Quotes from Franklin M. Harold

The late Lynn White, a distinguished historian of science, understood just what scientists mean by truth: "It is not a citadel of certainty to be defended against error; it is a shady spot where one eats lunch before tramping on."11

The oceans are thought to contain of the order of 4×1030 viruses, equivalent in mass to 75 million blue whales.

The history of life unfolds over a time span so vast it boggles the imagination. I, for one, can draw no meaning from a million years, let alone a billion, and prefer a geographical metric. Let 1 millimeter, the thickness of a dime, stand for 1 year. Then 1 meter makes a millennium, 1 kilometer 1 million years, and the age of the earth (about 4.5 billion years) spans 4,500 kilometers, a little more than the distance between Miami and Seattle. As

It would be agreeable to conclude this book with a cheery fanfare about science closing in, slowly but surely, on the ultimate mystery; but the time for rosy rhetoric is not yet at hand. The orign of life appear to me as incomprehensible as ever, a matter for wonder but not for explication.