life as a process of transmutation by which, in the flux of the world, the content of the present has come out of the past and in its turn, in ceasing to be, gives birth to its successor, as the boy is father to the man and as things, in general, become what they are not. The mathematical concept of invariance and that of infinitude, especially the imposing doctrines that explain their meanings and bear their names—What are they but mathematicizations of that which has ever been the chief of life’s hopes and dreams, of that which has ever been the object of its deepest passion and of its dominant enterprise, I mean the finding of the worth that abides, the finding of permanence in the midst of change, and the discovery of a presence, in what has seemed to be a finite world, of being that is infinite? It is needless further to multiply examples of a correlation that is so abounding and complete as indeed to suggest a doubt whether it be juster to view mathematics as the abstract idealization of life than to regard life as the concrete realization of mathematics.
In 'The Humanization of Teaching of Mathematics', Science, New Series, 35, 645-46.
Science quotes on:  |  Abide (12)  |  Abound (17)  |  Abstract (141)  |  Approximate (25)  |  Aspiration (35)  |  Attain (126)  |  Attention (196)  |  Bear (162)  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Belief (615)  |  Birth (154)  |  Boy (100)  |  Build (211)  |  Call (781)  |  Case (102)  |  Cease (81)  |  Central (81)  |  Change (639)  |  Chaotic (2)  |  Chief (99)  |  Cold (115)  |  Complete (209)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Concept (242)  |  Concrete (55)  |  Constant (148)  |  Content (75)  |  Correlate (7)  |  Correlation (19)  |  Deal (192)  |  Deep (241)  |  Detach (5)  |  Determination (80)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Doctrine (81)  |  Dominant (26)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Dream (222)  |  Element (322)  |  Ralph Waldo Emerson (161)  |  Enterprise (56)  |  Equation (138)  |  Especially (31)  |  Estate (5)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Example (98)  |  Excellence (40)  |  Explain (334)  |  Far (158)  |  Fashion (34)  |  Father (113)  |  Figure (162)  |  Find (1014)  |  Finite (60)  |  Fixed (17)  |  Flux (21)  |  Fly (153)  |  Flying (74)  |  Freedom (145)  |  Functionality (2)  |  General (521)  |  Give (208)  |  Gray (9)  |  Great (1610)  |  Guise (6)  |  Handle (29)  |  High (370)  |  Hope (321)  |  Human (1512)  |  Idea (881)  |  Ideal (110)  |  Idealization (3)  |  Impose (22)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Indication (33)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Infinitude (3)  |  Interdependence (4)  |  Interest (416)  |  Invariance (4)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Law (913)  |  Lawful (7)  |  Life (1870)  |  Limit (294)  |  Man (2252)  |  Match (30)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Meanings (5)  |  Midst (8)  |  Mistake (180)  |  Most (1728)  |  Multiply (40)  |  Must (1525)  |  Mutual (54)  |  Name (359)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nature Of Mathematics (80)  |  Nearer (45)  |  Needless (4)  |  Never (1089)  |  Notion (120)  |  Object (438)  |  Order (638)  |  Orderly (38)  |  Painting (46)  |  Partial (10)  |  Passion (121)  |  Past (355)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Permanence (26)  |  Pervasive (6)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Presence (63)  |  Present (630)  |  Problem (731)  |  Process (439)  |  Provide (79)  |  Pure (299)  |  Rationality (25)  |  Realization (44)  |  Regard (312)  |  Represent (157)  |  Restriction (14)  |  Rock (176)  |  Roll (41)  |  Save (126)  |  Scene (36)  |  Sculpture (12)  |  Seem (150)  |  Sense (785)  |  Serve (64)  |  Serving (15)  |  Show (353)  |  Space (523)  |  Spiritual (94)  |  Stately (12)  |  Static (9)  |  Successor (16)  |  Suffice (7)  |  Suggest (38)  |  Supreme (73)  |  System (545)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Time And Space (39)  |  Transfer (21)  |  Transformation (72)  |  Transmutation (24)  |  Tumble (3)  |  Turn (454)  |  Unto (8)  |  Variability (5)  |  View (496)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)  |  Worth (172)

