The scientist finds his reward in what Henri Poincare calls the joy of comprehension, and not in the possibility of application to which any discovery may lead.
Interpretation
Einstein emphasizes the intrinsic joy that scientists experience while understanding the world, rather than focusing solely on practical applications of their discoveries.
In this quote, Albert Einstein highlights the idea that the true satisfaction of a scientist comes from the joy and excitement of understanding the complexities of the universe. He references Henri Poincare's notion that the pleasure derived from the process of comprehension itself is more rewarding than the potential utilities that may arise from scientific discoveries. This perspective encourages a deeper appreciation for the pursuit of knowledge and the intellectual challenges that drive scientific inquiry.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of research and development, one could quote Einstein to emphasize the value of curiosity in science.
I cannot then believe in this concept of an anthropomorphic God who has the powers of interfering with these natural laws. As I said before, the most beautiful and most profound religious emotion that we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. And this mysticality is the power of all true science.
If I would follow your advice and Jesus could perceive it, he, as a Jewish teacher, surely would not approve of such behavior.
I want to know all Gods thoughts; all the rest are just details.
In the middle of adversity there is great opportunity.
I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people of the earth will be killed.
To me the worst thing seems to be a school principally to work with methods of fear, force and artificial authority. Such treatment destroys the sound sentiments, the sincerity and the self-confidence of pupils and produces a subservient subject.
I have a reverence for medicine because I hero-worshiped my father [a former doctor], and because I admire doctors, I admire study, empiricism and rational thought. I don't study, empiricize or think rationally myself - but I admire it in others.
Many people and governments share the mistaken belief that science, with new, ingenious devices and techniques, can rescue us from the troubles we face without our having to mend our ways and change our patterns of activity. This is not so.
The increase of disorder or entropy with time is one example of what is called an arrow of time, something that distinguishes the past from the future, giving a direction to time.
Known as the biosphere to scientists and as the creation to theologians, all of life together consists of a membrane around earth so thin that it cannot be seen edgewise from a satellite yet so prodigiously diverse that only a tiny fraction of species have been discovered and named.
... chemistry is a trade for people without enough imagination to be physicists.
We're going to need a definitive quantum theory of gravity, which is part of a grand unified theory - it's the main missing piece.
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