Arthur Eddington Quotes

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Quotes About Arthur Eddington

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Let us suppose that an ichthyologist is exploring the life of the ocean. He casts a net into the water and brings up a fishy assortment. Surveying his catch, he proceeds in the usual manner of a scientist to systematize what it reveals. He arrives at two generalizations:
(1) No sea-creature is less than two inches long.
(2) All sea-creatures have gills.
These are both true of his catch, and he assumes tentatively that they will remain true however often he repeats it. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
The helium which we handle must have been put together at some time and some place. We do not argue with the critic who urges that the stars are not hot enough for this process; we tell him to go and find a hotter place. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
Unless the structure of the nucleus has a surprise in store for us, the conclusion seems plain-there is nothing in the whole system if laws of physics that cannot be deduced unambiguously from epistemological considerations. An intelligence, unacquainted with our universe, but acquainted with the system of thought by which the human mind interprets to itself the contents of its sensory experience, and should be able to attain all the knowledge of physics that we have attained by experiment. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
A hundred thousand million Stars make one Galaxy; A hundred thousand million Galaxies make one Universe. The figures may not be very trustworthy, but I think they give a correct impression. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
Something unknown is doing we don't know what-that is what our theory amounts to. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
Observation and theory get on best when they are mixed together, both helping one another in the pursuit of truth. It is a good rule not to put overmuch confidence in a theory until it has been confirmed by observation. I hope I shall not shock the experimental physicists too much if I add that it is also a good rule not to put overmuch confidence in the observational results that are put forward until they have been confirmed by theory. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
There once was a brainy baboon,
Who always breathed down a bassoon,
For he said, It appears
That in billions of years
I shall certainly hit on a tune. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
Science is one thing, wisdom is another. Science is an edged tool, with which men play like children, and cut their own fingers. If you look at the results which science has brought in its train, you will find them to consist almost wholly in elements of mischief. See how much belongs to the word "Explosion" alone, of which the ancients knew nothing. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
Human life is proverbially uncertain; few things are more certain than the solvency of a life-insurance company. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
There is only one law of Nature-the second law of thermodynamics-which recognises a distinction between past and future more profound than the difference of plus and minus. It stands aloof from all the rest ... It opens up a new province of knowledge, namely, the study of organisation; and it is in connection with organisation that a direction of time-flow and a distinction between doing and undoing appears for the first time. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
Time goes forward because energy itself is always moving from an available to an unavailable state. Our consciousness is continually recording the entropy change in the world around us. We watch our friends get old and die. We sit next to a fire and watch it's red-hot embers turn slowly into cold white ashes. We experience the world always changing around us, and that experience is the unfolding of the second law. It is the irreversible process of dissipation of energy in the world. What does it mean to say, 'The world is running out of time'? Simply this: we experience the passage of time by the succession of one event after another. And every time an event occurs anywhere in this world energy is expended and the overall entropy is increased. To say the world is running out of time then, to say the world is running out of usable energy. In the words of Sir Arthur Eddington, 'Entropy is time's arrow'. ~ Jeremy Rifkin
Arthur Eddington quotes by Jeremy Rifkin
For the truth of the conclusions of physical science, observation is the supreme Court of Appeal. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
If I let my fingers wander idly over the keys of a typewriter it might happen that my screed made an intelligible sentence. If an army of monkeys were strumming on typewriters they might write all the books in the British Museum. The chance of their doing so is decidedly more favourable than the chance of the molecules returning to one half of the vessel. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
You cannot disturb the tiniest petal of a flower without the troubling of a distant star. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
Sir Arthur Eddington summed up the situation brilliantly in his book The Nature of the Physical World, published in 1929. "No familiar conceptions can be woven around the electron," he said, and our best description of the atom boils down to "something unknown is doing we don't know what". ~ John Gribbin
Arthur Eddington quotes by John Gribbin
A third reason scientists are reluctant to examine paranormal phenomena is that they appear to contradict known physical laws. What is the point of studying the impossible? Only a fool would waste his time. The problem of data in conflict with existing theory cannot be overstated. Arthur Eddington once said you should never believe any experiment until it has been confirmed by theory, but this humorous view has a reality that cannot be discounted. ~ Michael Crichton
Arthur Eddington quotes by Michael Crichton
Whatever else there may be in our nature, responsibility toward truth is one of its attributes. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
