Scientific Theory Quotes

• Scientific theory is a contrived foothold in the chaos of living phenomena.

  Wilhelm Reich

  Space, Chaos, Theory

  Wilhelm Reich (1973). “The Discovery of the Orgone”

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• I have come to the conclusion that Darwinism is not a testable scientific theory, but a metaphysical research programme.

  Karl Popper

  Research, Evolution, Metaphysical

  Karl Popper (2005). “Unended Quest: An Intellectual Autobiography”, p.195, Routledge

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• Europe is so well gardened that it resembles a work of art, a scientific theory, a neat metaphysical system. Man has re-created Europe in his own image.

  Aldous Huxley

  Art, Men, Europe

  Aldous Huxley (1956). “The collected works of Aldous Huxley”

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• Our imagination is stretched to the utmost, not, as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really there, but just to comprehend those things which are there.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Real, Science, Imagination

  Richard P. Feynman (2015). “The Quotable Feynman”, p.87, Princeton University Press

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• The greatest discoveries of science have always been those that forced us to rethink our beliefs about the universe and our place in it.

  Robert L. Park

  Math, Science, Discovery

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• To know the history of science is to recognize the mortality of any claim to universal truth.

  Evelyn Fox Keller

  Science, Mortality, Claims

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• A 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.

  Max Planck

  Death, Truth, Growing Up

  Scientific Autobiography, and Other Papers "Scientific Autobiography" (1948) (translation by Frank Gaynor)

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• The great tragedy of science - the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.

  Thomas Huxley

  Beauty, Beautiful, Education

  "Biogenesis and Abiogenesis" (1870)

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• We don't regard any scientific theory as the absolute truth

  Kenneth R. Miller

  Theory, Absolute Truth, Regard

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• One may say the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.

  Albert Einstein

  Love, Life, God

  Albert Einstein (2016). “The Albert Einstein Collection: Essays in Humanism, The Theory of Relativity, and The World As I See It”, p.117, Open Road Media

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• 

  Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.

  Albert Einstein

  Inspirational, Funny, Witty

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• The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage.

  Mark Russell

  Inspirational, Hilarious, Funny Life

  "Frequent Flyer Humor and One-Upmanship". Book by George W. Stewart, Dog Ear Publishing, p. 12, 2011.

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• No particular theory may ever be regarded as absolutely certain.... No scientific theory is sacrosanct.

  Karl Popper

  May, Theory, Certain

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• Scientific theories tell us what is possible; myths tell us what is desirable. Both are needed to guide proper action.

  John Maynard Smith

  Science, Action, Guides

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• A scientific theory is a tool and not a creed.

  Joseph John Thomson

  Tools, Creeds, Theory

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• The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them.

  William Lawrence Bragg

  Knowledge, Learning, Science

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• Reason, observation, and experience; the holy trinity of science.

  Robert Green Ingersoll

  Science, Experience, Scientific Method

  The Gods

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• Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.

  Adam Smith

  Science, Flames, Enthusiasm

  The Wealth of Nations Bk V, Ch. 1

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• Science may be described as the art of systematic over-simplification.

  Karl Popper

  Funny, Art, Crazy

  1982 Quoted in the Observer,1Aug.

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• It is more important to have beauty in one's equations than to have them fit experiment.

  Paul Dirac

  Mathematical Equations, Important, Fit

  "Magic numbers: can maths equations be beautiful?" by Ian Sample, www.theguardian.com. November 21, 2016.

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• Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own.

  Bertrand Russell

  Math, Science, Air

  Bertrand Russell (1993). “The Quotable Bertrand Russell”

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• The more success the quantum theory has, the sillier it looks

  Albert Einstein

  Memorable, Looks, Physics

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• Consensus is invoked only in situations where the science is not solid enough.

  Michael Crichton

  Enough, Skepticism, Situation

  "Aliens Cause Global Warming". Caltech Michelin Lecture, January 17, 2003.

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• A theory which is not refutable by any conceivable event is non-scientific. Irrefutability is not a virtue of a theory (as people often think) but a vice.

  Karl Popper

  Thinking, People, Vices

  Karl Popper (2014). “Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge”, p.48, Routledge

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• You know how it always is, every new idea, it takes a generation or two until it becomes obvious that there's no real problem. It has not yet become obvious to me that there's no real problem. I cannot define the real problem, therefore I suspect there's no real problem, but I'm not sure there's no real problem.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Real, Ideas, Two

  "Simulating Physics with Computers". Richard P. Feynman, "International Journal of Theoretical Physics", Volume 21, 1982.

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