Scientist

Explore 194 quotes by Scientists

There is grandeur in this view of life...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.

Charles Darwin

On the Origin of Species

Buy The Origin of the Species at Amazon Buy The Origin of the Species at Amazon
Read On the Origin of the Species at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Human evolution Creation of man Evolution Human origins

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

On the Origin of Species

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species. London: John Murray, 1859, ch. 14.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Origin of the Species, edited by William Bynum. Penguin, 2009, ch. 14.

Man with all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most debased, with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to the humblest living creature, with his god-like intellect which has penetrated into the movements and constitution of the solar system—with all these exalted powers—Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.

Charles Darwin

The Descent of Man

Buy The Descent of Man at Amazon Buy The Descent of Man at Amazon
Read The Descent of Man at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Human origins Human nature Human evolution Evolution

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

The Descent of Man

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1871 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: John Murray, 1871, pt. 3, ch. 21.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man. Penguin Classics, 2004, pt. 3, ch. 21.

I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term of Natural Selection.

Charles Darwin

On the Origin of the Species

Buy The Origin of the Species at Amazon Buy The Origin of the Species at Amazon
Read On the Origin of the Species at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Natural selection Evolution

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

On the Origin of the Species

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of the Species. London: John Murray, 1859, ch. 3.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Origin of the Species, edited by William Bynum. Penguin, 2009, ch. 3.

If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.

Isaac Newton

More information about this quote

Topic

Scientific progress Progress

Author

Isaac Newton

Source

Letters of Isaac Newton

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1676 1670s 17th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Newton, Isaac. Letter to Robert Hooke. 5 Feb. 1676.

Current Citation

Newton, Isaac. Letter to Hooke, 5 February 1675/6." The Correspondence of Isaac Newton. Vol. 1, Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Moreover, in a system of two bodies mutually acting upon each other, since the differences between their centres and the common centre of gravity of both are reciprocally as the bodies, the relative motions of those bodies, whether of approaching to or of receding from that centre, will be equal junong themselves. Therefore since the changes which happen to motions are equal and directed to contrary parts.

Isaac Newton

Principia

Buy The Principia at Amazon Buy The Principia at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Cause and effect Laws of physics Physics Science

Author

Isaac Newton

Source

Principia

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

Latin

Time

1687 1680s 17th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Newton, Isaac. "Axiomata sive Leges Motus: [Axioms, or Laws of Motion]." Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica [The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy], vol. 1. London: Josephi Streater, 1687, law 3.

Current Citation

Newton, Isaac. "Axioms, or the Laws of Motion." The Principia, translated by Andrew Motte. Prometheus, 1995, law 3.

Every body perseveres in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a right line, unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed thereon.

Isaac Newton

Principia

Buy The Principia at Amazon Buy The Principia at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Newton's laws of motion Laws of physics

Author

Isaac Newton

Source

Principia

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

Latin

Time

1687 1680s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Newton, Isaac. "Axiomata sive Leges Motus: [Axioms, or Laws of Motion]." Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica [The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy], vol. 1. London: Josephi Streater, 1687, law 1.

Current Citation

Newton, Isaac. "Axioms, or the Laws of Motion." The Principia, translated by Andrew Motte. Prometheus, 1995, law 1.

Finally we shall place the Sun himself at the center of the Universe. All this is suggested by the systematic procession of events and the harmony of the whole Universe, if we only face the facts, as they say, "with both eyes open."

Nicolaus Copernicus

On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres

More information about this quote

Topic

Scientific progress

Author

Nicolaus Copernicus

Source

On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

Latin

Time

1543 1540s 16th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Copernicus, Nicolaus. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium [On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres]. Nuremburg: Johannes Petreius, 1543, bk. 1, ch. 9.

Current Citation

Copernicus, Nicolaus. On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres. Prometheus, 1995, bk. 1, ch. 9.

Philosophy is written in this grand book-I mean the universe-which stands continually open to our gaze, but it cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language and interpret the characters in which it is written. It is written in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometrical figures, without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it; without these, one is wandering about in a dark labyrinth.

Galileo Galilei

More information about this quote

Topic

Mathematics

Author

Galileo Galilei

Language

Italian

Time

1623 1620s 17th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Galilei, Galileo. Il Saggiatore [The Assayer]. Rome, 1623.

Current Citation

Galilei, Galileo. "The Assayer." Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo. Doubleday & Company, 1957.

We had found the secret of life!

Francis Crick

On the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953.

More information about this quote

Topic

DNA Genetics Biology

Author

Francis Crick

Source

The Double Helix

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1968 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Crick, Frances. Quoted in The Double Helix, by James D. Watson. Atheneum Press/Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1968, ch. 26.

Does the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?

Edward N. Lorenz

More information about this quote

Topic

Butterfly effect Interconnectedness of all things Cause and effect

Author

Edward N. Lorenz

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1979 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lorenz, Edward N. "Predictability: Does the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?" Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 29 Dec. 1979, Washington, DC, USA.

