Ernest Rutherford Quotes

Quotes about:

• Never say, "I tried it once and it did not work."

  Ernest Rutherford

  87 Copy quote

• All of physics is either impossible or trivial. It is impossible until you understand it, and then it becomes trivial.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Science, Engineering, Understanding

  160 Copy quote

• A theory that you can't explain to a bartender is probably no damn good.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Bartender, Theory, Damn

  "The Language of God". Book by Francis Collins, p. 60, 2006.

  76 Copy quote

• When we have found how the nucleus of atoms is built up we shall have found the greatest secret of all — except life. We shall have found the basis of everything — of the earth we walk on, of the air we breathe, of the sunshine, of our physical body itself, of everything in the world, however great or however small — except life.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Sunshine, Air, Secret

  "The Wit and Wisdom of the 20th Century: A Dictionary of Quotations‎". Book by Frank S. Pepper, p. 226, 1987.

  97 Copy quote

• We haven't got the money, so we've got to think.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Business, Science, Thinking

  R. V. Jones in Bulletin of the Institute of Physics (1962) vol. 13, p. 102

  73 Copy quote

• All science is either physics or stamp collecting.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Witty, Humorous, Science

  Quoted in J. B. Birks, Rutherford at Manchester (1962)

  62 Copy quote

• If your experiment needs statistics, you ought to have done a better experiment.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Math, Science, Needs

  Quoted in N.T. Bailey's The Mathematical Approach to Biology and Medicine Chapter 2 (p. 23)

  64 Copy quote

• Gentlemen, we have run out of money. It is time to start thinking.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Running, Thinking, Gentleman

  34 Copy quote

• It was almost as incredible as if you fired a 15-inch shell at a piece of tissue paper and it came back and hit you.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Pieces, Tissue Paper, Shells

  "Rutherford and the Nature of the Atom" by E. N. da C. Andrade, (p. 111), 1964.

  67 Copy quote

• The only possible conclusion the social sciences can draw is: some do, some don't.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Witty, Humorous, Science

  65 Copy quote

• Every good laboratory consists of first rate men working in great harmony to insure the progress of science; but down at the end of the hall is an unsociable, wrong-headed fellow working on unprofitable lines, and in his hands lies the hope of discovery.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Lying, Men, Discovery

  56 Copy quote

• That which is not measurable is not science. That which is not physics is stamp collecting.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Physics, Stamp Collecting, Stamps

  "In Defence of ‘Stamp Collecting’" by Matthew Wale, conscicom.org. June 29, 2017.

  13 Copy quote

• We are rather like children, who must take a watch to pieces to see how it works.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Children, Watches, Pieces

  35 Copy quote

• An alleged scientific discovery has no merit unless it can be explained to a barmaid.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Discovery, Merit, Barmaids

  "Einstein: The Man and His Achievement". Book by Gerald James Whitrow, p. 42, 1973.

  72 Copy quote

• The more physics you have the less engineering you need.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Engineering, Needs, Physics

  33 Copy quote

• Now I know what the atom looks like.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Science, Atoms, Looks

  "Rutherford, Simple Genius". Book by David Wilson, 1983.

  46 Copy quote

• Gentlemen, now you will see that now you see nothing. And why you see nothing you will see presently.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Science, Gentleman

  27 Copy quote

• Should a young scientist working with me come to me after two years of such work and ask me what to do next, I would advise him to get out of science. After two years of work, if a man does not know what to do next, he will never make a real scientist.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Real, Hard Work, Knowledge

  7 Copy quote

• I must confess it was very unexpected and I am very startled at my metamorphosis into a chemist.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Unexpected, Metamorphosis, Chemist

  "Nobel Laureates and Twentieth-Century Physics". Book by Mauro Dardo, p. 69, 2004.

  53 Copy quote

• The energy produced by the breaking down of the atom is a very poor kind of thing. Anyone who expects a source of power from the transformation of these atoms is talking moonshine.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Science, Talking, Energy

  40 Copy quote

• It is essential for men of science to take an interest in the administration of their own affairs or else the professional civil servant will step in - and then the Lord help you.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Men, Essentials, Administration

  16 Copy quote

• I am a great believer in the simplicity of things and as you probably know I am inclined to hang on to broad & simple ideas like grim death until evidence is too strong for my tenacity.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Strong, Science, Simple

  35 Copy quote

• I congratulate you both on a fine piece of work which I am sure will ultimately prove of importance. I am personally very much interested in your results... In the past I have tried a number of experiments... but without any success.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Past, Numbers, Pieces

  7 Copy quote

• You know, I am sorry for the poor fellows that haven't got labs to work in.

  Ernest Rutherford

  Sorry, Science, Labs

  8 Copy quote

• I've just finished reading some of my early papers, and you know, when I'd finished I said to myself, 'Rutherford, my boy, you used to be a damned clever fellow.' (1911)

  Ernest Rutherford

  Clever, Reading, Science

  29 Copy quote

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