I give infinite thanks to God, who has been pleased to make me the first observer of marvelous things.
Interpretation
Galileo expresses gratitude for being the first to observe extraordinary phenomena.
In this quote, Galileo Galilei highlights his appreciation for the divine inspiration and opportunity to witness the wonders of the natural world. It reflects his humility and recognition of the greater forces at play in the pursuit of knowledge, emphasizing the joy of discovery and the profound impact it has on human understanding.
In practice
During a science presentation about Galileo's discoveries.
It has always seemed to me extreme presumptuousness on the part of those who want to make human ability the measure of what nature can and knows how to do, since, when one comes down to it, there is not one effect in nature, no matter how small, that even the most speculative minds can fully understand.
We must say that there are as many squares as there are numbers.
Science proceeds more by what it has learned to ignore than what it takes into account.
The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.
Philosophy is written in this grand book, the universe, which stands continually open to our gaze. But the book cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language and read the letters in which it is composed.
That sculpture is more admirable than painting for the reason that it contains relief and painting does not is completely false. ... Rather, how much more admirable the painting must be considered, if having no relief at all, it appears to have as much as sculpture!
Imagine being able to predict and prevent cancer before it starts. If we gather the world's talent and expertise in a committed, targeted effort, great progress is possible.
Symmetries are the playing field on which the physical world works and which determine the rules of the game. The symmetries of nature determine for us things that remain constant, that can't be changed. Those are the guideposts in physics, the quantities like energy and momentum.
If your economy grows [by] 4 percent, you ought to reduce child mortality 4 percent.
Companies are the first to see the costs of climate change.
We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.
Any objective look at what science has to say about climate change ought to be sufficient to persuade reasonable people that the climate is changing and that humans are responsible for a substantial part of that - and that these changes are doing harm and will continue to do more harm unless we start to reduce our emissions.
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