Quotes About Science

Vigorous criticism is more constructive in science than in some other areas of human endeavor because in science there are adequate standards of validity that can be agreed upon by competent practitioners the world over. The objective of such criticism is not to suppress but rather to encourage the advance of new ideas: those that survive a firm skeptical scrutiny have a fighting chance of being right, or at least useful.

When we look up at night and view the stars, everything we see is shining because of distant nuclear fusion. In

the extraordinary should certainly be pursued. But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

There is an established framework in which any scientist can prove another wrong and make sure everyone else knows about it.

If we offer too much silent assent about mysticism and superstition - even when it seems to be doing a little good - we abet a general climate in which skepticism is considered impolite, science tiresome, and rigorous thinking somehow stuffy and inappropriate.

Dedicarle tiempo a la física es un lujo —le comentó a Ellie—. Mucha gente podría hacer lo mismo si contara con iguales oportunidades, pero si tenemos que recorrer las calles en busca de comida, no nos quedará tiempo para la física. Mi obligación, por lo tanto, es mejorar las condiciones para los jóvenes científicos de mi país.

According to some estimates, almost half the scientists and high technologists on Earth are employed full- or part-time on military matters.

Scientists, being primates, and thus given to dominance hierarchies, of course do not always follow this commandment.)

One of the great commandments of science is, "Mistrust arguments from authority." (

Einstein had been fascinated by Bernstein's People's Book of Natural Science, a popularization of science that described on its very first page the astonishing speed of electricity through wires and light through space. He wondered what the world would look like if you could travel on a wave of light. To travel at the speed of light? What an engaging and magical thought for a boy on the road in a countryside dappled and rippling in sunlight.

reject the notion that science is by its nature secretive. Its culture and ethos are, and for very good reason, collective, collaborative, and communicative.

In addition, science is a delight; evolution has arranged that we take pleasure in understanding - those who understand are more likely to survive.

If scientists can be fooled on the question of the simple interpretation of straightforward data of the sort that they are routinely obtaining from other kinds of astronomical objects, when the stakes are high, when the emotional predispositions are working, what must be the situation where the evidence is much weaker, where the will to believe is much greater, where the skeptical scientific tradition has hardly made a toehold - namely, in the area of religion?

Being freed from superstition isn't enough for science to grow. One must also have the idea of interrogating Nature, of doing experiments.

All our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike—and yet it is the most precious thing we have. ALBERT EINSTEIN

la certeza absoluta siempre se nos escapará.

Cada vez que un estudio científico presenta algunos datos, va acompañado de un margen de error: un recordatorio discreto pero insistente de que ningún conocimiento es completo o perfecto.

All our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike—and yet it is the most precious thing we have. ALBERT EINSTEIN (1879–1955)

democracy can also be subverted more thoroughly through the products of science than any pre-industrial demagogue ever dreamed.

Uno de los grandes mandamientos de la ciencia es: «Desconfía de los argumentos que proceden de la autoridad».

A God of the Gaps is assigned responsibility for what we do not yet understand.

Longevity is perhaps the best single measure of the physical quality of life. (If you're dead, there's little you can do to be happy.) This is a precious offering from science to humanity -nothing less than the gift of life.

La búsqueda de configuraciones sin análisis crítico y la ostentación de un rígido escepticismo sin la búsqueda de configuraciones son las antípodas de una ciencia incompleta. La búsqueda efectiva del saber requiere la concurrencia de ambas funciones.

There is nothing which can better deserve our patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness. GEORGE WASHINGTON, address to Congress, January 8, 1790