History Memorable quotes in the history of physics

[pines-demon]

This is another follow up in my campaign to have a separate forum for history of science. Similar to my on-going thread Interesting anecdotes in the history of physics? this one would be about specific quotes.

What are some of the memorable quotes said by physicists? [I will allow mathematicians this time]

Here is one by Max Planck:

A new 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.

From Planck (1950), Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers.

 

[fresh_42]

"God made the integers, man made the rest." ~ Leopold Kronecker

 

[phinds]

Attributed variously (partially) to Mark Twain, also (partially) to John Wheeler. Regardless of attribution, it's a great statement

Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once and space is what keeps it all from happening to me.

 

[fresh_42]

"Many people will tell you that an expert is someone who knows a great deal about the subject. To this I would object that one can never know much about any subject. I would much prefer the following definition: an expert is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes that can be made in the subject, and how to avoid them." ~ Werner Heisenberg

 

[Klystron]

"Mr. Watson, come here. I want you."

First known (English) communication by wired telephony. Scientist / engineer Alexander Grahm Bell calls for assistance from lab electrician Thomas Watson, his voice detected and transmitted by a prototype telephone rig. 1876

edit 20250220: added English language to quote as precedence may be murky. Many people experimented with early radio and telephone designs. So, citation may be apocryphal but, nontheless, cool.

 

[fresh_42]

"Mr. Watson, come here. I want you."

First known communication by wired telephony. Scientist / engineer Alexander Grahm Bell calls for assistance from lab electrician Thomas Watson, his voice detected and transmitted by a prototype telephone rig. 1876

More than 10 years late, but I couldn't find what Reis first transmitted.

 

[Klystron]

More than 10 years late, but I couldn't find what Reis first transmitted.

"Maria hatte ein kleines Lamm..."

Joke: Supposedly Thomas Edison's first successful wax recording heard him shouting children's poem, "Mary had a little lamb, whose fleece was white as snow.".

 

[jtbell]

Isidor Isaac Rabi's response to the discovery of the muon, with the same properties as the electron except for a mass about 200x greater:

"Who ever ordered that?"

https://cds.cern.ch/record/1728816/files/vol6-issue8-p152-e.pdf

 

[Hornbein]

That might work in physics, but I dunno about history or medicine.

 

[berkeman]

"Wrong again, Albert." ~Stephen Hawking

Spoiler

from the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Descent”

 

[pines-demon]

Before anybody claims this one:

Das ist nicht nur nicht richtig; es ist nicht einmal falsch!

A classic.

 

[pines-demon]

From Richard Feynman on the inability to teach how to think:

The problem of how to deduce new things from old, and how to solve problems, is really very difficult to teach, and I don’t really know how to do it. I don’t know how to tell you something that will transform you from a person who can’t analyze new situations or solve problems, to a person who can. In the case of the mathematics, I can transform you from somebody who can’t differentiate to somebody who can, by giving you all the rules. But in the case of the physics, I can’t transform you from somebody who can’t to somebody who can, so I don’t know what to do.

From Gottlieb, Leighton, Feynman's Tips on Physics, chap. 2, sec 2.6.

Thanks to @Albertus Magnus.

 

[Albertus Magnus]

"Many people will tell you that an expert is someone who knows a great deal about the subject. To this I would object that one can never know much about any subject. I would much prefer the following definition: an expert is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes that can be made in the subject, and how to avoid them." ~ Werner Heisenberg

"An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field." - Niels Bohr

 

[Albertus Magnus]

"Wir mussen wissen - wir werden wissen!" - David Hilbert
(Translates into English as: "We must know - we will know!")

 

[WernerQH]

Looking at my copy of Adventures of a Mathematician by Stanislav Ulam I just discovered this gem:

The axiomatic approach to physical theories is to physics what grammar is to literature. Such mathematical clarity need not be conceptually crucial for physics.

(p.295)

 

[WernerQH]

It has a similar ring as Feynman's dismissive remark on philosophy of science:

Philosophy of science is probably as useful to scientists as ornithology is for birds.

 

[pines-demon]

How could I forget:

All science is either physics or stamp collecting.

