Contrary to what I once thought, scientific progress did not consist simply in observing, in accurately formulating experimental facts and drawing up a theory from them. It began with the invention of a possible world, or a fragment thereof, which was then compared by experimentation with the real world. And it was this constant dialogue between imagination and experiment that allowed one to form an increasingly fine-grained conception of what is called reality.
Contrary to what I once thought, scientific progress did not consist simply in observing, in accurately formulating experimental facts and drawing up… - Francois Jacob
Contrary to what I once thought, scientific progress did not consist simply in observing, in accurately formulating experimental facts and drawing up…
- Francois Jacob
It is hope that gives life meaning. And hope is based on the prospect of being able one day to turn the actual world into a possible one that looks b… - Francois Jacob
It is hope that gives life meaning. And hope is based on the prospect of being able one day to turn the actual world into a possible one that looks b…
I had turned my anxiety into my profession. - Francois Jacob
I had turned my anxiety into my profession.
Myths and science fulfill a similar function: they both provide human beings with a representation of the world and of the forces that are supposed t… - Francois Jacob
Myths and science fulfill a similar function: they both provide human beings with a representation of the world and of the forces that are supposed t…
For me, this world of questions and the provisional, this chase after an answer that was always put off to the next day, all that was euphoric. I liv… - Francois Jacob
For me, this world of questions and the provisional, this chase after an answer that was always put off to the next day, all that was euphoric. I liv…
The dream of every cell is to become two cells. - Francois Jacob
The dream of every cell is to become two cells.
It is natural selection that gives direction to changes, orients chance, and slowly, progressively produces more complex structures, new organs, and … - Francois Jacob
It is natural selection that gives direction to changes, orients chance, and slowly, progressively produces more complex structures, new organs, and …
The game was that of continually inventing a possible world, or a piece of a possible world, and then of comparing it with the real world... a race w… - Francois Jacob
The game was that of continually inventing a possible world, or a piece of a possible world, and then of comparing it with the real world... a race w…
The Place of No Shadows, in Isaac Asimovs Science Fiction Magazine (1990) In our Universe, matter is arranged in a hierarchy of structures by success… - Francois Jacob
The Place of No Shadows, in Isaac Asimovs Science Fiction Magazine (1990) In our Universe, matter is arranged in a hierarchy of structures by success…
Login to join the discussion
Login to join the discussion