“I liked math - that was my favorite subject - and I was very interested in astronomy and in physical science.”
Science is the long, slow process of replacing "I believe" with "I know." These quotes explore discovery, curiosity, the scientific method, and the awe that comes from understanding even a small piece of how the universe actually works.
“Traditionally, scientists have treated the laws of physics as simply 'given,' elegant mathematical relationships that were somehow imprinted on the universe at its birth, and fixed thereafter. Inquiry into the origin and nature of the laws was not regarded as a proper part of science.”
“I liked math - that was my favorite subject - and I was very interested in astronomy and in physical science.”
“People think of the inventor as a screwball, but no one ever asks the inventor what he thinks of other people.”
“Many of the mainstream agricultural scientists, especially at the agricultural schools, but at all of our major universities, are tied into all sorts of contractual relationships and consulting relationships with the life science companies.”
“In some parts of life, like mathematics and science, yeah, I was a genius. I would top all the top scores you could ever measure it by.”
“Touch a scientist and you touch a child.”
“Science will explain how but not why. It talks about what is, not what ought to be. Science is descriptive, not prescriptive it can tell us about causes but it cannot tell us about purposes. Indeed, science disavows purposes.”
“When people think about computer science, they imagine people with pocket protectors and thick glasses who code all night.”
“That is the essence of science: ask an impertinent question, and you are on the way to a pertinent answer.”
“However far modern science and techniques have fallen short of their inherent possibilities, they have taught mankind at least one lesson nothing is impossible.”
“Science gives us a powerful vocabulary, and it is impossible to produce a vocabulary with which one can only say nice things.”
“I did one sci-fi movie. I did 'Gattaca.' I liked 'Gattaca' because that was always the kind of science fiction I really dug, the non-action oriented sci-fi.”
“There's a lot of interesting words, nomenclatures, in science.”
“I hate facts. I always say the chief end of man is to form general propositions - adding that no general proposition is worth a damn.”
“The artist does not illustrate science (but) he frequently responds to the same interests that a scientist does.”
“The assumption that nature is all there is, and that nature has been governed by the same rules at all times and places, makes it possible for natural science to be confident that it can explain such things as how life began.”