The plan followed by nature in producing animals clearly comprises a predominant prime cause. This endows animal life with the power to make organization gradually more complex, and to bring increasing complexity and perfection not only to the total organization but also to each individual apparatus when it comes to be established by animal life. This progressive complication of organisms was in effect accomplished by the said principal cause in all existing animals. Occasionally a foreign, accidental, and therefore variable cause has interfered with the execution of the plan, without, however, destroying it. This has created gaps in the series, in the form either of terminal branches that depart from the series in several points and alter its simplicity, or of anomalies observable in specific apparatuses of various organisms.
Histoire Naturelle des Animaux sans Vertèbres (1815-22), Vol. 1, 133. In Pietro Corsi, The Age of Lamarck: Evolutionary Theories in France 1790-1830, trans. J. Mandelbaum (1988), 189.
Science quotes on:  |  Accidental (31)  |  Alter (64)  |  Animal (651)  |  Animal Life (21)  |  Anomaly (11)  |  Apparatus (70)  |  Cause (561)  |  Complex (202)  |  Complexity (121)  |  Complication (30)  |  Creation (350)  |  Effect (414)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Execution (25)  |  Follow (389)  |  Foreign (45)  |  Form (976)  |  Gap (36)  |  Gradually (102)  |  Individual (420)  |  Life (1870)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Observable (21)  |  Organism (231)  |  Organization (120)  |  Perfection (131)  |  Plan (122)  |  Point (584)  |  Power (771)  |  Principal (69)  |  Series (153)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Specific (98)  |  Total (95)  |  Variation (93)  |  Various (205)

The present theory of relativity is based on a division of physical reality into a metric field (gravitation) on the one hand and into an electromagnetic field and matter on the other hand. In reality space will probably be of a uniform character and the present theory will be valid only as a limiting case. For large densities of field and of matter, the field equations and even the field variables which enter into them will have no real significance. One may not therefore assume the validity of the equations for very high density of field and matter, and one may not conclude that the 'beginning of the expansion' must mean a singularity in the mathematical sense. All we have to realise is that the equations may not be continued over such regions.
In O. Nathan and H. Norden (eds.), Einstein on Peace (1960), 640.
Science quotes on:  |  Beginning (312)  |  Character (259)  |  Conclude (66)  |  Density (25)  |  Division (67)  |  Enter (145)  |  Equation (138)  |  Expansion (43)  |  Field (378)  |  Gravitation (72)  |  High (370)  |  Large (398)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mean (810)  |  Must (1525)  |  Other (2233)  |  Physical (518)  |  Present (630)  |  Reality (274)  |  Relativity (91)  |  Sense (785)  |  Significance (114)  |  Singularity (4)  |  Space (523)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Theory Of Relativity (33)  |  Validity (50)  |  Will (2350)

The same algebraic sum of positive and negative charges in the nucleus, when the arithmetical sum is different, gives what I call “isotopes” or “isotopic elements,” because they occupy the same place in the periodic table. They are chemically identical, and save only as regards the relatively few physical properties which depend upon atomic mass directly, physically identical also. Unit changes of this nuclear charge, so reckoned algebraically, give the successive places in the periodic table. For any one “place” or any one nuclear charge, more than one number of electrons in the outer-ring system may exist, and in such a case the element exhibits variable valency. But such changes of number, or of valency, concern only the ring and its external environment. There is no in- and out-going of electrons between ring and nucleus.
Concluding paragraph of 'Intra-atomic Charge', Nature (1913), 92, 400. Collected in Alfred Romer, Radiochemistry and the Discovery of Isotopes (1970), 251-252.
Science quotes on:  |  Algebra (117)  |  Arithmetic (144)  |  Call (781)  |  Change (639)  |  Charge (63)  |  Concern (239)  |  Depend (238)  |  Difference (355)  |  Different (595)  |  Electron (96)  |  Element (322)  |  Environment (239)  |  Exist (458)  |  Identical (55)  |  Isotope (4)  |  Mass (160)  |  More (2558)  |  Negative (66)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Nuclear (110)  |  Nucleus (54)  |  Number (710)  |  Occupy (27)  |  Periodic Table (19)  |  Physical (518)  |  Place (192)  |  Positive (98)  |  Reckon (31)  |  Regard (312)  |  Save (126)  |  Successive (73)  |  Sum (103)  |  System (545)  |  Table (105)  |  Valency (4)

There is thus a possibility that the ancient dream of philosophers to connect all Nature with the properties of whole numbers will some day be realized. To do so physics will have to develop a long way to establish the details of how the correspondence is to be made. One hint for this development seems pretty obvious, namely, the study of whole numbers in modern mathematics is inextricably bound up with the theory of functions of a complex variable, which theory we have already seen has a good chance of forming the basis of the physics of the future. The working out of this idea would lead to a connection between atomic theory and cosmology.
From Lecture delivered on presentation of the James Scott prize, (6 Feb 1939), 'The Relation Between Mathematics And Physics', printed in Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1938-1939), 59, Part 2, 129.
Science quotes on:  |  Already (226)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Atomic Theory (16)  |  Basis (180)  |  Bound (120)  |  Chance (244)  |  Complex (202)  |  Connect (126)  |  Connection (171)  |  Correspondence (24)  |  Cosmology (26)  |  Detail (150)  |  Develop (278)  |  Development (441)  |  Do (1905)  |  Dream (222)  |  Establish (63)  |  Forming (42)  |  Function (235)  |  Future (467)  |  Good (906)  |  Hint (21)  |  Idea (881)  |  Lead (391)  |  Long (778)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Modern (402)  |  Modern Mathematics (50)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Number (710)  |  Obvious (128)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Property (177)  |  Realize (157)  |  Study (701)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whole (756)  |  Whole Number (2)  |  Will (2350)