I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita…"Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds."

J. Robert Oppenheimer

On the explosion of the first atomic bomb near Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16th, 1945.

More information about this quote

Topic

Nuclear weapons

Speaker

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Source

The Decison to Drop the Bomb

Medium

Film

Genre

Documentary (film)

Language

English

Time

1965 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Oppenheimer, J. Robert. Quoted in NBC White Paper: The Decision to Drop the Bomb. Narrated by Chet Huntley, directed by Fred Freed and Len Giovannitti, written by Fred Freed, 5 Jan. 1965, NBC.

We thus learn that man is descended from a hairy, tailed quadruped, probably arboreal in its habits, and an inhabitant of the Old World.

Charles Darwin

The Descent of Man

Buy The Descent of Man at Amazon Buy The Descent of Man at Amazon
Read The Descent of Man at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Human origins Evolution

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

The Descent of Man

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1871 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: John Murray, 1871, pt. 3, ch. 21.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man. Penguin Classics, 2004, pt. 3, ch. 21.

If we assume that the last breath of, say, Julius Caesar, has by now become thoroughly scattered through the atmosphere, then the chances are that each of us inhales one molecule of it with every breath we take.

James Jeans

An Introduction to the Kinetic Theory of Gases

Buy An Introduction to the Kinetic Theory of Gases at Amazon Buy An Introduction to the Kinetic Theory of Gases at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Interconnectedness of all things

Author

James Jeans

Source

An Introduction to the Kinetic Theory of Gases

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1940 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Jeans, James. An Introduction to the Kinetic Theory of Gases. Cambridge University Press, 1940, ch. 2.

When the views advanced by me in this volume, and by Mr. Wallace, or when analogous views on the origin of species are generally admitted, we can dimly foresee that there will be a considerable revolution in natural history.

Charles Darwin

On the Origin of Species

Buy The Origin of the Species at Amazon Buy The Origin of the Species at Amazon
Read On the Origin of the Species at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Evolution

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

On the Origin of Species

Genre

Scientific literature

Statement Type

Prophecies and predictions

Language

English

Time

1879 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species. 6th Edition. London: John Murray, 1879, ch. 14.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. The Origin of the Species, edited by William Bynum. Penguin, 2009, ch. 14.

Owing to this struggle for life, any variation, however slight and from whatever cause proceeding, if it be in any degree profitable to an individual of any species, in its infinitely complex relations to other organic beings and to external nature, will tend to the preservation of that individual, and will generally be inherited by its offspring. The offspring, also, will thus have a better chance of surviving.

Charles Darwin

On the Origin of Species

Buy The Origin of the Species at Amazon Buy The Origin of the Species at Amazon
Read On the Origin of the Species at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Natural selection Evolution

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

On the Origin of Species

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species. London: John Murray, 1859, ch. 3.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species, edited by William Bynum. Penguin Classics, 2009, ch. 3.

God in the Beginning form'd Matter in solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, moveable Particles, of such Sizes and Figures, and with such other Properties, and in such Proportion to Space, as most conduced to the End for which he form'd them.

Isaac Newton

Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light

Read Opticks at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Atomism Creation of the world God and creation

Author

Isaac Newton

Source

Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light

Medium

Treatise

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1704 1700s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Newton, Isaac. Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. London: Samuel Smith and Benjamin Walford, 1704, bk. 3, pt. 1, question 31.

Current Citation

Newton, Isaac. Opticks. Dover Publications, 2012, bk. 3, pt. 1, question 31.

Every tool carries with it the spirit by which it has been created.

Werner Heisenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Tools

Author

Werner Heisenberg

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1958 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Heisenberg, Werner. "An Old and a New Tradition." Gifford Lectures. Winter term 1955-1956, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland, UK.

Facts which at first seem improbable will, even on scant explanation, drop the cloak which has hidden them and stand forth in naked and simple beauty.

Galileo Galilei

More information about this quote

Topic

Intellectual progress Scientific progress

Speaker

Sagredo

Author

Galileo Galilei

Language

Italian

Time

1638 1630s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Galilei, Galileo. "Giornata Prima [First Day]." Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche intorno a due nuove scienze [Discourses and Mathematicals Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences]. Leiden: Ludovico Elzeviro, 1638.

We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.

Richard Dawkins

More information about this quote

Topic

Atheism

Author

Richard Dawkins

Language

English

Time

1999 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dawkins, Richard. "Snake Oil and Holy Water." Forbes ASAP, 4 Oct. 1999.

I
a universe of atoms
an atom in the universe.

Richard Feynman

More information about this quote

Topic

Man and the universe Nature of man

Speaker

Richard Feynman

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1955 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Feynman, Richard. "The Value of Science." 1955, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, USA.