Quotes About Physics

My earlier exposure to physics certainly helped me in the use of biophysical techniques like crystallography, the use of computing, calculations, etc.

In subjects that physicists think of as purely quantum, classical ideas and classical computational techniques can often be powerful.

The drawing teacher has this problem of communicating how to draw by osmosis and not by instruction, while the physics teacher has the problem of always teaching techniques, rather than the spirit, of how to go about solving physical problems.

The universe is governed by science. But science tells us that we can't solve the equations, directly in the abstract.

Physics tells us observations can't be predicted absolutely. Rather, there's a range of possible observations each with a different probability.

What physics tells us is that everything comes down to geometry and the interactions of elementary particles. And things can happen only if these interactions are perfectly balanced.

When a liquid boils, the temperature has been raised to such a pitch that the evaporating molecules are sufficient in number and speed to lift off the air from the surface of the liquid and push it back en masse.

Modern low temperature physics began with the liquefaction of helium by Kamerlingh Onnes and the discovery of superconductivity at the University of Leiden in the early part of the 20th century.

Among physicists and chemists, cold fusion - nuclear fusion at close to room temperature - enjoys a reputation about on par with creationism.

By definition, you can't experience your own death. Death is the end of consciousness. And consciousness persists. In the language of physics, consciousness is conserved. I am the one who wakes up in the morning. Always. Every morning. I don't die. I just become increasingly unlikely.

Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism is generally studied only by advanced students of physics, but Albert had mastered it by the time he was sixteen years old.

There are very few particles, if any, which are entirely real. They almost all have some virtual aspects, though some are more virtual than others.

The thing that you must remember about energy is that it is conserved , which is to say that there is always the same amount of it. It may convert from one form or another but the total amount is always the same.

The vacuum is not completely empty, but is aseething mass of . . . short-lived particles.

If a particle wants to have mass then it must find the energy to support it somehow. If it has any energy left over then it can use it to do other things. Not all particles bother with mass.

Light is not a smooth continuous stream. It is made up of a lot of quanta , little packettes of energy, so that the flow of light is lumpy. These quanta, or particles, of light are called photons. Practically everything comes in quantum of some size. This gives quantum physics its name, you know.

Empty space" is, in fact, a seething brew of particle-antiparticle pairs.

If you don't have any observation to show which hole the electrons go through, them you get interference between the effects of the two holes. If you do observe the electrons, then you find that indeed they are in one place or the other, not both, but in that case they also act as you would expect if they had come through one hole only and you do not get any interference. The problem is that there is no way in which you can look at the electrons without disturbing them. . . .

Many of today's foremost Russian mobsters have Ph.D.'s in mathematics, engineering, or physics, helping them to acquire an expertise in advanced encryption and computer technology.

God was the programmer. The laws of physics and the fundamental constants were the source code.

the fifth force is a repulsive one that operates over extremely long distances.

If by following Pannenberg we believe that the eschaton, as "now" and "future," has already appeared proleptically in the events of Easter while yet remaining still to come, we might expect that the universe already has a more complex topology than that of ordinary spacetime in which simple worldlines trace out the history of particles. We might even expect to find hints of this more complex topology prefigured within the theories of physics and cosmology.

The conclusion of both modern physics and depth psychology is that things are not what they seem. What we experience as normal reality—about ourselves and nature—is only the tip of an iceberg that arises out of an unfathomable abyss. Knowledge of this hidden realm is the province of the Magician, and it is through the Magician energy that we will come to understand our lives with a degree of profundity not dreamed of for at least a thousand years of Western history.

If I'm in an elevator and it starts to fall to the bottom of the shaft, can I jump up at the last instant and cancel the impact?