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Home > Dictionary of Science Quotations > Scientist Names Index W > Warren Weaver Quotes

Warren Weaver
(17 Jul 1894 - 24 Nov 1978)

American scientist who pioneered in machine translation and stimulated support for science in the U.S. Former chairman, American Association for the Advancement of Science.


Science Quotes by Warren Weaver (7 quotes)

Among the studies to which the [Rockefeller] Foundation is giving support is a series in a relatively new field, which may be called molecular biology, in which delicate modern techniques are being used to investigate ever more minute details of certain life processes.
— Warren Weaver
In 'Molecular Biology', Annual Report of the Rockefeller Foundation (1938), 203-4. Reprinted in a letter to Science (6 Nov 1970), 170, 582.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Biology (232)  |  Call (781)  |  Certain (557)  |  Delicate (45)  |  Detail (150)  |  Field (378)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Life (1870)  |  Minute (129)  |  Modern (402)  |  Molecular Biology (27)  |  More (2558)  |  New (1273)  |  Process (439)  |  Series (153)  |  Study (701)  |  Support (151)  |  Technique (84)

Beadle believed that genetics were inseparable from chemistry—more precisely, biochemistry. They were, he said, “two doors leading to the same room.”
— Warren Weaver
In Warren Weaver, Science and Imagination (1967), xii. Quoted in Thomas Hager, Force of Nature: The Life of Linus Pauling (1995), 276.
Science quotes on:  |  George Beadle (9)  |  Biochemistry (50)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Door (94)  |  Genetic (110)  |  Genetics (105)  |  Inseparable (18)  |  More (2558)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Two (936)

Every new discovery of science is a further 'revelation' of the order which God has built into His universe.
— Warren Weaver
Magazine, Look (5 Apr 1955), 30.
Science quotes on:  |  Building (158)  |  Discovery (837)  |  God (776)  |  New (1273)  |  Order (638)  |  Revelation (51)  |  Universe (900)

Science is not gadgetry. The desirable adjuncts of modern living, although in many instances made possible by science, certainly do not constitute science. Basic scientific knowledge often (but not always) is a prerequisite to such developments, but technology primarily deserves the credit for having the financial courage, the ingenuity, and the driving energy to see to it that so-called ‘pure knowledge’ is in fact brought to the practical service of man. And it should also be recognized that those who have the urge to apply knowledge usefully have themselves often made significant contribution to pure knowledge and have even more often served as a stimulation to the activities of a pure researcher.
— Warren Weaver
Warren Weaver (1894–1978), U.S. mathematician, scientist, educator. Science and Imagination, ch. 1, Basic Books (1967).
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Adjunct (3)  |  Apply (170)  |  Basic (144)  |  Bring (95)  |  Call (781)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Contribution (93)  |  Courage (82)  |  Credit (24)  |  Deserve (65)  |  Desirable (33)  |  Development (441)  |  Do (1905)  |  Drive (61)  |  Driving (28)  |  Energy (373)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Financial (5)  |  Ingenuity (42)  |  Instance (33)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Man (2252)  |  Modern (402)  |  More (2558)  |  Often (109)  |  Possible (560)  |  Practical (225)  |  Prerequisite (9)  |  Primarily (12)  |  Pure (299)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Researcher (36)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Knowledge (11)  |  See (1094)  |  Serve (64)  |  Service (110)  |  Significant (78)  |  So-Called (71)  |  Stimulation (18)  |  Technology (281)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Urge (17)

Science tries to answer the question: ‘How?’ How do cells act in the body? How do you design an airplane that will fly faster than sound? How is a molecule of insulin constructed? Religion, by contrast, tries to answer the question: ‘Why?’ Why was man created? Why ought I to tell the truth? Why must there be sorrow or pain or death? Science attempts to analyze how things and people and animals behave; it has no concern whether this behavior is good or bad, is purposeful or not. But religion is precisely the quest for such answers: whether an act is right or wrong, good or bad, and why.
— Warren Weaver
Science and Imagination, ch. 4, Basic Books (1967).
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Airplane (43)  |  Analyze (12)  |  Animal (651)  |  Answer (389)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Bad (185)  |  Behave (18)  |  Behavior (95)  |  Body (557)  |  Cell (146)  |  Concern (239)  |  Construct (129)  |  Contrast (45)  |  Create (245)  |  Death (406)  |  Design (203)  |  Do (1905)  |  Fast (49)  |  Faster (50)  |  Fly (153)  |  Good (906)  |  Insulin (9)  |  Man (2252)  |  Molecule (185)  |  Must (1525)  |  Pain (144)  |  People (1031)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Purposeful (2)  |  Quest (39)  |  Question (649)  |  Religion (369)  |  Right (473)  |  Sorrow (21)  |  Sound (187)  |  Tell (344)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Try (296)  |  Why (491)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wrong (246)

The century of biology upon which we are now well embarked is no matter of trivialities. It is a movement of really heroic dimensions, one of the great episodes in man’s intellectual history. The scientists who are carrying the movement forward talk in terms of nucleo-proteins, of ultracentrifuges, of biochemical genetics, of electrophoresis, of the electron microscope, of molecular morphology, of radioactive isotopes. But do not be misled by these horrendous terms, and above all do not be fooled into thinking this is mere gadgetry. This is the dependable way to seek a solution of the cancer and polio problems, the problems of rheumatism and of the heart. This is the knowledge on which we must base our solution of the population and food problems. This is the understanding of life.
— Warren Weaver
Letter to H. M. H. Carsan (17 Jun 1949). Quoted in Raymond B. Fosdick, The Story of the Rockefeller Foundation (1952), 166.
Science quotes on:  |  Base (120)  |  Biochemistry (50)  |  Biology (232)  |  Cancer (61)  |  Century (319)  |  Dimension (64)  |  Do (1905)  |  Electron (96)  |  Electron Microscope (3)  |  Electrophoresis (2)  |  Food (213)  |  Fool (121)  |  Forward (104)  |  Gadget (3)  |  Genetic (110)  |  Great (1610)  |  Heart (243)  |  History (716)  |  Horrendous (2)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Isotope (4)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Matter (821)  |  Microscope (85)  |  Morphology (22)  |  Movement (162)  |  Must (1525)  |  Overpopulation (6)  |  Polio (8)  |  Population (115)  |  Problem (731)  |  Protein (56)  |  Radioactive (24)  |  Rheumatism (3)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Seek (218)  |  Solution (282)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Way (1214)

We keep, in science, getting a more and more sophisticated view of our essential ignorance.
— Warren Weaver
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Essential (210)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Keep (104)  |  More (2558)  |  Sophisticated (16)  |  View (496)


See also:
  • 17 Jul - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Weaver's birth.

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
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