Readers will know by now that I am fond of memorable quotations, and today I again present a selection, mostly from distinguished scientists.
Choosing a career direction
"When the war finally came to an end, I was at a loss as to what to do . . . I took stock of my qualifications. A not-very-good degree, redeemed somewhat by my achievements at the Admiralty. A knowledge of certain restricted parts of magnetism and hydrodynamics, neither of them subjects for which I felt the least bit of enthusiasm. No published papers at all . . . Only gradually did I realise that this lack of qualification could be an advantage.
"By the time most scientists have reached age 30 they are trapped by their own expertise. They have invested so much effort in one particular field that it is often extremely difficult, at that time in their careers, to make a radical change. I, on the other hand, knew nothing, except for a basic training in somewhat old-fashioned physics and mathematics and an ability to turn my hand to new things. Since I knew nothing, I had an almost completely free choice.".
Francis Crick, What Mad Pursuit, Basic Books, New York, 1988, pp 15-16. Francis Crick was co-discoverer, with James Watson, of the structure of DNA
Simple technology
"The technologies which have had the most profound effects on human life are usually simple. A good example of a simple technology with profound historical consequences is hay. Nobody knows who invented hay, the idea of cutting grass in the autumn and storing it in large enough quantities to keep horses and cows alive through the winter. All we know is that the technology of hay was unknown to the Roman Empire but was known to every village of medieval Europe.
"Like many other crucially important technologies, hay emerged anonymously during the so-called Dark Ages. According to the Hay Theory of History, the invention of hay was the decisive event which moved the center of gravity of urban civilisation from the Mediterranean basin to Northern and Western Europe.
"The Roman Empire did not need hay because in a Mediterranean climate the grass grows well enough in winter for animals to graze. North of the Alps, great cities dependent on horses and oxen for motive power could not exist without hay. So it was hay that allowed populations to grow and civilisations to flourish among the forests of northern Europe. Hay moved the greatness of Rome to Paris and London, and later to Berlin and Moscow and New York.".
Freeman Dyson, Infinite in All Directions, Harper and Row, New York, 1988, p 135
Science and religion
"Science can purify religion from error and superstition. Religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes."
Pope John Paul II (1920-), quoted in Galileo, A Life, by James Reston, Harper Collins, New York
How Newton made discoveries
"By always thinking unto them. I keep the subject constantly before me and wait till the first dawnings open little by little into the full light."
Isaac Newton (1642-1727), quoted in Sir Isaac Newton, His Life and Work, by E.N. da C. Andrade, Doubleday Anchor, New York 35. (1)
The value of basic research
"Basic research may seem very expensive. I am a well-paid scientist. My hourly wage is equal to that of a plumber, but sometimes my research remains barren of results for weeks, months or years and my conscience begins to bother me for wasting the taxpayer's money.
"But in reviewing my life's work, I have to think that the expense was not wasted. Basic research, to which we owe everything, is relatively very cheap when compared with other outlays of modern society. The other day I made a rough calculation which led me to the conclusion that if one were to add up all the money ever spent by man on basic research, one would find it to be just about equal to the money spent by the Pentagon this past year."
Albert Szent-Gyrgyi, The Crazy Ape, Grosset and Dunlap, New York, 1971, p 72. Nobel Prize in Physiology on Medicine, 1937
Man - the reasoning animal
"Man is the Reasoning Animal. Such is the claim. I think it is open to dispute. Indeed, my experiments have proven to me that he is the Unreasoning Animal . . . In truth, man is incurably foolish. Simple things which other animals easily learn, he is incapable of learning.
"Among my experiments was this. In an hour I taught a cat and a dog to be friends. I put them in a cage. In another hour I taught them to be friends with a rabbit. In the course of two days I was able to add a fox, a goose, a squirrel and some doves. Finally a monkey. They lived together in peace; even affectionately.
"Next, in another cage I confined an Irish Catholic from Tipperary, and as soon as he seemed tame I added a Scotch Presbyterian from Aberdeen. Next a Turk from Constantinople; a Greek Christian from Crete; an Armenian; a Methodist from the wilds of Arkansas; a Buddhist from China; a Brahman from Benares. Finally, a Salvation Army Colonel from Wapping. Then I stayed away for two whole days.
"When I came back to note results, the cage of Higher Animals was all right, but in the other there was but a chaos of gory odds and ends of turbans and fezzes and plaids and bones and flesh - not a specimen left alive. These Reasoning Animals had disagreed on a theological detail and carried the matter to a Higher Court.".
Mark Twain, Letters from the Earth, A Fawcett Crest Book, Greenwich, Conn, 1962, pp 180-181
William Reville is a senior lecturer in biochemistry and director of microscopy at UCC