Scientific progress

Explore 16 quotes about Scientific progress

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

Isaac Newton

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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.

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

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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.

We are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size.

Bernard of Chartres

The phrase "standing on the shoulders of giants" is best known from a 1675 letter from Isaac Newton.

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Topic

Scientific progress Progress

Speaker

Bernard of Chartres

Author

John of Salisbury

Language

Latin

Time

1159 1150s 12th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Bernard of Chartres. Quoted in The Metalogicon of John of Salisbury, written by John of Salisbury. c. 1159, bk. 3.

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

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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.

Although we are mere sojourners on the surface of the planet, chained to a mere point in space, enduring but for a moment of time, the human mind is not only enabled to number worlds beyond the unassisted ken of mortal eye, but to trace the events of indefinite ages before the creation of our race, and is not even withheld from penetrating into the dark secrets of the ocean, or the interior of the solid globe.

Charles Lyell

Principles of Geology

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Topic

Scientific progress

Author

Charles Lyell

Source

Principles of Geology

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1830 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lyell, Charles, Sir. Principles of Geology: Being an Attempt to Explain the Former Changes of the Earth's Surface, by Reference to Causes Now in Operation. Vol. 1, London: John Murray, 1830.

Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination.

John Dewey

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Topic

Scientific progress Progress Imagination

Author

John Dewey

Source

The Copernican Revolution The Quest for Certainty

Language

English

Time

1929 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dewey, John. "The Quest for Certainty: A Study of the Relation of Knowledge and Action." 1928–1929, Edinburgh, Scotland.

In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken," and then they actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that has happened in politics or religion.

Carl Sagan

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Topic

Changing one's mind Scientific progress

Speaker

Carl Sagan

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1987 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sagan, Carl. "The Burden of Skepticism." CSICOP conference. 3 Apr. 1987, Pasadena, CA, USA. Keynote address.

As in political revolutions, so in paradigm choice-there is no standard higher than the the assent of the relevant community. To discover how scientific revolutions are effected, we shall therefore have to examine not only the impact of nature and of logic, but also the techniques of persuasive argumentation effective within the quite special groups that constitute the community of scientists.

Thomas S. Kuhn

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

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Topic

Scientific progress Science

Author

Thomas S. Kuhn

Source

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

Genre

Historical literature Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1962 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. University of Chicago Press, 1962, ch. 9.

The more important fundamental laws and facts of physical science have all been discovered, and these are now so firmly established that the possibility of their ever being supplanted in consequence of new discoveries is exceedingly remote.

Albert A. Michelson

More information about this quote

Topic

Scientific progress Laws of physics

Speaker

Albert A. Michelson

Medium

Lecture

Statement Type

Prophecies and predictions

Language

English

Time

1899 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Michelson, Albert A. "Comparison of the Microscope and Telescope with the Interferometer." Light Waves and Their Uses lecture series. 1899, Lowell Institute, Boston, MA, USA.

To kill an error is as good a service as, and sometimes even better than, the establishing a new truth or fact.

Charles Darwin

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Topic

Scientific progress Progress Science

Author

Charles Darwin

Source

Letters of Charles Darwin

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1879 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Darwin, Charles. Letter to A. S. Wilson, 5 Mar. 1879.

Current Citation

Darwin, Charles. "To A. S. Wilson, 5 March 1879." The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, edited by Frederick Burkhardt and James A. Secord. Vol. 27: 1879. Cambridge University Press, 2020, no. 11917.

Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night.
God said, Let Newton be! and all was light.

Alexander Pope

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Topic

Scientific progress

Author

Alexander Pope

Source

Epitaph: Intended for Sir Isaac Newton

Medium

Epitaph

Language

English

Time

1730 1730s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Pope, Alexander. Epitaph: Intended for Sir Isaac Newton. c. 1730.

Current Citation

Pope, Alexander. "Epitaph Intended for Sir Isaac Newton." Alexander Pope: The Major Works, edited by Pat Rogers. Oxford University Press, 2009.

I am convinced that everything that is worth while in the world has been accomplished by the free, inquiring, critical spirit, and that the preservation of this spirit is more important than any social system whatsoever. But the men of ritual and the men of barbarism are capable of shutting up the men of science and of silencing them forever.

Sinclair Lewis

It Can't Happen Here

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Read It Can't Happen Here at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Intellectual freedom Critical thinking Scientific progress Progress

Speaker

Doremus Jessup

Author

Sinclair Lewis

Source

It Can't Happen Here

Medium

Novel

Genre

Dystopian fiction

Language

English

Time

1935 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lewis, Sinclair. It Can't Happen Here. Doubleday, Doran and Company, 1935, ch. 36.

I almost think it is the ultimate destiny of science to exterminate the human race.

Thomas Love Peacock

More information about this quote

Topic

Scientific progress Science

Speaker

The Rev. Dr. Opimian

Author

Thomas Love Peacock

Source

Gryll Grange

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Paradox Prophecies and predictions

Language

English

Time

1860 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Peacock, Thomas Love. "Gryll Grange." Fraser's Magazine, 1860.

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it... An important scientific innovation rarely makes its way by gradually winning over and converting its opponents: it rarely happens that Saul becomes Paul.

Max Planck

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Topic

Scientific progress Progress

Author

Max Planck

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

German

Time

1936 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Planck, Max. The Philosophy of Physics. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1936.

The priest persuades humble people to endure their hard lot; the politician urges them to rebel against it; and the scientist thinks of a method that does away with the hard lot altogether.

Max Perutz

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Topic

Scientific progress Science Religion Politics

Author

Max Perutz

Source

Is Science Necessary?

Medium

Essay

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1989 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Perutz, Max. Is Science Necessary? Essays on Science and Scientists. E.P. Dutton, 1989.

Science and technology, and the various forms of art, all unite humanity in a single and interconnected system. As science progresses, the worldwide cooperation of scientists and technologists becomes more and more of a special and distinct intellectual community of friendship, in which, in place of antagonism, there is growing up a mutually advantageous sharing of work, a coordination of efforts, a common language for exchange of information, and solidarity, which are in many cases independent of the social and political differences of individual states.

Zhores Medvedev

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Topic

Scientific progress Progress

Author

Zhores Medvedev

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

Russian

Time

1970 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Medvedev, Zhores. Международное сотрудничество ученых и национальные границы [The Medvedev Papers: Fruitful Meetings Between Scientists of the World, and, Secrecy of Correspondence is Guaranteed by Law]. Macmillan/St. Martin's Press, 1971, preface.