(source)
|
Arthur L. Schawlow
(5 May 1921 - 28 Apr 1999)
American physicist who shared the 1981 Nobel Prize for Physics for his work developing the laser and laser spectroscopy.
|
Science Quotes by Arthur L. Schawlow (7 quotes)
Anything will lase if you hit it hard enough.
— Arthur L. Schawlow
As quoted in Steven Chu and Charles H. Townes, 'Arthur Schawlow', Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2003), Vol. 83, 203.
Anything worth doing is worth doing twice, the first time quick and dirty and the second time the best way you can.
— Arthur L. Schawlow
As quoted in Steven Chu and Charles H. Townes, 'Arthur Schawlow', Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2003), Vol. 83, 201.
As experimentalists, we always can find something to do, even if we have to work with string and sealing wax.
— Arthur L. Schawlow
As quoted in T.W. Hänsch, 'From (Incr)edible Lasers to New Spectroscopy', collected in William M. Yen and Marc D. Levenson (eds.), Lasers, Spectroscopy and New Ideas: A Tribute to Arthur L. Schawlow (2013), 6.
Dead is when the chemists take over the subject.
— Arthur L. Schawlow
Lecture at Stanford, 'Is Spectroscopy Dead?', as quoted in Steven Chu and Charles H. Townes, 'Arthur Schawlow', Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2003), Vol. 83, 202.
One never knows what remains undiscovered simply because the right equipment is not there at the right time.
— Arthur L. Schawlow
As quoted in T.W. Hänsch, 'From (Incr)edible Lasers to New Spectroscopy', collected in William M. Yen and Marc D. Levenson (eds.), Lasers, Spectroscopy and New Ideas: A Tribute to Arthur L. Schawlow (2013), 6.
The labor of love aspect is important. The most successful scientists are not the most talented. But they are the ones who are impelled by curiosity. They’ve got to know what the answer is.
— Arthur L. Schawlow
As quoted in Andrew Grant and Gaia Grant, Who Killed Creativity?: ...And How Do We Get It Back? (2012).
To do successful research, you don’t need to know everything, you just need to know one thing that isn’t known.
— Arthur L. Schawlow
As quoted in Steven Chu and Charles H. Townes, 'Arthur Schawlow', Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2003), Vol. 83, 7.
See also:
- 5 May - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Schawlow's birth.
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) -- 