Ernst Rutherford

 

[Hornbein]

How could I forget:

Ernst Rutherford

That one I don't understand.

 

[fresh_42]

How could I forget:
...
Ernst Rutherford

I know a lot of mathematicians who would strongly disagree.

DYK that Rutherford had several signs placed all over his lab saying "speak quietly" because he used to be very loud which annoyed everyone.

 

[pines-demon]

That one I don't understand.

For me it has always meant there are two types of findings, those that require deep analysis and those that are just "findings" like just publishing because you found an odd galactic cluster, or some pink bird, or some new chemical compound, and so on without motivating much on why that is interesting aside from being new.

 

[hutchphd]

"E pur si muove" ​

 

[pines-demon]

"E pur si muove" ​

Lets get the classics out:

Ευρηκα!​

 

[pinball1970]

Common sense, "the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen".

Einstein.

 

[pinball1970]

On the discovery of the positron.

"My equation is cleverer than I am "

Paul Dirac.

 

[fresh_42]

Old Ernesto being British meant ...

???

 

[pines-demon]

Old Ernesto being British meant to scald fellow scientists with his burning wit. "Stamp collecting" may have been a reference to the relatively new fields of statistical and numerical analysis where the action, so to speak, occurs outside a physical laboratory.

IMS IIRC, Isaac Asimov in an essay describes Rutherford's resistance to numerical techniques encroaching on 'actual Physics'. Asimov may have 'named names' of which Rutherford contemporary collected postal stamps as a hobby. I say, let the dead past bury the vitriol with the outsized egos.

How is statistics and numerical calculations post collecting? He clearly is referring to other sciences...

Edit: the quote appears in Rutherford at Manchester by J. B. Birks, and the only other science compared there with physics is chemistry.

 

[martinbn]

???

I guess being from New Zealand makes you kind of british.

 

[Hornbein]

"This idiot race that believes it has free will."
-- Albert Einstein on World War One

 

[martinbn]

By the way he got a Nobel in chemistry. There was a quote, which i don't remember and cannot find, but it goes along the lines that from all transformations of matter that he had studied the most amazing one is how he transformed from a physicist to a chemist.

 

[pines-demon]

By the way he got a Nobel in chemistry. There was a quote, which i don't remember and cannot find, but it goes along the lines that from all transformations of matter that he had studied the most amazing one is how he transformed from a physicist to a chemist.

Quote:

I have dealt with many different transformations with various periods of time, but the quickest that I have met was my own transformation in one moment from a physicist to a chemist. (Nobel banquet)

Source: https://cerncourier.com/a/rutherfords-nobel-prize-and-the-one-he-didnt-get/

 

[hutchphd]

Lets get the classics out:

Well then let us not forget Applied Physics

Oppenheimer:
"Now I am become Death, destroyer of worlds"

Dom Perignon:
"Brothers, I am drinking the stars!"

oopsy : Brothers

 

[marcusl]

This is another follow up in my campaign to have a separate forum for history of science. Similar to my on-going thread Interesting anecdotes in the history of physics? this one would be about specific quotes.

What are some of the memorable quotes said by physicists? [I will allow mathematicians this time]

See also this thread for other quotes:
https://www.physicsforums.com/threa...l-about-the-minds-of-great-scientists.767804/

 

[Hornbein]

Well then let us not forget Applied Physics

Oppenheimer:
"Now I am become Death, destroyer of worlds"

Dom Perignon:
"Bothers, I am drinking the stars!"

?

 

[pines-demon]

Dom Perignon:
"Bothers, I am drinking the stars!"

If I Wikipedia is right, this is apocryphal and was used in advertisements in the 19th century...

 

[hutchphd]

Well that's disappointing.....a high point of monastic culture reduced to a catchphrase. Don Draper actually does rule the world

 

[sbrothy]

Always found this pretty poetic. Also, it establishes perspective.

"The evolution of the world can be compared to a display of fireworks that has just ended: some few red wisps, ashes, and smoke. Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the slow fading of the suns, and we try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."

-- George Lemaître

 

[sbrothy]

This one is worthy of qoutation too... It's about the "demon core" 1946 accident at Los Alamos involving Dr. Louis Slotin. From reading the article I seem to pick up that security was a little lax, but I won't be the judge of that. Pretty dark stuff though...