To emphasize this opinion that mathematicians would be unwise to accept practical issues as the sole guide or the chief guide in the current of their investigations, ... let me take one more instance, by choosing a subject in which the purely mathematical interest is deemed supreme, the theory of functions of a complex variable. That at least is a theory in pure mathematics, initiated in that region, and developed in that region; it is built up in scores of papers, and its plan certainly has not been, and is not now, dominated or guided by considerations of applicability to natural phenomena. Yet what has turned out to be its relation to practical issues? The investigations of Lagrange and others upon the construction of maps appear as a portion of the general property of conformal representation; which is merely the general geometrical method of regarding functional relations in that theory. Again, the interesting and important investigations upon discontinuous two-dimensional fluid motion in hydrodynamics, made in the last twenty years, can all be, and now are all, I believe, deduced from similar considerations by interpreting functional relations between complex variables. In the dynamics of a rotating heavy body, the only substantial extension of our knowledge since the time of Lagrange has accrued from associating the general properties of functions with the discussion of the equations of motion. Further, under the title of conjugate functions, the theory has been applied to various questions in electrostatics, particularly in connection with condensers and electrometers. And, lastly, in the domain of physical astronomy, some of the most conspicuous advances made in the last few years have been achieved by introducing into the discussion the ideas, the principles, the methods, and the results of the theory of functions. … the refined and extremely difficult work of Poincare and others in physical astronomy has been possible only by the use of the most elaborate developments of some purely mathematical subjects, developments which were made without a thought of such applications.
In Presidential Address British Association for the Advancement of Science, Section A, (1897), Nature, 56, 377.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Accrue (3)  |  Achieve (75)  |  Advance (298)  |  Appear (122)  |  Applicability (7)  |  Application (257)  |  Applied (176)  |  Apply (170)  |  Associate (25)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Belief (615)  |  Body (557)  |  Build (211)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Chief (99)  |  Choose (116)  |  Complex (202)  |  Condenser (4)  |  Connection (171)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Conspicuous (13)  |  Construction (114)  |  Current (122)  |  Deduce (27)  |  Deem (7)  |  Develop (278)  |  Development (441)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Discontinuous (6)  |  Discussion (78)  |  Domain (72)  |  Dominate (20)  |  Dynamics (11)  |  Elaborate (31)  |  Electrostatic (7)  |  Electrostatics (6)  |  Emphasize (25)  |  Equation (138)  |  Extension (60)  |  Extremely (17)  |  Far (158)  |  Fluid (54)  |  Fluid Motion (2)  |  Function (235)  |  Functional (10)  |  General (521)  |  Geometrical (11)  |  Guide (107)  |  Heavy (24)  |  Hydrodynamics (5)  |  Idea (881)  |  Important (229)  |  Initiate (13)  |  Instance (33)  |  Interest (416)  |  Interesting (153)  |  Interpret (25)  |  Interpreting (5)  |  Introduce (63)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Issue (46)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Count Joseph-Louis de Lagrange (26)  |  Last (425)  |  Least (75)  |  Let (64)  |  Map (50)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Merely (315)  |  Method (531)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motion (320)  |  Natural (810)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Other (2233)  |  Paper (192)  |  Particularly (21)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Physical (518)  |  Plan (122)  |  Henri Poincaré (99)  |  Portion (86)  |  Possible (560)  |  Practical (225)  |  Principle (530)  |  Property (177)  |  Pure (299)  |  Pure Mathematics (72)  |  Purely (111)  |  Question (649)  |  Refine (8)  |  Regard (312)  |  Region (40)  |  Relation (166)  |  Representation (55)  |  Result (700)  |  Rotate (8)  |  Score (8)  |  Similar (36)  |  Sole (50)  |  Study And Research In Mathematics (61)  |  Subject (543)  |  Substantial (24)  |  Supreme (73)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Title (20)  |  Turn (454)  |  Turned Out (5)  |  Two (936)  |  Unwise (4)  |  Use (771)  |  Various (205)  |  Work (1402)  |  Year (963)

