Ten long trips around the sun since I last saw that smile, but only joy and thankfulness that on a tiny world in the vastness, for a couple of moments in the immensity of time, we were one.
Ann DruyanRead
Science reserves the highest reward for those of you who disprove our most cherished beliefs. At any moment someone from any walk of life could come forward and be responsible for a complete revision of our view of everything.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Science values those who challenge established beliefs, as they can lead to significant advancements in understanding.
This quote emphasizes the importance of skepticism and critical thinking in science. It suggests that true progress often comes from individuals who question accepted truths and challenge the status quo, potentially leading to a complete overhaul of our understanding of the universe. Ann Druyan highlights the unpredictable nature of discovery, implying that anyone, regardless of their background, can contribute to profound changes in knowledge and belief systems.
Themes
ScienceDisproveBeliefsProgressUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on scientific inquiry, this quote can be used to inspire students to embrace skepticism and innovation.
More from Ann Druyan
All quotes →I've been thinking about the distorted view of science that prevails in our culture. I've been wondering about this, because our civilization is completely dependent on science and high technology, yet most of us are alienated from science.
Ann DruyanRead
It is a great tragedy that science, this wonderful process for finding out what is true, has ceded the spiritual uplift of its central revelations: the vastness of the universe, the immensity of time, the relatedness of all life, and life's preciousness on our tiny planet.
Ann DruyanRead
Similar quotes
Politicians, real-estate agents, used-car salesmen, and advertising copy-writers are expected to stretch facts in self-serving directions, but scientists who falsify their results are regarded by their peers as committing an inexcusable crime. Yet the sad fact is that the history of science swarms with cases of outright fakery and instances of scientists who unconsciously distorted their work by seeing it through lenses of passionately held beliefs.
Martin GardnerRead
The moment I saw the model and heard about the complementing base pairs I realized that it was the key to understanding all the problems in biology we had found intractable - it was the birth of molecular biology.
Sydney BrennerRead
In space, you need to exercise your heart since it's not pumping blood around at the same rate.
Mae JemisonRead
I have also a paper afloat, with an electromagnetic theory of light, which, till I am convinced to the contrary, I hold to be great guns.
James Clerk MaxwellRead
So we find that the three possible solutions of the great problem of increasing human energy are answered by the three words: food, peace, work... Their scientific meaning and purpose now clear to me: food to increase the mass, peace to diminish the retarding force, and work to increase the force accelerating human movement.
Nikola TeslaRead
Economics is not an exact science. It's a combination of an art and elements of science. And that's almost the first and last lesson to be learned about economics: that in my judgment, we are not converging toward exactitude, but we're improving our data bases and our ways of reasoning about them.
Paul SamuelsonRead