EDIT:

Forgot the real source of the qoutation:

While he was waiting for death in his hospital room at Los Alamos the authorities issued a special citation which was read to him (Canada's History):

“Dr. Slotin’s quick reaction at the immediate risk of his own life prevented a more serious development of the experiment which would certainly have resulted in the death of the seven men working with him, as well as serious injury to others in the general vicinity. He had that to think about as the darkness closed in.”

 

[pines-demon]

This one is worthy of qoutation too... It's about the "demon core" 1946 accident at Los Alamos involving Dr. Louis Slotin. From reading the article I seem to pick up that security was a little lax, but I won't be the judge of that. Pretty dark stuff though...

EDIT:

Forgot the real source of the qoutation:

While he was waiting for death in his hospital room at Los Alamos the authorities issued a special citation which was read to him (Canada's History):

“Dr. Slotin’s quick reaction at the immediate risk of his own life prevented a more serious development of the experiment which would certainly have resulted in the death of the seven men working with him, as well as serious injury to others in the general vicinity. He had that to think about as the darkness closed in.”

Speaking of this incident, there is also Slotin own first reaction just after having seen the blue light and opened the core:

Well, that does it.

Reference:

• L. Calloway, "Nuclear Naiveté", Albuquerque Journal (1995)

as remembered by his colleague Raemer Schreiber

 

[sbrothy]

Yeah sorry. Don't know what happened. It got posted before I found the real source. I have to stay away from those public computers. I have no idea what the people setting them up was thinking when they did it. I mean what possible security hole do they think they closed by disabling copy/paste?

Anyway, thank you.

 

[sbrothy]

Speaking of this incident, there is also Slotin own first reaction just after having seen the blue light and opened the core:

Reference:

• L. Calloway, "Nuclear Naiveté", Albuquerque Journal (1995)

as remembered by his colleague Raemer Schreiber

"Well that does it."

Reminds me of this quote (which I don't know the source of):

"Succint is verbose for terse."

"Laconic" might fit in there too. :P

 

[sbrothy]

Always found this pretty poetic. Also, it establishes perspective.

"The evolution of the world can be compared to a display of fireworks that has just ended: some few red wisps, ashes, and smoke. Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the slow fading of the suns, and we try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."

-- George Lemaître

In general, I think George Lemaître is very quotable, and had a unique perspective with his theological approach to physics. I'm an atheist myself. I think that when we die it's like turning off a light switch; eternal oblivion, but I appreciate a little metaphysics in my ontology.

 

[fresh_42]

In general, I think George Lemaître is very quotable, and had a unique perspective with his theological approach to physics. I'm an atheist myself. I think that when we die it's like turning off a light switch; eternal oblivion, but I appreciate a little metaphysics in my ontology.

"Should a priest reject relativity because it contains no authoritative exposition on the doctrine of the Trinity? Once you realize that the Bible does not purport to be a textbook of science, the old controversy between religion and science vanishes . . . The doctrine of the Trinity is much more abstruse than anything in relativity or quantum mechanics; but, being necessary for salvation, the doctrine is stated in the Bible. If the theory of relativity had also been necessary for salvation, it would have been revealed to Saint Paul or to Moses." ~ Georges Lemaitre

 

[BillTre]

"Should a priest reject relativity because it contains no authoritative exposition on the doctrine of the Trinity? Once you realize that the Bible does not purport to be a textbook of science, the old controversy between religion and science vanishes . . . The doctrine of the Trinity is much more abstruse than anything in relativity or quantum mechanics; but, being necessary for salvation, the doctrine is stated in the Bible. If the theory of relativity had also been necessary for salvation, it would have been revealed to Saint Paul or to Moses." ~ Georges Lemaitre

Not an unreasonable approach. However, I'm not religious in any way.
It is not an outlook that blocks communication with those with contrary opinions.

About a year ago one of my best friends died. He was such a case. We had very similar interests except he was religious, went to church and sang in choirs.
Sometimes we discussed religion related issues like what happens when you die and how life was initiated as well as a lot of normal scientific issues. These were fun discussions.

