We call those poets who are first to mark, Through earth's dull mist the coming of the dawn, Who see in twilight's gloom the first pale spark, While others only note that day is gone.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.Read
Science is the topography of ignorance.
Interpretation
Science reveals what we do not know and maps the boundaries of our understanding.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. suggests that the pursuit of science is an exploration of our ignorance. Just as a map shows the terrain and identifies unexplored areas, science reveals the gaps in our knowledge and highlights the mysteries that remain to be understood, emphasizing that the more we learn, the more we realize how much there is yet to discover.
In practice
In a presentation on the importance of scientific research, I might say, 'As Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. wisely stated, 'Science is the topography of ignorance.'
We call those poets who are first to mark, Through earth's dull mist the coming of the dawn, Who see in twilight's gloom the first pale spark, While others only note that day is gone.
Every real thought on every real subject knocks the wind out of somebody or other.
The very aim and end of our institutions is just this: that we may think what we like and say what we think.
Don't you stay at home of evenings? Don't you love a cushioned seat in a corner, by the fireside, with your slippers on your feet?
Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all.
Take your needle, my child, and work at your pattern; it will come out a rose by and by. Life is like that - one stitch at a time taken patiently and the pattern will come out all right like the embroidery.
The first footfalls on Mars will mark a historic milestone, an enterprise that requires human tenacity matched with technology to anchor ourselves on another world.
I was interested in the nature of human mental processes, which is what got me interested in psychoanalysis. And it became clear to me after a while that mental processes come from the brain, and in order to understand them, you need to be a biologist of the brain.
Many people find the universe confusing - it's not.
Research under a paradigm must be a particularly effective way of inducing paradigm change.
A research problem is not solved by apparatus; it is solved in a man's head.
The press still thinks [global warming] is controversial. So they find the 1% of the scientists and put them up as if they're 50% of the research results. You in the public would have no idea that this is basically a done deal and that we're on to other problems, because the journalists are trying to give it a 50/50 story. It's not a 50/50 story. It's not. Period.
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