Any man whose errors take ten years to correct is quite a man.
J. Robert OppenheimerRead
It is a profound and necessary truth that the deep things in science are not found because they are useful; they are found because it was possible to find them.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Scientific discoveries are often made not for their utility, but because the opportunity to discover them arises.
In this quote, J. Robert Oppenheimer emphasizes the nature of scientific inquiry, suggesting that profound truths in science are uncovered not due to the immediate usefulness of the knowledge, but rather from the curiosity and capability of discovering such truths. This perspective highlights the intrinsic value of exploration and understanding in scientific pursuits, as discoveries often stem from the possibility of exploration rather than a pre-emptive need for applications.
Themes
ScienceDiscoveryKnowledgeCuriosityTruth
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a lecture about the nature of scientific research.
More from J. Robert Oppenheimer
All quotes βBertrand Russell had given a talk on the then new quantum mechanics, of whose wonders he was most appreciative. He spoke hard and earnestly in the New Lecture Hall. And when he was done, Professor Whitehead, who presided, thanked him for his efforts, and not least for 'leaving the vast darkness of the subject unobscured'.
J. Robert OppenheimerRead
There are children playing in the streets who could solve some of my top problems in physics, because they have modes of sensory perception that I lost long ago.
J. Robert OppenheimerRead
It is perfectly obvious that the whole world is going to hell. The only possible chance that it might not is that we do not attempt to prevent it from doing so.
J. Robert OppenheimerRead
Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. (quoting the Bhagavad-Gita after witnessing the first Nuclear explosion.)
J. Robert OppenheimerRead
[About the great synthesis of atomic physics in the 1920s:] It was a heroic time. It was not the doing of any one man; it involved the collaboration of scores of scientists from many different lands. But from the first to last the deeply creative, subtle and critical spirit of Niels Bohr guided, restrained, deepened and finally transmuted the enterprise.
J. Robert OppenheimerRead
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