 

[Hornbein]

"If the theory of relativity had also been necessary for salvation, it would have been revealed to Saint Paul or to Moses."

Heaven would then be occupied solely by physics PhDs. It would be a lot like PhysicsForums. Reader may judge whether this would be an improvement.

I once tried to read the doctrine of the Trinity. It is truly abstruse. I got the impression it was constructed by a committee who wanted to show respect for everyone's views. If no one could understand the doctrine then no one could be offended by it. It's kind of clever....

CJ Jung wrote that he couldn't understand it. He hoped that when he received his first Communion his clergyman father would reveal the truth. But Dad said, "Sorry son, I never was able to understand the doctrine of the Trinity."

It is a fact of human psychology that belief in this doctrine that no one understood was considered critically important. This is proof that in human society it is of no importance to understand what you believe in. Your true role is to pretend that you believe in it. So I suppose the way it would work is that when Saint Peter at the gates of Heaven asks whether you believe in relativity you just bow your head and say "Yes, by all that is holy."

For such disbelief Isaac Newton was in danger of losing his chair at Trinity College. Other noted disbelievers included George Washington -- who wisely kept quiet about this and kept attending Trinity Church -- Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln.

 

[pines-demon]

The game of science is, in principle, without end. He who decides one day that scientific statements do not call for any further test, and that they can be regarded as finally verified, retires from the game.

• Karl Popper, Ch. 2 "On the Problem of a Theory of Scientific Method", Section XI: Methodological Rules as Conventions, The Logic of Scientific Discovery

 

[fresh_42]

• Karl Popper, Ch. 2 "On the Problem of a Theory of Scientific Method", Section XI: Methodological Rules as Conventions

I have this book, and it contains a facsimile (plus a fair copy, since Einstein had terrible handwriting) with a letter from Einstein as a response to Popper's book. There is an interesting comment about quantum physics:

In my opinion, the current, essentially statistical description [of quantum physics, ed.] is only a transitional stage.

Einstein was definitely no friend of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle!

Edit: I think it is the same book, but I'm not sure. Mine is "Logik der Forschung" (Logic of Resaerch). And I was surprised that Einstein didn't use Sütterlin.

 

[pines-demon]

Arhur Eddington:

The law that entropy always increases, holds, I think, the supreme position among the laws of Nature. If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell's equations — then so much the worse for Maxwell's equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation — well, these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation.

The Nature of the Physical World (1928)

 

[sbrothy]

Stumbled across this one by Friedrich Gauss. It kinda reveals his view on philosophy:

"When a philosopher says something that is true then it is trivial. When he says something that is not trivial then it is false."
---- Friedrich Gauss

Brought a little smile to my face.

 

[sbrothy]

This one by David Hilbert perhaps reveals that he lived in another, maybe more simple, time:

"A mathematical theory is not to be considered complete until you have made it so clear that you can explain it to the first man whom you meet on the street."
---- David Hilbert (1862-1943)

I'd like to see him explain the Standard Model, or "just" QED or QCD to even a smart John or Jane Doe. I suspect it would end in frustration, if not outright violence.

EDIT:

@martinbn pointed out, rightly, that these are not mathematical theories, so... bad examples I guess. Thanks @martinbn

 

[sbrothy]

Not an unreasonable approach. However, I'm not religious in any way.
It is not an outlook that blocks communication with those with contrary opinions.

About a year ago one of my best friends died. He was such a case. We had very similar interests except he was religious, went to church and sang in choirs.
Sometimes we discussed religion related issues like what happens when you die and how life was initiated as well as a lot of normal scientific issues. These were fun discussions.

Yeah, it's not impossible to have a good exchange with a religious person, but talking to some of them is like discussing reality with a psychotic. Which reminds me of this qoute:

"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and wont change the subject."
---- Winston Churchill

Not a physics one, I know, but kinda applicable anyway. Sadly I might say.

And now I'm on the non-physics ones this one is my absolute favorite:

"
-- You Sir, will either die upon the gallows or of a social disease.
-- That depends, Sir, on whether I embrace your principles or your mistress.
"

This one's been attributed to so many people I'm not sure who's the correct one. See e.g.:

Origin of above quote