I ask you to look both ways. For the road to a knowledge of the stars leads through the atom; and important knowledge of the atom has been reached through the stars. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
Falling in love is one of the activities forbidden that tiresome person, the consistently reasonable man. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
Never accept a fact until it has been verified by theory. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
The pursuit of truth in science transcends national boundaries. It takes us beyond hatred and anger and fear. It is the best of us. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
[In high school] my interests outside my academic work were debating, tennis, and to a lesser extent, acting. I became intensely interested in astronomy and devoured the popular works of astronomers such as Sir Arthur Eddington and Sir James Jeans, from which I learnt that a knowledge of mathematics and physics was essential to the pursuit of astronomy. This increased my fondness for those subjects. ~ Allan McLeod Cormack
Arthur Eddington quotes by Allan McLeod Cormack
In Einstein's theory of relativity the observer is a man who sets out in quest of truth armed with a measuring-rod. In quantum theory he sets out with a sieve. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
The word reality frightens me. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
Oh leave the Wise our measures to collate. One thing at least is certain, light has weight. One thing is certain and the rest debate. Light rays, when near the Sun, do not go straight. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
It is a primitive form of thought that things exist or do not exist. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
In any attempt to bridge the domains of experience belonging to the spiritual and physical sides of nature, time occupies the key position. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
What we makes of the world must be largely dependent on the sense-organs that we happen to possess. How the world must have changed since the man came to rely on his eyes rather than his nose. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
Probably the simplest hypothesis ... is that there may be a slow process of annihilation of matter. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
Who will observe the observers? ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
[When thinking about the new relativity and quantum theories] I have felt a homesickness for the paths of physical science where there are ore or less discernible handrails to keep us from the worst morasses of foolishness. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
When an investigator has developed a formula which gives a complete representation of the phenomena within a certain range, he may be prone to satisfaction. Would it not be wiser if he should say 'Foiled again! I can find out no more about Nature along this line.' ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
To the pure geometer the radius of curvature is an incidental characteristic - like the grin of the Cheshire cat. To the physicist it is an indispensable characteristic. It would be going too far to say that to the physicist the cat is merely incidental to the grin. Physics is concerned with interrelatedness such as the interrelatedness of cats and grins. In this case the "cat without a grin" and the "grin without a cat" are equally set aside as purely mathematical phantasies. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
It will be noticed that the fundamental theorem proved above bears some remarkable resemblances to the second law of thermodynamics. Both are properties of populations, or aggregates, true irrespective of the nature of the units which compose them; both are statistical laws; each requires the constant increase of a measurable quantity, in the one case the entropy of a physical system and in the other the fitness, measured by m, of a biological population. As in the physical world we can conceive the theoretical systems in which dissipative forces are wholly absent, and in which the entropy consequently remains constant, so we can conceive, though we need not expect to find, biological populations in which the genetic variance is absolutely zero, and in which fitness does not increase. Professor Eddington has recently remarked that 'The law that entropy always increases - the second law of thermodynamics - holds, I think, the supreme position among the laws of nature'. It is not a little instructive that so similar a law should hold the supreme position among the biological sciences. While it is possible that both may ultimately be absorbed by some more general principle, for the present we should note that the laws as they stand present profound differences - -(1) The systems considered in thermodynamics are permanent; species on the contrary are liable to extinction, although biological improvement must be expected to occur up to the end of their existence. (2) Fitness, alth ~ Ronald A. Fisher
Arthur Eddington quotes by Ronald A. Fisher
It is sound judgment to hope that in the not too distant future we shall be competent to understand so simple a thing as a star. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
Shuffling is the only thing which Nature cannot undo. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
But it is necessary to insist more strongly than usual that what I am putting before you is a model-the Bohr model atom-because later I shall take you to a profounder level of representation in which the electron instead of being confined to a particular locality is distributed in a sort of probability haze all over the atom. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
On one occasion when [William] Smart found him engrossed with his fundamental theory, he asked Eddington how many people he thought would understand what he was writing-after a pause came the reply, 'Perhaps seven.' ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
Our ultimate analysis of space leads us not to a "here" and a "there," but to an extension such as that which relates "here" and "there." To put the conclusion rather crudely-space is not a lot of points close together; it is a lot of distances interlocked. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
