Lord Kelvin Quotes - Page 3

Quotes about:

• It is conceivable that animal life might have the attribute of using the heat of surrounding matter, at its natural temperature, as a source of energy for mechanical effect . . . .The influence of animal or vegetable life on matter is infinitely beyond the range of any scientific enquiry hitherto entered on. Its power of directing the motions of moving particles, in the demonstrated daily miracle of our human free-will, and in the growth of generation after generation of plants from a single seed, are infinitely different from any possible result of the fortuitous concurrence of atoms.

  Lord Kelvin

  Moving, Animal, Vegetables

  "The Life of Lord Kelvin, Volume 2" by Silvanus Phillips, (2005 edition, p. 1093), 1910.

  11 Copy quote

• At what time does the dissipation of energy begin?

  Lord Kelvin

  Time, Doe, Energy

  4 Copy quote

• Symmetrical equations are good in their place, but ' vector ' is a useless survival, or offshoot from quaternions, and has never been of the slightest use to any creature.

  Lord Kelvin

  Survival, Use, Vectors

  "A History of Vector Analysis : The Evolution of the Idea of a Vectorial System" by Michael J. Crowe, (p. 120), 1994.

  4 Copy quote

• Fourier's theorem is not only one of the most beautiful results of modern analysis, but it may be said to furnish an indispensable instrument in the treatment of nearly every recondite question in modern physics.

  Lord Kelvin

  Beautiful, Analysis, May

  Lord Kelvin, LL.D., D.C.L., F.R.S. and Peter Guthrie Tait, M.A. (1912). “Elements of Natural Philosophy”

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• There cannot be a greater mistake than that of looking superciliously upon practical applications of science. The life and soul of science is its practical application.

  Lord Kelvin

  Mistake, Soul, Application

  Lecture on "Electrical Units of Measurement" (3 May 1883) in "The Life of Lord Kelvin" by Silvanus Phillips Thompson, 1910.

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• Simplification of modes of proof is not merely an indication of advance in our knowledge of a subject, but is also the surest guarantee of readiness for farther progress.

  Lord Kelvin

  Knowledge, Science, Progress

  Lord Kelvin, LL.D., D.C.L., F.R.S. and Peter Guthrie Tait, M.A. (1912). “Elements of Natural Philosophy”

  7 Copy quote

• The vortex theory [of the atom] is only a dream. Itself unproven, it can prove nothing, and any speculations founded upon it are mere dreams about dreams.

  Lord Kelvin

  Dream, Science, Atoms

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• [Of the ether] it is no greater mystery at all events than the shoemakers' wax.

  Lord Kelvin

  Events, Mystery, Greater

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• [Referring to Fourier's mathematical theory of the conduction of heat] ... Fourier's great mathematical poem.

  Lord Kelvin

  Science, Biographies, Heat

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