There is no science in this world like physics. Nothing comes close to the precision with which physics enables you to understand the world around you. It's the laws of physics that allow us to say exactly what time the sun is going to rise. What time the eclipse is going to begin. What time the eclipse is going to end.
Interpretation
Physics provides precise understanding of the universe and its phenomena.
In this quote, Neil Degrasse Tyson emphasizes the unparalleled accuracy of physics in describing and predicting natural events. It highlights how the laws of physics serve as a foundation for understanding the world, allowing for precise predictions such as the timing of celestial occurrences, showcasing the discipline's fundamental importance in comprehending the universe.
In practice
This quote can be used during a science class to inspire students about the importance of physics.
The problem is that many people operate on the assumption that NASA should go to Congress every year with hat in hand and justify it every year. Well, I see it as the greatest economic driver that there ever was. Economic drivers don't need justification.
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.
As a scientist, I want to go to Mars and back to asteroids and the Moon because I'm a scientist. But I can tell you, I'm not so naive a scientist to think that the nation might not have geopolitical reasons for going into space.
In just one year, the expenditure of of the U.S.'s military budget is equivalent to the entire 50-year running budget of NASA combined.
One of my great laments is that education today seems to have... be less about passion and more about process, more about tactic or technique.
Lots of people think, well, we're humans; we're the most intelligent and accomplished species; we're in charge. Bacteria may have a different outlook: more bacteria live and work in one linear centimeter of your lower colon than all the humans who have ever lived. That's what's going on in your digestive tract right now. Are we in charge, or are we simply hosts for bacteria? It all depends on your outlook.
As Darwin himself was at pains to point out, natural selection is all about differential survival within species, not between them.
Science is bound, by the everlasting vow of honour, to face fearlessly every problem which can be fairly presented to it.
Autoimmunity is probably the next frontier. The majority of cases of autoimmune disease result from a complex genetic problem that has environmental influences. It is a colossal task for the immune system to maintain tolerance to self and yet be ready to react to everything in the world around us.
The weight of evidence for an extraordinary claim must be proportioned to its strangeness.
Is mankind alone in the universe? Or are there somewhere other intelligent beings looking up into their night sky from very different worlds and asking the same kind of question?
An experiment is a question which science poses to Nature and a measurement is the recording of Nature's answer.
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