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Scientific progress16 quotes
If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. — Isaac Newton · 1676Finally we shall place the Sun himself at the center of the Universe. All this is suggested by the systematic procession of events and the harmony of the whole Universe, if we only face the facts, as they say, "with both eyes open." — Nicolaus Copernicus · 1543We are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size. — Bernard of Chartres · 1159Facts which at first seem improbable will, even on scant explanation, drop the cloak which has hidden them and stand forth in naked and simple beauty. — Galileo Galilei · 1638Although we are mere sojourners on the surface of the planet, chained to a mere point in space, enduring but for a moment of time, the human mind is not only enabled to number worlds beyond the unassisted ken of mortal eye, but to trace the events of indefinite ages before the creation of our race, and is not even withheld from penetrating into the dark secrets of the ocean, or the interior of the solid globe. — Charles Lyell · 1830Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination. — John Dewey · 1929All 16 quotes →Progress7 quotes
If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. — Isaac Newton · 1676We are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size. — Bernard of Chartres · 1159Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination. — John Dewey · 1929To kill an error is as good a service as, and sometimes even better than, the establishing a new truth or fact. — Charles Darwin · 1879I am convinced that everything that is worth while in the world has been accomplished by the free, inquiring, critical spirit, and that the preservation of this spirit is more important than any social system whatsoever. But the men of ritual and the men of barbarism are capable of shutting up the men of science and of silencing them forever. — Sinclair Lewis · 1935A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it... An important scientific innovation rarely makes its way by gradually winning over and converting its opponents: it rarely happens that Saul becomes Paul. — Max Planck · 1936All 7 quotes →Science4 quotes
As in political revolutions, so in paradigm choice-there is no standard higher than the the assent of the relevant community. To discover how scientific revolutions are effected, we shall therefore have to examine not only the impact of nature and of logic, but also the techniques of persuasive argumentation effective within the quite special groups that constitute the community of scientists. — Thomas Kuhn · 1962To kill an error is as good a service as, and sometimes even better than, the establishing a new truth or fact. — Charles Darwin · 1879I almost think it is the ultimate destiny of science to exterminate the human race. — Thomas Love Peacock · 1860The priest persuades humble people to endure their hard lot; the politician urges them to rebel against it; and the scientist thinks of a method that does away with the hard lot altogether. — Max Perutz · 1989Changing one's mind1 quote
In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken," and then they 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 has happened in politics or religion. — Carl Sagan · 1987Critical thinking1 quote
I am convinced that everything that is worth while in the world has been accomplished by the free, inquiring, critical spirit, and that the preservation of this spirit is more important than any social system whatsoever. But the men of ritual and the men of barbarism are capable of shutting up the men of science and of silencing them forever. — Sinclair Lewis · 1935Imagination1 quote
Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination. — John Dewey · 1929Intellectual freedom1 quote
I am convinced that everything that is worth while in the world has been accomplished by the free, inquiring, critical spirit, and that the preservation of this spirit is more important than any social system whatsoever. But the men of ritual and the men of barbarism are capable of shutting up the men of science and of silencing them forever. — Sinclair Lewis · 1935Intellectual progress1 quote
Facts which at first seem improbable will, even on scant explanation, drop the cloak which has hidden them and stand forth in naked and simple beauty. — Galileo Galilei · 1638Laws of physics1 quote
The more important fundamental laws and facts of physical science have all been discovered, and these are now so firmly established that the possibility of their ever being supplanted in consequence of new discoveries is exceedingly remote. — Albert A. Michelson · 1899Politics1 quote
The priest persuades humble people to endure their hard lot; the politician urges them to rebel against it; and the scientist thinks of a method that does away with the hard lot altogether. — Max Perutz · 1989Religion1 quote
The priest persuades humble people to endure their hard lot; the politician urges them to rebel against it; and the scientist thinks of a method that does away with the hard lot altogether. — Max Perutz · 1989