We have found that where science has progressed the farthest, the mind has but regained from nature that which the mind put into nature. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
There was a time when we wanted to be told what an electron is. The question was never answered. No familiar conceptions can be woven around the electron; it belongs to the waiting list. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
Time is the supreme Law of nature. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
It is one thing for the human mind to extract from the phenomena of nature the laws which it has itself put into them; it may be a far harder thing to extract laws over which it has no control. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
Every body continues in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line, except insofar as it doesn't. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
Proof is an idol before which the mathematician tortures himself. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
It is also a good rule not to put overmuch confidence in the observational results that are put forward until they are confirmed by theory. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
The universe will finally become a ball of radiation, becoming more and more rarified and passing into longer and longer wave-lengths. The longest waves of radiation are Hertzian waves of the kind used in broadcasting. About every 1500 million years this ball of radio waves will double in diameter; and it will go on expanding in geometrical progression for ever. Perhaps then I may describe the end of the physical world as-one stupendous broadcast. ~ Arthur Eddington
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Eddington
Ninety-eight per cent of laughter is nothing to do with jokes, which do not deserve to bear the weight of all the funny stuff in the world. ~ Arthur Smith
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Smith
What is becoming more interesting than the myths themselves has been the study of how the myths were constructed from sparse or unpromising facts indeed, sometimes from no facts in a kind of mute conspiracy of longing, very rarely under anybody's conscious control. ~ Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur C. Clarke
If I was whisked away ... I think I could put up with anything, except not seeing the Australian landscape. It would be a torture to have it cut off. ~ Arthur Boyd
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Boyd
The Queen, bless her heart, has cultivated procrastination to a degree which is really an art
when one is vexed, as I fear I often am, one should recall that the Bowes Lyons are the laziest family in the world. Against this reflection it becomes remarkable that she accomplishes so much. ~ Arthur Penn
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Penn
He was still prepared to go on collecting all that life could offer, like a chambered nautilus patiently adding new cells to its slowly expanding spiral. ~ Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur C. Clarke
As long as man remains an inquiring animal, there can never be a complete unanimity in our fundamental beliefs. The more diverse our paths, the greater is likely to be the divergence of beliefs. ~ Arthur Keith
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Keith
I care not how humble your bookshelf may be, or how lonely the room which it adorns. Close the door of that room behind you, shut off with it all the cares of the outer world, plunge back into the soothing company of the great dead, and then you are through the magic portal into that fair land whither worry and vexation can follow you no more. You have left all that is vulgar and all that is sordid behind you. There stand your noble, silent comrades, waiting in their ranks. Pass your eye down their files. Choose your man. And then you have but to hold up your hand to him and away you go together into dreamland ~ Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Hold on to your sense of wonder; if you do not have a sufficiently strong one, then develop it. For me, it is the most precious resource in the world. ~ Arthur Silber Jr.
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Silber Jr.
In this universe the night was falling; the shadows were lengthening towards an east that would not know another dawn. But elsewhere the stars were still young and the light of morning lingered; and along the path he once had followed, Man would one day go again. ~ Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur C. Clarke
To every man there openeth a way, and ways, and a way. And the high soul climbs the high way, and the low soul gropes the low. And in between, on the misty flats, the rest drift to and fro. But to every man there openeth a high way and a low, and every man decideth the way his soul shall go ... ~ William Arthur Dunkerley
Arthur Eddington quotes by William Arthur Dunkerley
Every branch of human knowledge, if traced up to its source and final principles, vanishes into mystery. ~ Arthur Machen
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Machen
I want the situations and plots to be surprising and unusual. ~ Arthur Bradford
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Bradford
Lourdes was an intoxicating place. I remember thinking that it was probably what Las Vegas would have been like if casinos and nightclubs had been replaced by Catholicism. ~ Arthur Matthews
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Matthews
All art is a form of artifice.For in art there can be no prejudices. ~ Arthur Symons
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Symons
Two Chinamen visiting Europe went to the theatre for the first time. One of them occupied himself with trying to understand the theatrical machinery, which he succeeded in doing. The other, despite his ignorance of the language, sought to unravel the meaning of the play. The former is like the astronomer, the latter the philosopher. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Schopenhauer
You write not for children but for yourself. And if by good fortune children enjoy what you enjoy, why then you are a writer of children's books. ~ Arthur Ransome
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Ransome
A mistake would have been fatal."
