Talk to people... everything good I've done has come from conversations with people. Science is a very social phenomenon.
John C. MatherRead
Astronomers can look back in time. We can look at things as they used to be. We have an idea there was a Big Bang explosion 13.7 billion years ago. We have a story of how galaxies and stars were made. It's an amazing story.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the ability of astronomers to study the universe's history through light from distant objects.
John C. Mather expresses the profound ability of astronomers to explore the universe's past, conveying that by observing celestial bodies, we can uncover narratives about the formation of galaxies and stars that date back billions of years. This exploration not only reveals scientific insights but also evokes a sense of wonder about the cosmos and our place within it.
In practice
In a talk about the mysteries of the universe, this quote can inspire awe and curiosity among the audience.
Talk to people... everything good I've done has come from conversations with people. Science is a very social phenomenon.
Many of the problems facing the nation and the world today may only be solved if their technical elements are understood - climate change, energy supply, health care, and infrastructure, to name just a few.
Even your chin is made up of exploded stars.
There's no such thing as saying that we'll ever find the ultimate cause of stuff. We can only work to push our understanding one step further.
My interest in science started quite early. My earliest school recollection, from age 6, is actually of mathematics, realizing that one could fill an entire page with digits and never come to the largest possible number, so I saw what was meant by infinity.
We are discovering what the universe is really like, and it is totally magnificent, and one can only be inspired and awestruck by what we find.
I would suggest that science is, at least in my part, informed worship.
Our senses enable us to perceive only a minute portion of the outside world.
In experimental philosophy, propositions gathered from phenomena by induction should be considered either exactly or very nearly true notwithstanding any contrary hypotheses, until yet other phenomena make such propositions either more exact or liable to exceptions.
I venture to define science as a series of interconnected concepts and conceptual schemes arising from experiment and observation and fruitful of further experiments and observations. The test of a scientific theory is, I suggest, its fruitfulness.
Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge.
The Big Bang banged, and for some reason we’re here. And that’s astonishing. And that we can understand that, that’s the most astonishing.
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