Nobody can take those footsteps I made on the surface of the moon away from me.
Gene CernanRead
Here I am at the turn of the millennium and I'm still the last man to have walked on the moon, somewhat disappointing. It says more about what we have not done than about what we have done.
Interpretation
Gene Cernan reflects on the human achievements in space exploration and emphasizes the unfulfilled potential that still exists.
In this quote, Gene Cernan, the last astronaut to walk on the moon, expresses a sense of disappointment that despite the monumental achievement of landing on the moon, humanity has not advanced further in space exploration. He suggests that this lack of progress speaks volumes about our unfulfilled aspirations and the barriers that still exist in reaching greater heights in science and exploration.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about the future of space exploration.
Nobody can take those footsteps I made on the surface of the moon away from me.
I'm quite disappointed that I'm still the last man on the moon.
I know the stars are my home. I learned about them, needed them for survival in terms of navigation. I know where I am when I look up at the sky. I know where I am when I look up at the Moon; it's not just some abstract romantic idea, it's something very real to me. See, I've expanded my home.
Prepare for the unknown, unexpected and inconceivable . . . after 50 years of flying I'm still learning every time I fly.
Yes, I am the last man to have walked on the moon, and that's a very dubious and disappointing honor. It's been far too long.
I walked on the Moon. What can't you do?
My laboratory uses evolution to design new enzymes. No one really knows how to design them - they are tremendously complicated. But we are learning how to use evolution to make new ones, just as nature does.
Science is a way to teach how something gets to be known, what is not known, to what extent things are known (for nothing is known absolutely), how to handle doubt and uncertainty, what the rules of evidence are, how to think about things so that judgments can be made, how to distinguish truth from fraud, and from show.
All civilizations become either spacefaring or extinct.
I think the really cool and compelling thing about math and physics is that it opens up entry to all these hypotheticals - or at least, it gives you the language to talk about them. But at the same time, if a scenario is completely disconnected from reality, it's not all that interesting.
The magnitude of the atomic weight determines the character of the element, just as the magnitude of the molecule determines the character of a compound body.
Scientific research was much like prospecting: you went out and you hunted, armed with your maps and instruments, but in the ened your preparations did not matter, or even your intuition. You needed your luck, and whatever benefits accrued to the diligent, through sheer, grinding hard work.
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