One factor that has remained constant through all the twists and turns of the history of physical science is the decisive importance of the mathematical imagination.
Freeman DysonRead
Biology is now bigger than physics, as measured by the size of budgets, by the size of the workforce, or by the output of major discoveries; and biology is likely to remain the biggest part of science through the twenty-first century.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Biology is increasingly becoming the dominant field of science due to its growing funding, workforce, and discoveries.
Freeman Dyson asserts that biology has eclipsed physics in terms of funding, human resources, and groundbreaking discoveries. He predicts that this trend will continue into the twenty-first century, emphasizing biology's pivotal role in the future of scientific exploration and understanding. This perspective highlights how advancements in biological sciences will play a crucial role in addressing the complexities of life and health, underscoring the significance of biology in our contemporary and future scientific landscape.
Themes
BiologyScienceDiscoveriesPhysicsFuture
In practice
Example use cases
In a presentation about the future of science, I could use Dyson's quote to illustrate the rising importance of biological research.
More from Freeman Dyson
All quotes →As a working hypothesis to explain the riddle of our existence, I propose that our universe is the most interesting of all possible universes, and our fate as human beings is to make it so
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It's not going to be just humans colonizing space, it's going to be life moving out from the Earth, moving it into its kingdom. And the kingdom of life, of course, is going to be the universe.
Freeman DysonRead
The bottom line for mathematicians is that the architecture has to be right. In all the mathematics that I did, the essential point was to find the right architecture. It's like building a bridge. Once the main lines of the structure are right, then the details miraculously fit. The problem is the overall design.
Freeman DysonRead
For some days I quietly worked out in my own mind the metaphysics of Cosmic Unity. The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that it was the living truth. It was logically incontrovertible. It provided for the first time a firm foundation for ethics. It offered mankind the radical change of heart and mind that was our only hope of peace at a time of desperate danger. Only one small problem remained. I must find a way to convert the world to my way of thinking.
Freeman DysonRead
Thanks to the discoveries of astronomers in the twentieth century, we now know that the heat death is a myth. The heat death can never happen, and there is no paradox.
Freeman DysonRead
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