Looking for source of cosmology/astrophysics quote

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The discussion centers around a search for the origin of a quote about the universe, which is recalled as "We discover things about the universe we can no longer even imagine," possibly attributed to a Russian astrophysicist from the 1920s or 1930s. Participants mention Richard Feynman's similar sentiment from a 1950s lecture, emphasizing the limitations of human imagination in understanding nature. J.S. Haldane's quote about the universe being queerer than we can suppose is also referenced as a potential alternative. The original poster expresses a desire to locate the specific Feynman lecture that may contain the quote they remember. The conversation highlights the challenges of accurately recalling and sourcing quotes in the context of scientific discussions.
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For a neuroscience book I am writing, I am looking for the person who first said/wrote the following quote: "We discover things about the universe we can no longer even imagine." THIS MAY NOT BE THE EXACT QUOTE, BUT ONLY HOW I RECALL IT FROM ABOUT TEN YEARS AGO. I think it was from a Russian astrophysicist, and I think it was from the 1920s or 1930s.
 
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Mondo11 said:
For a neuroscience book I am writing, I am looking for the person who first said/wrote the following quote: "We discover things about the universe we can no longer even imagine." THIS MAY NOT BE THE EXACT QUOTE, BUT ONLY HOW I RECALL IT FROM ABOUT TEN YEARS AGO. I think it was from a Russian astrophysicist, and I think it was from the 1920s or 1930s.
I was just watching a Feynman lecture (at Cornell) from around 1950s. He said something like that regarding not just cosmology but nature in general.
Something to the effect that "We discover things about nature that we cannot imagine."
I'm afraid that's not of any use to you---it had a kind of matter-of-fact ring. the tone was not poetical. He then proceeded to explain WHY we weren't prepared to imagine or grasp intuitively the kind of things we were learning about nature. and why this was only to be expected. analogies don't necessarily work over widely different scales.
 
Mondo11 said:
For a neuroscience book I am writing, I am looking for the person who first said/wrote the following quote: "We discover things about the universe we can no longer even imagine." THIS MAY NOT BE THE EXACT QUOTE, BUT ONLY HOW I RECALL IT FROM ABOUT TEN YEARS AGO. I think it was from a Russian astrophysicist, and I think it was from the 1920s or 1930s.

What about a British biologist? J.S. Haldane reportedly said "My own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._B._S._Haldane

I use this (supposed) quote a lot.
 
Marcus, Well, that quote of Feynman's may be what I am recalling. Can you tell me where to find the lecture?
 
Mondo11 said:
Marcus, Well, that quote of Feynman's may be what I am recalling. Can you tell me where to find the lecture?

I can't pinpoint it. The day I encountered it, I started by watching this Feynman talk:

and it could be in that one, in the last half or third of the talk.
But that same day I also sampled others of the same series of talks which Youtube provides links to in the margin. I may not be able to find it again without an unreasonable effort. I'll give it a try, time permitting.
 
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Thank you, Marcus. I shall take it from here. I always enjoy watching Feynman.
 

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