-Sherlock Holmes- ~ Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Conan Doyle
But in the meantime, as a temporary measure, I hold what I call the doctrine of the jig-saw puzzle. That is: this remarkable occurrence, and that, and the other may be, and usually are, of no significance. Coincidence and chance and unsearchable causes will now and again make clouds that are undeniable fiery dragons, and potatoes that resemble eminent statesmen exactly and minutely in every feature, and rocks that are like eagles and lions. All this is nothing; it is when you get your set of odd shapes and find that they fit into one another, and at last that they are but parts of a large design; it is then that research grows interesting and indeed amazing, it is then that one queer form confirms the other, that the whole plan displayed justifies, corroborates, explains each separate piece. ~ Arthur Machen
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Machen
He had never said as much before, and I must admit that his words gave me keen pleasure, for I had often been piqued by his indifference to my admiration and to the attempts which I had made to give publicity to his methods. I was proud, too, to think that I had so far mastered his system as to apply it in a way which earned his approval. ~ Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Conan Doyle
The person who writes for fools is always sure of a large audience. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Schopenhauer
Riches, one may say, are like sea-water; the more you drink the thirstier you become; and the same is true of fame. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Schopenhauer
It was worth a wound - it was worth many wounds - to know the depth of loyalty and love that lay behind that cold mask. ~ Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Conan Doyle
If two men who were friends in their youth meet again when they are old, after being separated for a life-time, the chief feeling they will have at the sight of each other will be one of complete disappointment at life as a whole; because their thoughts will be carried back to that earlier time when life seemed so fair as it lay spread out before them in the rosy light of dawn, promised so much - and then performed so little. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Schopenhauer
Be influenced by nothing but your clients' interests. Tell them the truth. ~ Arthur C. Nielsen
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur C. Nielsen
I write most of my first drafts on an old manual typewriter, a really old one. It's a big black metal "Woodstock" from about 1920. I try to write everything down at once, in one sitting. The longer stories in this collection are divided up into sections. Each section represents a different sitting, a different idea for the same story. ~ Arthur Bradford
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Bradford
Students and scholars of all kinds and of every age aim, as a rule, only at information, not insight. They make it a point of honour to have information about everything, every stone, plant, battle, or experiment and about all books, collectively and individually. It never occurs to them that information is merely a means to insight, but in itself is of little or no value. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Schopenhauer
It's quite exciting, said Sherlock Holmes, with a yawn. ~ Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Conan Doyle
It is for this
reason that we find that co-existence, which could neither be in
time alone, for time has no contiguity, nor in space alone, for
space has no before, after, or now, ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Schopenhauer
He seems to have declared war on the King's English as well as on the English king. ~ Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Conan Doyle
I always smoke 'ship's' myself," I answered. "That's ~ Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Rascals are always sociable, and the chief sign that a man has any nobility in his character is the little pleasure he takes in others company. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Schopenhauer
The roads that lead man to knowledge are as wondrous as that knowledge itself. ~ Arthur Koestler
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Koestler
Honour is external conscience, and conscience is inward honour. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Schopenhauer
They could not eat it, and it could not eat them; therefore it was not important. ~ Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur C. Clarke
The Rockwell magazine cover was more a part of the American reality than a record of it. ~ Arthur C. Danto
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur C. Danto
His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue triumphant cloud from his cigarette. ~ Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Most of us were not afraid of death, only of the act of dying; and there were times when we overcame even this fear. At such moments we were free-men without shadows, dismissed from the ranks of the mortal; it was the most complete experience of freedom that can be granted a man. ~ Arthur Koestler
Arthur Eddington quotes by Arthur Koestler
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