To the extent that remaining old-growth Douglas fir ecosystems possess unique structural and functional characteristics distinct from surrounding managed forests, the analogy between forest habitat islands and oceanic islands applies. Forest planning decision variables such as total acreage to be maintained, patch size frequency distribution, spatial distribution of patches, specific locations, and protective measures all need to be addressed.
In The Fragmented Forest: Island Biogeography Theory and the Preservation of Biotic Diversity (1984), 6.
Science quotes on:  |  Address (13)  |  Analogy (76)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Decision (98)  |  Distinct (98)  |  Distribution (51)  |  Douglas Fir (2)  |  Ecosystem (33)  |  Extent (142)  |  Forest (161)  |  Forest Management (2)  |  Frequency (25)  |  Function (235)  |  Growth (200)  |  Habitat (17)  |  Island (49)  |  Location (15)  |  Maintain (105)  |  Manage (26)  |  Measure (241)  |  Need (320)  |  Old (499)  |  Old-Growth (2)  |  Patch (9)  |  Plan (122)  |  Planning (21)  |  Possess (157)  |  Protective (5)  |  Remain (355)  |  Remaining (45)  |  Size (62)  |  Spatial (10)  |  Specific (98)  |  Structural (29)  |  Surround (33)  |  Total (95)  |  Unique (72)

We never really see time. We see only clocks. If you say this object moves, what you really mean is that this object is here when the hand of your clock is here, and so on. We say we measure time with clocks, but we see only the hands of the clocks, not time itself. And the hands of a clock are a physical variable like any other. So in a sense we cheat because what we really observe are physical variables as a function of other physical variables, but we represent that as if everything is evolving in time.
Quoted by Tim Folger in 'Newsflash: Time May Not Exist', Discover Magazine (Jun 2007).
Science quotes on:  |  Cheat (13)  |  Clock (51)  |  Everything (489)  |  Function (235)  |  Mean (810)  |  Measure (241)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Move (223)  |  Movement (162)  |  Never (1089)  |  Object (438)  |  Observe (179)  |  Other (2233)  |  Physical (518)  |  Represent (157)  |  Say (989)  |  See (1094)  |  Sense (785)  |  Time (1911)

Who shall declare the time allotted to the human race, when the generations of the most insignificant insect also existed for unnumbered ages? Yet man is also to vanish in the ever-changing course of events. The earth is to be burnt up, and the elements are to melt with fervent heat—to be again reduced to chaos—possibly to be renovated and adorned for other races of beings. These stupendous changes may be but cycles in those great laws of the universe, where all is variable but the laws themselves and He who has ordained them.
Physical Geography (1848), Vol. 1, 2-3.
Science quotes on:  |  Adornment (4)  |  Age (509)  |  Being (1276)  |  Burnt (2)  |  Change (639)  |  Chaos (99)  |  Course (413)  |  Cycle (42)  |  Declaration (10)  |  Declare (48)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Element (322)  |  Event (222)  |  Ever-Changing (2)  |  Exist (458)  |  Existence (481)  |  Fervent (6)  |  Generation (256)  |  Great (1610)  |  Heat (180)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Insect (89)  |  Insignificant (33)  |  Law (913)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Melt (16)  |  Most (1728)  |  Ordained (2)  |  Other (2233)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Race (278)  |  Reduced (3)  |  Renovation (2)  |  Stupendous (13)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Time (1911)  |  Universe (900)  |  Vanish (19)  |  Variability (5)

Without doubt one of the most characteristic features of mathematics in the last century is the systematic and universal use of the complex variable. Most of its great theories received invaluable aid from it, and many owe their very existence to it.
In 'History of Mathematics in the Nineteenth Century', Congress of Arts and Sciences (1905), Vol. 1, 474. As quoted and cited in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-book (1914), 115.
Science quotes on:  |  Aid (101)  |  Century (319)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Complex (202)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Existence (481)  |  Feature (49)  |  Great (1610)  |  Invaluable (11)  |  Last (425)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Modern Mathematics (50)  |  Most (1728)  |  Owe (71)  |  Systematic (58)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Universal (198)  |  Use (771)

You can always create a fraction by putting one variable upstairs and another variable downstairs, but that soes not establish any causal relationship between them, nor does the resulting quotient have any necessary relationship to anything in the real world.
'Penetrating the Rhetoric', The Vision of the Anointed (1996), 103.
Science quotes on:  |  Create (245)  |  Downstairs (3)  |  Fraction (16)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Statistics (170)  |  World (1850)


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.