To understand the universe in the state that it began in, the so-called Big Bang, we need laws of physics that work better than our current set of rules and procedures, which break down when we try to push them back to the beginning.
David GrossRead
The main reason why people should care about research in fundamental physics is the same reason they care about astronomy and cosmology. People, children, want to know what we're made out of, how it works, and why the universe is the way it is.
Interpretation
What this quote means
People are inherently curious about the universe and the fundamental principles that govern it.
In this quote, David Gross emphasizes the intrinsic human desire to understand the nature of the universe and our existence within it. Just as astronomy and cosmology capture our imagination, research in fundamental physics answers profound questions about the composition and workings of the universe, appealing to our natural curiosity and quest for knowledge.
Themes
PhysicsResearchUniverseCuriosityChildren
In practice
Example use cases
In a presentation about the importance of scientific research, one might quote David Gross to inspire curiosity in students.
More from David Gross
All quotes →In the lab, we could not see or physically describe the mathematical objects that we called quarks, which we suspected were the key to unlocking the dynamics of the strong force that binds together the clump of protons and neutrons at the center of the atom.
David GrossRead
Similar quotes
A review of seventy-four clinical trials of antidepressants, for example, found that thirty-seven of thirty-eight positive studies [that praised the drugs] were published. But of the thirty-six negative studies, thirty-three were either not published or published in a form that conveyed a positive outcome.
Marcia AngellRead
Science not only purifies the religious impulse of the dross of its anthropomorphism but also contributes to a religious spiritualization of our understanding of life.
Albert EinsteinRead
Imagination is the Discovering Faculty, pre-eminently. It is that which penetrates into the unseen worlds around us, the worlds of Science.
Ada LovelaceRead
Statistics is the grammar of science.
Karl PearsonRead
During the century after Newton, it was still possible for a man of unusual attainments to master all fields of scientific knowledge. But by 1800, this had become entirely impracticable.
Isaac AsimovRead
Science is the ultimate pornography, analytic activity whose main aim is to isolate objects or events from their contexts in time and space. This obsession with the specific activity of quantified functions is what science shares with pornography.
J. G. BallardRead