Any living cell carries with it the experience of a billion years of experimentation by its ancestors.
Max DelbruckRead
A strong feeling of adventure is animating those who are working on bacterial viruses, a feeling that they have a small part in the great drive towards a fundamental problem in biology.
Interpretation
The quote expresses the excitement and importance of scientific exploration, particularly in the field of biology.
Max Delbruck emphasizes the thrill and significance scientists feel while researching bacterial viruses, suggesting that their contributions are integral to understanding major biological challenges. This sense of adventure motivates them to participate in the broader quest for knowledge in biology and the mysteries of life.
In practice
In a speech about scientific exploration at a conference, one could mention this quote to inspire young scientists.
Any living cell carries with it the experience of a billion years of experimentation by its ancestors.
All the scientists who are working on solving the problem of curing paralysis say that it won't do you any good if you don't keep your body in shape.
That we can now think of no mechanism for astrology is relevant but unconvincing. No mechanism was known, for example, for continental drift when it was proposed by Wegener. Nevertheless, we see that Wegener was right, and those who objected on the grounds of unavailable mechanism were wrong.
A page from a journal of modern experimental physics will be as mysterious to the uninitiated as a Tibetan mandala. Both are records of enquiries into the nature of the universe.
The science of the mind can only have for its proper goal the understanding of human nature by every human being, and through its use, brings peace to every human soul.
Science and technology have freed humanity from many burdens and given us this new perspective and great power. This power can be used for the good of all. If wisdom governs our actions; but if the world is mad or foolish, it can destroy itself just when great advances and triumphs are almost without its grasp.
Life began three and a half billion years ago, necessarily about as simple as it could be, because life arose spontaneously from the organic compounds in the primeval oceans.
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